Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - I have a question or two for the Clydes and Athenas!

OK, here goes:

1) Were you able to start losing weight only after you started to believe you could?

2) Same question, related to cycling distance, were you able to start stacking up the miles only when you started to believe in your ability to do so?

Please give me your best honest answers!:D

Hold on and let me set up the Poll before you start to answer!

GAAAH, I messed up the poll!

enter it as follows then!

1) Yes or no
2) Yes or No

In the comments and I'll tabulate the results with excel!

huh?

Does belief affect outcome? That's what it's about, Dex!

Were you able to achieve weight loss or mileage only after you believed you could do it?

Weight loss ocurred in truth after I figured out how - then I got the confidence I needed. Riding farther happened because I lose track of the time.. and end up very far from home and have to get back somehow. :eek:

I was only able to lose weight after I quit shovelling so much food and beer to the infinite vortex that is my stomach.
I always believed I could lose weight, but even riding farther didn't cut it for me because I'd still pound down the empty calories. It wasn't until I adjusted my diet that I started losing weight.

I don't think I can answer. As a former athlete (okay...not really...just a football player through high school & college), I've always been active and never had any problems doing anything I thought I could. In a nutshell, I've always believed. The issue for me was always desire.

Tom, I gotta say, I never thought I couldn't do it. It was just a matter of I would/wouldn't do it.

I think smoking (or dope) may be more like what you are (I think) hinting at. Food is a grey, not a b&w.

You eat some (loose weight), you eat enough (maintain), you eat to much (you gain.) The hard part is there is no possible, "you eat none." You can't just decide, I'm quiting food, like you can with smokes.

Well,m thus far it still supports my thesis, just in a different direction than I thought. Volition still affected the outcome.

OK, let's modify the question then:
Did self motivation activate the changes you've made in your lives and how much actually did the motivation affect your outcomes?

Did the motivation come from within or did you get motivation from elsewhere to effect the changes?

Does that clarify a bit on what I'm looking for?

Oh...well that's a different story then :) Motivation is everything.

I was quite happy rumbling along in my state of ignorance. Then the doctor told me my blood pressure was high!! Wha..!!!??? My blood pressure is never high!! Even as big as I am!! Impossible!! So I got angry. Told myself to start riding again. Weight loss was actually a side effect of getting healthier cardiovascularly.

Of course, I am of the opinion that motivation is always internal by definition. What we might think of as external motivation is only stimuli that sets off our own motivation. Either to escape an adverse condition or to create a good result.

No and no for me. My weight (I'm 6'4" and have varied between 215 and 270 several times in the last 20 years) has never been a puzzle or a mystery: I like to eat, and sometimes do it too much. Same with riding--if I ride a lot of miles, I get in a lot of miles. If I sit on my butt, I don't.
I don't mean to sound snarky, but I'm not sure what you're looking for here. I believe I can lose weight if I eat less and exercise more (I've done it a dozen times). I believe if I spend more time on the bike, I'll ride more miles. I don't look deeper than that because I don't think there IS deeper than that.

Ironically I haven't started to lose weight: I have lost some inches(2) in my gut. My legs have gained some definition, so my weight has just transferred from one part of my body to the other.

Beer, cheese, fried chicken and hamburgers have stalled my weight loss for some dog-gone reason!

No and no for me. My weight (I'm 6'4" and have varied between 215 and 270 several times in the last 20 years) has never been a puzzle or a mystery: I like to eat, and sometimes do it too much. Same with riding--if I ride a lot of miles, I get in a lot of miles. If I sit on my butt, I don't.
I don't mean to sound snarky, but I'm not sure what you're looking for here. I believe I can lose weight if I eat less and exercise more (I've done it a dozen times). I believe if I spend more time on the bike, I'll ride more miles. I don't look deeper than that because I don't think there IS deeper than that.
I don't take it as snarky, it's an honest response!:D I just have a very strong interest in the connection to motivation, belief and behavioral change. I should point out that I am a Psychology major after all!:p

Ironically I haven't started to lose weight: I have lost some inches(2) in my gut. My legs have gained some definition, so my weight has just transferred from one part of my body to the other.

