sbhikes

Here's a trick I've heard used often: Immediately divide all the items on your plate in half and put those halves in a box to take home. Portions immediately reduced! Voila!

Because you always get leftovers, I don't mind the big portions served here in the US. Make sure the portions you put in the box to take home are big enough for another meal.

Some people also cut all the portions they serve themselves at home in half. It's a way to train yourself to eat less.

michaelnel

Howdy folks

I'm 55 and have been pretty much a couch potato all my life. About a year ago I bought a hybrid (Fuji Del Rey) with the intention of losing some weight and getting fitter.

I rode it a little, then it pretty much just sat there (like me).

In mid-May of this year I finally decided to do something about it instead of just thinking about it. I decided to start eating sensibly (no more pizza a couple times a week and a pint of Ben & Jerry's 3-4 times a week. Much less processed food, too). I am eating lots of fresh veggies, a little skinless chicken and almost no red meat or dairy (gotta have some low fat frozen yoghurt once and a while though).

Started riding my bicycle. I use it to commute, but I cheat... I ride it a mile and a half to the train station, take it with me on the train for the 27 mile commute to where I work, then ride it from the train station to work (another mile and a half), reverse in the afternoon). That only amounts to six miles a day, but at least it's activity. On Saturdays and Sundays I have been riding 20-25 miles a day, and am also doing 10 on some weekday evenings.

On May 15th 2005 I weighed 269 lbs. I just weighed myself after this morning's 20 miler and a shower, and I'm down 15 lbs to 254. That's pretty good progress I think, for less than a month of effort.

I intend to keep on doing what I've been doing (I will increase my weekend ride distances gradually too), and would like to get down to about 200lbs (I'm 6' tall and have a large frame and big bones).

I noticed today that the same hills that were absolute killers for me a month ago are just high effort now. I think I am getting in better shape aerobically and getting stronger too. Plus I am not carrying around that extra 15 lbs that I started with. Heck, I bet that's about what Lance Armstrong's whole bike weighs!

Great to read all the success stories on here. You should all give yourselves a big pat on the back!

michaelnel

UPDATE... tomorrow I'm going to start riding to the next station down the line from home and get off one station before the one closest to my work to extend the distance a little. Same in the reverse direction.

It's still not going to be much (about 10 miles a day instead of 6), but that's still 50 miles a week plus my other rides. Every little bit helps, I think.

I'll do that for a while and then perhaps extend it some more. I don't think I'll ever be doing the whole 27 mile one way trip via bicycle though, it simply would take me too much time.

michaelnel

I still hear the voice of my mother saying "Clean your plate! There are starving children in China that would be glad to have that!"

I've cleaned my plate all my life, and I think that has a lot to do with my weight problems (that, and spending my life avoiding any kind of physical effort).

Anyone else's mom drill that stuff into you when you were a kid?

juf2m

Absolutely! My parents lived through the Depression and WWII, so they are big on not wasting, and finishing food. Congrats on the progress you've made so far, I too have found that it gets easier over time. I did my first metric century yesterday and felt about the same tiredness I did after my first 45 miler. Cycling is great in that you really do notice results.

Ritz

Just begin with less on your plate... Hmmm, sounds easy, why am I having such a darned hard time doing it then? WWW.TOURDEPANTS.COM

BikinMike

I'm 32 6'2" and started out at 292 about 6 months ago. I didn't really pick up riding again till a few weeks ago. I'm at 272 now and I mostly lost the 20 pounds from watching what I eat. The biggest problem was, and is, portion control for me.

When I go to restaurants I'd always eye over the menu longer than your average person. I'd eye it for what seems like the healthiest choice. The problem is the portion size is always 2x or more what you need. I, for one, don't like to waste food so sadly I clean my plate. I had been on a skyward spiral since 1995 at the weight of 197 and ended up at 292 around Jan 2005 and decided I'm going to die soon if I don't change what I'm doing.

One problem is laziness when it comes to cooking. I always want to grab what's instant or quick to make. Money is usually a problem so McDonalds was always appealing to both, quick and cheap. My other problem is lack of excercise. I love riding a bike but find it hard to find a partner to help keep my motivation up. Over the years my riding went from about 30miles a day to just about nil.

On Jan 2005 I decided to really curb my eating habits and to excercise more. I try my best not to go out to eat. I cook more at home now which is actually much cheaper and healthier. Who'd have thought. I've doubled my exercise, from practically nothing to about 1-2 hours a week. Still not enough but I'm trying to get into it without burning myself out.

My back gets sore on rides over 10 miles and I need to take a couple breaks but I'm not going to give up.
My average speed is about 11 miles an hour. I hope to get my speed up and my weight down. Wish me luck and here's wishing you luck.

I know you can do it. It really boils down to will power and being consistant.

juf2m

Here's wishing you lots of luck and I look forward to hearing about your progress!

Ritz

Back to the basics... Oatmeal seems to work well for me. I just have to make myself stick with it! Congratulations on everyone's success! Keep up the good reports... Y'all are an inspiration to me! WWW.TOURDEPANTS.COM

StalkerZERO

Geez! What have you been doing to maintain your weight loss? I would like to have that kind of loss myself. The beginning of last year I was around 270 lbs. But within in a 5 month period I was able to get it down to 215. But I wasn't working during that period and I had time to walk every day and go on low carb diet which seemed to work for me. But then Christmas came around.....it was cold so not much walking outside and *sigh* Christmas season food.
I gained back about 10 lbs.

