Overweight issues

[Robbin_G]

.....and I can keep my butt in the bike saddle for 10 hours.

I'm not exactly tiny, but there are some bigger girls that can kick my *** on a bike. I'd love to drop 30lbs myself

[mmelindas]

Well, I had to weigh in yesterday....and it wasn't pretty. At the Asthma doc's the scale said "314lbs" and I about had a coronary right there!

Then I weighed in at my primary care manager's office and it was only "304" which was a relief, but I am not sure it wasn't wrong, maybe I broke it!

The doctor didn't rag on my as usual because I told her I'd bought a bike and was trying to ride it and also had gotten a membership to a sports center near me....I think she was going to say something but she only said, "I'll take whatever I can get (me to do)" and I actually loved her in that moment!

I managed to sprain my right knee JUST TURNING OVER IN BED! Boy, does that speak volumes about my weight... and am now couch bound...The orthopedic Dr. put a long mean needle of cortisone in my right kneecap area and another in the top of my left foot! Wow, did that HURT!!

So, I am going to be good and get back to biking and watching what I eat...no more cheating and will eat more veggies and less junk. I am with you Shasta and everybody else who struggles. I lost 90 lbs five years ago, all my symptoms disappeared and now I am almost back to my original heavy weight...how embarassing

[MomOnBike]

Boy, I'd just Love to be (just) 30 lbs overweight. {sigh...}

But if I wait to enjoy life until that day, I won't do anything at all. I finally realized that yup, I'm obese (as in off the scales, obese) and it is $*&^!! impossible to find 1) biking clothes that I will wear in public or 2) daily clothes with style, but this is the size I am now.

I'll struggle with the clothes issue, but I'll be on my bike. I may be slow, but that just means I see more!

[shasta]

I was reading the asthma issue elsewhere as I have exercise induced asthma also. Mine is also affected by certain things I eat such as simple carbs. I notice it is much better when I cut out that stuff, even crackers.

I'd like to lose 80#, 100# could be doable but I'd be THRILLED at 80. Right about now I'd take 10, LOL.

Anyway, I am back on my road bike after a bit of a break due to intense training on a new mail route and it seems it's done me good. My butt doesn't hurt so much and my knees are not shaking anymore. I am on my way after thinking it would never come.

Never say never!

Shasta

[Trekhawk]

I may be slow, but that just means I see more!

MomOnBike - I love that line.

Trek-Im snail slow-Hawk

PS Glad to hear you ladies are all out there giving it your best. You are inspiring.

[Geonz]

The guys I learned to ride with said as pacelines would pass us, "What's with these guys that just want to get it over with as fast as they can? Don't they *like* riding?"

[cyclingnewbie]

I'm glad to hear that there are heavier women out riding. I frequently feel like I must be the fattest person in the world on a bike. And I'm very proud of all of you for getting out there, even though you aren't a size Tiny. Ride on, ladies!!

[nancielle]

I managed to sprain my right knee JUST TURNING OVER IN BED! Boy, does that speak volumes about my weight... and am now couch bound...The orthopedic Dr. put a long mean needle of cortisone in my right kneecap area and another in the top of my left foot! Wow, did that HURT!!

Last year I had a pretty traumatic knee injury (I'll spare you the gory details.)
Anyway, the orthopedic surgeon gave me some exercises to strengthen the muscles around my knees. Wanted me to start doing them the day after surgery. Despite thinking he was absolutely daft, I tried 'em. Couldn't do it.
However, the following day I could. I've done them since and have found them to be very helpful. Perhaps your doctor could recommend something while you're on the mend.

[Bad JuJu]

Ooh, ooh, me too--I've got maybe 40 lbs to lose, 50 would be better, but like Shasta said, I'd be happy with 10. Heck, I'd be dancin' in the street if I could lost 10 lbs.

I've been off my bike most of the winter due to some back problems, but I've started hitting the road again in the last few weeks. Back pain is the bane of my existence, but I find the more (carefully) active I am, the better it feels. I can walk all day and cycle for miles--I just can't stand still for long, which I suppose is better than having it the other way round.

Think I might join you ladies in your fight against the evil over-fat.

[Bad JuJu]

BTW, I've signed up for a Womantours trip in May--it's just the short, easy, 4-day one, but it IS four days of cycling, so I've started training my out-of-shape self for it. See my training progress on my blog: Works in Progress
It's not that I'm so self-centered I think everyone should care about wonderful me and my training schedule--just that someone who reads might have some words of wisdom to share. So if you do...share away.

