Good News and Bad News (for me ... no one else is likely to care)

I lost 4.5 pounds in the last week! Well, not really, but that's what my scale says. In reality, I think I lost the weight over about a month of constant biking and moderate calorie restriction. But for some reason it takes 2-4 weeks for my body to notice that it is running a continuous calorie deficit and let go of the weight. Sometimes I actually gain a pound or two the day before the actual weight loss appears on my scale. I have come to think of it this way: over several weeks of dieting, fat gradually liquefies into water which is stored in teeny little canteens all over my body, just in case I should need it for something. Then one day the cleaning crew comes in and empties all the little canteens. I know that doesn't make sense, but since I have no idea what is really going on here, it's the best I can come up with.

On the downside, my legs and lower back are exhausted and aching to the point of cramping up. Presumably this is because I did a lot of biking last week. But.... it was approximately the same thing I have been doing for the last two months (commuting to work twice a week, plus walking or short bike rides on some of the off days). Isn't there supposed to be some point where it gets easier???

Anyway, I'm not doing anything today.

Hey, hey, that's my sensei!

Some 20 years ago I was studying Shotokan Karate through the Midwest Karate dojo, founded many years ago by the legendary Robert Fusaro. Our group was actually a satellite dojo taught by young black belts from Midwest Karate in various park buildings, but Sensei Fusaro presided over all the belt testing.

Anyway, I haven't been involved with karate for many years, and occasionally wondered whether Fusaro was still kicking (so to speak). Apparently he is. Here's a link to the lead article in this week's Southwest Journal (a very fine local newspaper serving southwest Minneapolis).