mtndragon

First off, hats off to those that are working their way down in size. I am currently 6'3" 220, and trying to gain my weight back. Had a surgery in the spring, and then a summer of backpacking and mtn biking didn't due much for gaining mass back. Ideal weight for me is 230. Just purchased a road bike, and happily entering the roadie world, as work has me far from the mountains, and I have never been a big fan of driving a car to ride a bike. So, back to lurking and figuring out this road thing, but thank you for the wisdom and advice in this thread and on this site-

Dave

markrj

What an inspirational thread this is!

I stepped on the bathroom scale back in May this year and was horrified to learn that I weighed 260 lbs. I am 6ft even. It was the heaviest I have ever been. I decided to enact some lifestyle changes and started eating healthy, walking about 3 miles a day. I also started playing 9-18 holes of Disc Golf during my walks. After about a week of walking and playing disc golf I decided to start cycling as well. I dusted off the 22 year old GT Karakoram MTB and started out doing 3 or 4 mile round trips. Numb hands and sore bottom so I decided maybe it was time for a new bike.

I purchased a new 2010 TREK 7300 Hybrid and put 950 miles on it including several 40 mile rides and completed my first half century ride two weeks ago. We got along just fine that 7300 and me. I liked that bike better than any bike I had owned before. The longer road (vs. trail) rides were starting to get very long on the 7300 and I yearned for a real road bike. So two days ago I traded the 7300 for a new TREK 2.3. First 32 mile ride was fantastic! I went from averaging 13.5 mph over 30-32 miles pretty hilly terrain with some hills that were quite challenging for this 48 year old clyde to 17.1 mph avg. The 30.2 mile route on the hybrid took about 2 1/4 hours. On the 2.3 The route was slightly longer at 32.4 miles and I finished it in 1 hour 52 minutes and that is including about 5 minutes spent chatting with a bike trail freind I met last week who passed me in the other direction. So, I think the average speed was probably slighter faster but who cares! I'm saving time!

I have shed 30 pounds so far. I purchased my first official cycling shirt. I still have a long way to go but making myself look better in that shirt is a powerful incentive. I bought the shirt that "clinged the least" and is very comfortable.

Now I just need to make sure I continue healthy eating. I slip every now and then with a small serving of Potato Chips or Ice Cream!

My first goal was to loose 60 pounds but I have upped the ante and I'm going for 75. I want to be 185 before I turn 50 in 18 months.

My 7300. Thank you for helping loose the first 30 pounds!



And the 2.3. It is going to take me the rest of the way...

Captain Blight

Three years ago, I weighed 337 pounds at six feet two inches. I smoked cigarettes, I drank, I ate sausages all the damn time (I'm from Wisconsin). I was a wreck. I actually got winded putting on a pair of socks.

Mind you, I also had an @$$-kicking job, Mississippi River deckhand; very physical, lots of hard work. So there was also a lot of useful muscle under that 44" waist. I started getting pretty damn serious about my weight loss. I threw away the car keys (I really have no idea if it even starts, these days) and started riding the bike.

Three years later, I am 99 pounds lighter. I'm 43 years old tomorrow, have a resting BP of 112/72, a resting pulse rate of 52 to the minute, and am fitting back into my 38" waist pants. I weigh 238 and for the first time in quite a while, I can see the veins in my arms-- and for the first time in my life, the veins in my legs.

I ride steel. Vintage, lugged steel, with half-step gearing. Nothin' else like it.

Neil_B

Bravo!

hercules411

You guys are all doing so great. I hate to exersize. But I love to ride. I weighed more than 500 pounds about two years ago. I sat in a lazy boy chair, ate, watched tv and dragged myself to work. I had arthritis... and eventually had a pulmonary embolism. When docs refused to remove my gallbladder because of the risk involved in surgery on a 500 pound person, I decided to lose weight. I began to lose as usual.. then put some back on as usual.
Eventually, when I got to about 430 pounds, I decided to have a gastric bypass. I lost about 100 more pounds before the actuall surgery about a year ago. By February, I was at about 250 pounds. My wife bought me late 70's Schwinn Continental. on Craigs List .Steel baby! I began to ride. When I shed more weight, I canabalized parts from that Scwhinn, and I re-assembled my 1974 Schwinn Continental that had been sitting in the basement. I began to ride that. I also bought an old Motobecane Mirage from the 1980's for fifty bucks and began to ride that. It is much lighter than the Schwinn. Today, the scale reads 219 lbs. I'm six foot one. I have ridden 1,333 miles since February. My speed has gone from about six miles per hour to averaging 13 miles per hour. I ride about 22 miles a day and still work ten hours at my job each day. I don't feel the arthritis pain as much. I LOVE TO RIDE!

CraigB

Wow, you guys have done some amazing things! Way to go!

