I just want to give a status update on the bicycling exercise program that I started when I joined this forum and posted in this thread back in September of 2007. I weighed 267 pounds at the time. I bought a 2007 Trek 7.7 FX and rode it for a few months. I lost a few pounds over the first several months, but I wasn't keeping my diet in check, so I wasn't making as much progress as I hoped for. I guess I was hoping for something magical to happen, merely because I was riding a bicycle a few times a week, and it just didn't.
So eventually I got tired of the regimen, found excuses to avoid riding and dieting, and went along for several more years with my weight hovering at about 270 pounds, all the while letting the Trek gather dust in the garage.
Then in September of 2012, I once again grew tired of being overweight and out of shape, so I dusted off my bike and started riding again. But this time, I combined it with a calorie-counting diet with realistic nutritional and caloric targets that I thought I could stick too, not too extreme, but enough that I knew I was dieting.
At first I could only ride 2 or 3 days out of the week, as I was simply too exhausted by my very short 2.5 mile treks to do more. Yes, I was that much out of shape! But gradually I managed to increase my riding frequency to 5 days out of the week and my rides slowly increased to 10 miles, then to 12. I know that won't sound like a lot to many of you, but it felt like victory to me. And lo and behold, the weight started coming off.
I have to admit that I'm a fair-weather rider, so my exercise program always has and probably always will take a hit when the weather is wet, too cold, or too hot. But aside from wimping out when the weather was intolerable, I have kept up the dieting and exercise since I resumed my program in 2012.
About a year ago, I hit 200 pounds, down from 270 when I started. A month later and I was consistently weighing 198, then 195. I've maintained that weight, ranging from 195 to 198, ever since. Since I haven't seen 200 on the scale now in just over a year, I'm ready to assert that I'm officially no longer a Clydesdale. And that feels good.
I still count calories. I have to. If I don't, I will gain weight again. And I still cycle about 12 miles, 5 days a week. But now, occasionally, I'll take a longer trip on the weekend, maybe 25 to 30 miles, just for fun rather than for exercise. That is something I couldn't have managed and couldn't have imagined when I dusted off my Trek two years ago. I find cycling to be much more pleasurable now that I've lost the excess weight I was carrying. In fact, I'm enjoying it so much, I'm thinking of replacing my Trek 7.7 FX with a new bike soon, maybe a road bike this time instead of a hybrid. I figure I've earned it.
I would like to say to everyone on this thread who started cycling for exercise with the intent of losing weight, don't give up. If you combine cycling with a sensible diet, you can reach any reasonable weight goal, as I've proven to myself. But do yourself a favor, and don't take a five year hiatus from your exercise program like I did. If you just stick with it, before you know it, you'll be a changed person for good, and glad of it.