billcole

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• lunch salad with crutons
• Bean skillet
• Espresso Chip Merangues
• Fake-alfredo
• Ham and Cream cheese rolls
• Lighter caprese salad
• Spaghetti with garlic and oil (not low fat)
• Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Swiss Chard and Parmesan
• Olive/cashew spread
• Beef casserole

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Name: Bill Cole

Location: Lexington, KY

Joined: September 16, 2009

Last signed in: January 10, 2012

About Me

Several folks have asked how I've managed to lose the weight I lost and quit the smokes. I quit smoking by using the Cooper-Clayton method. Basically you use a patch or lozenge or gum as cigarette replacement as directed by the manufacturer but have weekly meetings of a support group to educate, help talk about adjustment issues and coping strategies, etc. Dick Clayton was an old professor of mine in graduate school and later a colleague at the University of Kentucky sociology department.

How did I lose the weight? You already know the answer to that. The weight loss was by doing what this website and The Biggest Loser preach. I used to eat 3 meals a day and had a snack or two and that got me to 420 pounds. I never really put together that each or my meals was really about 2 meals and that 3 doughnuts does not qualify as a snack. During the summer of 2005 my 78 year old father was gravely ill and had been hospitalized for about a month. I had braced myself for the phone call from my Mom to come at any time (I live 400 miles away from them). The phone call came but it was a good one. Mom told me that Dad was finally getting better. By the end of July she told me that he was actually going to be released from the hospital. On the day of his discharge she brought him home, helped him settle into his chair and stood up to get him a soda and promptly died of a massive heart attack in the middle of the living room. Dad was so frail he couldn't even get out of his chair to do anything except call 911 on his cell. The call that day was not the one I expected.

A few months later my father's health had stabilized and I started looking at mine. I was 44 at the time. My blood pressure was 179/103 and I knew that if I ever had a blood test I'd show up as diabetic (I had seen the signs and every one of my relatives was an overweight diabetic). I started tweaking my eating and trying to work out a bit. A year later I was no different. Another year goes by and I had probably managed to lose 20 pounds (I didn't have a scale that would go that high so I'm kind of guessing here). In the late summer of 2007 I finally decided I had to do something. I started weighing my food and that's when I discovered that the steak I considered a dinner portion was really big enough for 2 and sometimes 3 dinners. A medium pizza is not designed to feed 2 people. We all have been here, haven't we?

I decided to cut out the sodas. I had been having at least 3 a day, usually closer to a 6 pack and on a tough day I moight have a couple of extra ones. I cut them out since I hated the taste of diet cola. Wow. I suddenly noticed that my size 58 pants were a touch loose. Duh. I stopped going through the drive thrus and soon needed to buy a size 54 to replace the 58s. I started to walk in the park. A mile took me about a half hour and made my ankles and knees so sore I could hardly walk for 2 days (I should add here that because of a birth defect my legs are not as sturdy as the average pair of legs and I have a bunch of issues there which included 20+ surgeries on different parts). A couple of months later I was up to 1.5 miles a day 4 and sometimes 5 days a week. I decided to challenge myself to walk in a 5K so in July 2007 I did the 5K Road Race for the Bluegrass State Games and finished dead last (with my wife) in a little over 54 minutes. I also met Jared Fogle that day. He's the Subway Guy you've seen on Oprah and all the Subway commercials (Subway sponsors the BGSG and paid him to come and host the event and give out the awards). I bought a scale in October 2008 that would go to 350 and expected to break it. I didn't and I literally cried when I saw it had 320 on it. In December 2008 I bought 2 pairs of size 50 jeans and started walking just about every day. Soon I noticed that I could walk 2 miles just about every day. Along the way I've adjusted the portion size of my meals to something more in line with normal. I have not really changed the content of my eating, only the amount. And I killed the donuts and pies I used to cook all the time. A snack now is a handful of cashews or some carrot sticks (which I still dip in full fat beer cheese--I just dip it now instead of covering it in the cheese). Maybe a pretzel rod instead of a candy bar. When I want chocolate (every day of course) I have a Hershey's Kiss or a fun size candy bar instead of a full size one. I used to cook pies and cakes all the time. Now my nightly dessert is a slightly larger than recommended portion of sugar free Jello pudding made with 1% milk. And I have a cookie with my lunch daily. One cookie instead of the 3-4 I used to have.

