Spreggy

I've been looking forward to getting back to my weight of last year (168) after some winter thickening, but I remembered this morning that I left high school 27 years ago, at a lean but muscular 142. My last weight class for wrestling was 138, and I ended the school year running a fairly competitive mile. So under a heavy running and lifting schedule, the low 140s was the norm for me.

Now that I'm back to a heavy cycling training schedule to try to reach a racing fitness level, is there any chance of getting back to the 140s? Or do old bones weigh more?

Coyote2

I, too, finished HS 27 years ago...160 lbs of scrawniness, no muscle.

Today I am 165 lbs and pretty muscular for a roadie. I get more a** now, too. I wonder if there's a connection?

palookabutt

It's no problem, as long as you eat reasonably. I see a lot of people who use cycling as an excuse to chow down on fatty foods. For me, it's more about a healthy lifestyle, so although I enjoy being able to eat more (chocolate, for example) after a long ride, I don't go nuts.

Hammertoe

Good question...



IIRC my weight in high school was 129 lbs (x-country and long distance runner)...

Became a roadie for a while then deeper into education, marriage, kids, I ballooned close to 160 lbs...

Weight this morning was 135 lbs...

Hitting 129 would be difficult but not impossible (btw I am 5'7")...

substructure

I was around 160 in '88. I started weight lifting and got up to 205-210. I then got a bike, got addicted and started shedding the muscle and fat. I am now 170, hoping to get to 165 by year's end.

mollusk

I'm 53 years old and I weight what I did when I left high school. I wear the same size clothes, too.

CyLowe97

Is 35 yrs old middle aged, yet?

There's no way I'm getting back down to the skinny 130 pound senior I was 17 years ago. Working my six foot frame down to 160 is hard enough, though I think I can get there. Bad food just tastes so good!

patentcad

I'm 5'11", currently 175 or so. I was 135 when I graduated high school. In the photo below I am about 167 lbs, and that's the weight I'm shooting for. You try to picture what I'd look like 32 lbs. lighter than I am in this picture.



I start getting POW cheeks below 170 lbs. If I ever see the lighter side of 165lbs again, I'll be amazed. Below 160, everybody I know would think I was seriously ill. Hell, I get comments 5+ lbs above that level. I'm 50 now, it started getting to be much harder to lose weight in my early 40's.

big john

I wrestled @ 250 in high school. This meant I had to wrestle guys that were 280-300. Not easy to flip one of those guys over. That was 37 years ago and I weigh 205 now.
It's harder to take weight off as you get a little older, but not impossible. I know lots of guys in their 50s and 60s who are lean and fit.

feethanddooth

well im 29 now and left HS 12 years ago. then i was around 190-195. now i am 180 and will probably go down towards 170 this summer.

i dont have a family so there is a lot of time for me to dedicate to the bike.

squarewheels

Here's a great website for monitoring calories, the only way to effectively lose weight. It's called The Dailyplate (https://thedailyplate.com).

It's free ( the Gold membership has a fee but isn't worth it) and has a huge database of food- including chains and name brands. It also breaks down these foods into a daily pie chart showing carbs, protein and fat. You key in what you want to lose (say 1 1/2 lbs. per week) and it tells you how many calories you can eat. Set modest weekly goals and it's painless. It also subtracts your exercise from your calories (also a big database including cycling).

It remembers what you eat, so you don't have to search every time and you can build custom "meals" of combinations of food you eat regularly. After time, you get to know what is fattening, what isn't, when you can splurge, etc.

I wasn't real overweight (5' 11" and 165 lbs. but I want to get back to my 145 lb. racing weight). I've lost 16 pounds since Jan. and it has been fairly easy.

oilman_15106

This should be posted on 50+ also, it would get some real chuckels.

40 years ago I left high school at 128 pounds. 142 right now and will get down to 138 when the season gets going. Consider myself lucky as much of the population is overweight. However I was seriously dissapointed when I had my body fat % done last weekend. 18%!!!! I was shocked, thought it would be a bit lower as I have tried to stay in shape over the winter.

big john

I think I was 165 when I was 9.

