Giant Fuji

Here are my before pictures at about 290 lbs at 6'2".

I'm in the red shirt:


I started my weight loss Journey on Sept. 20 2014. I completely cut out soda and donuts. I use the MyfitnessPal app on my phone and set my goals to lose 2 lbs. a week. As of this morning (1 May 2015) I weighed in at 204.4 lbs.! A loss of 85.6 lbs. in just over 7 months. Most of this is directly attributed to being honest with my caloric intake, not riding the bike. I bought a mountain bike just after starting this journey in hopes of accelerating the process, but I found it difficult to find places to ride a mountain bike where it needed to be ridden, on trails. Then I had weather to contend with too. I am not a big fan of mud rides, lol. That said, even though I had a bike, the time spent on it was relatively little. I finally got down to 210 lbs. and bam, plateau. I got more diligent with bike riding but I hated riding the MTB on the road so I picked up a road bike second hand a few weeks ago. I LOVE riding that thing. I mix it up between the two because I LOVE riding the MTB too...on dirt. The bikes have helped me to lose weight again and I am only 5 lbs. away from my ultimate goal of 199 lbs.

The weight just melted off by changing the way I eat. Weight loss happens in the kitchen, fitness happens on the bike. Now that I have leaned out, the weight just isn't coming off like it was. Increasing my fitness level however, has gotten me losing weight again and in the final stretch to my ultimate goal. I feel confident that I will continue to lose weight even after I hit my goal and eat more calories (maintenance level) because the bikes will make me stronger and increase muscle mass thereby increasing my metabolism. I see no downside to this at all.

To all my brothers and sisters in this forum, I applaud you on your decision to lose weight and get healthier. I am also very proud of you for sharing your experience, you just never know if your story may inspire somebody to a healthier lifestyle. God bless you all!

Bullman

Well, I am about to start. I picked up a Greenspeed GTO used here the other day, great deal from a great guy. here I am on it at all my 300 pound regal splendor.
And for whatever reason the photo can not be posted. Maybe I dont have enough posts in yet, but it says my img code is on.

ChuckD6421 

LOLOL! Not at you, with you!
You hit a homer with the "regal splendor" bit, well played sir! That's the attitude you need.

C.

GZ99

Well done to all the success stories and good luck to the ones who are starting their journey!

I don't have any pictures to post but here is my story of my battle with weight.

In 1996 I graduated high school at about 215 lbs. My work throughout school was in food-service, so my first work out of school was working in kitchens. By 1999 I had blown up to 315 lbs. My son was born in '99 and I took work at C.F. Martin & Company to support my new family. The weight stuck with me. I hovered around 315 lbs. In 2003/2004 I lost a ton of weight. I went from 315 lbs to 220 lbs in the matter of 3 months due to stress and depression. Bicycling helped me maintain a weight of 225 to 235 lbs for the next few years. In 2005 I met my (soon-to-be) ex wife. We were active together at first but that soon ended in an endless cycle of going out to eat and drink and sleeping all day. I was still able to keep myself below 250lbs by riding regularly during the fair months. In late 2007, I believe, my trusty Schwinn was stolen and from 2008 on I steadily gained weight and recently topped out at 280 lbs (according to the doctor scale).

So... Now I have purchased my current Bike and have been out riding relatively consistently, Putting about 6 to 10 miles a ride down.

I weighed myself at 265lbs this morning.

Now all I have to do is quit smoking and fix my diet. :-)

Giant Fuji

Here I am after 88 lbs of weight loss (look up about 3 posts to see the before pics). 202 lbs in this picture, the same I weighed when I graduated high school.

GZ99

Well done! Well done indeed!

Giant Fuji

Thank you!

travbikeman

My before (16 months ago),and current pictures, well actually the current is about a month old and I have lost another 10lbs since.

537lbs.



Current at 338lbs.

Giant Fuji

Awesome job! Keep at it! It feels awesome, doesn't it?

travbikeman

YES! It does feel great! The past few days I have finally accomplished riding up a certain hill in my neighborhood. I didn't have to get off the bike to walk up instead.

I'm really looking forward to losing the next 125lbs.

Giant Fuji

You are well on your way, keep it up!

scrming

I hit the 100 pound mark in just over 8 months... i have about another 25 pounds to go... hopefully by the end of the summer, but won't be surprised if it take a bit longer....

Haff

dude... your quad definition right above your knees is sweet. Excellent job all around!