I've now weighed in at 236 pounds 3 days in a row and my blood pressure last Friday was 118/74. My blood sugar tested well within normal parameters at a health fair in town a month or so ago. My bad cholesterol was 89 (but good only 19) and my triglycerides were about a third of the recommended level at 61. I'll still have a regular soda when I want one--maybe one a week now at most, probably about 1 every 2 weeks. I did go through a Wendy's Drive Thru once last summer when I was exceptionally hungry and had forgotten to bring snacks from home. No restaurants since the portion sizes are so out of whack. Last week I bought a pair of size 38 jeans--they're not buttoning yet but they will by Thanksgiving I think (although the probably won't be comfortable uuntil Christmas). My former 3X shirts (and an occassional 4X) have been swapped for XL and the occassional small cut 2X. The size 48 suit coat I bought at the 90% off end of season sale a few months ago fits now, but needs another couple of weeks to be comfortable.
I do cardio now every day-- usually 45 to 60 minutes walking or 75-90 minutes on my bike. If it's raining I walk 2 miles on the treadmill in the gym (it hurts my knees to go more on a treadmill) or ride the recumbent bike for about an hour. I'll take a day off about every 10-14 days depending on what my body feels like. I try to lift in the gym 3 days a week but I must confess I usually hit about 3 days in 2 weeks. My food is almost all grilled (I can't remember the last time I had something fried) and the portion sizes are close to recommendations instead of restaurant size. Other than a few substitutions of ingredients (ground turkey in my chili in place of half the ground beef, for example and fat free half and half instead of regular) I haven't really changed what I cook at home, I just eat a normal amount of it instead of supersizing it.
I still plan to lose more weight. I think I'll look good about 180-200 pounds so that's where I want to go. The BMI charts tell me I need to be 150 pounds but I'm 47 years old and I think I'll let 30 pounds slide and to with the charts. 180 pounds down and 50 or so left. I think I can get there from here.
Wow. This has turned out a lot longer that I thought it would. Sorry if I've bored you and if anyone is still out there I'd love to read your stories as well.

New Year's Day 2010: I hit 225 pounds yesterday which hit my goal for 2009 of losing 75 pounds right on the head. I will hit my double century of 200 pounds lost somewhere around January 10, 2010 and I have a really sweet present for myself in mind. I'll give you more details when I get there.

March 11, 2010: I've been at 214 or 215 for 2 days in a row now. My BP has dropped into the 106/69 range as an average. Today I walked a 10K in the gym in just a bit under 2 hours and last week I started training for a century bike ride (100 miles in 1 day) that I plan to do on Memorial Day weekend this year-- it's called the Horsey Hundred and is sponsored by the Bluegrass Cycle Club (which I joined this year to get back in the saddle so to speak). I just managed to get a new road bike after Christmas as my present to myself for losing 200 pounds. It's a Giant Defy 1 with some really sweet components and it practically flies on the road.

Calorie goal: 1,779

Consumed: 0

Burned: 0

Net calories: 0

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billcole posted 10,000 mile club in the group 10,000 mile club
“Some of you who have been here for a while might remember this. Last winter I put out a call to some of the cyclists in the group to combine our mileage in a club and see if we can hit 10,000 miles combined. I got the idea because I've been playing mileage games with my records for years as a bit of motivation. My first year I wanted to walk from my home in central Kentucky to the beach I used to visit as a teenager in the Outer Banks of NC (virtually, of course). When I made it I photoshopped a picture of me leaning against the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse as a reward. The year after I decided I was going to "ride my bike" from my boyhood home on the east coast of Virginia to where I went for my honeymoon in San Francisco. Last year I teamed up with Verdemujer and Tacarino in a quest for 10K miles combined. We didn't quite make it. Traci kind of dropped out due to some personal issues and Midori and I combined for 4581.69 miles. Most of the miles were mine since she is amore of a runner than a cyclist. Kind of a cool idea. This year I need to back off a bit. I rode 3819 miles total last year and wound up developing some tendonitis issues in my left knee that kept me from hitting my personal goal of 4000 miles. This year I'm going to shoot for 3000 and try and keep that at bay (some of you who've been here for a long time know I have a constant battle with my left knee and have my entire life). Along the way I trained a group of 20 people called the Century Virgins (18 of us had never done a century ride before) and we finished our first centuries in Findlay OH on 9/11/11. This year: 3000 miles and at least 3 centuries. Who's in with me?”
billcole posted So what's the group feeling in the group So what's the group feeling
“So now that Anna and the show have announced that they have mutually decided to part ways for next season do we have any comments? Just to start, I won't miss her at all. I thought the first night she was a mistake and that just got stronger all season. ”
billcole burned 2.00 calories doing Bicycling: 14-16 mph, leisure, vigorous.