Pinyon

I break the stereotype for cyclists. In high school, 26 years ago for me, at about 8% body fat, I weighed in 230-245 lbs. Less during the off-season for American football, and gradually more as the playing season progressed. Even though my body fat is in the 11% range these days, I'm actually 25-40 lbs lighter than I was back then.

I like my new size and shape better. I work out about as many hours per week these days, but now it is riding my bicycle out in the country-side, instead of grunting in a stinky old body-builder/power-lifter oriented gym. When I've tried getting lighter than around 175 lbs, my endurance, strength, and power all suffer. This is the body that I have. It is not a racer body, but I still like to cycle more than every other hobby-sport that I've ever been into.

CastIron

I'm there now. Distribution is another matter entirely.

squeegy200

Im currently 46 years old, 5'10" in height, and 172-175lbs. What patentcad describes is identical to my experience. I too weighed 135 -140 out of high school.

crtreedude 

I fear it isn't going to happen with me - I grew 2 inches taller after highschool. I went from just under 6 foot to just under 6' 2" between 21 and 25. My wife commented she didn't know she married a growing boy...

gfrance

I'm getting closer.

I"m 46, 5' 9.75" and about 165lbs now, but it gets around 160 late in the summer after a lot of miles. I was 155 or so in high school, and I know if I ate more sensibly (well, it's not the food, really, but the wine and beer that kills me) I could pretty easily see 155lbs again. But I remember my waist being 30 back then. I have a hard time seeing that happening though, even at 155.

datlas 

To summarize:

Yes, one can get back to HS weight. The real question is, SHOULD you?? That depends. Probably, but as pointed out it may too hard for some folks, and unhealthy for a few others. But in general it's a good idea.

Doug
HS weight = Current weight at age 43 = 145

Sixty Fiver

Left HS weighing 130 pounds soaking wet and at 42 I am 149.5 pounds (the extra 20 pounds is mostly muscle and scars) and am nearly the rider I used to be when I was in my twenties.

StanSeven

There's little chance you can do it with just cycling unless you ride several hours a day. You need to burn too many calories and there are too many time commitments with middle age. I manged to do it with running because running burns about twice as much energy for the same time as cycling

twilkins9076

Heck...I was just a skinny kid in high school and college. I'm 48 now and at 5'7" and 162 lbs, I don't even want to think about how bad I would look if I even got close to that weight. I keep telling myself I could maybe stand to lose about 5 lbs, but 162 seems to be my "fighting weight". I'll occasionally drop below it after a few weeks of hard riding, but for the last few years, it's been where I can easily maintain it.

For what it's worth, I do spend quite a bit of time in the gym. If I stopped that, I might eventually lose enough body mass to see a significant drop in weight, but who wants to be a "skinny old man"?

jameyj

No chance for me. I was only 5' 6" when I graduated HS and now I am 5' 9". I don't think I will get back to my 145 lbs HS graduation weight. My frame geometry (body, not bike) will not accomadate that low of a weight without looking like an Olsen twin!

patentcad

If I got down to 160 now, I really would be so thin that I might lose strength on the bike. I always found that below 165 lbs my climbing didn't improve, my power simply dropped off. I look very thin @ under 170, below 165 I start looking emaciated. I simply filled out as I got into my 20's, I have what's considered a 'large' frame. I was 135 @ age 17 (HS Grad), 150 or so in early college, by the time I was 23 or so I was 170+. Always looked thin.

167 or so would be ideal, that last 5-7 lbs lighter really helps on the climbs, lowers my RHR, improves my overall VO2 Max, etc. Getting fitter/leaner now, really felt loose on the mini climb in Prospect Park this weekend, moreso on the last few times up (TWELVE laps) than earlier in the race, that's a very good sign. I moved up in the peloton on the climb every lap without too much effort.

PeddlingPilgrim

6'2" -> a few short of 40yrs. -> 175lbs now.

155lbs goal by the end of summer, which will probably be lower than what I weighed in HS. I was at 160 last summer and running at least every other day, + cycling.