2017 was a stressful time and not great for my fitness goals so in 2018 I found myself needing to lose a decent amount of weight again. 🙁 I'm a few lbs away from my goal and thought others might be interested in knowing how I'm doing it and what free apps I use to help.

In the beginning of 2018 I just focussed on exercising more and trying to be more careful of what I ate. More vegetables and fruits, less fried foods, cut out eating out almost entirely, no more making cheesecake or ice cream (which really hurt,) etc. Exercise became more frequent as well. I started making time to hike regularly again.

The weight was coming off but it was slow. Then in October 2018 I set a goal to lose 2 lbs a week. That's pretty tough but there are a few apps and other tools I use to help me stay on track and monitor my progress so I can lose the weight faster.

When I first got back into cycling, my legs were ready long before my seat was. Around the 25 minute mark, the ride was fine, but sitting on the bike was not. The fix was not complicated: a better saddle and a decent pair of padded shorts.

After swapping saddles and learning what actually matters for comfort, I could ride for hours and still feel like riding the next day. Below are three affordable saddles under $50 that I have personally used, plus a quick note on my Cannondale stock saddle for comparison.

I recently purchased the new rugged Kyocera Brigadier available from Verizon Wireless is a thoroughly kick-ass phone. It's a great phone for guys (and gals) who have to use their phone in extreme environments. It is built tough to military specs with a Sapphire front glass, is certified for use in hazardous (explosive) environments, can be used with gloves and can be submerged in up to 6 feet of water for 30 minutes. While it doesn't sport the fastest processor on the market, the 1.4Ghz Quadcore Qualcomm Snapdragon is nothing to sneeze at. Enterprise features, good quality cameras (front and rear), bright and clear display round out the features. If you mostly use your phone to check TMZ and post selfies to Instagram while you walk around the mall sipping your kale and acacia smoothie, maybe this isn't the phone for you. If you work hard and play hard and want a phone you can depend on. This is it. You can order the Kyocera Brigadier from Verizon online at Amazon.

More details below.

The Kyocera Brigadier is a new ultra rugged smartphone and will be available for sale at Verizon's online store starting July 31st and in stores a few days after that. Upgrade price will be $50.

Photo via @evleaks

I was on the phone with Verizon's customer support trying to find a new phone to upgrade to when the friendly voice on the other end mentioned a new phone coming from Kyocera that might fit in great with my active lifestyle. The Kyocera Brigadier.

Update: I decided to purchase the Brigadier, please see my Kyocera Brigadier Review for more details.

Little is known about the upcoming phone, even Verizon couldn't offer up much info. A few things I've been able to gather from my call and other sources are as follows.

I've tried a lot of different methods for cleaning moisture wicking shirts such as Dri-Fit and UnderArmour technical shirts based on blog and forum recommendations but I found that ProWash Activewear 2X Liquid Detergent is the best choice for me. Here are some tips on how I use ProWash to wash my workout clothes in the washing machine and by hand.

I use pro wash to clean pretty much all my workout clothes. Most of which are made of moisture wicking fabric. I love these shirts, especially in black, because I do a lot of exercising outdoors and these shirts don't show sweat.

ProWash is good on a wide variety of fabrics including moisture wicking fabrics, microfiber, lycra, spandex, fleece, polyester and even natural fabrics such as cotton and wool. ProWash is specially formulated to preserve the moisture wicking qualities of tech shirts like Dri-Fit. It works very well. Some of my shirts are a couple of years old and still wick and look as good as new. ProWash is also great at getting rid of perspiration stains and odors.

I spent an embarrasing amount of time trying to find a bike helmet that didn’t make my already large head look even bigger.

A couple of months ago I decided I should start wearing a bicycle helmet again. I ride casually and sometimes commute, and I wanted something that would actually look normal with regular clothes. Not neon. Not covered in racing graphics. Something that looked like a normal human might wear it.

After a week of research I ended up choosing the Giro Hex. It checked every box I had: matte black, good ventilation, compact shape, and a visor that helped it look more casual.

Unfortunately the Giro Hex is no longer widely available. If you want the closest modern equivalent today, it’s the Giro Fixture II MIPS, which keeps a similar style but adds updated safety technology.

Before I bought anything I also wrote about the general criteria I was using when looking for helmets that actually look decent on adults. If you want the bigger picture, that post is here: how to choose an adult bicycle helmet that looks good.

Because here’s the reality: if you hate how a helmet looks, you will mysteriously “forget” to wear it.

