Week Twelve - Day Five

BIKE: Eastwood
TIME THERE: 26 min.
TIME BACK: 26 min.
WEATHER: clear, 1C, 9km/hr wind there; clear, 5C, 9 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, waterproof shell, running gloves, scarf (scarf in backpack on th way home)
NOTES:
The North Saskatchewan River - that wide, majestic beast that flows beneath the steel bridge over which I ride every day on the way to and from work - has begun to freeze over. The ice chunks are small and float along the surface of the water, taunting me about the wintry weather to come. Before long that whole river will be frozen through. Any day now the temperature will dip below freezing, and stay that way for the next few months. At any time now, the bitter wind will kick in from the northwest and bury the city in snow and ice. We won't emerge again until mid-May.

Until then, I am reveling in this fine weather. This morning, I biked to work as the sun rose before me, under clear blue-grey and ever-brightening skies. On the way home, I was enveloped by the warm pink glow of the setting sun. It was remarkable. What a beautiful experience I get on my bike - the fresh air, the beautiful views, the racing of my blood through my veins. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

On another note, I really am nervous about how little weight I think I've lost this month. So far, I really haven't been making any significant changes to my diet. While the addition of biking into my life has surely made a significant difference in my lifestyle and has allowed me to lose over 16.5 lbs so far, I do realize that if I want to hit my goal of 100 lbs in a year, I will also have to alter my diet.

I'm not sure how I'm going to do it. Should I go vegetarian? Try the South Beach Diet? Maybe something new? Maybe I should just stick with straight-up calorie counting, the only "diet" I've ever tried that seems to have worked for me. That's what I used when I lost 40 lbs in my first year of university. What worked about it was that it was so damn flexible - no food was off-limits, I just had to count it! Every indulgence meant I had fewer calories left over for real food, and that would always leave me feeling unsatisfied, so I was less motivated to eat junk food. I still would eat it, don't get me wrong, just less. And really, isn't that the whole point - everything in moderation?

But I digress. I will think about the diet question over the weekend and make a decision by Monday. I'll also seriously consider putting my food intake back into the blog as well, as I did in the beginning. As much as I still think the reasons I had to stop that practice were valid, it can also serve a meaningful purpose: it's partly to keep me honest with myself about what I'm eating, and partly to let you know what's working for me and what's not. I'll consider it, anyway.