[withm]

BTW, I've signed up for a Womantours trip in May--it's just the short, easy, 4-day one, but it IS four days of cycling, so I've started training my out-of-shape self for it. See my training progress on my blog: Works in Progress
It's not that I'm so self-centered I think everyone should care about wonderful me and my training schedule--just that someone who reads might have some words of wisdom to share. So if you do...share away.

I saw your blog and not sure if your 4 day trip is in Missouri or in Maryland? If Maryland - is it the 4 days of Cycle Across Maryland in July? CAM? I am doing that ride, and I think others from this board will be there too. It would be fun if we could all get together sometime during that ride.

Martha

[Bad JuJu]

I saw your blog and not sure if your 4 day trip is in Missouri or in Maryland? If Maryland - is it the 4 days of Cycle Across Maryland in July? CAM? I am doing that ride, and I think others from this board will be there too. It would be fun if we could all get together sometime during that ride.

Martha

Oh, Martha that would be so cool. But no, my tour is the Terry Tour of Maryland, on the eastern shore. You guys have a great time on the CAM though. Maybe next year!

[mmelindas]

Pardon me while I have a big juicy chunk of brownie as I am writing this... (NOT!) yeah, I would be overjoyed to lose ten lbs too! I figure it's like this: I didn't get this way overnight, so it's not going away overnight either!

We win the war against obesity not one pound at a time, but one cookie, one bike ride, any one minute of any exercise we can cajol our bods into...so all is a victory if we do anything at all remotely resembling exercise, not eating fattening foods! (This doesn't count lifting a piece of poundcake five times up to your yap!)

I agree, even with my advanced arthritis, that exercise = less pain if done right. I can't stand for long periods of time nor walk far (back probls) but I can ride my bike and a stationary bike at the gym, and do other types of exercise. I am itching to get to it!! It's just going to be a lonnnnnnnnngg time before I see results and meantime...that brownie is calling me.

So, I've found websites, recipes and the means to make my tempting favorites LESS fattening, and then I can enjoy a little now and then...but changing my attitude about food worked best for me in the past...I found that I liked sweets LESS when I didn't eat them for a while, like for a month, and had fat free yogurts instead. Pretty soon, I wasn't craving sweets at all... and the weight came off faster. For me, oatmeal and raisens for breakfast held off the hungries until after work (with yogurt, an apple and a piece of bran bread at lunch) then I had a homemade veggie tomato soup and yogurt and salad in the evenings...

The problem now is that I have to cook for MEN.....and they don't like that sort of girly diet stuff..... If I have to fix one more fattening thing for a man (even cutie DH and beloved DS) I will hit somebody with a skillet!

Being poor helps though.... it tends to let you buy less of the junk food and more of the survival stuff. So maybe since DH quit his job and doesn't really have to work anyway, that we'll eat healthier...

I am so excited about losing weight that I think I will celebrate with another brownie! Okay, don't kill me, I was joking....

....and I am OBESE, they don't make a scale that will weigh me except for the doctor's office kind...now how embarassing is that?

Okay, I repent, I repent.. I will get on my bike and work hard to lose that weight and I will start....tomorrow...it's raining here!

[Barb]

I am joining the band wagon. I could lose 60 lbs easy. Well not easy, it's hard, very hard. I love sweets. My skinny skinny man loves sweets and eats a TON. It's hard to gage how much I east when he can devore a roast on his own! I am up to 45 miles a week on my bike. The long rides make me really hungry though. Keep up the work, ladies. Healthy old age is the best revenge!

[Duck on Wheels]

The problem now is that I have to cook for MEN.....and they don't like that sort of girly diet stuff..... If I have to fix one more fattening thing for a man (even cutie DH and beloved DS) I will hit somebody with a skillet!

And my problem is a man who cooks. Well, one of my problems. I know I'm privileged. He works closer to home, so often as not I come home to dinner on the table. But he likes sour cream . On "everything". Often with ranch dressing mix in it. And of course the real problem here is ... so do I. So when I'm on my own, like this year on sabbatical, I just don't buy the stuff and manage to lose some weight. But then I go home to DH's cooking, and back it comes, at least some of it. Sigh.

But maybe biking is the solution to that too. He stays skinny by doing long hilly rides and hikes every weekend, whereas I (til now) have been doing a 40-minute walk to and from work with just 80m climb over 3 miles. So maybe now if I get to where I can also ride long hilly rides, I can keep up with DH and burn off that ranch dressing.