And markrj - nice 2.3 That bike's on my shortlist for my new "incentive road bike" for when I break 200. That is, if it's still available then - who knows how the '11 model line is going to shake out (I've heard rumors of Trek introducing a full carbon model for somewhere between $1.5K and $2K - but even that might be too rich for my budget).

mister

I posted in here a few years back, at least I think I did, but took about 3 years off of seriously riding when I started a new job.

I'm 6'2", 225 lbs. I've managed to stay at 225, but I've definitely flabbed up and I'm recommitted to doing something about it. I finally killed my carbon frame, but that was from being stupid not heavy and built up a Nashbar road frame. I've done a couple triathlons and competed in the regular group and the clyde group (both times I was a clyde). I had way more fun competing with other clydes and actually felt thin!

Recently, I've gotten really fed up with myself for letting myself go. I refuse to buy a 40 inch waist, and I'm feeling squeezed in some of my 38's. All of my extra weight is in my mid-section and from a health perspective, that really worries me and my wife.

My goal is get down to 190 by my 10 year HS reunion next year. When I graduated HS, I was about 180 and razor thin. I figure adding 10 pounds to that should be okay although according to the BMI that is boarder line overweight.

Anyway, here's what I ride.

finelargeaxe

I don't know what it is, but road bikes always unnerve me...all the ones I've seen in person look so fragile. What with the skinny frames, and the skinnier tires, I instinctively think they're about to break whenever I sit on one. That's why I always get mountain bikes. I always feel like I need to ride a tank.

massi

wow thats a phenomonal weight loss guys. Truly awesome. Well done Hercules and Captain blight !

Thank you for posting and giving me the final push I needed to try again. Last year I had lost 1 stone but put it all back on agin by not watching my food intake and quitting cycling .I know I can do it and I'mm writing up a diet and exercise programme today.
Thank you

earthirv

Try a cyclocross bike. I have a Santa Cruz Stigmata with 700 x34 tires. I also have two road bikes that I ride but for city riding and riding in general I prefer the Stigmata. Cyclocross bikes look like road bikes but have different brakes and take big tires. Many can be turned into touring bikes because they can take fenders. There many brands out there. Trek, Cannondale, Specialized, Surly, Salsa, Kona, Jamis and many more. FYI, I'm 6'3' and 240lbs. My goal is 200lbs. I've lost 30 lbs biking and I still drink beer and eat well. Good luck. Hope this helps.

bbeasley

53 y/o 5'8" 237lb sloppy fat with a heart attack at 41. I bought a $100 cruiser from the big box store to see if I was serious. In one week I've gone from a wheezing 1.5 miles to commuting 11 miles round trip to work and today riding 21 miles and not worn out. I'm completely hooked and already want a "real" bike. I've promised myself that if I commute to work every day for a month I'm getting another bike.

I live in the flat lands and seem to do fine with the one gear on my cruiser. Would a SG road bike make sense? Like a Republic with the wheel flipped so it can coast? It's so different than what everybody on the forum rides it worries me. My budget is $450 tops.

All advice appreciated!

Charlie_R

Been a while since I posted in this thread, and thought I might update what has happened since.

Actually GAINED weight from 235, went up to 250. I know, 15 lbs might not seem like much, but to me it was. Started having problems with angina when I rode so said time to do something about it.

Am now down to 225, and am continuing to lose. I'm at that plateau when the weight doesn't seem to be dropping, but the size is. I've gone from 38 pants being tight, to can't keep the darned things up. Even the 25 lb loss seems to have helped the angina, that has gone from a daily occurrence to only when I push too hard on my daily rides.

Looking forward to that 200 mark, and will continue to push for the supposedly ideal weight of 160. Not sure I can make that, it's been since freshman in HS on that. At 52 years old, it might be unattainable, but is still worth going for!

Vintage Year

Another new guy here from Texas.

I did a lot of riding in the 90's when I was in high school and left it behind when I went to college. I am 6'3" adn now at 225lbs my size 38's are getting a little too snug. So I pulled my 93 Cannondale R400 out of storage and have put it back on the road. My goal it get back to my college weight of 185, and get back into riding centuries. I am currently riding 2x a week about 20 miles each time, but want to up it to 3x a week.

CraigB

Good on you, for making the decision to get with the program!

Past weight milestones can be powerful incentives. I'm already under my college weight, at least the only college weight I remember (225), so the short-term goal I'm focusing on now is where I bottomed out the last time I successfully lost weight - when I was in my late 20s or so I got down to 212. It'll mean a lot to me when I break that barrier. Then will be the big psychological milestone of 200. After that, the only historical milepost I can summon up was when I was a short, fat little freshman in high school and weighed in at 185 for gym class wrestling. It'll be a real hoot when I get past that point, which is now 42 years in my rearview mirror.

kinetic

6' 255lbs. I am right on the edge of being able to consistently ship for shorts and pants at regular stores- that is a huge wakeup call. I've gone vegetarianfor the last 5 months and have cut way back on the sugar and HFCS products- still eating fish. I've still got a lot of dietary issues to resolve. I've decided to give up my 3 nights a week ice hockey habit as all the weight is just thrashing my knees, for very little benefit. So......

