Went for a month there and just couldn't lose any weight so I said screw it! Stopped the diet and just went into maintenance mode. In the 1 week that followed I went from 202 to 199. Freakin crazy!

Impressive! Great job!

You might want to check out fitday.com.

http://www.fitday.com/

Katie checking in. No loss, which means I'm doing something wrong - either eating too much or riding too little. And I didn't post here for awhile since I haven't seen any progress but I'm back since you guys keep me motivated. Keep up the good work!

Kotts here. I got back into riding in '04, and weighed 225 lbs (too much for 5'10"). Was wearing 40 - 42 slacks. I've been hovering at 185 - 190 lbs for a while now, wearing 32" slacks. Mostly just moderating intake and riding (and going to the gym in the "off season" to keep myself from balooning).

I could probabaly loose another 10, but I'm not going to obsess over it, I'm more interested in establishing a lifestyle that'll keep me here.

For those who are working on getting down, keep at it! You will get there. If you take your time getting there, you're more likely to stay there for the long haul.

It has been a few weeks since the last time I posted an update. Today I have great news:

Current Weight 160 lbs (Started at 205 lbs)
Pants size 34-36 (Started at 40)

I AM SO F*****' CLOSE TO MY GOAL I CAN`T BELIEVE IT!

Thanks for the support and the motivation guys,

Ricardo

PS: Here are my before and after pics.
PS2: Do you like my new jersey? Wife gave it to me last Xmas.

^^^^ nice work. the pics are the best motivation i found i had. a great tool to really document the weight loss process. keep it up. later.

Howdy everyone!!! Thanks to the motivation provided in this thread i'm down to 239 from 260 simply from lots of mountain biking, walking and watching what i eat! I'm a little ahead of my preliminary goal of 230 by Sept. 1st with an eventual goal of 215-220. Thanks to everyone from sharing their success as it keeps me focused and helps to feel like i'm not alone in this battle :) Take care all.

Mike

I normally hang in the clydes group as well, but just noticed this thread. June 2006 I started on the road to lose weight and get in better shape. I started at 375 and today I am 293, 82 lbs lost and have dropped 14" from my waist and 10" from my chest. My resting HR has gone from 77 when I first checked it in Aug 06, to 42 about a week ago in the hospital. While I have not lost a lot of weight lately due to a knee injury and having surgery last week, I am encouraged that I have not gained any so I must be doing something right and look forward to getting back on the bike and getting to my 200 lb goal.

Well, after a month, I'm sorry to admit that I'm failing.
I initially started to feel better, then I had a few days that I felt like crap, and it discouraged me. I then went on an eating binge, and gained more weight than I lost last month (practically overnight). My stomach is protruding, and I feel depressed.

Has this ever happened to anyone else here?

Have you tried doing long-distance biking on weekends? Are you able to use your bike at any point during your work week?

This has helped out for me and continues to help.

Ok, so I'll make my first post in this thread.

I finally got fed up with being so fat and out of shape last week and starting this last Monday I've been riding and swimming regularly. My goal is to ride (mostly) or swim every day before work and go on a long ride on the weekend.

As of Sunday I was at my heaviest, 275 pounds. I'm 6'2". I've been riding on and off over the last couple of years, but this week I'm committing to hitting it hard. My first goal is to get to under 210 which was my military weight.

If you want a great and motivating book to read, I recommend "Heft on Wheels - A Field Guide to Doing a 180" by Mike Magnuson. He lost a lot of weight pretty much just through cycling (fanatically...)

I'll try to post my results on a regular basis.

Matt

I just started reading this book last week and it is great!

just picked up a bike to work off some pounds and get in shape and ofcourse enjoy riding. gained like 25pounds over the winter when my wife was pregnant i ate with her like a madman lol i know its no excuse but i found myself eating with her everytime so im 196 now looking to get to 165-170:D

This is my first post on the site. Wheee! I have only been riding for a month, and am currently at 12 miles of ridiculously hilly terrain 6 days a week. I plan to amp it up to where I can eventually ride 25-30 miles 6 days. I got a bike to get in better overall health/fitness. It's just a cheapo Schwinn hybrid, but works great for now. I only have about 15 lbs of fat that I want to get rid of. Every ounce of it is around the torso. I'm a 29 year old male, 6' 1" and currently weigh 160lb. I realize that sounds silly that I would want to lose weight with the stats that I have, but I don't want to lose overall weight. I just want to burn off the existing fat that I seem to have accumulated over the past couple of years while building muscle, which is something that I have very little of. I couldn't care less about the number on the scale, as I'm otherwise small framed and skinny. I just want to look good with just a t-shirt on without it showing off that lovely extra fat. So that's my background and the goal that I have.

