Hi all,
I posted an introduction in the main introduction section, but thought I'd reintroduce myself here as a fellow Clyde. I was a skinny kid up through high school, but as soon as I turned 19, boom! My metabolism slowed down and I started gaining weight. Of course that was also the time I discovered a taste for beer, which didn't help at all. It didn't matter that I walked and rode a bicycle a lot, seemed like my weight slowly but surely rose.
Well last August I decided to get serious. I kept noticing how tight & uncomfortable most of my T-shirts were getting, and knew I had to do something about it. My weight topped out around 280, and I didn't want to get any closer to 300. So with the encouragement of my sister and brother-in-law who are serious bikers, I pulled my old POS mountain bike out of the shed, cleaned & fixed it up and started riding. It was tough at first on that thing, but I managed. Couldn't get any great speed on it, and going up hills was a challenge, but I made do until I got my hybrid. Now the riding is so much easier and much more enjoyable.
I was doing a lot of riding, and making sure I ate healthy, but my weight still hovered around 275. I'm active at work, always doing a lot of walking, going up and down stairs, and lifting a lot of heavy things, but still couldn't drop weight. Then I read some articles about how sugar is likely the main cause of obesity & heart disease, so about a month ago I cut all sweets out of my diet except fruit. I've since dropped down to 260, where I've hovered all week, and this morning I finally broke the 260 level at 259.6.
I hope to get down to at least around 225 or so. At the very least I'd just like to lose my gut and moobs. I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished so far, doing it all on my own without any hokey diet plan or pills. Just my own willpower, discipline, and desire to see the numbers on the scales go down.
So, of course, regular riding of my bike is also part of my exercise/weight loss plan, even though some times it's hard to get an hour in due to work & family commitments, etc. But I plan to keep plugging away.