It's been a long journey for me, but I'm here to proudly announce that I am no longer an official member of the Clyde Club! I weighed in at 196 last week and decided to wait a week to make sure it stuck, and I weighed in at 193 this morning
Proof!
I'll try to recap some of my story, but I seriously owe everything to bikes!
I was living with a friend downtown in an extremely sedentary lifestyle. I was drinking a ton and drinking before work to loosen myself up and become sociable. This is what I was like before it got bad:
Maybe about 220, overweight but evenly distributed. Self consciousness issues (drinking helped) still around, but I managed. Then, one day, I took one (twelve) too many before work and showed up completely smashed. Spilled things everywhere, slurring my words, couldn't barely walk. I managed to get home on the bus but I was quickly fired.
Thing went way downhill from here. My drinking picked up even more, I was depressed with my education college major choice, felt I couldn't become a teacher and was unfit for society, so I withdrew from my classes every semester, stayed in my apartment and drank. Too lazy to go buy groceries so I ate fast food style stuff every day. A big meal from Panera was my "healthy" dinner. I got up to about 255-260 lbs.
This was me around my heaviest/most depressed:
Eventually the money I had ran out and I had to move home. Back around a more familiar environment and one that was much more conducive to biking than the city, I started to recover. I commuted and finished out the last bit of my college (changed majors to something that wouldn't require student teaching) and managed to get a job right out of school, thanks to people who still loved me and saw what I could do.
Having money and something to fill your days is a huge boost to self-esteem. I was forced to not be stuck with myself all day, moping and unable to get myself out of the house. Around this time, my friends and I started our Bike Club! as we were all unemployed and the weather was improving. I rode a crappy singlespeed I had and breathed harder than I can remember, but it was so much fun.
With my first paycheck, I got the game-changer:
Brand new 2011 Surly Crosscheck. This thing has literally changed my life. I commuted to work every single day, learned to not care about being a sweaty mess, and the pounds started to drop. I've gone sober and have remained that way for about 120 days now. No booze at all and no marijuana. My friends and I did more and more bike rides, our mileage increasing every week, until I did my first century last year:
and then delved into the insane, addicting world of Cyclocross in the fall:
Here was me trying not to die after one race:
And there it is! I was about 205 in that last picture. We're doing a "Biggest Loser" competition at work, one which I am determined to win. I've been losing weight steadily each week since we started and am now at 193 in my boxers, as you can see above. Combined biking with going to the YMCA every three days and lifting weights/doing ab work and I'm really starting to see some major difference!
I feel so much better than I did before and am eager to try all the things I was too afraid/shy of before, like dance lessons! Or rock climbing! I want to do at least three centuries this year and win the 4B race in cyclocross! If I told myself two years ago that I was going to have actual, achievable fitness goals and work towards them, I would have snorted in disbelief.
So everyone trying to do the same thing, don't give up and keep on pedaling! Big things can happen to you if you keep your eyes on the prize and your feet moving