That's fantastic progress. Holding steady for a month under adverse conditions is nothing to be ashamed of. And you don't even have a new target.

Best of luck!

Weight Loss
 

I just found this forum so I'll go ahead and make my contribution. First of all congrats to all those who have lost weight. It is very difficult to do.
My story seems to be similar to everyone else. Im my youth I raced a lot and weighed in at 165lbs. I quit racing, soon followed by wife and kids, and 18 years later I found myself at 270 lbs with high blood pressure. June 1 I decided to dust off the bike and do something about it. After 8 months I lost 72 lbs and am on my way to reach my goal of 170 lbs 1 year later on June 1 2004. This will be a total of 100 lbs lost. The 72 lost has been enough to get off the blood pressure meds and completely change my life. It is amazing how much more energy you have when you are not lugging around all that extra weight. I am hoping to jump into my first race in 18 years this summer. At least it will be with the over 40 crowd.

Welcome to the group. Great to hear of your progress. I better step it up a notch.

Dale

Hi to everyone,
Another newbi here.
I am very glad to find this forum. A week ago today I was all ready to head out to the Harley dealer to purchase my new toy. On the way to the Harley dealer I stopped by my LBS that I had'nt been to in about 3 years.When I got back in the car to continue on to the motorcycle shop I said to myself, self what are you doing? You need a new motorcycle about as much as you need another 12 pack.
I turned around, back to the LBS and bought a new Cannondale R2000. Now comes the hard part. I really need to lose at least 30#'s.I am starting today(not tomorrow) The bike is finally in the trainer and today is the day.
That is why I am so glad to have found this website. I will be lurking around here from now on for advice and helpful tips.
Now if the ice and snow would only go away.
Good luck to all and take care.

way to go jwh.
Feel free to lurk, ask questions and most of all contribute. I think you'll find quite a supportive group
here.
Marty

I just found this thread.

In October 20 2003, I was a smoker with 228 # of weight, high cholesterol with only 27 years old. I decided to quit smoking and start jogging, a week later I meet this guy at the park, he is a triathlete and suggests me to get a bike. A couple of weeks later got my road bike, and since then I lost almost 35 pounds, lost 4 sizes of pants and pretty happy with my self, in only 3.5 months!!!.

I keep jogging maybe one/two times a week, on weekends I ride my bike, and the rest of the nights, on the trainer gaining condition.

In the diet, nothing spectacular, I stop eating rice, bread (I eat only wheat), red meat and the late night snacks.

In January I discovered this site/forums, I learned a lot and I'm in love with cycling.

Keep the good work, and keep pedaling…. :D


Charlie21
Carlos Figueroa
Puerto Rico

Weight loss club
 

start weight: 285
current weight: 205 and falling

Here is my strategy:


Breakfast-1 Powerbar Harvest, 24 oz water~250 calories. Mix in a 2 mile ride to and from classes, at full sprint.

Lunch-1 Powerbar Harvest, 24 oz water. Add an additional 1-2 miles of sprinting to class.

Dinner-Special of the day in the cafeteria, usually a piece of meat, salad, mashed potatoes, and/or steamed veggies, 24 oz water. A small, 1 mile sprint to and from work

All Day: Drink water as needed. If hungry, eat a small snack, usually fresh fruit and drink water. You WILL be hungry at the end of the day, cure this by a small snack. I have worked this out to be about 1500 calories a day, mostly at dinner time.

Excellent for people who sit through classes and/or meetings; i.e college students

I have used this strategy to lose 80 pounds in the past 6 months.

Ive been riding for a little over a month and I have lost 10lbs. I weighed 205lbs and now Weigh 195lbs. I can only ride 4 miles a day.

Keep at it Steve. Little by little it will come off and your distance will increase. Just don't expect huge changes overnight.

I have not been on the bike for most of the month now due to weather and work. :( So I am in a holding pattern.

Weight on January 16, 2004: 206

Today (Feb 26): 197


Goal: 160-ish or less.

Hi all,
Well dang! I think my bathroom scale has blown a cog or something!

A week ago it showed my weight to be 220#s. This morning it showed 244#s! NO WAY! :(

I think I'm gonna run by my doctor's office to step on his scale to get a more accurate measurment.

Man, it is really depressing to see those numbers rise like that! My clothes are still fitting the way they should. Still eating like I should. I have started resistance training 2-3 days a week, but can't imagine I put on that much muscle in a week's time.


Sorry for the rant. I just had to. :)

Lot's of good motivational reading here. I need it today.

I started riding off & on a few years ago and really started to get into it last summer in preparation for a 50 mile ride with a friend who had done many before. Was really afraid of being embarassed so I worked pretty hard at it. The ride went very well. What I found was that while not really even trying to watch what I was eating I lost some weight, and the clothes started fitting better.

Fast forward to now and I've gained the weight back and then some over the winter (couch potato). Started the year at 260. Made the committment at Christmas to start riding on the nice days here in the Chicago area.

No nice days in January. Bought a trainer in February after I picked up my new "used" 2003 Lemond Tourmalet. So February wasn't bad for riding either indoors or finally getting outside the last few weeks.