VCSL2015

Im getting back to riding (woman 5'6 200lbs) Tom you are so inspirational really encouraging to get back on the bike. THANK YOU

SurfNTurf

..............

wvrick

Well done, what bike did you start out with?

Thx

travbikeman

I actually didn't start back into riding bikes, until I was under 400 lbs. Actually, I weighed in at 366lbs when I bough my current Crosstrail. Before then, I had started walking, stretching and worked my calorie count down to currently around 1700 a day. I'm guesstimating that I used to eat over 4500 calories a day at least.

My walks literally started with just making it to and from the parking lot at work without having to sit and rest in the middle of the walk, to gradually walking more and more. My lunch periods now normally consist of walking 1.2 miles during a 25 minute period.

I also ride about 4 miles on my Crosstrail early in the morning before getting ready for work.

Drew Eckhardt 

I didn't think I had a before picture until I replaced my expired drivers license.

Before circa June 2010. Over 200 pounds.


After circa May 2015. Under 140 pounds. I shrunk from 205 to 148 around my high school graduation weight over 2014; and by April was at a 138 pound pro peloton size like when I was riding a lot in 1997.


In action, still riding the same frame as in 1997


With new clothes for riding because my jerseys flapped like flags in a hurricane


I only ate when hungry, only ate enough to be sated 30 minutes after the last bite, and always ate when hungry so I didn't get to ravenous to control myself. Rode 5266 easy miles in 2014 which didn't appreciably increase my hunger, and my weight loss didn't stop like before when I gained fitness, added hard days, and turned my easy days into tempo rides.

Now my wife doesn't poke me to roll over and stop snoring, I'm rested on 6-7 hours of sleep, up at sunrise now covering over 200 miles a week (May 2015 was my first 900 mile month), can use a 50 ring where I needed a 30, and generally as relaxed as when I had a few beers as a more sessile person.

bassjones

From this - - 412 lbs
To this - - 291 since September, 2014. 70-80 to go...

Short Cut

Great thread. Tagged for recall. oops now I see this is a sticky and I didn't need to do that. On the bright side I just found a useful subforum.

GZ99

Great work to all of you who shared your photos!

I dug around and got a few photos together myself...

Here I am at the beginning of the year weighing about 280lbs. I almost always wear black.
This is me with my kids over the weekend. Weighing about 255lbs.
And here is a photo my buddy snapped while we were riding this AM.

Working hard to reach my goal. I am down 25lbs from an early April doctors appointment where they weighed me at just over 280lbs.

Riveting

2011: Weighing in at 230 lbs, I did the elliptical at the gym for 30-45 minutes, 2 days a week, knew I really wanted to change and started to watch what I ate, and basically removed all hard liquor, since it's hard to workout with a hangover. Size 40 waist.



2013: Got a new job close to home and started commuting 2 days a week, 18 miles round trip on a hybrid, now weighing in at 208 lbs., and this got my cardiovascular system fit, but didn't lose much moreweight, maybe 3-5 lbs, but it was a good start.

2014: Bought a Trek Madone 2.3 road bike and also started riding with groups on Sundays, as well bumping up the commuting to 4-5 days a week, and really embraced eating lots more fruit and vegetables, and that's when the lbs. started melting off. In 2014 I totaled about 900 miles, and did my first 100km (63 mile) ride, which was a huge achievement for me at the time. That fall I bought an interactive indoor trainer (BKOOL) and rode it all winter, and I signed up to Strava for tracking and encouragement.

2015: Balls to the wall riding! I'm now cycling in all non-rainy, non-icy weather, and in temps down to 19 F. A few weeks ago, I just completed my first double metric century 200km (125 mile) group ride with 8,200 feet of ascent in 7 hr 45 min, which would have made me fall on the ground laughing to think about doing just 2 years ago. Also completed my first 70 mile solo ride with 5,500 feet of climbing, and just last weekend did a 115 mile ride at an avg speed of 17 mph. I'm now down to 180 lbs, and so far, in 2015, I've logged 2,930 miles, and hope to tally up 5,500 before the year is over, as well as drop another 10-15 lbs. My company is currently having a fitness challenge that 150 people have signed up for and I'm ranked #1 overall for calories (aka METS) burned. Never would I have dreamed of being the poster child for fitness, but thanks to cycling, here I am (in the blue below). Now a size 34 waist.

TheManShow

These pictures show what can be done by people willing to excert effort. Congradulation to all who lost some pounds & inches.

scrming

Bought a new pair of 34" jeans today so I decided to get out the jeans I was wearing last September... 48"!

Bullman

Wow, that is great, congratulations scrming!!!