Dropping...Still Dropping

Not that I have lost as much weight as mom this time around, but I have broken below a barrier that I just couldn't dip below a year and a half ago when I was really serious about losing weight. I broke below 195 lbs. I weighed in at 194.6 this morning. For whatever reason I just could never get below 195 lbs. I think I only touch that weight for a few days in all. I usually was around the 196-198 range back then, which was around Christmas 2006. After that I have been occasionally serious about dropping back down usually not going much below 200, but I haven't been over 208--maybe 209. So there hasn't been any huge swings, which I feel good about. The biggest gain was around the bar exam, appendectomy, bronchitis span when I couldn't exercise much, if at all.

Anyway, Another 10-12 pounds and I will be at what I consider to be a good weight. It would still be on the high end of what is considered normal for BMI, but I will be happy with that. Bridget doesn't want me to lose any more weight than that anyway.

I still have love handles, but they aren't evident unless my shirt is off. The skin is a little flabby around my stomach especially when I bend over, but again I am fine with that. I only care about losing more weight so that I can hit some fitness and performance related goals dealing with triathlons and cyclocross this year. I feel fit, but I realized at the Vikingman that extra weight really costs you. Running really punishes the heavier person. I figure that by losing 20+ lbs from my Vikingman Half Ironman weight I should be able to run a good minute to a minute and a half faster per mile without much more effort. The same goes for cycling. On any sort of long hill a lighter fit guy will be able to stomp up much faster than I even though I put in as many miles training (or more) than he. It is just gravity man. It takes more effort to move my gut up the hill than theirs. And I am sick of it. I am stuck in the back third of Master C's (there are Master A's , B's, C,s and Beginner) and I am sick of it. I want to be able to compete in Master B's at some point this Fall. I don't care about winning, I just want to feel like I belong and can be competitive in that class. It might be a pipe dream, but I would like to try.

However, if for some reason I get to this 185 and below weight and I am not any faster either this year racing cyclocross or in next year's 70.3 Ironman California--watch out burgers and fries here I come!