Bicycling exercises for leisure at a vigorous pace of 14-16 mph are... read more at The Daily Plate.
billcole posted Checked it ff the bucket list in the group Checked it ff the bucket list
“It's done. I finished the century ride on 9-11. It took 7:22.51 of pedal time and I officially rode 100.8 miles (I also rode about 2 miles to get to the starting line from my hotel but that doesn't really count). I began the ride with 12 others on the team I trained to get there (11 of us were the "Century Virgins" and we had 2 with us who had done centuries before.). We rolled out at about 7:45 am into a just after dawn sunrise and heavy mist over the first of about 2 trillion corn fields I saw that day. My knee started to give me significant pain about 15 miles in since I really needed another week off the bike to heal and then a week to get back into the saddle but I didn't have the time. I dropped off the pack at the 40 mile point (so I wouldn;t slow my team down) and completed the ride with one other teammate. At the end I was moving about 8-10 mph on the bike (we started at about 18-19 mph since the course was gloriously flat) and my knee and quads were so shot I was in my absolute lowest gear just to climb up the overpasses that constituted the hills on that course. I am never going to hear the end of that from the team. I got a reputation as having a hill fetish in the training rides I created for them. About 60 miles in they finally understood why I trained them to ride 4000 feet of hill climbs in a 50 mile route (this route had about 1000 feet of total climbing over 100 miles and the biggest one was an Interstate overpass). I rolled across the finish line at about 5:00 pm (the time difference was rest stops and the times I just had to get off the bike and walk to keep my knee from locking up). The 11 members of my team that finished earlier all crossed the line a bit under an hour and a half ahead of me. But the best part was that every one of them was waiting for me at the finish line when I got there. I still get tears in my eyes thinking about it. According to my computer I burned just over 7900 calories on the ride. When I finally got off the bike at the end I had to lean on it to stay vertical. I can honestly say I have never been that totally exhaused in my life. There was not enough in the tank to ride the few blocks back to the hotel-- I got a ride from one of my teammates who drove to it. Good news is that I walked 4 miles this morning and I'll be back on the bike tomorrow. The Bike Trek to Shakertown is coming up this weekend.”
billcole posted The century is this weekend in the group The century is this weekend
“Wish me luck campers. I just rode my bike for the first time in about a week and the knee held up ok. The century ride is Sunday. 3,000 miles of training behind me. Look out Findlay-- here we come.”
billcole posted Pulled a stupid this weekend in the group Pulled a stupid this weekend
“I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! I pulled a stupid last Sunday. I was volunteering as an escort cyclist at the Louisville KY Ironman competition (if anyone does not know what this is look it up online. The nutshell version is a 2.4 mile open water swim followed by a 112 mile bike ride then ending with a 26.2 mile run). My job was to attach a sign to my bike and escort a lead runner on the marathon course. I had 3rd place male. As we were getting ready to ride (the lead runners were about 10 minutes out on the bike course) I was riding through the park and hit a deep patch of sand. Bike tire squirts out from underneath me. Bad road rash on the left knee and elbow and a nasty bruise on the left hip. But here's the stupid: then I rode with the 3rd male. By the time I was done I rode 35 miles after the accident. By the time I got home (about 90 minut drive) my left knee had swelled up like an overstuffed sausage. I couldn't walk on it that night. It's healing-- I will probably be back on the bike on Monday or so. Today I'm back to about 75% of the usual motion. But with the century ride in 11 days I'm worried about losing my edge. I would up doing 80 miles on the Little Miami Trail a couple of weeks ago and could easily have done the hundred then-- but I'm concerned that 7-10 days of not riding at all will make the century hurt more than it should. I should be OK, I'm probably just paranoid and venting. I put a new chain on my bike last night and I've washed it twice since the accident. I'm obsessing about what's in my on bike toolkit and what food to carry with me. My wife it threatening to hit me with my hiking stick soon. Wish me luck. 8 am on 9-11 is ride time.”
billcole posted Wanna have some fun in the group Wanna have some fun
“Livestrong says I burned 6686 calories today. Can this count for a green team challenge? Pretty please? I rode 80.06 miles on the Little Miami Trail in southern Ohio this morning. It took 5:35.40 and I averaged 14.2 miles per hour. I have absolutely no idea how many calories I took in but it feels like maybe 4000 total for the day including celebration dinner of a big bacon cheeseburger and fries-- the first one I've had in about a year if I remember it correctly. Heaven on a bun. Jimmy Buffet was right. The middle 25 miles was in a driving rainstorm-- I'm going to have to spend half the day tomorrow cleaning my bike and it's drivetrain. At one point the rain was coming down so hard I couldn't see the road right under my wheels. My entire body is covered in mud and road gunk. Damn it was a great ride. The longest of my life. My knees feel like crap. Which is pretty good considering how my legs feel. Does the phrase half cooked spaghetti mean anything? But the good news is they only feel like half cooked spaghetti-- not dead noodles. I could have done the century today. The century ride is Sept 11th. Now the training is essentially over-- some easy recovery and social rides for the next 2 weeks. I'm volunteering as an escort bike rider for the professional triathletes in the Louisville, KY Ironman competition next Sunday-- 26.2 miles on my bike while some triathlete runs the marathon part of their course. Piece of cake. After today I may just sleep through it. We ramp down the training from now until the event-- I'll probably only ride 150 miles total between now and then. Wish me luck campers.”
billcole burned 6.00 calories doing Bicycling: 14-16 mph, leisure, vigorous.

