Wildewinds

*This ended up being a bit longer than expected, but maybe it'll be interesting to one or two people*

A little about me. I'm 40 years old (for a few more weeks). 6'1" tall. Currently at 240 lbs. I've been over 200lbs since I was about 26 years old. With my current lifestyle and eating habits, it looks like I max out at 245lbs. Been that heavy for about 8 years.

Like most overweight people, I've always planned on losing the weight and getting back to fighting trim. Did a few diets. Started a few exercise routines. Nothing ever stuck. I knew I had to do something different; something I enjoyed. Not like lifting weights and doing the elliptical at the gym. That's boring as hell.

I've always enjoyed biking. I was a competitive mountain biker in my early 20's. I never stopped riding, but most of my riding in the past 17 years or so has been casual rides on flat land.

So last week I got my first road bike. I screwed up a bit by quickly placing a bid on ebay for a bike that looked cool and seemed cheap. Got this bike for $650



It's nice. Pretty light at around 19lbs. Full 105 components and shifts well. But after doing a little bit of research I found out that tri-bikes aren't the best for general road biking... and putting a road handlebar on it is kind of screwy. But... so far it's not uncomfortable in any way whatsoever. Even my butt feels good. Maybe eventually I switch out the frame for a regular road bike frame. I'm still a little worried about those rims, but so far they're holding up just fine.

I've gone on four rides so far. The first one made me realize that none of the streets around my house are actually flat. Then, that "little" hill I planned on zooming over was way more steep than I remembered it to be. I had to stop four times to make it up the little hill (found out later it was 350 feet high). My first ride was 7 miles and it took me 63 minutes. It involved a lot of resting.

So, the next three rides were on a different loop with a more gradual ascent. It still climbs about 400 feet, though. The loop is 8.2 miles long. The first time I did it, it took me 51 minutes. The next, 43 minutes. The third time, 38 minutes. My legs seem to be improving dramatically. They still give out fast, though. When I can do that loop in 30 minutes (maybe next week?), I'll change the route for something else that will take me about an hour.

The plan is to ride 3-4 times a week. With my current schedule, that should be easy. I also play basketball once a week for 2 hours.

In addition to the exercise, I'm on a calorie counting diet. I'm using Myfitnesspal on my iphone to keep track. If I want to get to 185lbs by next year, I need to limit my intake to around 1850 calories per day. That gets offset by exercise (if I burn 400, I can eat 400 more), but I still try to keep it under the 1850. I still eat the same food as I always have, but I just need to be smart about which foods I decide to eat on which days.

In one week I've lost 5lbs. It's really not hard to eat less than 1850 calories and the exercise is FUN.

I plan on keeping motivated by telling as many people about my goals as possible. I'm also going to keep using that weight loss ticker below. If it stays at 5 pounds forever, that'll be embarrassing. Finally a good use for peer pressure!

chefisaac

I am on the journey too. Weight Watchers has worked for me. Its really 80% what you eat and 20% exercise.

lenny866

Good for you.....stick to your goals and enjoy the riding.

Street Pedaler

Welcome and good job on the weight loss you've already achieved. That may not be quite the bike you were hoping for, but it's still a sweet looking ride!

jethro56 

Welcome: Fell free to adjust times to your current level of fitness. I was much older and heavier than you when I started.

The following is a theory. I don't have the resources to prove this but I believe this happens to many new people starting a fitness program.

After a few trips your body will start releasing endorphins. You'll be going along and fairly suddenly it'll feel like you can ride a lot further than ever before. The problem is that you haven't suddenly gained fitness. It's just that the pain is much more easy to endure. I think many people see this as a signal to go on a quest to set higher and higher records. This works for awhile and a level of expectation sets in. At the same time after each ride you're not fully recovering from the last ride. Eventually your goal is so high and your recovery is so incomplete that you dread going for that next ride. Guilt sets in. You quit riding.