I eat well, but have a desk job that forces me to be sedentary for a good part of the day. I'm hoping the riding will benefit my overall health and rid me of those few extra fat pounds that I currently have. I'm fighting a winning battle with adrenal fatigue which causes me to have less energy than normal. But I always have enough energy when riding. Getting my blood oxygenated and the heart pumping does wonders!

I've been very impressed and encouraged with all of your stories in this thread, and just want to say congrats to all of you who have shown improvement and, ultimately, met your goals!

Nice. Have you thought of commuting by bike? You sound like a perfect candidate.

Ricardo

My 10 mile, one way route to work takes me down an old, windy, hilly narrow 2 laner that I wouldn't feel comfortable riding the entire way. People fly through it at breakneck speeds, and I forsee large amounts of pain should I travel via the bike. I haven't ever seen a cyclist on the main stretch, probably due to motorists' limited visibility of what's around the next turn. Thanks for the tip though!

I was talking to an old friend last night who is moving back into town. We've already discussed both of our interests in riding. It looks like I'll have someone to ride with and help keep me motivated!

how did you make that graph? I want to graph my weight like that but I cant find anything that allows you to type in a date and then the data. Since my weigh in are not at regular intervals it would be to time consuming to break it down into days.

Fitness Journal is also good; you can track your workouts and weight and get as detailed as you want with specifics of what you eat each day.

http://www.fitnessjournal.org

Alright, that's fine. Riding with a buddy is great, specially if he's slightly faster than you are. Last but not least, remember that it is all about the fun...

RR

Been a while since I checked in. I haven't lost much wieght lately. Still ahnging at 197 but starting to go down again. I have noticed some cool changes though. Since I am also doing other strength exercises my body is changing. I am still loosing fat but adding muscle hence the lack of weight loss. I have gone from tight 36 pants to fitting or loose 34's. My cholesterol had been 219 for the bad and only 28 for the good. After blood work last week my bad is 173 and the good stuff is up to 42. My ratio had been almost 8 but is now 4.3 or womewhere in that area.

I feel awesome. Wonder how ai will feel when I finally get down to the 190 mark I have set for myself.

Good work to everyone else. Don't you feel great!

I am 28 years old, 5'7", about 182lbs. According to my Tanita scale, which from the sound of it is not completely accurate, I'm at 25% body fat. I figure I could stand to lose about 20lbs. If I want to cut my fat % and get better at riding, should I be doing other workouts besides riding? I read the Chris Carmichael book "5 Essentials for a Winning Life" which I really liked, but I don't know if doing those workouts will help me in terms of cycling.
Bottom line, if I want to lose weight and get better at cycling, should I focus simply on riding or incorporate other workouts?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Well, I'm back to where I was in the spring, before I started travelling (and *eating*), and acquired achilles tendinitis and needed to back way off exercise even when I wasn't travelling. In one regard at least I'm ahead of where I was then, drinking lots of water seems to be really important (and makes scale weights more honest too).

And it's interesting to me that I could get back to that weight (upper 150s, can't speculate on scale's accuracy w/in a couple pounds any more) w/o resuming bonus rides, just regaining power/speed/whatever on my commutes.

Something that I think helps for anyone is not focusing on the absolute weight. I don't really care how much I weigh, I really just own a scale to let me know if I'm going up or down. Even if it is off by ten pounds it will still indicate loss.

Thought it might be fun to post my first message here. I got back into cycling this year with a vengeance - after many years away from my various bikes. For a variety of reasons I had stopped riding and had watched my weight slowly rise over the last few years. After a checkup in January - my first in over twenty years - it was concluded that my BMI bordered on obese and that my BP was on the high side. I am not too fussed about the BMI as I tend towards a lot of muscular weight in my legs and backside and the high BP turned out to be largely a result of white-coat syndrome. Nevertheless, it was a wake up call for me at the age of 47 and with two small children. Within a week of the appt. I had dragged out a bike and put it on a trainer as Ottawa winter's mitigate against any sensible outdoor riding. I resurrected my HRM and began to weigh myself and measure my BP on a daily basis. I started at about 190lbs. (5'8.5"). I used the HRM to guide my training and cut back a bit on food - although my weight gain was not so much diet related as lack of exercise. I worked out 4-6 times a week for about an hour or so at a time. Within a short time I started to see the weight budge. By the time I was out on the road I had already dropped 10lbs. Now almost through the summer season I am down 20lbs and have an average BP of about 114/ 65 and a resting heart rate of 54 - my max is about 181BPM. I am currently trying to find ways of budging the last 5-8lbs (I am hovering between 168-171lbs). My riding has gone down in recent weeks as other commitments have meant that it is harder to get out - moreover I prefer to ride early before the traffic gets busy and it is now pitch black at 5:00a.m.. I think I will put a bike back on the trainer for weekdays and get my road rides on the weekends. I do feel fabulous and can now punch out a ride at an average speed of close to 30KPH.

I would welcome ideas on how to burn the last few pounds!