Who is BSL?

Join me as we take an introspective journey into the mind, body & soul of the personality and identity otherwise known as Bike-Swim-Laugh.....you'll delight in horror, reel in disgust and reach new boundaries of nausea as we venture deep into the shallow mind of the quinessential mid-life American looking to seek a higher degree of fitness. And please; personal hygiene is not mandatory! (it's like...soooo over-rated anyways).

I write like I speak, and I speak without thinking....and I often can't think what to write, but when I stop trying to think, I tend to write, a lot. That said, please feel free to post your thoughts, questions and comments here. Also, if you are female and care to comment on any of my pics, please feel free to incorporate exaggeration & dishonestly as a means to enhance and outline any positive criticism you may wish to impart on me as a means of inspiration & incentive.

Also, for your convienence exits from this thread are available in the aft & foreward section of the webpage. In the event of an actual emergency, smiley-faces will instruct you towards proper exits. If, after the BSL experience, you should experience dizziness, nausea or vomitting please see Chillen for further instructions. Thank you and in the humble words (and Indian accent) of the many 7-11 clerks that tend counters across our great nation; please come again!

Having said nothing of myself.....

BSL is actually a guy named Steve. Born in 1965 and residing in Southern California I've pretty much been over-weight my entire life. Not grossly overweight, but enough that it sucked my self-confidence and pretty much tormented me as a psychological badge of shame. Was it a wall I put up? Was it some kind of barrier erected to stave-off the horrors that civilized society impairs on it's victims??....no, nay......I say it was just a matter that french-fries, pizza and take-out food tasted a lot better then carrots & lemon-chicken. I just liked to eat and like any addict would rise in the morning and consume until I was satisfied....then I'd gleefully endulge & feed that hunger all day, looking forward to each meal as yet another opportunity to eat delicious food.

Everyone told me I wasn't "fat"...just husky, big, muscular, strong, etc. Of course, now that I've lost weight & shaped-up, they all concede very simply: I was fat. Let that be a lesson to you; people & friends will generally tell you what they think you want to hear...and the few that tell you the truth, you'll be inclined to eventually disregard, mitigate and dismiss those comments. The truth is something that's tough to face.

Well, that truth hit me square in the face when I turned 42 and the doctor told me it was time to deal with my borderline high blood pressure and super-high triglycerides. I figured it was that or just wait and hope I survived a heart-attack. Yeah, I decided to run with plan A.

Now the thing is....if you get a sinus infection or some bronchitis...you'll get some antibiotics that you'll take for a couple weeks and then be done. "Done" being the key word. That's not the case with cholesterol or blood-pressure medication: it's pretty much a life-time sentence. Suddenly I realized I had turned a serious chapter in my life....I would now be tied to a little bottle of pills, a bottle I could (in my best senior-citizen voice) call "my pills" or "my medication". Now if I was involved in a hostage situation or stranded on an island, I'd "need my medication"........yeah, you feelin' that??? It didn't take long for me to catagorize it into the "oh hell no" section of my life.

I asked the doctor if I could try diet & exercise and he said "you can try that, but it's likely a genetic thing and even diet & exercise can only make a so-so difference". I know, a bit disappointing for someone in the medical field to say....but there it was. And after all, I was already playing racquetball, doing a bit of mountain biking and "trying" to lose weight by watching what I was eating...and despite all that, my triglycerides were at 470 (NOT good). So perhaps it was genetics. The doctor insisted I get on the meds and then, IF I lost weight, we could reevaluate my situation to see if we could reduce the meds.

Even though I filled the prescription, I decided to give myself 3 months to try diet & exercise. I joined a 2nd night of racquetball league, started biking 2x per week and got into weights on a regular basis. I also picked-up some supplements and changed my diet. Months later I went back to the doctors, they drew blood and my triglycerides had plummted to 140 and my cholesterol was great. My BP was still a bit high, but not enough to require medication. The doctor was amazed and could only say that "everyone says they'll diet & exercise, you are the 1 in 1,000 that actually did it...AND your body responded very well to it".......

Today, I've added swimming & spinning to my routine, ride 3x longer and have built even more momentum & spirit into achieving my goal. It's been about one year and what I've discovered is that I don't lose much weight, but I do drop body-fat.

