There is a website called fatcyclist.com. The author, Fatty, is humorous, good-natured, and often on the money about biking issues. Apparently, he started his blog because he had fought the good fight with his weight and basically wanted to use public shaming as a last chance method to lose weight. As best I can tell, it worked pretty well because he certainly seems like a svelte, in-shape kind of guy. For him, riding a century is no big deal...on a mountain bike...uphill.
To be honest, Fatty gave me the inspiration for my blog (By the way, his name is actually Elden Nelson but he does encourage people to call him Fatty).
To get back on subject, I was attracted to his blog because I am, by all reasonable definitions, a fat cyclist. Never during my life have I been described as petite. Never. Do you remember Husky pants? I was that kid. No lie.
Over the years, I have tried to lose weight and have been successful on several occasions. Typically, the success has been short lived. Looking back, it seems my diets or exercise plans were too extreme; too hard to maintain in the long term. When I think of this, I think of P90X.
Several years ago, Michelle and I decided together that we needed to lose weight. We needed to change our lifestyle and our eating habits. The best part about this is that we were doing it together. This certainly was one of the main factors in our success.
The biggest factor in our weight loss became obvious after a little while. When people would ask me what I did to lose weight, I would answer that I did this really extreme diet call the Eat Less Food Diet. This would usually be followed by several seconds of a curious expression, closely followed by the realization that I was talking about eating less food. Simple as that. Nothing fancy. No weird supplements. No specific food restrictions. Just eat less food.
This method of weight loss has been the most successful method. I went from about 230 lbs to a low of 205 lbs. I must admit, I was pretty happy and feeling quite well. I even managed to get off a low dose cholestorol med. I looked better, felt better, and was more confident.
This all started back in the fall of 2008. The weight stayed off until about the last year or so, when it started creeping back. I knew I was gaining. I could feel I was gaining. I made some very half-hearted (maybe one-quarter-hearted) attempts to curb my diet. Finally, I weighed myself after the holidays and saw a number I had never wanted to see again...220 lbs! This was a breaking point where I decided I needed get back on the wagon.
It has been two weeks. I have lost about 5 lbs in that time. How? EAT LESS FOOD! The evening snack has essentially been eliminated. Little treats that are lying around are left lying around. Otherwise, nothing else has changed. I am trying to exercise as much as I can but it is difficult with a full-time job, a wife and two little kids.
It does take a lot of will power. I really love an evening snack, especially ice cream...ummm, ice cream (wiping drool off my lips). It has to be done. I am becoming a healthier person. Cycling will be easier. I will be around longer for my kids. My quality of life will be better as I get older. Believe me, these are all worthwhile goals and actually better than ice cream (I love you ice cream...don't be angry!).
My goal is to get back to 205 and to hold it there (secretly, I would love to see 199 on the scale, at least once). How long will it take? I don't care. One other thing I learned during The Great Weight Loss of 2008 was that there would be fluctuations. Some weeks the weight wouldn't come off and might even go up. What do you do in this situation? Stick to the plan. This is a long term thing folks.
To be honest, Fatty gave me the inspiration for my blog (By the way, his name is actually Elden Nelson but he does encourage people to call him Fatty).
To get back on subject, I was attracted to his blog because I am, by all reasonable definitions, a fat cyclist. Never during my life have I been described as petite. Never. Do you remember Husky pants? I was that kid. No lie.
Over the years, I have tried to lose weight and have been successful on several occasions. Typically, the success has been short lived. Looking back, it seems my diets or exercise plans were too extreme; too hard to maintain in the long term. When I think of this, I think of P90X.
Several years ago, Michelle and I decided together that we needed to lose weight. We needed to change our lifestyle and our eating habits. The best part about this is that we were doing it together. This certainly was one of the main factors in our success.
The biggest factor in our weight loss became obvious after a little while. When people would ask me what I did to lose weight, I would answer that I did this really extreme diet call the Eat Less Food Diet. This would usually be followed by several seconds of a curious expression, closely followed by the realization that I was talking about eating less food. Simple as that. Nothing fancy. No weird supplements. No specific food restrictions. Just eat less food.
This method of weight loss has been the most successful method. I went from about 230 lbs to a low of 205 lbs. I must admit, I was pretty happy and feeling quite well. I even managed to get off a low dose cholestorol med. I looked better, felt better, and was more confident.
This all started back in the fall of 2008. The weight stayed off until about the last year or so, when it started creeping back. I knew I was gaining. I could feel I was gaining. I made some very half-hearted (maybe one-quarter-hearted) attempts to curb my diet. Finally, I weighed myself after the holidays and saw a number I had never wanted to see again...220 lbs! This was a breaking point where I decided I needed get back on the wagon.
It has been two weeks. I have lost about 5 lbs in that time. How? EAT LESS FOOD! The evening snack has essentially been eliminated. Little treats that are lying around are left lying around. Otherwise, nothing else has changed. I am trying to exercise as much as I can but it is difficult with a full-time job, a wife and two little kids.
It does take a lot of will power. I really love an evening snack, especially ice cream...ummm, ice cream (wiping drool off my lips). It has to be done. I am becoming a healthier person. Cycling will be easier. I will be around longer for my kids. My quality of life will be better as I get older. Believe me, these are all worthwhile goals and actually better than ice cream (I love you ice cream...don't be angry!).
My goal is to get back to 205 and to hold it there (secretly, I would love to see 199 on the scale, at least once). How long will it take? I don't care. One other thing I learned during The Great Weight Loss of 2008 was that there would be fluctuations. Some weeks the weight wouldn't come off and might even go up. What do you do in this situation? Stick to the plan. This is a long term thing folks.
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