Bicycling exercises for leisure at a vigorous pace of 14-16 mph are... read more at The Daily Plate.
billcole posted Just checking in in the group Just checking in
“I'm back again (just when you thought you were free of me). I just though I'd let you know how the training is going. My last major training ride for the century is this coming weekend. Sunday morning my team is going to the Little Miami Trail just north of Cincinnati to ride 75 miles on a flat rails to trail path. This is the final test before we take it back down a notch to recover for the main event on September 11th. Ironically I've got another major ride the next weekend (a fundraiser for the American Lung Association which does about 150 miles over 3 days of riding). Last night I rode a short but intense ride of about 20 miles up and down hills but maintained an average speed of over 16 mph for the first time. Of course, my hamstrings are letting me know that I have abused them and my right one is threatening to go on strike before tonight's ride. I'm riding between 150 and 175 miles a week now. My weight has continued to creep up (not good for an endurance cycling event) but since I can see the new muscle pads in my thighs I'm not too worried about it. I'm floating in the 215 range now for the most part. That's about 20 pounds up from my low point last fall, but I look at it as still 200 pounds down from my high point 6 years ago. Now that I'm about 3 weeks out I'm happy to announce that I've finally figured out how to eat and drink on the bike and not toss my cookies in the middle of the event or drop 10 pounds of body weight while riding (neither of those are good things). I'll be back for the next challenge when the new season of the show starts--since the major rides for the year will be over and I can focus in losing weight again instead of endurance training. By the way-- the goal of 5000 miles this year may not quite be hit-- looks like I'll make 4000 though. And I think I have my goal for next year: RAGBRAI. 7 days and roughly 500 miles of endurance cycling and party on two wheels. Now I just need the boss to give me permission since she's not going to be up for it.”
billcole posted The paper found me today in the group The paper found me today
“My local newspaper finally discovered me today. It's kind of cool but some nuts have crawled out of the woodwork and found me. http://www.kentucky.com/2011/07/19/1816085/once-420-pounds-he-cut-his-weight.html#storylink=omni_popular#wgt=pop ”