save money, lose weight

http://www.ajc.com/living/content/living/stories/2008/05/13/cyclediscovery_0514.html?cxntnid=amn051408e

So many bad stories.. Thought I'd post something kinda cool. Guy started riding his bike to work and lost 140lbs + gas money saved.

:cool:

My friend i met at school last year went from 310 pounds to 180 in two years (he's 5' 10''). His workout/diet schedule is absolutely nuts and completely compulsive too, he can't not do it. Says he's honestly afraid of going back, and I don't blame him.

I think it takes so much dedication to lose that kind of weight that it often makes people more active and dedicated everywhere else in their life as well. More power to those that do it.

now that warm weather is here again (I think) I can get back to riding my bike. I was up to 30 miles a day back in the fall

Since 04/01/08 I have lost 25 lbs, trying to go another 25 yet, cheaper than performance parts

Theres really no mystery to losing weight:

Eat less than you burn!

Tada! :grin:

The trick is to do it all the time, not just some or most of the time. The body is amazingly good at holding onto any spare calorie when you are trying to lose weight.

If you are trying to keep it off and be fairly mobile and healthy when you are done, doing a little strength training will help you maintain muscle mass, keep bone density, and maintain a healthy metabolism.

MrJoshua wrote: Theres really no mystery to losing weight: Eat less than you burn!

OH! Whoops. I had it backwards. :grin:

I wish I still had my Cannondale. Some a-hole stole it from my apartment two days before I moved out. I just cannot ride any other bike. I want THAT one back. Maybe I'll buy one today.

Sitting here at work with my bicycle next to me this puts a smile on my face and gives me some inspiration. I am finally ready to be done being fat forever, it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be so far. The only thing I am really missing is Chipotle burritos :cry

Sure "eat less than you burn" is easy to say but first I think you have to be honest with yourself about why you are fat to begin with, for most if not all of us there is some kind of void in out life we are trying to fill with food, realizing what that is and dealing with it is the key to being successful with the rest.

I packed on ~25 pounds at school in Monterey. Not because of a void, but because of an excess of money on my meal-plan. When they started providing Ben & Jerry's for purchase with meal-plan money, that was the end. I ate 2-3+ pints/week.

(Moved back to Sacto, and starting paying my own cash for food, and lost it.)

I pay for and cook my own food. I've been trying to gain weight for a while... no luck. I'd like to break 180 this year. I just don't have the time or motivation to cook :evil:

ProDarwin wrote: I pay for and cook my own food. I've been trying to gain weight for a while... no luck. I'd like to break 180 this year. I just don't have the time or motivation to cook :evil:

If you are not currently in pain from being overly full, you arent eating enough to gain weight. Count your calories and eat at least 4000 a day. Split it across at least 6 meals a day. Strength train hard, sleep lots. Good luck with it. Intentionally gaining weight is waaaay more unpleasant than dieting.

ProDarwin wrote: I pay for and cook my own food. I've been trying to gain weight for a while... no luck. I'd like to break 180 this year. I just don't have the time or motivation to cook :evil:

Me too. I've been trying to hit 180, and I've been at 170 for about two years. And then I hurt my shoulder, stopped playing hockey and working out for about a month, and.... stayed at 170. And then I started to play hockey again. And stayed at 170. And now I've just started working out again in the past two weeks, and... I'm at 160!!! WTF? I had no idea I had that much fat to lose, but apparently I did. I can't figure out why I can't gain weight, though, I eat about 5-6k calories a day, and thats not counting my twinkies and junk food.

speaking of hurt shoulders mine has been hurting for like 4 years. Ive tried nothing to fix it and im all out of ideas. Ignoring has not solved the problem. What should i do?

Why are you trying to gain weight?

I'm glad to be back down to a relatively lean 150#. My workout (rock climbing) also kinda pre-empts weight gain. Doing exercises that use your body weight for resistance keeps your body from adding bulk.

mtn wrote:

ProDarwin wrote: I pay for and cook my own food. I've been trying to gain weight for a while... no luck. I'd like to break 180 this year. I just don't have the time or motivation to cook :evil:

Me too. I've been trying to hit 180, and I've been at 170 for about two years. And then I hurt my shoulder, stopped playing hockey and working out for about a month, and.... stayed at 170. And then I started to play hockey again. And stayed at 170. And now I've just started working out again in the past two weeks, and... I'm at 160!!! WTF? I had no idea I had that much fat to lose, but apparently I did. I can't figure out why I can't gain weight, though, I eat about 5-6k calories a day, and thats not counting my twinkies and junk food.