Blaze Headlight and Superflash Taillight

I've been on a few bike rides this summer that wound up being longer than expected or I got a later start than I had wanted and wound up bicycle riding at night. As the days are getting shorter, that could happen more frequently.

If I get tied up, I don't want to have to miss my after work bike ride because it's too dark.

To increase my safety when I ride my bicycle at night I decided to get a bicycle light set.

After checking out different bicycle lights and reading many reviews I decided to buy the Planet Bike Blaze 1-Watt Headlight and Superflash Taillight Combination Bicycle Light Set.

Read more for the bicycle light set review and video of Blaze 1Watt and SuperFlash at night.

A lot of people avoid wearing a bicycle helmet for one simple reason. They think it makes them look ridiculous.

I used to think the exact same thing. A bike helmet made my big head look even bigger, and every time I tried one on it felt like I was wearing a mushroom.

But if you ride on streets, trails, or commute by bike, eventually you start realizing something. Looking slightly dorky for an hour is a lot better than cracking your skull on pavement.

So the real question becomes this: can you actually find a helmet that doesn't make you look like a bobblehead?

I have such a hard time buying things without doing a lot of research. For months I've been meaning to buy a heart rate monitor for working out and bike riding but I couldn't settle on which one.

I didn't wan to spend a lot of money but I didn't want to get one that was useless. So many of the reviews for affordable heart rate monitor watches seem to be negative that I was very nervous about purchasing one.

The more expensive Polar Heart Rate Monitors seemed to be worth the money but I didn't want to spend that much.

The Omron HR-100C Heart Rate Monitor has over 700 good reviews and is only around $30 with free shipping and looked to be the watch I was going to get but this morning I saw a sale on the Timex T5J031 Unisex Digital Fitness Heart Rate Monitor Watch.

It lists for $100 but I saw it for $49 so I ordered it.

I liked the Timex because it has some extra features that the Omron didn't such as a calorimeter (calorie counter) and review. Most of the reviews also seemed to be favorable. Once I get it and put it through it's paces I'll add a full review but in case anyone reads this try and snag this great deal before it goes up again.

The Shake Weight Dumbbell looks ridiculous. There is really no way around that.

If you've ever seen the infomercial you probably had the same reaction I did. You laugh a little, maybe cringe a little, and then wonder if anyone actually buys this thing.

But the ads kept showing up for years, which made me curious. Products that stick around usually do so for a reason.

So I started digging into whether the Shake Weight actually works. What I found was more interesting than I expected, and honestly a little suprisingly reasonable.

When I decided to start getting back in shape, the first piece of equipment I wanted was a set of adjustable dumbbells.

The goal was simple: something compact enough to keep under my desk but flexible enough to handle curls, presses, rows, and other exercises without filling the room with a rack of weights.

After comparing a few options I ended up buying the Bayou Fitness 2 × 25 lb Adjustable Dumbbells.

After using them for a while, I learned a few things I wish I had known earlier.

Check current price on Amazon

The price of the P90X DVDs isn't so bad, but along with it, you'll need some equipment. It's not too bad, especially when you compare it with a typical gym membership.

But what if you were on a very tight budget and wanted to start the P90X program? How little can you actually get away with spending?

The normal P90X equipment consists of a set of dumbbells, an exercise/yoga mat and a pull up bar. Beachbody, the distributors of P90X, sell this equipment on their website. What they have is pretty pricey in some cases, but there are alternatives I'll review in the rest of this post.

"I'm not fat, but I'm not skinny." You've probably heard a lot of people say that and you might have said that yourself. From comparing the different people that have said it, you realize that people have a very distorted view of their own physical fitness.

If you want to have a good idea of where you stand, try computing your body mass index (BMI). If you have a normal weight, your BMI will be in the 18.5 - 24.9 range. 25-29.9 and you're overweight. Over 30, you're considered obese.

This is just a rough guide. If you were 6' tall and 250lbs but completely ripped, it wouldn't mean anything, but for most people, this should give you some idea of where you're at.

Even at my heaviest, I have never fallen into the obese category, but I could stand to lose a few lbs. I'm definitely overweight according to my BMI index. Now, I have two choices. I can gain 6 inches in height, or I can try and lose around 25lbs. I'm already tall enough and can't figure out how to get any taller, so I'm going to have to lose some weight.

This is one of the things I started to push myself to do and I'll use this blog as a record of my progress and things I learn along the way.