So, here I am, 58 and very overweight. I'm not sedentary, however. I enjoy physical activity, but unfortunately I also love to eat. About the time I hit 50, my metabolism dropped noticeably and my weight started going out of control. I would diet for months and lose 10-20 pounds, but the moment I stopped counting calories the weight would come back faster than I would have believed possible. I topped out at 262 in 2001.
Then I discovered bike commuting! I started riding to work a couple of times a week (12 miles each way) and finally was able to lose weight with a "sensible" 1500-1800 calorie diet - something that had just quit working for me without that extra exercise. I lost a few pounds in 2003 and got in better shape than I had been in for years. In 2004 I lost 20-25 pounds. Then, unfortunately, I lost my job. Without the bike commuting I gained it all back in less than 2 years. Such a disappointment.
I was able to start biking to work again in 2006, this time along a really beautiful off-road bike trail. It was a different direction from the other job, but still about the same distance. Too far to ride every day, but I never missed a week all summer, and usually biked two or even three times a week. I loved it. Again, I lost weight in the summer, but no matter how hard I worked at it, I still gained back at least 10 pounds in the winter. Still, as long as I got back to biking in the spring, the trend was down. At the end of the 2007 biking season I was down to "only" 224, and my legs were like iron (under the layer of surface fat). This past winter I FINALLY found a winter activity that was as much fun as biking - ice skating!! I skated all winter and managed to keep my winter weight gain to just 3 pounds. I launched a one month spring diet blitz (modified rotation diet) that took off 10-12 more pounds even as my skating classes were winding down.
Now it's biking season again and I'm down to 216. But, tragically, I can no longer bike commute. My company has moved to a distant suburb, separated from my home by FOUR major highways, a creek, a river, a sewage treatment plant, and a railroad yard.
So I'm feeling a little desperate. I'm at the lowest weight I've been at in the last 15 or 20 years, and I want to keep going. But without the bike commute I don't know how I'm going to do it. So far, things have been going well this spring, but I have to keep my motivation high. It's so much easier when exercise is just built into the schedule.
Then I discovered bike commuting! I started riding to work a couple of times a week (12 miles each way) and finally was able to lose weight with a "sensible" 1500-1800 calorie diet - something that had just quit working for me without that extra exercise. I lost a few pounds in 2003 and got in better shape than I had been in for years. In 2004 I lost 20-25 pounds. Then, unfortunately, I lost my job. Without the bike commuting I gained it all back in less than 2 years. Such a disappointment.
I was able to start biking to work again in 2006, this time along a really beautiful off-road bike trail. It was a different direction from the other job, but still about the same distance. Too far to ride every day, but I never missed a week all summer, and usually biked two or even three times a week. I loved it. Again, I lost weight in the summer, but no matter how hard I worked at it, I still gained back at least 10 pounds in the winter. Still, as long as I got back to biking in the spring, the trend was down. At the end of the 2007 biking season I was down to "only" 224, and my legs were like iron (under the layer of surface fat). This past winter I FINALLY found a winter activity that was as much fun as biking - ice skating!! I skated all winter and managed to keep my winter weight gain to just 3 pounds. I launched a one month spring diet blitz (modified rotation diet) that took off 10-12 more pounds even as my skating classes were winding down.
Now it's biking season again and I'm down to 216. But, tragically, I can no longer bike commute. My company has moved to a distant suburb, separated from my home by FOUR major highways, a creek, a river, a sewage treatment plant, and a railroad yard.
So I'm feeling a little desperate. I'm at the lowest weight I've been at in the last 15 or 20 years, and I want to keep going. But without the bike commute I don't know how I'm going to do it. So far, things have been going well this spring, but I have to keep my motivation high. It's so much easier when exercise is just built into the schedule.
If I stick to 1200 again today, my 3-day average will be down to 1600. So it's doable.
