I January 2010 I was 62 years old and weighed 305 pounds. Virtually all of my excess weight had appeared in the previous 7-8 years, must have reached some sort of tipping point.

Disgusted with myself, in February 2010 I started a severe calorie restricted diet and had lost 50 pounds by May, at which point I started biking. The diet then moderated some but was still quite restrained by my previous standards + I was doing a consistent 125+ miles a week by fall. By December I was at 200. I maintained fairly well with a moderate weight gain through a good portion of 2011 as my dietary habits crept upward. Plus I was drinking beer again, only around 1/3rd to 1/2 of my previous intake but I didn't drink at all in 2010.

I was hoping that my continued 100+ miles a week on my bike would be sufficient to maintain against my almost normalized diet and reduced beer habit. Nope... By late this spring the weight gain was becoming hard to ignore, but I managed it anyway. I was terrified to face a scale. There come a point at which reality intrudes and the inability to fit into any of my clothes forced me on a scale where, to my horror, I found I had gained 50 pounds back.

I just started back on the severe calorie restricted diet because, literally, I would prefer to die rather than to return to my previous condition. When I get back down I will desperately be searching for some point at which I can maintain weight but not be so restrictive that I can't do it indefinitely. Though it is not my solution in and of itself, biking will continue to be a part of it because it helps and I enjoy it.

PS: I've found that my body doesn't like putting in 25-30 mile rides while limited to 1200-1400 calories a day. Maybe that's a temporary thing because I know I did some at least equivalent rides, including a metric, later in 2010. But I weighed less then.