My wife and I are walking 3 or so miles 3 nights a week, and doing light upper body hand weights. I'm also going to be ramping up the biking- hoping to get out 3 days a week at first, maybe more- some with my 2 year old in the burley, some without.

Today was rough, could only pull off 7 miles of flatland paved trail here in Florida, hot and windy. Came home shaking! Still, felt good to be doing something productive exercise wise. My first new bike in 11 years was also very nice- even better with the Burley than expected. Loved the test rides, but hadn't tried it with the Burley till I rode it home from the shop.

Plenty of inspiration on this forum- you guys have some great work ethic. My first goal is 225- would like to be there by my 31st birthday in February.

Here I am with the new KaiTai and my old Burley today:



And here is THE ENEMY:

Edric

5 foot ten and 215 lbs. Nine years ago I was rear ended on the freeway my a semi truck and could do much for over a year. After gaining 40 lbs from being inactive I slowly got back into bike riding. I have a road bike built on a nashbar frame; it is Campy equipped .I also have a 1989 Gt outpost, which I bought new. On the weekends I ride my road bike about 32 miles, and during the week i ride at least twice on a mountain bike up a steep fireroad, about 19 miles a week.

mister

It's officially been a month since I started riding for fun and fitness. I haven't paid much attention to what I eat other than less red meat, less desserts, and smaller portions and I'm down to about 227 from 235 so about 8 pounds. I physically feel better and am actually optimistic that I will get down to my goal of 190 by January.

1855Cru

Hi there, I'm a newbie here and have been really inspired by the posts on the Clydesdale forum!

I'm 47 years old 5ft 10 tall. A little over a year ago I weighed 291lbs and was feeling lethargic and always out of breath. I finally went to my doctor who told me my blood pressure was high and that I needed to lose weight. It was a wake up call for me as he pulled no punches talking to me about obesity and life expectancy!!

So I started working out, mainly walking at first then going to the gym and doing cardio on the elliptical and stationary bike. About 6 months ago I pulled my 10 year old Trek 720 out of the garage and started doing some rides. I really enjoyed the change up from the gym and recently purchased a Trek 2.1 and will be trying for my first metric century this weekend. Today I'm down to 232lbs with the goal of getting down to 200lbs by next by next June.

Thanks again for all the inspiration, it is really very comforting to know that there are many others going through the same life changes.

Mayday.JP

5'10" tall, 220lbs @ 12% body fat. I've always been active and i had a giant ocr2 that i had to get rid of and i focused on weight lifting alot (started to powerlift 300lbs+) and after i got married, had to switch my financially priorities around and cut the gym. Still at the same weight but have lost some muscle mass. Currently trying to cut down to 200lbs at the most. Especially with the holidays coming around, It's gonna be a tough push to keep it off.

Jaytron

I'm 24, 5'11, around 215 and just picked up a 2004 Giant OCR2.

Just out of a "serious relationship" (I know I'm young and there are plenty of fish in the sea). Being in a relationship had me put on a few pounds (just got comfortable I guess). The breakup didn't help either, it sparked nights full of smoking and drinking (mostly to abuse my new found freedom). I've managed to cut down the drinking from 3~4 drunken nights a week to drinking maybe once a month with friends. The smoking I've cut out completely! I've just gotten back into riding, from a short history of BMX back in high school. Goals are to hit sub 200 before the new year.

obrien

Hey everyone, I am a newbie here on the forum. I am 6'2 and I am down in the 233-238 lb range. I started riding last october due to the encouragement of my best friend. I bought a cannondale 3.0 in november, the upgraded to a slightly used trek 1.2 in april. I started out at 256 lbs. So far I haven't changed my diet much, mainly just cutting out soda. After several years of not being very active, I have really enjoyed the difference cycling has made for me so far. I am hoping to get down to around 220-225 range and just get in better shape from there. My best friend likes to joke calling me the bus, because people tend to enjoy riding behind me in the group rides.

Deord

35, 5' 10, and 277 lbs.....I ride an FX

kansastdi

Today's weight is 366.2. Not my heaviest but have been around 360 for last 6 months. Decided to post for first time and try new avitar. I also wanted to set a starting point for today. Bike riding is tough in KC during the winter and will workout at the gym. Trying to slim down for the family and the Bike Across Kansas next year.

Bryan

doc0c

Take it one step at a time KC. As you can see from my sig, I was at 275 in January of this year. The weight loss was not as quick as I expected, even with a good amount of exercise. Don't get discouraged and keep at it. If your focus is to be healthier, the weight loss will come as a result of that.

kansastdi

I agree the goal is to be healthier, the weight will follow.