My wife has had great success with Weight Watchers and counting points. The last couple of weeks I have been riding a bit more and created a excel spreadsheet to calculate point values for what I'm eating. Goal here is to ride earlier in the year and make a effort to watch what I eat. I also picked up a HRM which has been fun to use.

So after the last 2 weeks of making the effort to watch what I'm eating, plus get out on the bike every other day I'm not losing any weight...well OK 2 lbs.

Bottom line is I know I will be OK as long as I stick to this plan. But sure would like to drop a few more lbs.

Reading all the success stories sure does help.

How is your skin, do you have extra? I'm around the same wieght and dropping slowly but surely.

Minus 10 and counting
 

January 16 - 206 pounds

Today - 196 lbs

Only 36 more to go :(

If I stay at 2500 calories a day, I lose. About 2800-3000, I maintain.

January 15 - 206 pounds - BMI = 30.9

Today (March 14) - 195 punds - BMI =29.2

To reach healthy BMI cutoff of below 25 I need to weigh 166 pounds. Would still like to weigh less than that.

Still counting calories (about 2500/day), riding, walking.

I bought my trainer last November 2003, and I weight 165 lbs., February 29, I found a weighting scale I weight myself and I am down to my cycling weight of 145 lbs.,

and I have log almost 500 km on that trainer, I am sure glad I bought that one, that is really recommended for people who hibernate during the winter time

January 15th - 206 pounds and BMI=30.9

March 21st - 194 lbs and BMI=29.1

I've averaged about 120 miles of riding per week the last two weeks, plus lots of walking. Today I did a 50+ mile ride and will try to hold calorie consumption to a more reasonable level. In the past I've pigged out a little too much after a long ride and set myself back.

I just got back from a week long business trip. Needless to say eating health was a challenge. I am looking forward to bike commuting every day this week.

I think the trick is to quickly recognize the setback and then take the steps needed to move past it. I held steady for the week, but had no loss. So, now back to my routine that has proven results.

Good luck to everyone.

This is a neat thread. It is very motivating to read and I'm glad I found it. I hope it continues to grow and we can motivate each other to lose weight and become very fit cyclist. My story is as I approached 30 yo last 4-03 I had a lifelong problem with obesity. I had missed out on a lot in life and I was sick and tired of it. Last March 2003, I bought myself a road bike. I had been riding mountain bikes inconsistently since 1997, but never had been able to lose much weight mtbiking, I guess due to not being able to do it consistenly due to the toll it puts on your body when riding long rides on consecutive days and poor trail conditions at times due to rain. A road bike does not put near the stress on your body as mtbiking when you are doing a lot of riding. When I bought my road bike I was 250 lbs on a 5'2" frame and miserable due to being so overweight. Over the last year I have lost a total of 100 lbs. I gained 15 lbs back during a 7 week period during the holidays because of it being cold, windy, and rainy and therefore not getting out and riding as I had. My riding has kept me accountable to not overeating also and when I was not riding during this time, I was eating way too much. I had lost down to 169 lbs by Thanksgiving. I got things back on track beginning Jan 21 and have now lost from around 185 lbs at that time to 163 lbs now. I am a total of 87 lbs lighter than I was a year ago. I think I have nearly regained the fitness level I had obtained last Nov also. I lost my weight by "riding lots" and counting and keeping up with my caloric intake each day. I bought a digital scale and weigh and measure all my food and record it in a journal. This is a very tedious and time consuming process, but I think it is very important because it is easy to trick yourself into thinking you are eating less than you actually are if you do not. I take into account my BMR, daily activities, and the calories I burn cycling everyday as far as my energy output and try to have around a 1000 to 1500 cal deficit on each ride day. Typically, I try to burn atleast 2000 cal per ride(I bought a polar HR monitor that calculates calories burned). It now takes me about 40 to 43 miles(2 hrs/5 to 15 min) per ride to do this in the area I usually ride. The goal of my rides is to ride at as high of an intensity as I can sustain so I can maximize the calories I burn. This gets pretty hard when you do long rides on consecutive days and having a calorie deficit each day at the same time. You end up riding in a glycogen depleted state much of the time and it gets hard to ride fast. I am an RN and work 6- 12 hour night shifts in a row and then I have 8 days off, so mostly all of my riding is done on my off days. When I have been really motivated, I have come home in the AM after work on 2 to 3 of my work days and gone out for a hr+ long ride at a very high intensity(try to burn at least 1000 cal on these rides) and lost sleep. When I started out I was not riding as far as I am now. I had to work up to it. My first road bike ride was 6 miles and I went up in mileage from there. I now ride 40 to 50 miles per ride everyday during my 8 off days usually. I look at my six work days as my recovery period even though I do not like to go that long without riding. Over the last year since March 2003 when I first started trying to lose weight, I have rode my road bike exactly 5000 miles and my mtbike around 800 miles. On my off days with my big rides, I usually eat anywhere from 2200 to 2700 calories depending on how many calories I burn(I try to have a 1000 to 1500 cal deficit each day). On my working days, I try to eat about 1800 calories- I have found this to be very challenging and have probably only been successful 3/4 of the time over the last year doing this. I have found that my appetite goes up when I am not riding, especially each day that goes by without riding, and during the winter it was very hard and I failed for a period. I have used the following to keep myself motivated: I have bought every up to date book on cycling training I could, read Lance Armstrong's autobiographies, read about nutrition and fitness on the internet and in books, did a mtb race last fall, recorded all the data from all my rides in a cycling log since I started from my HR monitor and cycling computer along with my weights and look over all this data frequently to see how I have improved, have plans to get into road racing, centuries, and do more mtb racing(this gives me something to work towards), go on cycling vacations, comments by people on my weight loss and how good I'm looking, having to buy smaller better looking clothes(I have lost from 44 inch waist to nearly 32, XXL size clothing to medium and will soon have to start buying small sizes), have set small goals and worked toward acheiving them, came up with mottos like every calorie counts, desire to get married and have children. Anything I can use to help keep me motivated I cling to. Motivation, I have found, is very important in being successful in weight loss. During times of low motivation I have failed more. There are also certain techniques you can use to help you get through tempting moments like visualization of what you want to accomplish, and when you are in tempting situations to think about it in relation to your goals and what you want to accomplish and how if you succumb to a temptation it will bring you away from your goal. I think it is important to try and not get in a hurry to lose a lot of weight fast and to make sure you are taking in enough calories or you will be weak, irritable, and miserable. You also have to realize that you will fail at times but you just have to get over it and get back on track(I have failed many times especially over the winter- I cannot tell you how much I regret gaining 15 lbs of hard lost fat back over the winter and how much further along I could be towards my ultimate goal if I had not). Another thing, if you want to become a stronger cyclist and possibly get into racing, it is going to be hard to train to do this if not impossible as long as you are having calorie deficits, especially big ones. Riding a lot while trying to have calorie deficits will not work well with doing some of the training you read about because it will be harder to become a stronger cyclist if you are not taking in enough nutrition or calories to recover and keep yourself fueled to train and to make improvment. Riding on consecutive days while having calorie deficits each day can be pretty hard because you end up riding much of the time in a glycogen depleted state. It is hard to make much improvement besides getting yourself in better aerobic shape when you are having calorie deficits. As you get in better shape aerobically, your endurance and avg speed will improve and you will be able to ride faster and longer. It is important to realize this and to look at it as the foundation to build upon after you have reached your weight loss goals. Also, it is important to see food as energy and calories are a measurement of this energy. If you eat too much energy(calories) you will gain weight, thus you have to ensure a deficit to lose. If you are not losing you may not be having a deficit, but on the other hand do not eat too little or your metabolism adjust by lowering and you will not be able to sustain any kind of riding. Its a balance.