Lets compare the above with just riding or in my case walking 20 minutes a day when you first begin. Each day it gets easier. Each day you feel better physically and mentally. Your heart gets stronger. Your lungs get better. Your body is rebuilding itself. A routine sets in. If for some reason you can't do it on a specific day you find yourself missing the workout, eager to continue the next day. Later (the YMCA says six weeks I waited six months) you're ready physically and mentally to start extending and pushing yourself.

You may want to goggle "base miles". Even current competitors put in slow (for them) miles in the preseason. Most experts recommend a minimum of 500 miles before pushing hard.

jmccain

I became successful when I quit thinking like this. It helped me not to reward exercise with food except food that was required to fuel the exercise. Hope this helps you.

chefisaac

Good point! I think one of the most overlooked things is recovery time off the bike between rides. Your body needs to recover to get better. I made this mistake when I started last year as well.

TrojanHorse

+1!

Besides, most calorie counters are over-enthusiastic about what you really burned.

tony_merlino

The best way to tell what you really burned is to use your scale. Eat the number of calories that support your desired weight loss rate, assuming something between a sedentary and light-exercise lifestyle. (Google active metabolic rate, or AMR, to figure out what that number is.) Then observe your weight loss while keeping a fairly strict eye on counting calories (or points, or grams or whatever your system uses). If you're losing faster than expected, add calories in 100 calorie/day increments and observe the effects. If you're losing slower than expected, reduce the number of calories by 100 calories/day and observe. Iterate on this - the rate will change based on many things, so this has to be a closed loop feedback control system, where you change your behavior based on measurements, not on predictions.

I don't budget exercise into my weight loss program explicitly, only inferentially as described above. It's working really well so far.

People talk about being careful about getting your body into "starvation mode", which usually prompts knowing nods and murmurs. But starvation mode just means that your metabolism slows down, making you feel cold, sleepy and not want to move around - which means you conserve your energy reserves. Exercise automatically counters that - the body CAN'T go into starvation mode if you're demanding activity from it. So that's a really important purpose of exercising along with diet. Not to burn calories, but to help your body stay in a state where it will burn reserves. That's the way I understand it, anyway. And so far it's working for me.

Wildewinds

I hear you. I felt like that was cheating anyway. I'll follow your advice.

linear

Some times its tuff to even start/begin/get-out-the-door to exercise with no energy/motivation from the reduced diet. The 'nike saying' just do it comes to mind, once started after 15-20minutes of easy going it seems to go just fine I find the energy. Other times when drained you know that a rest is your best bet. I'll be 55 this summer and cutting the weight back is not getting any easier...

Peter_C

My 'journey' began HERE. It's not over yet. My primary goal was to become a 'clyde' instead of an 'uber-clyde'. Today I am around 307lbs, and hope to break the barrier by the end of May.

Best wishes for your goal. Just remember, every day is a new day and a new beginning. As you can see, it's taken me quite some time so far, but it is staying off~! Some 5 weeks ago I quit my life-long Pepsi habit. I miss the Pepsi, but it's better for me...

Wildewinds

Oh man, don't remind me about the Pepsi. That's the one thing I'm really trying to give up. One large Pepsi messes up the whole day.

The other killer is milk. I LOVE milk even more than Pepsi. But I drink it 32oz at a time. Sometimes 3 glasses a day. That's like 1000 calories right there. It's hard to reign back on the milk.

tony_merlino

I know. I turned 59 a few months ago. But losing this weight has been surprisingly easy this time. I'm eating about 1300 cal/day, and exercising for about an hour 3-4 times/week.

