My journey to loosing weight started about 3 months ago.  I got on the scale and it read 205 pounds.  That’s more than I’ve ever weighed!  It was quite a shock.  Right then I decided to do something about it.  All I did to start was stop having second helpings.  In itself, reducing the amount of intake will cause some weight loss, but it takes a long time.  But I have a bicycle!

I used to ride a lot. In the mid to late 90’s I was riding over 100 miles a week and bought a couple of higher end bikes to ride on.  I rode trails in the woods on my mountain bike (MTB for short) and street rides on my road bike.  Then my wife got a hankering to ride a century (that’s a 100 miles in a day).  So we signed up for the Seagull Century (we lived in Maryland at the time) and set to training for it.  It was all I could do to finish that century ride.  My knees were in severe pain at about the 85 mile mark.  But finish it we did.  That was the last time I rode.  That was in October of ’99.  I didn’t get back on my bike until this year.

Those high dollar bikes I have were gathering dust and I decided it was time to get back out and ride.  So I got them cleaned up at a local shop, dug out my shoes and padded shorts and went for a ride.  Ugh, those shorts were tight! 

I started out slow and only rode about 10 miles each outing.  As I rode more and more, I found that I could ride faster and longer distances.  Granted, that’s to be expected when getting back into shape.  With the reduced diet (no seconds, remember?) and exercise, the weight started to drop off.  In the first 6 weeks I lost 15 pounds!  That took me to 190.  And there my weight sat.

The weather has been warming and we get Diamondback Rattlesnakes on the American River bike trail that I spend a lot of time riding.  Late afternoon is a good time to see them.  They don’t move fast and they aren’t aggressive, but you do have to keep an eye out.  I nearly ran over a baby one day, it looked like a foot long stick.  I’m glad a missed it.  If I’d run over it, it likely would have taken flight and then I’m sure I’d have been nicked by a tooth.  My wife and I have seen several of them and we always stop to let them cross the trail.  No sense in risking a bite.

I kept riding and didn’t change my diet.  I figured that if I wasn’t loosing weight, at least I wasn’t gaining.  My shorts started to get a little looser too.  So I must be putting on some muscle.  Muscle weighs more than fat, so you can loose fat and gain muscle and not have a weight change.

Since that initial 15 pound drop, my weight has been stable.  I've been pretty frustrated as I know I'm burning more calories than I'm taking in.  I suspect that my body is acclimating to the new weight and I'm putting on some muscle mass while still burning fat.

Fast forward to today.  I’ve been riding at least 3 days a week for 70-80 miles. This morning the scale read 188 pounds.  2 pounds suddenly vanished. Finally!  It'll be interesting to see where the next plateau will turn up. 

Incidentally, I feel much better and have more energy.  My knees don’t hurt so bad, and neither do my hips.  So there has been another positive byproduct.