Planemaker

For those of you who are on your journey to a leaner person what motivated you to get started? Was not wanting to sit in a booth at a restaurant because it was too tight, no longer fitting into your favorite clothes, or something else? For me it was several things first I when sitting on the couch putting on my shoes and socks my belly roll forced all the air out of lungs leaving me short of breath, sexual dysfunction and having a sore back after a nights sleep.

Today I am happy to report that I am 33 pounds lighter than earlier this year, I feel great when I get out of bed, I am staring to get into clothes I haven't worn in a couple of years, plumbing below the equator is working and I can tie my shoes without getting my air cutoff. Sadly, I have been down this road before and gained all my lost weight back because I didn't realize that my weight is a battle that lasts a lifetime and I must be vigilant to keep the weight off.

I have long way to go to get to my goal and weight and lifetime worth of struggles to keep it off. Hopefully, sharing with you will help me in struggles.

Well I just walked 18 holes of golf and ate dinner. Now, I am off for a 10 mile ride. Hopefully, I when I get back I will be able to read some responses.

Wooden Tiger

Well, my motivation wasn't really to lose weight, though I knew it would be a nice "bonus."

In April of last year my wife and I lost our MTBs in an auto wreck. They were on the back of the car and they were totaled. Since last year, I've had this horrible urge to get back on a MTB; it just wasn't an option, I needed to get back on an MTB and jump something or hit a single track.

February came around and I started doing a lot of research on MTBs and had settled on a Scott Scale, though I wanted to give business to our LBS, who doesn't sell Scott bikes. He had a Cannondale Flash 29er Alloy 2 on sale and he told me to take it out. I did but didn't think much of it as it was still more than I wanted to spend.

I returned to the LBS with the specs on a Scott Scale and told him, "Find me something in the same price range and a close geometry; something I can be just as comfortable on." He gave me a deal on the Flash I couldn't refuse. I took it out again and really liked it, so I got it.

So, here I am with this really nice MTB, equipped a lot nicer than I had set out for, and it clicked; "I have this awesome bike with all these awesome components. I need to do more than just ride the C&O Canal and the occasional trail with this thing, I need to race." That's when it started. I started riding as much as time would allow, which has continued, but not as often as I'd like.

Well, I don't think I'm getting enough saddle-time for racing in a series and don't have the time, but I am determined to join a MTB race this year, even if it's just one. My motivation is to ride and hope I've ridden enough to be competitive in a race.

phread59

Mine came after a helicopter ride to the local Cardiac Center. I had a 99% blockage in my anterior descending artery in my heart. Doc said if I wanted to regain heart function I needed to excersize, period. I asked about biking. He said "great choice", so I am back after a 35 year lay-off. I now have 4 1/2 bikes and am riding when I can. Feel better, lost 30 pounds, and am starting to get into shape. I just wish life and weather would cooperate.

Mark Shuman

Wooden Tiger

Glad you're still with us!

JCNeumann

Mine came in three instances:

1) Not being able to fit into the suits I now need to wear for the job
2) Sweating when one of the escalators was out in Grand Central Terminal in the North Entrance and having to walk up the stairs
3) puking into a garbage can on the bench during a hockey game after a hard shift

All of these happened in the same week in 2010. At the time I was 255, I'm now down to 230 and have resting pulse rate of 46.

I attribute this to getting my ass on a bike and riding at least every other day, and I now have found another expensive hobby that is an absolute blast!

:-)

CandSAdventures

I blame my little brother then big brother. We were sitting around a kitchen table and my little brother commented to my older brother and myself that we were all getting fat. True. He said he would sign us up for a 5K run if we would commit. We did. He did. I could not walk to the end of the block much less run. Kept at it for 3 mos. Gradually added distance one sign/pole at a time. I did not run the entire way, alternated walk/run. Finished upright and warm (really warm!). This was June several years ago. At the celebratory dinner (Spaghetti Warehouse!), my older brother announced the next step: the Hotter N Hell in August. Committed again. Bought a used mountain bike off Craigslist and fell back in love with riding. We rode the HHH (25 mile route) and I have been riding pretty solid for the last three years. Logged about 500 miles that first year then about 1500 the next. I keep stretching the distances. I have a goal of doing my first and second century this year. I have not had the fabulous weight loss that some have reported here but I have gone from about 280 to 250.

