All things being equal

I've been eating pretty carefully for a while now, actively tracking my points, and working out like a demon. And yet my weight has stayed consistently around 314 over the past couple weeks. I know enough about losing weight to understand salt and water retention, that it's not just the points, but what makes up the points, and that eating exercise points is the same as not having exercised.

I also understand that because muscle is denser than fat, when muscle takes the place of the same volume of fat, you can actually gain weight from that process. All things being equal, the most obvious answer is usually the right one. So I'm beginning to believe the gain in muscle is what has temporarily slowed my weight loss. I'm getting better on the bike, better in the pool, and sort of better slightly less terrible in the run. While the number on the scale is only moving ever so slightly right now, my clothes are starting to fit differently.

When we last visited my parents in December, I used my dads leather punch to put a few new holes in my belt. I started using one right away, and a couple of months ago I started using the next one. This week, I've had days where my pants were sagging in that hole, and so I moved it in to the last new hole including today.

Yesterday was a crazy mess of heat and humidity, and our pet hamsters were a little worse for wear. This lead to me spending time putting in the window A/C, which spiraled into cleaning the house instead of working out. Rach complained of dead legs during 2 attempts at running, so at the time I guessed it was for the best anyways.

This morning we had a long swim on the books, 2400, almost all freestyle except a couple hundred of the warmup. Including warmup, breaks, and cooldown, the entire 2400 took 90 minutes. I felt strong throughout, though I did tire in the last 400. The rest day definitely gave me a stronger swim today, and while I need to maximize my use of the next 85 or so days, I'm definitely going to remember to mix in some rest.

Notes:

- Checked in again with CBJ PR. No word from Tyler, but they'll be checking with him shortly.
- The cheating in cycling story has blown up even more with a fully detailed letter from Floyd Landis on how he cheated, and how cyclists could beat the current anti-cheating programs. It'll be interesting to see how that all pans out. USA Triathlon implemented a stronger testing program this year for its pros, and some of the pros have reported finally getting their first blood tests as of this week. While this doesn't apply to most amateurs (though reports indicated amateur cheating is on the rise), it just speaks as a whole to the integrity of our sports, their records, and ultimately their athletes.