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This is Captain Marvel in honour of yoga therapy and the fact she’s getting her own movie. Please visit Squamish for your travel needs.

Day 76. The sense of hey-I’ve-got-time and the sense of cramming for the final exam are both present.Today is rest day, but with a twist, pun intended. A friend is developing a Yoga Therapy practice and offered — ages ago — to practice on me. I finally had a chance to work with her today. I looked up yoga therapy definitions online and they are vague. The definition I learned today focused on body alignment, breathing to be able to (my word) unclench.

This right hip of mine is the perma-clench part of the body. The alignment techniques to put my hips straight were surprisingly straightforward.

Of course, one had to practice this alignment — pretty much forever.

Breathing: Try this one. While sitting comfortably cross-legged on the floor with spine comfortably straight, breath in for a count of 5, hold gently for 2, exhale for 5, then hold again gently for 2 and repeat. In three minutes your whole brain will have altered.

Oddly, when it comes to alignment, the muscles I’ve built with the trainer help me rearrange my rib cage, which is also chronically out whack.

I did a tally of the numbers I am tracking. I want to see if I can beat the average of the first two months in terms of cycling, steps and other activities. Here’s my progress report.

Remember to post your weight guess from the Day 74 post. There’s chocolate to be had!

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

I was looking for an obscure superhero and I found this cover that I own. Nighthawk was the character in question. Check out this spot for bird watching: Deep Bay on Vancouver Island

The bicycle is fixed. A mystery flat tire Friday morning indicates that someone bumped my bike while it was in the apartment common area basement. The mechanic asked it is was riding badly due to the axel being misaligned.But I’m back on the road just in time to risk being rained on. Question: I have an opportunity to do the Grouse Grind with folks from work on June 22. Should I go? When I asked Victoria about this she used the word “death” in her email back to me. My daughter offered to go with me as she’s trying to work in her new hiking boots. 18 days left. It seems like a lot and it seems too soon. Remember to post your weight guess from the Day 74 post. There’s chocolate to be had! Have a great weekend.

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

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Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

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It’s Day 74 and I have a contest for you. It’s called Guess the Weight and Guess the Weight to Be.As you will see in the image below, there are two images of me on March 22 and May 31.

In this blog post’s comment area, put in the weight you think I was on March 22 and the weight you predict I will be on June 28.

Remember: I have not looked at any of my numbers on the scale during this process. My objective is to desensitize myself to the numbers on the scale.

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I like the Spiderverse story line because it had so much imagination.

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I will accept entries up to June 27.

There’s a prize! In fact what fitness/weight loss blog would not have a prize that involved chocolate? I will send the winning person some of my favourite chocolate. It will be from one of the shops in Kitsilano. Please visit the site and do things.

In a fairly irrelevant note, my bike had a flat tire today. My IT bands were happy for this, but my wish to improve my overall numbers was unsatisfied.

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This is an old clip from a Wonder Woman comic from the 70s where she had no superpowers and for a while worked with Catwoman. Come to Vancouver for the beaches.

How did I get to 73 days?Yesterday was a rare triple threat of cycling, personal trainer homework and karate. Sensei says I’m lighter on my feet. (I feel my IT band twitching as I say this.) This process is ridiculously self-conscious and I’m finding that stressful. So I should forget about it because I can’t do anything about it. This is an experiment. The result is the result and what I do next is what I do next. Maybe if I keep telling myself that I will unclench mentally. Today I do yoga. Good cross training and a time to clear the mind.

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

Obscure Daredevil comic referencing yoga. Go to Kitsilano for yoga.

I figure the definition of obsession can be illustrated when you force your personal trainer to do the scheduled workout when she’s sick. With 20 days remaining I was unwilling to reschedule.It turns out Victoria was more worried about hacking all over me than her own health. I scoffed because I spent the weekend with my number one daughter snorfing all over the place and I lost most of my aversion to simple germs about 100 diapers into being a parent. It wasn’t until this morning that normal people would have seen the trainer wanting to reschedule as a bonus. Not me. The plan is the plan.

Of course yesterday’s eating had the very extras I had wanted to avoid. Stress, a visit to a food court and lack of sleep are key drivers toward grabbing the wrong extra calories.

I must say though that given the change in eating, food court food is unbelievably cardboard tasting now. Not worth the carbon molecules it’s printed on.

The new homework for the week is below with modifications to handle the knee issues. The key culprit is the IT band and I’ve remembered a yoga stretch that might help this. I’ll have to show it to Victoria as I don’t think she knows this one.

It looks like this, but more painful. The heel pushing up is crucial.

Homework

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

This comic book cover I found looking for transformation comic book images. I realize I own these. My travel sites survived the server upgrade. Please visit Toronto to support them.