I guess I should say thanks to my brother now that you made me think about it.

Chitown_Mike

3 things for me:

My wife and currently 8 month old son.
My dad who almost left us the beginning for 2013

Last year I got back into riding and lost some weight, but it was more for fun and seeing how far I could go more than anything else. After my pops was in the ER at 3 am on the 2nd of January with a racing heart he started just simply watching what he ate. I used to be a pretty strict primal/paleo eater but when my wife was pregnant all bets were off. So now that my dad has lost 51 lbs with some simple walking and eating right, I am not about to get SMOKED weight wise by my old man (tongue in cheek). Plus with a son I realize that I won't be around forever, but I can do things now while I am 29 to ensure I am around for a long time and not miss out on things.

So I have gotten back on the bike, and a MTB, started watching what I am eating, counting calories, riding in such a way to lose weight (like HIIT, pacing myself, getting a HRM) and I am determined to drop 40-50 lbs by the end of the summer. Down 12.5 so far!

1242Vintage

While on vacation my wife took a very unflattering profile picture. Photograph showed how large I had become. Day we got back from vacation I dusted off the bike and the weight is now history. Took me about 6 months or so to drop from 250 down to 185. That was 2009.

New motivation is to drop another 20 and work to improve cardio coditioning so that I can be more competetive in cyclocross this Fall. Hopefully not having to dag the extra weight through the grass, sand and mud will make me a little quicker this coming season.

vexed73

The fact when i looked in the mirror I would get a craving for muffins.

CommuteCommando

A ride on the Little Red Bus followed by a roto-rooter up the femoral artery.

Zoxe

In 2008, my youngest brother got married. I never thought of myself as "fat" until I got the pictures back of me and my brothers in tuxedos. Once I saw them, I understood why so many family members came up to me and asked if "I was okay." That's what got me interested in riding bikes, avoiding fast food, and being more active instead of sitting at this PC for 8 hrs a night after work.

More recently, bloodwork came back and I have high cholesterol. Doc says I can lose 30 lbs or go on meds for life. High chol is in my genetic predisposition, but if I can lose some weight and stay off the pills even for few years, it's extra time I'll have before my liver burns up. So for the past 3 months I've been on a war path against the poundage. Maybe I can get off my gout med too.

Wooden Tiger

I look like a big, puffy bird in my wedding photos. While I'm not "fat," per se, I have quite a bit of meat around my midsection. I look pregnant, for the lack of a better term. Since I've gotten back into biking I have probably lost a half inch off my waist (size 36) but I have a long way to go. I'd really like to get myself down to around 165 lbs, give or take a few. Right now I'm hovering between 210-212 lbs; my love for any food that's bad for me is making it difficult, as the first thing I wanna do after a hard ride is hit McDonald's or King's New York Pizza. It's as if biking gives me an excuse to eat garbage because "I just burned the calories I'm going to eat and my body will burn them for another few hours."

jethro56 

I knew this feeling all too well. This will probably sound like B.S. but here goes. There's a McDonalds near my home that's located at a stop light. It's pretty well impossible not to look at it every time I go anywhere. So what I did was do just the opposite of what their ad campaigns do. Instead of the message "I'm loving it." I chose to verbally express rage in the privacy of my car. If McDonalds is free to try to associate themselves with love and reward then I'm free to associate them with hate and punishment. I'm not advocating violence or even publicly expressing these feelings. It's perfectly acceptable to dislike foods that are bad for you.

I no longer feel the need to rant when I see one of their factories. It's as if it doesn't even register that they sell "food".

