aliensporebomb

So I've been here on and off and had lost 60+ pounds back in 2004 where I went from 236 pounds to 165 or thereabouts.

I almost got lazy and complacent about it figuring I could always ride off any extra calories I ate, I was on weight watchers and figured I was covered.

The problem is, due to a variety of circumstances both my wife and myself were not able to ride as much - we both went thru a variety of health issues that stopped us in our tracks and because we weren't combating the caloric input with exercise we ballooned.

Just when it seemed inevitable that I'd need to stop riding my road bike (which had a 200 pound weight limit, purchased by design so that I wouldn't go over that limit) something happened - we were sitting in the waiting room at my chiropractors office and they had a book there we started reading and figured we'd try what was in the book.

The book is called "Sugar Busters".

I'd hit 206 pounds and said "enough of this!" and I decided to cut out processed sugar items and other foods that had a high glycemic index.

I lost 1.5 pounds the first week,
I lost 5.5 pounds the 2nd week,
I lost 3.5 pounds the 3rd week,
and so on....

I've been on this for nine or ten weeks now and I'm at 188.0 as of this morning and still dropping at a rate of about 2-3 pounds per week now.

The biggest problem is I've always had a sweet tooth. By cutting this out almost entirely I'm doing a couple of things: one, I'd learned to subsist on "treats" as a reward for stress as opposed to really being a "once in a while treat". So they weren't really "treats" anymore.

The regular breakfast, lunch and dinners I was eating was not what was making me balloon, it was the "in between" treats I was eating to "get by" at a stressful job.

The funny thing is, once I cut this stuff out, the stress became more manageable and I wasn't so wired on sugared snacks or caffeinated sodas or the like. My personality became more even too.

My wife actually found her body has responded as well or better than mine.

Anyone else try this? I recommend it to just try it out and see how your body responds.

wild animals

I work in special ed and we use "primary reinforcers" (i.e., candy) with our kids. And ourselves. But only when there's stress! (All the time.) So I've gained 20 pounds over the past six months. Stinks. I might pick up this book! I bet my mom has it already

Nola_Gal

I've definitely heard about it. The doctors who wrote it are from the New Orleans area. From what I understand, it predates but is very similar to South Beach. I've heard a lot of good things about it. I'm glad you're having such great success! Congrats!

aliensporebomb

Nola_Gal: Yes, they are from the NOLA area - they make mention of it a few times. We went down there on a trip and walked everywhere last year and had a lot of fun there.

Didn't get to ride at all though but noticed a lot of riders in the quarter and other areas we were.

Down to 186 this morning. Did a rather long ride getting groceries etc yesterday (HRM said 650+ calories expended).

Anti404

your situation is very similar to mine, except that I'd went from 260lbs--->160lbs--->210lbs(I'm about 6'1.5'') because I've been trying for a 3.75+GPA(3.975, after four semesters) as a Biology major, and because I have chronic back/leg pain I'd basically quit cycling.
I've now been averaging about 225min. at about 13mph per week the past three, and without really changing dieting I'm at about 205 now. but I just bought a new bike seat and I'm hoping to buy some new bibs to get more mileage in, while hopefully maintaining a better diet. what sucks about this is that I'm a vegetarian in an omnivorous household, so my meals are generally bleh and I snack on a bunch of random crap.
congratulations, hope to see you at lbs<200 soon!