Beer, cheese, fried chicken and hamburgers have stalled my weight loss for some dog-gone reason!
Well, you're healthier as well! Better CV health, and better wind, so it's still a net positive gain for ya!:p

I never believe that I would continue riding after my first 4.7 mile ride on June 1, 2006. I never felt so bad in my life, my legs all wobbly, sweating so bad you'd thought it was raining, but then I came back in the air conditioned comfort of my house and looked at the physical results I had the day before and staring back at me: Weight 375. :eek: I then look at my wife and said, "Today is only the beginning", 70 lbs later I know I can lose another 90 to get to my goal weight of 215. Then I will work to get to Emiritus Status :D . So, if it takes longer rides and better eating, I am better discipline today than I was on May 31st, 2006 and I will get there.

I never believe that I would continue riding after my first 4.7 mile ride on June 1, 2006. I never felt so bad in my life, my legs all wobbly, sweating so bad you'd thought it was raining, but then I came back in the air conditioned comfort of my house and looked at the physical results I had the day before and staring back at me: Weight 375. :eek: I then look at my wife and said, "Today is only the beginning", 70 lbs later I know I can lose another 90 to get to my goal weight of 215. Then I will work to get to Emiritus Status :D . So, if it takes longer rides and better eating, I am better discipline today than I was on May 31st, 2006 and I will get there.
That sounds like a definitive yes to all aspects of my questions then!:D You are doing a great job, by the way!:D

That sounds like a definitive yes to all aspects of my questions then!:D You are doing a great job, by the way!:D

Thanks.

Well,m thus far it still supports my thesis, just in a different direction than I thought. Volition still affected the outcome.

OK, let's modify the question then:
Did self motivation activate the changes you've made in your lives and how much actually did the motivation affect your outcomes?

Did the motivation come from within or did you get motivation from elsewhere to effect the changes?

Does that clarify a bit on what I'm looking for?

I started losing weight when I was diagnosed with diabetes. Frankly, it scared the hell out of me. This provided the initial motivation to fix the way I eat (serving size and composition). After 6 months or so the fear went away, I had lost 70 lbs and the blood sugar was under control without meds using diet only.

As the fear subsided, my fanatical focus on my diet decreased and I started to drift back up in weight regaining about 15 lbs. At that time I started riding and refocused my efforts and have now made it back to my low point.

Motivation, for me at least, is key to success for the weight loss.

Riding distance I'm not really sure of. I started off barely being able to ride a mile and spent the next 3 days feeling like Vlad the Impaler had come to visit. I have slowly increased the distance using a schedule rather than how I feel (keep the distance the same for a week, then increase 10% for the following week.) The steady progression has been satifying, though being sick for the past month has put a damper on it. If you asked me if I could ride a century this weekend, the answer would be no. If you asked me if I eventually will ride a century, I would say yes.

To recap, motivation is required for me to succeed at losing weight, determination is what works for increasing riding distance.

Does that answer your question Tom?

I've never given it a thought because I don't worry about my weight. As long as I am healthy and can do the things I want to do physically, weight is just a number.

IMO, believing you can lose weight is not the problem, everyone can, lose weight - the problem is believing that you can lose weight, in other words having confidence in your own determination and grit to meet your goals. If you want to do it, you can do it.

My brother once told me something that I think is the key to weight loss. You have to have a reason to want to lose weight. Seems simple doesn't it? I took up rock climbing and MTB - not as much for the excercise, but to have something I loved that I couldn't do easily carrying around a half a person. To achieve my goals in rock climbing, I lost weight.

Now, I keep my weight down because I don't want to suffer going up and down the hills - I love cycling hills, and I don't want an anchor holding me back.

Also, above 210, I have heartburn. I don't like heartburn. There are foods I can't eat above 210 - but now that I am at 191 (and still dropping), there is nothing off limits! Just the amounts which is true for nearly everyone.

Anytime I think I am doing super well and don't have to think about my remaining few pounds I deliberately find someone who is more fit than me to go out with. As you improve, you have to keep raising the bar. I am amazed how high the bar is now. :D

Well, thus far then, the consensus is that you do have to change the paradigm to succeed!

Yes....belief..has something to do with it but not all of it in my opinion..

The secong part I am not sure about....

Well - sometimes the paradigm is imposed - I have heard famine works very well for weight loss...

Well - sometimes the paradigm is imposed - I have heard famine works very well for weight loss...

I've had great results over the years with pancreaitis, broken jaw and getting shot. :p YMMV

Witness my bariatric surgery, another imposed paradigm....self imposed even!

Well,m thus far it still supports my thesis, just in a different direction than I thought. Volition still affected the outcome.

OK, let's modify the question then:
Did self motivation activate the changes you've made in your lives and how much actually did the motivation affect your outcomes?

Did the motivation come from within or did you get motivation from elsewhere to effect the changes?

Does that clarify a bit on what I'm looking for?My personal method is to let external factors motivate me to do what I wanted to do already...

For example, I had wanted to quit smoking for a while but... well, it just isn't fun to quit. Then my niece was born six years ago and I decided I never wanted to be Uncle Hambone-the-stinky-one. So, I swore off cigarettes the day she was born, told everyone I knew, and have never had a puff since. When my first son was born I swore off smoking everything else.

I've decided to loose weight and all but I have not yet sworn to be/stay thin. It is kind of a mind thing for me, but once I swear, it is done and that is more pressure than I'm ready for. I'm kind of enjoying loosing weight slowly right now.

I can't lose any weight (not that I don't have any to lose, I just haven't had much luck with that venture so far,) so I have to go with "ride further."

This might change if I end up believing I can lose weight, and end up doing so :(

Meanwhile, I'm trying to ride more and eat a bit healthier without getting on the scale much. With any luck that will keep it from feeling frustrating, and allow me to focus on getting some joy from the wretched slow ****** winter base I'm trying to get built at the moment.

Having been off the bike for 2 years (got hit by a car and was gun shy), my weight balloned up to 275 and I knew I had to do something. I have a nearly dead metabolism and have to take thyroid meds to jump start it daily. I bought my bent in April of 06 and rode 1300 miles till November when the weather got really crappy. I dropped 31 pounds, and went from a 48 inch waist to a 42. I have to say that the BF was a big factor in the weight loss, along with the riding. I learned some really good tips on food to eat before and after the rides, what to eat during the rides...etc..

Unfortunately when I stopped riding outside, I gained 15 pounds back. I bought a trainer (again with help from the forum) and have started to loose the weight again (6 pounds now since I bought the trainer). I am trying to be more disciplined when it comes to portions. I have cut back on the alcohol, sweets and diet sodas. My goal is to drop 60 pounds by my birthday next January.

My motivation has been the fact that I hate the way I look, and I want to get off the meds (high blood pressure and Cholesterol). I have never thought I couldn't loose the weight, just needed to get off my $%^ and exercise.

I used to ride until I had a minor knee injury, bought a new house and got a puppy all in about 1.5 years. That knocked all the motivation out of me.

After getting the house in order, and the puppy raised to a 2 year old, I realized my weight ballooned back to 299, and was back to drinking waaaayyy too much. At 37, I kind of felt like it was now or never with the weight. I doubt that's true, but it motivated me.

I started going to the gym in late august, but to be honest, the bike was daunting me. I got on once early on and could barely ride 10 miles. Having been able to ride 50-60 miles regularly before the injury, I just didn't want to think about the bike, too sad.

After a couple of months, I got bored of the gym and got back to the bike at about 285. In November, I started up with TnT. I've since logged nearly 1,000 miles and dropped another 25 pounds, I have maybe 2 glasses of wine a week, and eat more salad than I know what to do with.

I honestly never worried/thought about my weight. I am 6'4 and always blamed my height for my weight. Working a desk job for 3 years with a food court though I was definitly over weight/out of shape. I would go through times where I would work out for a week, and then not again for months. You really don't get any results in a week, and you tend to believe its not worth it or not going to happen.

So I quit my job, took off to Europe for a month, and when I got back bought a bike. That was Nov 15th of last year, and even though its freezing cold here, I have dropped nearly 20lbs.


To answer your original question, the gym is boring, and losing weight is alot of work. It is easy to get discouraged, just look at all the people who signed up after new years at the gym, and how many do not go. I was one of those people off and on for years until I truely dedicated myself and started to believe it was worth it/possible.
So yes, I didn't lose any weight until I started thinking I really could, and making a plan to do it.