Wooden Tiger

Yeah, that's how it is here, too. There are no fewer than four or five of them within a 10-15 mile radius around here, and then there's a Five Guys Burger, too!

...And here's the thing; I don't even know why McDonald's is such a weakness for me, it's not like their food even really tastes good! It's just that I get this taste for it and have to have it! I guess it's just another one of those mysteries in life.

cyclist2000

I am 6'-3" and weigh about 230. It would be nice to lose weight but that really isn't my goal. I ride because of bad knees. I normally keep myself motivated to ride by committing to a week long tour in the summer and need to get in shape for that ride. I used to think that I could ride a 50 to 80 mile ride any day without too much training but I found out that stringing 7 of these back to back takes a lot more fitness.

trmulder

I got a new used bike and that has given me motivation to not waste the money invested by not using it. LBS are awesome.

JReade

You're not skating hard enough if you don't come across this once a year or so. Happens to me in tournament play. Or if I eat too close to game time /hungover. I've done it on the bike before during finish line sprints in local races.

chandltp

How about asking yourself: "Do I want to negate the calories I just burned by overeating?"

But that's the problem with distance cycling for me. I'll be hungry for up to 24 hours afterwards. I have to decide to power through it or give in and basically eat all he calories I just burned. It's about 50 / 50 for me. Sometimes I want to have a reward, other times I want the scale to be the reward.

Chitown_Mike

I am in those same 24 hours right now. I did splurge and get a Reece's Pieces (it was for the co-worker's kids' football team....think of the kids!) but outside that I am limiting myself to salad with a little dressing, carrots, a banana, and a yogurt. Dinner will probably be more salad, some homemade fresh chicken salad, and some broccoli and cauliflower.

And by tomorrow I should be fine and not wanting to eat a cow like a cow.

PhotoJoe 

My motivation was laying in a hospital battling cancer for a year (only hospitalized for 74 days of the year...not the whole time). I realized my diet was atrocious and if I beat the cancer, things would change. My diet is better, but not great. Still working on it and doing much better.

Then there are pix like this that remind me I have a ways to go.



And yes, I was sucking it in!

stonepiano

Going shopping for clothes motivates me.

Specifically, not being able to fit into pants sold at regular stores. I haven't seen the better side of a 40" waistband since I was in high school. Working to get there before the end of the year.

Erwin8r

Is the rather large ship and former home of the Spruce Goose for scale? [running and ducking].... lol~! Fret not, PJ, I'm in a very similar boat physique-wise at the moment. And sorry to hear about the C-thing. We were in Seattle for a the better part of two years fighting a similar thing with our daughter.

Love the bike, btw...

JReade

That's pretty much why I ride! Right now I can eat/drink whatever I want, then go burn it off on a ride. I'm still losing weight/pant sizes so I'm okay with it.

WonderMonkey

I've been up and down. I became locked-in when the scale hit 300lbs. I messed around working my tail off but when I hit 280lbs I change my nutrition and things really took off. The weight started to come off, motivation and encouragement went up, etc.

If you want to read about it go here: https://www.280dude.com/
Blog is here: https://www.280dude.com/280-blog/

SidewaysTim

For me, it was realizing that I was just existing and not living. I had given up on all of my favorite things to do because I couldn't do them anymore. I couldn't fit into my snowboard gear let alone buckle my bindings, I couldn't fit I to booths at restaurants, my wife told me that she was no longer attracted to me and didn't want to sit around and watch me die, and my weight was beginning to creep back up.

I've been a member of Weight Watchers for 2 and a half years but only really participated for the first few months. Since mid January I have started back down the right path and have lost 38.6 pounds and this Thursday when I weigh in I hope to dip below 300 pounds for the first time in 6+ years.

I had also started a couch to 5k program about 6 weeks ago and quickly developed bursitis in my left knee so that has halted that quest for now so I put a down payment on a road cycle recently and plan to be riding it on May 17th. Until then, my MTB will have to do.

My motivation is to be able to live again. Down from a high of 378 two and a half years ago to 306 last week.