Welcome to my 19th weekly update. Highlights include an extended bike ride on the Perkiomen Trail and a taste of the best lasagna in Berks County.

The Successes

Unlike most weeks where it was all about my weekend, my peak this time was on Wednesday.

Preparing for a blog on ValleyForge.org, I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and drove to Green Lane Park in the northwest corner of Montgomery County. The goal: ride 22 miles from Green Lane to Valley Forge National Historical Park.

The two parks are connected by the Perkiomen Trail, which travels 20 miles along the Perkiomen Creek (the final leg of my journey carried me along the Schuylkill River Trail).

My total ride time was 2:07:36, that included an extra two miles from the park to the gym (for a shower) and then to my office.

On a ride that carried me up Spring Mountain, down through Collegeville and on to Valley Forge, I burned around 1,100 calories.

My adventure will become a two-part blog. You can read part one at ValleyForge.org/blog.

I did eat more that day than usual (it was necessary), but I still managed to finish the day nearly 500 calories under budget.

Unfortunately for me, the rest of my week wasn’t nearly as productive. I recorded a 25-minute walk on Monday and a similar walk on Friday.

Saturday and Sunday were spent house cleaning. I burned roughly 500 calories between the two days (and succeeded in my mission of reorganizing our laundry room – a.k.a. our storage area for things we don’t know what to do with).

The Challenges

Monday was a not-so-good day for me for snacking as I ate more than 500 calories worth of nonessentials – one Graze snack, a pair of Oreo cookies and a handful of Cheez-Its.

As I mentioned earlier, many calories were consumed Wednesday. To refuel after my ride, I had lunch at Elevation Burger in Collegeville, including a delicious mango milkshake. With my chicken sandwich and fries, it was a 1,300-calorie lunch.

We had pizza for dinner on Thursday night, enjoying a pie from Nonno Alby’s while we listened to the Ringgold Band perform at the Stone House in Wyomissing.

But the worst day for my diet was Sunday. We visited the annual St. Marco Italian Food Festival for lunch, where Julie and I each enjoyed a slice of lasagna. I look forward to the festival every year because it is the best lasagna I have ever eaten. But it is anything but light. Twelve layers of pasta loaded with meat, cheese and sauce isn’t exactly healthful. My dinner of stuffed chicken breast didn’t help matters (stuffing packs on calories pretty quick).

The result was 300 calories over budget for the day, about 500 under for the week.

The Results

Current Weight: 167.2
Weekly Weight Loss: 0.0
Total Weight Loss: -22.2 lbs.

I’m not thrilled with the lack of results this week, but I can’t be too upset after dropping nearly three pounds over the previous two weeks.

The Week Ahead

No bike rides planned for this week. That can all change, but right now it looks like it’s going to be walks and housework.

Of course, those can burn up calories quickly. And with the added motivation of a flat week, I’m going to do whatever it takes to move the needle over the next seven days.