I am now close to my summer weight at 145 lbs., thanks to my new toy I bought last Janaury a Tacx Roller

mike bike congrats!! You're an inspiration to us all!

January 15th - 206 pounds and BMI=30.9

March 29th - 192 pounds and BMI=28.8

Due to weather I could only put in about 55 miles of riding this last week, compared to 120+ miles in each of the two previous weeks. But I'm still counting calories (about 2500 per day) and losing weight.

May 31, 2003 - 285 pounds.

March 29th, 2004 - 209 pounds

Avg. speed while riding: 20mph (100 rpm) on my 32/17 geared single speed
Avg. miles per day: 7
calories per day: 2000

Hi all,

Guess I'll add my story to the list....

I got diagnosed last December with Type II diabetes. At the time I was 240# on a 5'10" frame. I'd let myself slide after stopping riding due to a car wreck in '96. I kept eating like I was riding without worrying about the consequences.

Due to a job relocation I had to find a new doctor who wanted to do a full workup on me. He gave me the diagnoses of diabetes and said I had two choices, either get it under control or continue the way I was going and have my wife collect on my insurance money. Needless to say I've chosen to get it under control.

I started with a walking program, (walkking during my lunch hour at work). The more I walked the better I felt. I also started seeing a nutritionist on a weekly basis who put together a solid program for me to manage my weight and diabetes.

After a month of walking I dragged my mountain bike out of the garage and wiped off 4 years accumulation of dust and spider webs and went on my 1st real ride in I don't know when. That ride ignited my old passion for riding, (numerous cross state rides, centuries, racing, 250+ mile weeks). While I won't be able to ride at that level due to time constraints I have made a serious commitment to cycling.

I'm currently signed up for the Texas Red River MS150 May 1 & 2. Maybe I'm insane in thinking I can train for this in 2 1/2 months of cycling and have a hope of completing a century but I'm going to do may best. It's going to be a h*ll of a challenge for me to do 100 miles, but I'm stubborn enough that I hope to pull it off. I just remember back to my first century, 23 years old, 3 months to train and not a problem. Now I think, 39 years old, diabetic, 2.5 kids, 2 months to train, what in the heck am I doing!

Now I'm down 20#, (more to go), my blood sugar is down to 110 from 337 and I'm enjoying life again!

Prayers are appreciated, good advice is accepted, bad advice is ignored....

Semper Fi