Yikes. In three weeks exactly I have my final personal trainer session at which point the last measurements taken. Then on the 28th I’m done this experiment. I guess at this stage I’m wanting to be sure people who look at this entire process say “Whoa!” I don’t want people saying “Nice try” or “That was a lot of work for those results” or “why don’t people keep chinchillas as pets anymore?” Vanity? I promised before and after pictures. I intend to keep that promise. I also intend to emit a psychotic scream shortly thereafter. So, the plan? Try not to ruin the current plan. 1. Avoid knee pain. I have a personal trainer workout today and I realized I don’t give a crap about my legs except avoiding injury. Therefore the focus is core and upper body for maximum change.

2. Cycle as much as possible. This is the best calorie loss (I assume) given the amount of heat I generate. However, knee swelling on the right is associated with it.

3. Small cheats on food. I tend to weaken at 2 PM and 10 PM. I don’t mind this but it needs to be a little less. A handful, not a bowl-full.

The blood pressure is up a bit so I have to watch that.

Here goes! Another Monday started.

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

Brainiac is the comic book image for the day. I was battling (and still am) with the side effects of a server conversion. This means when you all visit the Vancouver travel page it might not work!

As I ponder the coming three weeks, I realize that cramming for the final starts now; you can’t do a lot on a fitness/diet regime in the last few days. However, “cramming” might not be the right word. I tend to eat when stressed and if I want to have remarkable results on June 28, it means distinctly not cramming food into my face. I have a lot of meat ready to roll (thanks to Jerry) so I have to eat protein when hungry between meals, not the starchier stuff. The knees are feeling better. I did walk a lot yesterday. A glorious day in Vancouver. However the focus on exercise will have to be strength training and low load on the knees. My family are all struggling with a sore throat/cold combo that I really want to avoid.

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

It occurred to me that if they can do Supergirl, they can do Batgirl. Probably a licensing issue. Time to promote an obscure Newfoundland destination: Bell Island.

I need better knees. Last night, the left one decided it didn’t like me going downstairs. So I am glad today is a rest day. It’s a mystery as to what pissed the knees off. When I cycled home yesterday I was deliberately working the left leg more than the right so as not to further annoy the right leg. Clearly that didn’t work. With 23 days left I don’t want to lose momentum. I will be conferring with the trainer to see what we can do that minimizes knee use. Yoga class tomorrow will tell me exactly what positions work and don’t. Not freaking out before the end will be an interesting psychological exercise. All the questions like “Was this worth it?” “Did I get anywhere?” and “Where the f**k are the M&Ms?” will all have to be removed from my head until the end.

Please note that at Costco they had the huge bag of M&Ms on sale for $9.99. I walked by.

Let’s see if I can finish up today without too much stress. Except, of course, tonight I upgrade my Windows 2003 server to a cloud-based Windows 2012 server and move all the code and databases. Yeah. No pressure.

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

So this is an odd one. Apparently Marvel released Captain America: Steve Rogers No. 1 in which the cliffhanger was that Captain America has been a bad guy sleeper agent since WWII. Apart from that being a tough sell, the fans’ behavior is insane. Check this article out. And after that go on vacation here in Whitehorse.

My right leg is trying to wheedle its way out of this process. It’s giving me grief at every turn whether it’s the knee or the hamstrings or the IT band or the quad or the hip flexor. It’s tricky because I ain’t gonna stop now but I have to make sure I don’t give the leg an excuse to stop me.I used the roller on the affected areas and, boy o boy, that hurt. But there are things I can do. I won’t do a 22.8 km ride home. That will inflame things. I have the weekend to recover and a yoga class on Sunday night to use to re-arrange and calm all the upset parts. There’s also a fair amount of situational stress. Focus and breath. Focus and breath.

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Previous Post – Next Post

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post

The Martian Manhunter is an old character. He’s been on the Supergirl series. I’d never seen this cover before. Please visit the Gardens of Victoria BC. Green, get it?

Day 67. 72.8% done. Good grief. Fitness takes odd turns. It started to pour yesterday when it came time to ride home. So I didn’t. I thought, “why not take the bus and take a little break off the sore limbs.” Of course the buses were all full because I wasn’t the only guy not biking or walking home. However, by the time I got to the bus stop, it had cleared and I could have ridden home. So, I walked instead. This might happen to everyone on a diet/fitness regime but I was given advice that the obsession about results should be offset with rational thought. So if the scale is bothering you or the waistline is bothering you, then it’s best to stick to plan and put aside the anguish of not progressing as fast enough. Since the measurements are hidden from me until June 28, I can just try to keep to the plan. Which reminds me. I have to buy protein supplies. Costco … tomorrow here I come.

Announcement Post – Day 1 – Previous Post – Next Post