I think the things that have made it easier have been (1) to change the mix to increase the protein - not to Atkins levels, but higher than I used to eat - this seems to reduce the peak and crash phenomenon, and evens out the way I feel over the course of the day. (2) budget in a 100 calorie snack at 5PM. That's my typical crash time. (3) Keep the exercise reasonable and sustainable. In the past I used to really push it, and that proved to be unsustainable.

linear

I have been logging what I eat as well as tracking exercise, ie. biking/hiking/walking, which is a pain but gives me a historical track record.
Past months diet:
Average Nutritional data from 2012-3-1 to 2012-3-28
Energy (Calories)--------------2203 kcal---------100%
Carbohydrate------------------123.4 g-------------22%
---Fiber, total dietary----------17.8 g
Protein------------------------152.5 g-------------28%
Total lipid (fat)---------------121.2 g-------------49%
Alcohol--------------------------2.1 g--------------1%

Avg daily exercise activity about 2 hours/day, I try to do as many errands on the bike as I can so a lot is easy going stuff.

I don't know about the "surprisingly easy" part but in hind sight we have been getting it done at a good clip which is good. At 3#/week I should make 200 by end of April.

Wildewinds

I did another ride today and only shaved 1.5 minutes off my time. I realized that if I want to finish an 8.2 mile loop in under 30 minutes... that's 16mph average. That may take me a while since right now I'm at 12.2mph. I may increase the distance for the next ride and try to do that loop in under 30 minutes at a later date.

Black wallnut 

I don't believe this. WAy too much is at play in the balance of what works and why. Things such as diet and quanitity and quality of exercise really matters as far as weight loss. For me it has been more of a matter of increased exercise than it has been diet, although due to exercising I also eat better and overall less.

OP what works for you is really yet to be determined however looking for support and being public with your goals and progress can give huge rewards. This exact thing has helped me perhaps more than anything else; using social media to track and publish my fitness.

magohn

+1000 - best advice in the thread. The honeymoon period will end. Set a schedule and stick to it. But if you skip a ride no big deal, you have the rest of your life to catch up.

P.S - I like your bike

Neil_B

< Sound of Neil_B fainting and hitting the floor.>

McCallum

I started at 290 and I am now 190; it took about 18 months to lose the 100; I also lost about ten more but have regained it over the winter (that is going off this summer!!!!!). I did it monitoring my intake and moving (exercise). As some one one this forum wrote EAT LESS; EAT MORE HEALTHY; MOVE MORE. Yep that is what worked for me!! Yeah my wieght lose ticker lies; did not chane it from my low.

Good wishes for you lose!!

Peter_C

Hehe - you can even check with my lovely bride - no Pepsi in the house at all. Am hoping this alone will get me off the 'metaformin' - we shall see. If not, I'll just start drinking it again since it didn't help

MadCityCyclist

When I started cycling there was one small hill which always gave me trouble. I could never make it up without stopping to rest, now I laugh at it. Stick with it and soon you'll be laughing all the up your hill, too.

Neil_B

Fortunately PepsiCo, Inc. is diversified enough that they can survive the hit to the bottom line.

Askel

This, I think is the key.

You'll know it's kicked in when it drives you to do boring **** like lifting weights, just so you can be better at biking.

Good luck, and congrats on the bike. Seems like a hell of a deal.

Wildewinds

So I've been keeping at it.

I increased my regular route to a 13 mile, 800ft elevation loop. There's a mile long hill on that one that totally killed me the first time I tried it, but now I can do it without stopping. I could still use lower gearing, though. The first time I did that loop, it took me 57 minutes. Knocked down the time to 51 minutes last time I did it. When I can knock the time down to 45 minutes, I'll increase the distance again.

Today I didn't have a lot of time, so I did my shorter 8 mile loop. Haven't done that one in a few weeks. I beat my best time by 3 minutes and finished it in 29 minutes and 55 seconds. Average speed of 16.56mph! Yay! Not bad considering the first time I did it two months ago it took me 52 minutes at about 9mph.

Once I can average 20mph, I'll start riding with other people.

The weight has been coming off slowly. I'm down about 9lbs from when I started two months ago. Not sure if that's a good pace or if I should do something different with the diet. What do you guys think?