rideorglide

Eloquently put Mr. Ms. or Mrs. Masque

And you are paying five quid for a bar of quality cacao content Choc -- blooming' 'eck! about $3.99 for a Ghirardelli dark chocolate (72%-86%) bar here and I thought that was expensive, even less if it's on sale.

rideorglide

Yes, it's one of the frequent plusses of cycling, feeling stoked or more likely a good dose of dopamine after a ride ... I have a sneaking suspicion it's why a lot of us do it (I am being Capt. Obvious here) as the first few miles can sometimes be more akin to torture than pleasure.

GZ99

Sometimes, before a ride, I will feel like I don't want to start... But usually after the first mile I don't want to stop. My longest ride this year so far was just over 10 miles. I plan on beating that as soon as I have a free day off of work.

And sugar is the enemy.

ChrisZog

When I started cycling I enjoyed it once I was outside. But my wife had to drag me out nearly every time. And half the time she'd ask I'd come up with an excuse. We upgraded from mountain to comfort bikes (at least they were modern so alloy so a bit lighter and they were new so they were nicely tuned up ) and she'd still have to drag me but less often. There was a point where I crossed the threshold and now I'm dragging her. I wake up at 6 and ask "Want to go today?!". On group rides I try and push for a longer route... or just join more rides. I just got crazy and helped convince her (and me) to upgrade the routes on our next 2 charity rides. We were planning 30 in July but we opted for 45. We were planning 50 in October but are doing a different ride (60 in Petrified Forest which happens to fall around her birthday). And we are probably going to sign up for a 70 on Halloween. Here's to hoping that I'm down to road bike weight soon. Otherwise these 50+ rides in the hills may kill me

So that feeling of "can't wait... want to cycle" is sneaky. But it catches up with most of us. My favorite is that feeling of my muscles being good and tired. Not sore. Not sharp pain. Just that content muscle fatigue that comes from a distance ride or doing intervals (but not quite overdoing).

Edit: I don't really hate sugar. I hate food where the calories add up fast without being noticed. I always call them calorie dense. Something that is filling and dense is fine by me. I start most days with oatmeal (1/3C steel cut oats, 1C unsweetened almost milk, 1-2tbsp maple syrup, 1-2tbsp golden raisins because I hate the red ones, pinch of salt, 1/3C water, and some diced fruit... usually 100-150g frozen strawberries). It's got quite a bit of carbs but for 400-550 calories I can feel full late into the day. Now take another high carb meal... pasta salad. That stuff I can eat a huge portion and an hour later I'm hungry again. It'd be easy for me to take in 3k-4k calories of that stuff if I was not careful. So I simply don't make it anymore. One huge advantage this time... when I was juice fasting I gave up pop cold turkey. I have not had any in about 3 and a half years (well maybe a bit of tonic or Sprite as a mixer but the last time I tried to drink soda straight it tasted awful). I used to drink a 2L of Coke most days. That's 800 calories of sugar I'm not drinking. Limiting myself to 2070 calories (at least as of today) when 800 comes from nonfilling pop would be a pain in the butt. I'll take my 5-10 calories per day from black coffee instead!

Gnosis

Keep at it billiamUK and the pounds can melt away as you enjoy bicycling.

Weight loss via dieting has always been a lost cause for me, but bicycling over the last 4 years (and 8,176 miles) has shaved off nearly 50-pounds and now I can eat as pleases me because my metabolism has sped up incredibly! I just turned 59-years-old recently.

Just this past Sunday I reached a new low body weight, 161.8 pounds, which is just 2.8 pounds overweight for my 5’ 7” height via BMI calculators. I haven’t been this lightweight since I was in the U.S. Army at age 19!

Needless to say, I love bicycling and have commuted exclusively via bicycle for the last 4 years. I never even think of driving my car or motorcycles.

TerraCottaGamer

Yeah mate - that feeling is normal and I took/take it as an indicator that I am addicted to cycling. So I guess it is better to say that it is normal for those of us that truly love the sport.

Glad you are doing well with it.

My suggestion would be that overtime you slowly begin to integrate more changes into your diet. Maybe consider using a food tracking app and start in on that.

Being religious about tracking food is the number one reason I am losing weight. Cycling is number two but in my opinion it is a distant two. I say that because the first month of my weight loss journey was without any exercise at all - only food tracking. And I have not ridden in over a month now due to some health issues. (Doc is indicating that maybe I can start back in next week). Yet even without the exercise I am losing weight - due solely to food tracking.

I am down from 170kg to 140kg in the last 6 months.

So that is my thoughts and it really sounds to me like you have the cycling bug. Welcome to the club.

TerraCottaGamer

Also.....RE sugar as the enemy - totally agree - good chocolate in moderation can be lovely.

But as bad as sugar is......high fructose corn syrup makes it positively benign. HFCS will destroy you and you would be surprised as to how many foods contain that nasty juice of the devil.

billiamUK

Well the good news is this is still working I'm down another 2.1 Kilos in 2 weeks to 133.5kg giving me a total loss in roughly 4 weeks 11/04/2015 to 09/05/2015 4.5 kg! Not only that but the bike that i brought 3 years ago and sat in my front room for 2 years is in regular use now, I'm faster and more confident on my bike and unlike every other exercise (except swimming when there's no one around to judge) I'm enjoying riding and getting fitter doing so.

Finally I'm planning a little reward at the shops tomorrow with a bar of that high quality chocolate you keep on mentioning. Thanks to everyone fr the advice and Encouragement It means a lot and has helped as well

billiamUK

Hi there Terracottagamer,

I've been using myfitnesspal as my central tracker and a fitbit activity band since i started this for both the gadget chic and because I wasn't being honest about my food intake. Congratulation on your weight loss as well that is awesome to see and yeah cycling is great and just a really nice way to travel as well as exercise.
@Gnosis I'm hoping that by July/August I'll be up for the 8 mile commute to work as long as i can scout a safe route

billiamUK

down another kilo this week I also found a nice little bike park/cafe/cyclist community hub called popup bikes in my hometown

billiamUK

well in 51 days I've lost 1 stone 3 pounds. I'm feeling pretty happy with myself and more and more keen on using my bike just to get around each time I do I just think of the extra pounds im loosing and it feels great.

Willbird

Very good :-).

GZ99

Very well done indeed! 17lbs is not a number to cough at!

I have been using a tracking app on my phone to keep track of my caloric intake and it's been helping me. Since I started tracking my calories last week I have dropped 9lbs. Yesterday I consumed about 2200 calories and (according to the app) burned off just about the same marking my first even day. Most days I am less active I consume between 800 and 1000 net calories. Trying to train myself to eat more when I am active and less when I am inactive. It's been working for me, so I felt I wanted to pass it along.

billiamUK

just a quick update after 100 days (which was Saturday) I've lost 2 stone 2 pounds (30 pounds or 13 kilograms). It's starting to have a noticeable affect as well I'll have to start buying smaller clothes soon as even with belts by trousers are getting a bit roomy

PatrickR400

Wow! That is pretty nice considering that you probably gained a fair bit of heavy muscles.

dr_lha

Congrats. I was out yesterday buying new clothes as my wife told me all my shirts were looking baggy on me. Now I'm down to XL from XXL! Of course, that's a USA XL, so still pretty big.

Nikon shooter

Congrats on your progress so far. I always feel fantastic when I finish a ride and usually feel like I could have done a little more. I love that feeling and it's one of the reasons I ride.