Issh

My wife and I have decided to take up biking to lose weight and get in shape. She has had a knee replacement and we believe biking will be easier on her knee. We have bought 2 Schwinn Midmoor bikes, helmets etc. We will be dieting also. Wish us luck!

PJCB

First things first, congrats on taking charge and making the positive action step to change your life for the better. Biking is a super beginner-friendly activity/lifestyle/addiction, couldn't have chose a better one.

Second, please please please PLEASE consider your eating habits as a lifestyle change, rather than a diet. If you have the mindset that you are dieting, your results (mental and physical) will dissipate faster than you imagine. Change your lifestyle: do research, see doctors, nutritionists, etc and figure out what is going to be most beneficial to you. I'm going to leap here and make the assumption that you and your wife are middle-aged: if so, this is going to be hard. Really, really hard. You've spent 30+ years living one way, and you are about to make a 180 degree change (at least I hope). My advice: stick with it. Knowledge is your friend. Eat intuitively. Focus on the nutritional value of your food: what it does for you vs how it makes you feel.

I am hoping for your success, and that you see/feel what makes us all here addicted to this amazing lifestyle

Want any more info/advice? Let me know.

Bluish Green

Good luck, I hope it goes great for you. My wife and I are doing something similar. A few months ago my doctor gave me a challenge to lose weight to get my blood pressure down and health better. I started working the treadmill at the gym, but it was getting hard on my knees due to the impact. I tried commuting to work on my wife's bicycle (and shortly thereafter got a new bike for me) and found that I loved it - it is better exercise than the treadmill, easier on my knees, and I actually look forward to it - it is a great way to start and end my workday.

Between the nutrition changes and exercise, I am down about 30 pounds and my wife is down about 10. I agree with PJCB that it is more productive to look at it as a lifestyle change than a diet. My biggest change food-wise, believe it or not, was giving up fruit juices, which I used to drink all the time. My doctor told me the sugars were hurting me and to get the same fruit nutrition by actually eating the fruit. So now I eat lots of jazz apples, which I've found that I love. If you can find foods you love that are good for you, replace the stuff that is bad. You will love the improvement in your health.

Good luck, and I hope you love bicycling as much as I do.

rearviewbeer

Good luck! I started riding again after about 23 years off a bike. Feels great! I hope you have the same feeling. Although my wallet is not as padded as it used to be..

beebe

The saying should go, "You are what you habitually eat."

PJCB

+1

Issh

Oh I agree completely about eating. I shouldn't have said going on a diet. We are changing our lifestyle completely. I'm excited to get started. We have great places to ride around us but will be starting on level ground. lol

Yo Spiff

Diet is a four letter word. I've just adjusted my eating habits over time, cutting out the crap and including healthier things that I like. The word "diet" implies something temporary, and if it is temporary, so is any weight loss and health gain. It's working at a modest but steady rate. Down by about 73 pounds since February of '11. Getting a lot easier to ride up hills, too.

PJCB

+1 and congrats. Definitely pays off in the long term.

Black wallnut 

Good luck however luck simply does not have much if anything to do with it. Many here have started down this journey to a helthier lifestyle. Many have made great progress in reaching their goals, some have reached their goals. With each goal I reach I set one or two more. When I started to ride it was to try to get healthier and save money by commuting. After a while I continued because I found I enjoyed it. Hope you find you and your wife enjoy it as well.

Doohickie

You probably have the highest risk of needing the helmet when you first start riding. Sure, you will remember the basics of riding, but subtleties and distractions could keep you from seeing a hazard in the way and boom, down you go. (Okay, maybe that was just me.) Good luck on the bikes. I returned to cycling after a long absence in 2008, and my wife has really gotten into it this spring.

goldfinch

I went on a diet and lost all the weight I needed. It was a diet, specifically a weight loss diet, because I ate less than the amount of calories my body needed to support my weight. I ate healthy foods when fat--I just ate too much of it. While losing I upped my fat and protein intake somewhat and lowered my carbs somewhat but now I am back eating the same kinds of food I ate before dieting. Just less of it. I always want more than I get. So my lifestyle change is living without as much food as I want to have and driven to have.

My other significant lifestyle change was to start exercising and I have continued with this religiously for better than a year now. This keeps me thin.

So far the need to be obsessed with how much I eat is far outweighed (ha ha) by the advantages that comes with being thin. I sleep well. Food is especially delightful when you are really hungry when you eat. I can ride my bike 100k. I can dig in the garden all day without my back bugging me. I can remove 500 pounds of brick edging from the trunk of the car without a second thought. I can wear tank tops in the heat.

Enjoy the biking, Issh and spouse! It is great that both of you are tackling this together.

Issh

Thank you all for the warm welcome. It's much appreciated.

CommuteCommando

+1 to all the comments about "diet" vs. "dieting".

Also, a biking is a good activity for those with knee problems, but there are risks. Those bikes you got have gears. Learn to use them properly and your knees will thank you.