To date:

Actual weight lost: 42 pounds (scale reading)
Body-fat% 26.9% --> 11.8%
Gained lean muscle: 13.4 pounds
calculated fat lost: 55.5 pounds

My typical routine:

Racquetball Monday & Wednesday nights (1.75 hours each)
Weight-training on my own 2-3x per week
Training with a trainer 2x per week

Mountain biking 2-3x per week and swimming 2 miles at the gym 2x per week

OR

2 spin classes back-to-back, then swim a mile in the pool, good for 2k of calorie burn, takes 3 hours and done 2x per week.

I mix it up a lot, each week playing it by ear. I average about 12-17 hours of exercise per week and generally take-in about 2,500 calories per day.


At this point, my ultimate ambition is to participate & finish a triathlon.

Congratulations on the Journal, you've accomplished so much so far and i'm looking forward to progress pictures.

I'll be checking in ...

Hi BSL, I told you I would read your journal

I didn't know you made such a progress

Do you have a time frame for the tri? Have you picked one yet?
BTW, how are you doing with running (you realize you will have to run when doing a tri, right)?

Anyways, I'll check back later...Gotta go to the gym (5K,1 mile swim and NROL).

Thanks guys...

Well, I'm going to take today "off" from exercise. I've been doing 1.5-3 hours of exercise for about 5 days straight. Yesterday was upper-body & core workout AND Spin-class/swimming, so I got it all in and everythign is sore...need some time to recover. Also, woke-up all congested and my 3 girls all have some kind of cold...so my hunch is I've got it too. Time to rest.

I just got done in the kitchen creating a killer pasta salad, check it out:

Whole Wheat penne pasta, the stuff with flax, protein, etc. I only used about 2 1/2 cups so it's not a whole lot. Boil about 12 minutes, then put in a large bowl. To that bowl add:

1 Large jar of sun-dried tomato's in Olive oil 1 can olives
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
onions
string beans
brocolli
garlic
seasoning, including some chili oil, pepper & garden spices

I will kep this large bowl in the frig. When I eat it, I'll then add some tuna, or chicken, maybe sprinkle on some cheese...and then put a bit of Italian dressing on it.

In all, it's very nutritious. The whole wheat pasta isn't that evil, it has a very low Glycemic rate because the grain is still whole. But I go easy on the pasta. Most of the bowl is beans & vege's. And beans are widely overlooked as being one of the most complete & packed foods we can eat. Beans are loaded with fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals and even a bit of good fats. The sun-dried tomato is all about lycopene & vege, as are the Olives, garlic & brocolli. Add some chicken or tuna and/or cheese....and you have one very complete, well-balanced, nutritious meal. And it's tasty!

Click on pics to enlarge. This is tasty stuff, very Italian too!

Attached Thumbnails

   

That looks delicious.
Well, at least somebody is making something healthy. I'm making meatloaf and masted potatoes for my hubby. Just read the nutrition value label and it says that 4 oz. of ground beef =200 cals....and I'm making like 3 pounds
I'll take a side of clogged arteries with that, please

You know Betty.....I started this journal on account of your prompting.

What does BSL really stand for? Lets see:

BSL

Give me a: B

For: Brilliant

Give me a: S

For: Spectacular

Give me a: L

For: Legendary


Brilliant, Spectacular, and Legendary mental performer within Diet and Fitness.

A miraculous and noteworthy self master.

A Masterpiece at work.

=========================================================

I am proud to be your friend, and will try to be by your side as you progress with your goals.

I wish you the best of luck with the journal.


I wish you all the best in life and within fitness, BSL

Chillen

If you were a woman, you'd have made a great cheerleader LOL

I noticed you cited racquetball.

How's the status of the knee injury ?

You mentioned in an earlier thread that in light of injuring your knee in racquetball and your concern of re-injuring your knee in the future ( and to spend more time on those racquetball evenings with your wife and kids ) that you were thinking about giving up racquetball altogether.

What did you ultimately decide to do in an attempt to reconcile your knee issue with racquetball ?

When you ' picture ' him.........is he wearing a cheerleader skirt ?

Thanks for the mental image...

Thank you gentlemen, for ruining my journal!

Thank you very much Chillen.....if I ascend to even a mere fraction of your descriptoin of me, I'll have more then succeeded.