Every day? As in Never Never Never skip a day? Truly counting and being SURE you dont get less than 5k Kcal a day?1-2 cheat days a week are often enough to destroy any structured diet, whether it be weight gain or weight loss. If you put 6 weeks of your 5k a day in and havent gained weight you most likely have worms, or a very large coke habit.

See a therapist and do all the goofy little exercises they give you. Sometimes they help. If those dont work they will probably do an MRI and find something wrong and chop on you.

MrJoshua wrote: See a therapist and do all the goofy little exercises they give you. Sometimes they help. If those dont work they will probably do an MRI and find something wrong and chop on you.

thats good advice..

It worked for my shoulder..

didn't for my knee. 1st doctor after MRI said, "doesn't look like a torn meniscus, but lets operate anyways..."

I'll wait another year until I go to another guy. been about 3 years since I've been able to do squats or deads and I'm fat now.

Salanis wrote: Why are you trying to gain weight? I'm glad to be back down to a relatively lean 150#. My workout (rock climbing) also kinda pre-empts weight gain. Doing exercises that use your body weight for resistance keeps your body from adding bulk.

I'm trying to gain weight in the form of muscle. I'm pretty (really) lean, but at 6'0 and 174 lbs, there isn't much here.

I tried for years to gain weight. Then I did.:whatthe:

GlennS wrote: speaking of hurt shoulders mine has been hurting for like 4 years. Ive tried nothing to fix it and im all out of ideas. Ignoring has not solved the problem. What should i do?

The computer says"...and if you don't stop doing that you shoulder will never get better."

I gained my weight by doing nothing. I was always heavy but I went from a very physical job to one with no movement whatsoever. I kept eating the same which made me the sphere I am today. It's much harder to take off than it was to put on.

ProDarwin wrote: I'm trying to gain weight in the form of muscle. I'm pretty (really) lean, but at 6'0 and 174 lbs, there isn't much here.

I'm 5'10" and 150, so you're not that much leaner than me. I don't think you're hurting anything. As long as you're not emaciated, having less weight will make you a lot healthier. Especially your knees. Imagine wearing a harness with 10 extra pounds. It won't be a big deal, but it will be noticeable.

I say, worry less about mass and more about muscle. You can gain strength without putting on bulk. I haven't gained any weight since I started rock climbing, but I've still gotten a lot stronger.

What kinds of exercise are you doing to bulk up? My experience is that you need to be working with free weights, and going for maximum weight, minimum reps. Be sure you go to burnout. Then give yourself lots of time to recover. (I did that to bulk up several years back. I weighed about 135 in highschool because I cycled 20mi/day. I did power lifting for a while and got up to about 145.)

Avoid high repetition (develops tone, not bulk) and exercises that use your own weight for resistance (push-ups, pull-ups, etc.). That's why I haven't gained weight, because I'm flinging my own mass across walls. Your body is good at regulating itself, and will not add extra mass if it has to worry about throwing it around.

MrJoshua wrote: Every day? As in Never Never Never skip a day? Truly counting and being SURE you dont get less than 5k Kcal a day?1-2 cheat days a week are often enough to destroy any structured diet, whether it be weight gain or weight loss. If you put 6 weeks of your 5k a day in and havent gained weight you most likely have worms, or a very large coke habit.

That would probably it, its not a diet, I just regularly eat about 5k a day. But if I work all day on Saturday or Sunday, it could only be 3000.

I actually think that the real reason I'm losing weight is because right now my workouts are very weightless--a lot of pushups and situps and other stuff like that, but I really can't do very much with weights because of my shoulder.

mtn wrote: I actually think that the real reason I'm losing weight is because right now my workouts are very weightless--a lot of pushups and situps and other stuff like that, but I really can't do very much with weights because of my shoulder.

Yup, that will keep you from bulking up. How much do you know about the physiology of strength training?

The short version is: your body tries to compensate for the activities you do, by lessening the strain of doing that activity again. If you're lifting your own mass your body doesn't want to add bulk, because that makes the job harder.

Whoa now. You guys are giving the muscles waaaaaaaay too much credit for intelligence. Bodyweight exercises can be phenomenal mass builders if they are challenging enough. If its an exercise you can do more than 6 but less than 15 reps of it can work well in a size building program. That usually leaves pullups and dips. Pushups, crunches, etc... are usually outgrown very quickly in a strength/size program.

I appreciate the weight training lecture... I know all about it. My problems come from diet, not exercise. I simply don't have the dedication or time to cook and eat enough food. I go through phases where I am able to do so, but I can't keep it up for months on end.

MrJoshua - I can't think of a single body-weight only exercise that I can't do more than 15 reps of. That being said... I usually just hang a 25 - 35lb weight off a belt when I do pull ups and dips. It cuts down on reps pretty quickly :nice: