Southern California - I've Lost 120 Pounds in a Year.

I have had quite a few people, both cyclists and non-cyclists, tell me I should discuss this with others, but my embarrassment over what I was has kept me from doing this.

At the beginning of 2006 I weighed approximately 305 pounds. I'm not sure exactly how much as I didn't weigh myself that often. Here's a picture of me at Christmas 2005.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/132/393170456_e253e840c8.jpg

Here's a more recent picture from February.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/177/391704256_8714c182e9.jpg

I lost the weight through a change in lifestyle prompted by health concerns. A friend of mine had a lot of success with gastric bypass, and I probably was a good candidate for it, but my fear of surgery and from the complications kept me from pursuing it. I now weight in the 185 range, plus or minus a few pounds which I seem to fluctuate due to the cycling.

I have started writing about this and am thinking that maybe I should post some of this here as I know there are some people that would like to lose a few pounds. I'm thinking that maybe I should post this in the Clydesdale forum, too.

What do you think?

John, I definitely think you should share your experience with others. It is a great motivation for people that want to do the same thing.

Lifestyle change is something that is very difficult and the only way most people will start a change is from the inspiration of others that have done it and show what types of changes can occur.

I too was up there in weight when I got back into cycling after a hiatus in 2004. I dropped 80 pounds in 8-9 months (From 250 to 170).

The cycling was only part of the positive results, the lifestyle change was the paramount part.

You can ride until the cows come home, but if you don't eat (which includes recovery) and exercise right in tandem, the results won't be seen.

HOLY ASSOS BATMAN!
Great job... you look hot. Yes definitely post it, you're an inspiration.

I have had quite a few people, both cyclists and non-cyclists, tell me I should discuss this with others, but my embarrassment over what I was has kept me from doing this.

At the beginning of 2006 I weighed approximately 305 pounds. I'm not sure exactly how much as I didn't weigh myself that often. Here's a picture of me at Christmas 2005.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/132/393170456_e253e840c8.jpg

Here's a more recent picture from February.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/177/391704256_8714c182e9.jpg

I lost the weight through a change in lifestyle prompted by health concerns. A friend of mine had a lot of success with gastric bypass, and I probably was a good candidate for it, but my fear of surgery and from the complications kept me from pursuing it. I now weight in the 185 range, plus or minus a few pounds which I seem to fluctuate due to the cycling.

I have started writing about this and am thinking that maybe I should post some of this here as I know there are some people that would like to lose a few pounds. I'm thinking that maybe I should post this in the Clydesdale forum, too.

What do you think?
Come on over to Clydes! Another success story always helps. I'm speaking as someone who has lost 352 pounds and literally come back from deaths door!
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o260/TomStormcrowe/Project1.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o260/TomStormcrowe/FatPants004.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o260/TomStormcrowe/Cardinal%20Greenway%20and%20other%20rides/CardinalGreenway005.jpg

Hey John!!
As I was telling you yesterday, your story is amazing! You should definately share it.
It is very inspiring!! In fact Laura said she was going to share it with her class.
Great job John, I bet one year ago you would never have imagined that you would be getting ready to
ride you first DOUBLE century!!
You look GREAT John!!

Karen :)

Dang JP!......I had no idea. That's great!
As far as cycling, I think you're only going to get better. You were already flying up that mountain yesterday......good job! :)

It is an incredible story, and incredibly inspirational. Cycling has created so many stories like this, but (tragically/ridiculously) you'll never see them make the news like gastric bypass.

One random question: rapid and large weight loss like yours and Tom's clearly outpace the skin's ability to shrink-to-fit. How much of a lag is there -- that is, how long was it before the skin was able to catch up?

It is an incredible story, and incredibly inspirational. Cycling has created so many stories like this, but (tragically/ridiculously) you'll never see them make the news like gastric bypass.

One random question: rapid and large weight loss like yours and Tom's clearly outpace the skin's ability to shrink-to-fit. How much of a lag is there -- that is, how long was it before the skin was able to catch up?
My skin won't, I need to have a lot removed. I will be looking at it as a rather large donation to the tissue bank for someones graft they need.

By the way, for the record, I did have bypass surgery. I was to the point I would have died without it.

JP: Kudos for doing it w/out surgery!

It was good to meet you yesterday, John, and congratulations on the weight loss. Keith, who was there yesterday, has also lost about 130 pounds, and is now finishing first in double centuries

for the record, I did have bypass surgery. I was to the point I would have died without it.

Tom -- for the record -- I did not mean to belittle or disparage gastric bypass. There are clearly cases where it is the best option (and a miraculous savior). But you knew that. :)

Awesome story - what a great accomplishment!!! Kudos to you and the inspiration it provides to many others that come your way

Wow. I met you at Applebees before Stagecoach and had no idea. Congratulations.

You look like a totally different person John; and Tom...wow. My hat is off to you sirs. Very inspiring.

John you stud you! That's awesome!

I used to ride "a lot" (a lot for most people, but not much compared to all you studs) and hovered in the 260-280 range. I stopped cycling in 2004 for various reasons. Last July I reached 299. It scared the piss out of me and I refound my bike in the garage, waiting for me with patience. I couldn't ride the damn thing 10 miles and quite frankly, was embarrassed to ride the thing. Too many painful memories of hills I used to own that I couldn't even do without stopping and/or walking.

I spent a couple months in the gym doing spin classes and elliptical machines and dropped about 15 pounds. I managed to get my rides up to 30-40 relatively flat miles (think PCH) with some amount of pain.

Last Saturday, I finished my first century and was down 50 pounds. Today I did 30 miles on PCH & a good bit of Latigo as a recovery ride. Hoping to join you as an ex clyde by this December when I plan on kicking bloat ride butt.

You should post your story in the clyde forum. It's a good community over there that I frequent. Success stories are alway appreciated. Good on ya!

man, that is AWESOME. i have a friend who weighs in the 400lb. neighborhood, and he only recently started going to the gym. i hope he's able to have the same success as you guys.
just curious..at about what weight did you start getting on the bike?

congratulations, guys. that's amazing stuff.

Congratulations. I did exactly the same thing in 2004. One day I decided to pull myself together and went from 305 in February to 180 in October. It wasn't easy but it was definitely worth it.

I was 285-290 when I started my adult cycling life back in 02. I started with a Trek 520 which lasted me til I could go for longer distances and the fit problems started showing. Send your friend to the Clyde forum if he's got a mind to start cycling. They're great with the getting started advice, though it typically boils down to: "get good solid wheels."

yeah, that's what i figured. the main problem for him is the cash issue. and when i say he has a cash issue, i mean he has none of it. and when i say none, i mean none.
i've offered several times to chip in some money for a bike, but he always refuses. funny..he never turns down a beer or two:rolleyes:

If he can keep going the gym, he'll probably do as well as or better than he would on a bike for quite a while. Elliptical machines worked wonders for me up to a point. All it really takes to lose weight is motivation, goals and some sort of plan. Cutting out the beer helps, in fact, it helps a lot.

dang dude, i had no idea!!!! after riding with you at mardi gras i just kind of assumed youd been riding for years and were at yer (for lack of a better phrase...) normal size...amazing and inspirational! cant wait to whip solvangs a$$ with you later this month!!!!

he's easily discouraged if he doesn't feel like he's making any progress. i guess that could be part of the problem, too. and when he does give up(which seems pretty frequent), he always pulls the "i was just born to be fat, dude. my whole family is that way" card. i wish there was something i could do to help motivate him to stick with it.

Wow! Great job!

I applaud you sir, you should share your story with others. Its awesome seeing stuff like this.

Keep up the great lifestyle and enjoy life. Goodspeed

John, I definitely think you should share your experience with others. It is a great motivation for people that want to do the same thing.

Lifestyle change is something that is very difficult and the only way most people will start a change is from the inspiration of others that have done it and show what types of changes can occur.

I too was up there in weight when I got back into cycling after a hiatus in 2004. I dropped 80 pounds in 8-9 months (From 250 to 170).

The cycling was only part of the positive results, the lifestyle change was the paramount part.

You can ride until the cows come home, but if you don't eat (which includes recovery) and exercise right in tandem, the results won't be seen.

The weight loss for me started with changing my diet, it wasn't until I was down to 250 or so that I dusted off my old bike and started riding. I was swimming more, initially, than riding as I was worried that I was too big for my bike and the swimming was the easiest thing for me to do at the time. I figured that if I got too tired, I didn't have to worry about sinking! :o

Good job on the weight loss yourself, I never would've suspected it.

HOLY ASSOS BATMAN!
Great job... you look hot. Yes definitely post it, you're an inspiration.

:o

When I look in the mirror I still see the heavy person looking back, I guess it's still part of a remnant poor self-image. But comments like yours help! :D

Come on over to Clydes! Another success story always helps. I'm speaking as someone who has lost 352 pounds and literally come back from deaths door!

You're part of the reason I've thought about posting this, I had seen your posts about weightloss and diabetes. I was diagnosed with type 2 a year ago, all the years of abusing my body had caught up with me. Kaiser, my HMO, gave me a glucometer, which I started using religiously, and sent me to two of their classes for diabetics, one on diet, the other on all the nasty complications. It was the monitoring of my glucose, along with the knowledge of what was to come (during a hospitalization earlier my roommate was a diabetic and was about to lose his foot) that convinced me to change my lifestyle. Surprisingly for me, I found it to be easier (not easy, just easier than I thought it would be) to do. I was the person that always had to use real butter, real milk, real soda, none of this low fat, low cal, low carb, food. Never did I think I'd be able to give that up.

I did, though, and after a couple weeks of rewarding myself in the evening because I had been good that day, I started to really stick with what I should've been eating all along, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Now, I really enjoy my diet, and really look forward to my simplistic, but wholesome meals.

I started writing a blog about this stuff here --> http://www.conradstudios.com/wordpress/?p=5 I'm sure some of it will be similar to your experience.

Hey John!!
As I was telling you yesterday, your story is amazing! You should definately share it.
It is very inspiring!! In fact Laura said she was going to share it with her class.
Great job John, I bet one year ago you would never have imagined that you would be getting ready to
ride you first DOUBLE century!!
You look GREAT John!!

Karen :)


Thanks Karen, I still have my concerns that I'm not ready for Solvang, but I'm gonna try! You, Laura, and M.E. were part of the reason I finally came forward and posted this today.

Dang JP!......I had no idea. That's great!
As far as cycling, I think you're only going to get better. You were already flying up that mountain yesterday......good job! :)

I wouldn't call it flying, but I'll try not to sandbag. :)

Thanks George, I don't know why but whenever someone says they had noidea I'm always surprised.

My skin won't, I need to have a lot removed. I will be looking at it as a rather large donation to the tissue bank for someones graft they need.

By the way, for the record, I did have bypass surgery. I was to the point I would have died without it.

JP: Kudos for doing it w/out surgery!

I have some skin issues, too, but it's starting to subside more. The Assos holds it in well, though. ;)

Health wise, I think surgery was going to become an option pretty quickly for me, and I would've looked into it more if I didn't have a fear of the procedure. My friend who had it done had some bad complications, and while he lost a lot of weight he had problems eating that kind of scared me. If I wasn't successful with my dietary changes, though, I'm sure I would've pursued it myself.

WOW! What a wonderful journey you've been on! Congratulations on your perserverance, well done!

AND, I'm right there with Happytime, you definately look HOT! ;)

The weight loss for me started with changing my diet, it wasn't until I was down to 250 or so that I dusted off my old bike and started riding. I was swimming more, initially, than riding as I was worried that I was too big for my bike and the swimming was the easiest thing for me to do at the time. I figured that if I got too tired, I didn't have to worry about sinking! :o

Good job on the weight loss yourself, I never would've suspected it.


Awesome read on your Blog John... You have come a long way and more importantly you are once again in good health.

congratulations to tom and jp and all of you that have come this far. outstanding! :beer:

Jp, Tom - awesome story and congratulations on the weight loss and living a healthier life. :beer:

In the summer of '04 I weighed 244 lbs. I started weight lifting and fitness walking and later took up pilates (I didn't really get serious about it until last year though). 1.5 years later I was down to and holding steady at 190 lbs. Last January I fixed up my huffy mountain bike that had been sitting in the garage for over 10 years. After one ride I was completely hooked on cycling and 2 months later I bought a "real" bike.

Last year was the first year I can remember in a long time that I was able to keep my weight at or below 185. My lung capacity has greatly increased, I went 10 months without getting sick, the headaches I would get in cool/cold weather disappeared, and my struggles with depression/anxiety have improved as well. It's amazing what riding a bike can do. :D

Tom -- for the record -- I did not mean to belittle or disparage gastric bypass. There are clearly cases where it is the best option (and a miraculous savior). But you knew that. :)
I knew that! :D No worries! I'm just impressed with the fact that you did it nonsurgically, which is always the optimum solution if you are able to do it. If you can't, then of course, it's there as a tool, but that's all it is.....a tool and your long term results are still up to you!;)

WOW! That's impressive. There are several stories on BF of people taking control of their lives through cycling - and each one is exciting to read. I lost 50 lbs last year (going from 240 to 190)....with cycling the biggest part of my effort. Over winter I've gone back up to 195 or so, but with the spring cycling season getting under way, I plan to push for my last 20, getting down to 175. Stories like yours are inspiring!

:o

When I look in the mirror I still see the heavy person looking back, I guess it's still part of a remnant poor self-image. But comments like yours help! :D


John, the self-image thing is almost a completely different thing from the weight loss reality. It's a mental thing that's as tough to overcome as anything, so don't beat yourself up over it. It'll come as you start feeling more secure in your own skin (no pun intended).

I wear a size 0 and I still look in the mirror sometimes and feel fat and disgusting. However, the more I train for specific race goals the more I've come to value performance over appearance. And even though I'm a few pounds more than my "fighting weight" right now, I am more at ease with my body image than ever before. Turning 40 is a big eye-opener, as it almost a tacit pemission to say FU to silly, media-driven notions of weight and size. Like I said, the day will come when you will see YOU in the mirror.

BTW, your weight loss is the equivalent of me + one large Thanksgiving turkey with stuffing. Amazing.

...AND, I'm right there with Happytime, you definately look HOT! ;)


We'll have to fight over which one of us gets to put a razor to those legs first! ;)

(We'll just have to decide soon before M.E. wakes up and gets a load of this thread)

Congrats!! I lost quite a bit of weight myself. The one thing I have noticed is how much better you feel in the morning when you wake up.

Awesome! :beer: If you hadn't told me about it when we rode together, I would have never guessed that you used to weigh so much more.

Impressive.
Congrats ot both of you for the perseverance it takes to continue on
the path to better health and weight loss.

Continued success!
See you the trail!!

Unbelievable...you look great!

Incredible! It is inspiring to read stories like yours. I went from 263 to my current weight of 205 in about 10 months. Six of them have been on the bike. Thanks for posting.:D

Well done!

I went from 225 to 165 in a year or so. Since I've started cycling, I've gained 20 pounds. :rolleyes:

Congrats!

I also lost around 100 LBS in about 18 months, but I did it through the elliptical machine, lifting weights and running. I did not get back in to cycling until I lost the weight. I have noticed that my legs are leaner and look a lot better since I started riding again. The "after" photo below was taken before I got back on the bike.

Despite having ridden over 5000 miles since last July, my weight has stayed the same. I'd really like to get down to 180, but can't seem to. My body fat % is a decent 13%. One thing I noticed is that I have a hard time swimming now, I sink like a rock when I get in the pool now.

I have the loose skin issues and I am going to give it another year of cycling to see if I can make an improvement. If not, I might to get the loose skin removed and make a skin graft donation as Tom puts it. Hey I live in the plastic surgery capital of the world, and my Dad even offered to pay for the surgery since he is so proud of me. I am kind of freaked out about the surgery since I heard it is painful, so I really want to keep working out and clean up my diet more and see if I can avoid it.

I agree with the OP, the Assos holds it in well for me, too.

My metabolism is much better now, as well. I just got off a cruise to Mexico on Saturday, did not excersize at all, ate like a total pig drank tons of beer and did not gain a pound. I got off the ship at 8am, drove home, unpacked and rode my bike through PV back to San Pedro from my house near LAX, just to see the ship one more time before it set sail for Mexico again.

http://www.davidcaren.com/images/DCbeforeafter.jpg

I've already told you how impressed I am, John. I'm glad you shared on here as what you've done is very inspiring. :)

Many inspiring stories in this thread! Thank you for sharing.

Many inspiring stories in this thread! Thank you for sharing.

Your turn!

Congrats! I like to see people who are self motivated and make a difference for themselves. Sharing is probably a good outlet for you and good inspiration for others.

I've already told you how impressed I am, John. I'm glad you shared on here as what you've done is very inspiring. :)

Thanks, Mary, it was speaking with you about this initially that helped me get up the courage to start sharing it with others.:) It seems silly, really, that I was embarrassed about talking about it.

Your turn!

:eek: Not again... mine's buried deep in the long ass thread. Just where I like it! :p