Currentlly I am struggling to maintain my current weight of 225 with semi-regular exercise. Now that I am working again I don't have as much time for myself as I used to and my feet hurts too much to walk as far as I did before.
...................then I bought a bike.

A specialized hardrock. Well I tell ya its only been 2 months with me and my new *buddy* but already I'm exercising more and having fun. I think i lost 4 lbs as well. But even so the work thing is in the way of my dream of not working and exercising for a "living". LOL
What could I do to have a weight loss progression like your having? :|

WonkerJaw

Hi Everybody,
I'm back… It's been a long 7 months and I'm back where I first started. 270 lbs. Work has had me tied down for the past 6 months and now I'm ready to climb back on and try it again.

My commuter bike is in the shop but I have not allowed that to be an excuse. I've been riding my road bike 3 days a week and this is my 2nd week. Wearing a backpack in 90+ degrees SUCKS! And it will be a few more weeks before my regular bike is ready.

As far as nutrition goes I need to eat less and move more. My downfall is portion control and low energy. Any suggestions or ideas????

Good luck to everyone!

StalkerZERO

BAck to 270? What were you before?

WonkerJaw

230 lbs. I know it's not the end of the world... but it was a hard fought 40 lbs. my goal is 200 lbs. I'll reevaluate when I reach my goal. I would take 30 lbs. to go over 70 lbs. to go any day.

juf2m

I love your avatar WonkerJaw!

I am having the hardest time of my life trying to lose weight. I am doing everything right, but I am just maintaining. Well, I had one treat day last week, but with the cycling 5 days a week (and my first metric century last weekend) I feel I'm entitled! This is really slow going.

On the plus side, I am definitely getting stronger. I have calf muscle visible when pedalling for the first time, and hills that use to tire me out are OK now! I wish I could say the stall in my weight loss was muscle gain and fat loss, but my measurements are exactly the same. I just don't get it. My only hope is that there will be a pause and then a few pounds off in one week or something, which sometimes happens.

I used to lose weight much more easily. *sigh*

WonkerJaw

Thanks juf2m,
My idea was to change my avatar with pictures from my bike rides. Well, I took the catfish head down and people asked me where it went and why did I take it down? So thanks!

You will always hit a plateau when trying to lose weight. The only two things you can do are change up your activities and stay positive. The last time I lost 40+ lbs. I was training to do two centuries back to back. I was riding 80 miles at a time and only losing 1/2 lb… maybe. So keep things in perspective. Ask yourself… how long did it take to put on the weight?

You're doing great. You're ahead of me. If I had to ride 60+ miles right now it would not be pretty.

juf2m

The only thing is, I only just started the diet and training regime on May 16, so I think it's too early for a plateau. I was hoping for more action at the start.....oh well. You are right, it did take quite awhile to put it on.

Looks like you can really accomplish things when you put your mind to it, so I have no doubt that you will reach your goal.

Ritz

Welcome Back W.J.! We missed Ya'. WWW.TOURDEPANTS.COM

Team853

Well, unfortunately I don't really have any sort of magic bullet, but since January I've consistently eaten fewer calories than I burn. I'm talking 500-1000 fewer calories per day on average. Here is a link to my public FitDay profile, so if you want you can go back and look at everything I've eaten and what exercise I've done (almost none, unfortunately, due to a variety of circumstances): https://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJ...ner=Team%5F853

I can also offer a few tips that have worked for me, but please keep in mind that I'm no expert, and I also haven't kept this weight off for any real period of time, so no guarantees. Having said that, I have done the following things since January that have really worked:

1) Created a FitDay journal, tracked everything and was always honest about what I ate, erring on the site of reporting too many calories if necessary.
2) Consistently tried to eat 500-1000 calories less than I burned each day.
3) Tried to keep my carb intake under 400 grams per day, my fat intake around 40-50 grams each day and my protein intake AT LEAST at 70-80 grams each day (preferrably higher).
4) Drank regular Coke only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, Diet Coke the rest of the week.
5) Cut out fast food like McDonald's almost entirely (although I've had a couple of their new deli sandwiches without sauce in the past couple of weeks).
6) Allowed myself a day every week or two to eat more than I normally would, just to treat myself. The key, of course, is to force yourself to get back on track the next day.

That's about it really. Otherwise I ate basically whatever I wanted, just less of it. There were (and are) tough days, but once you start to see the long-term results it really motivates you.

Anyway, here's my latest update:

January 18, 2005 --> 213 lbs.
February 21, 2005 --> 203 lbs.
March 30, 2005 --> 190 lbs.
May 2, 2005 --> 184 lbs.
May 27, 2005 --> 180 lbs.
June 16, 2005 --> 175 lbs.

Target --> 170 lbs. by September 2, 2005.

WonkerJaw

Thanks Ritz, It feels good to be back and going in the right direction again.

hi565

167 All,


7 or more for my goal (I say or more because my goal is 160 but Less is ok too!)

Big Lug

awesome all, I weighed in tonight and was 333!! Houray!! 300 by jan 1 looks attainable!

WonkerJaw

That's great... you're almost there! Just curious where did you start?


Big Lug, that's it!... I need to come up with some short term goals. Thanks for the reminder. Good job and keep at it!

Big Lug

thanks alot wonker!! It is a challenge of sorts to reach a goal so small but so meaningful. Good luck!

juf2m

Well, I had a weigh in today, and I have lost 5lbs since May 16. Not exactly spectacular, but not a kick in the head either.

zachisageek

I got on a scale for the first time in two months last night. I'm glad to say that I've lost another 10 pounds, and i feel pretty darn good.

Max: 307
Current: 268