» Weight Loss Update BIKE 4 MORE: Energy | Enjoyment | Happiness | Health | Life

So this biking thing is really starting to pay off. In one of my original posts to this blog I posted a picture of my bathroom scale.

January 7th 2008
217.4 Pounds
22.5% Body fat

Now for anybody who doesn’t know me, in Fall of 2003 I weighed in at 285 pounds I had an ulcer, high blood pressure and probably high cholesterol. I was in generally poor health besides being overweight. I have pictures but I am too embarrassed to show them to you folks.

With a combination of moving out of my dads house and living on my own and getting started riding bikes I started to lose weight. Being poor and hungry as a college student was a major bonus now that I look back.

I just started riding my road bike a little bit at a time, 5 miles then 10 then 20 and so on. I also tried to eat better but I was very ignorant about food at the time.

So 5 years later and 90 pounds I’m a happy bikist. I actually lost about 50 pounds of it before the fall of 2005. But I have been struggling for the last 3 years to get 30 more.

The last 10 has been the hardest. It seemed like I would yo-yo between 201-207 for a few months. The first time I saw 199.9 I just about jumped out of my skin. I havent weighed less than 200 pounds since I was maybe 14 years old. I remember putting 200 on my drivers license when I was 16 but knowing that 200 was a lie. More like 230.

Fast forward to Today.

June 6th 2008
195.0 pounds
16.7% Body fat

There is more to this success than you realize. I not only ate better and rode my bike more but Don and I started this bike blog to get our lazy butts on our bikes. Sarah, myself and Don also joined a Gym. I know that going to the gym 3-4 times per week was a major contributor. When trying to lose weight or just trying to get faster on your bike you should always cross train. Ride bikes and go to the gym, ride bikes and play basketball, swim, run, lift weights, get a laborer job at a concrete company, Etc.

I was day-dream-biking the other day thinking that the perfect job for me would be a high school science teacher. I could mold young minds in the fall and spring and work part time for a concrete company during the summer digging ditches and what not to stay fit.
195 pounds was a goal that I set for myself to meet with a reward. I bought myself a very snazzy set of new carbon soled road cycling shoes back in January. I hung them up on the wall in my bike room so I could see them everyday to remind myself to eat better and to ride more.
My Carbon Fiber Carrot:

Technically I am still 10 pounds over my ideal weight based on my height 6′0″ and waist size 34-36 but as of right now I am super stoked. I have more muscle than the average person so I would say my ideal weight is closer to 190 rather than 185. By my figures 190 will give me a body fat percentage of 15% which is more than fine in my book. 100 total pounds lost is is my ultimate goal which I will reach but it could take another 5 years. I would like to see how far I can go while I have youth, time and energy. I figure If I start as healthy as possible the real world (House, Kids, Career) will have a harder time of catching up with me.

So after all of this I want you to see this as a success story of someone who is genetically preprogrammed to be fat overcoming that wily gene and watching out for myself for the long double century that I call life.

So if you are trying to lose weight, don’t give up. It took me 5 years to get 90% of the weight off of myself that I want to. You can do it too, but you have to work at it, suffer a little and and never give up. In order to succeed you must change your lifestyle, sweat when you don’t want to, and give up french fries almost completely.

Some stats about the state of disrepair that the average American body has fallen into.