2010 Serotta Weight Loss Challenge - Renewed Commitment

[jlwdm]

As usually happens the Weight Loss Challenge that was started in January has faded. My link does not connect to the Google docs anymore. Is there a way to get to these docs still?

In any event I lost 17lbs by early April and then proceeded to put 10lbs back in two months through terrible eating habits and less exercise. I used the hot weather as an excuse to not ride the bike. At work I completed a big project in the evenings and instead of having dinner ate the packages of cookies, crackers and candy we have at the office.

So now I have a renewed commitment to eating right and exercising - I am back at it for not quite two weeks now and have lost 5lbs. Although I am disappointed that I gained the 10 pounds I am focusing on the fact that I have lost 12lbs this year.

Cycling wise I worked really hard to get out in our bad winter and had logged 2200 plus miles through March only to drop way off in April, May and the first half of June. Hopefully I can gain the fitness back quickly.

So I am making a public statement that this new program will succeed and I will be lighter, stronger, in better health and a better cyclist. I refuse to get in a position where I have to come back and admit that I have gained 10lbs.

I hope some of you can be as successful as I am going to be on this program.

Jeff

[flydhest]

I'll jump in. My team had training camp two months ago. It was embarrassing, as I had been working too much and eating too much and riding too little.

Now, I'm down 20 pounds and making some of the guys complain that they don't like me any more. :D

Getting out of bed at 5 has been hard, but the intervals before work have been critical. I keep almonds in my desk drawer as a snack to make sure I don't go crazy at lunch or dinner even though I've been so freakin' hungry each day.

The iPhone also has an interesting app (likely many) where you can record your excercise and food intake each day and it tracks calories and such. It takes one of the standard algorithms for basal metabolic rate based on age, weight, and baseline activity to calculate your target caloric intake per day and how you're doing. Likely not particularly precise, but it makes you pay attention to what you're eating and roughly where you are on a net calorie basis. Plus, you can enter your weight daily and it gives you a graph.

[jlwdm]

20lbs in two months is impressive. Nice job.

I rode nights in the winter and am having trouble transitioning to the mornings for summer. I got in 45 miles this morning though - a little late for work.

Jeff

[vqdriver]

EDIT - never mind, did a google docs search and found it. try this:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ArzHRgA47uv4dGlNbF95RDRMc204ZWVvcFVCLWJQR VE&hl=en#gid=0

[jlwdm]

Thanks for finding it.

Impressive the two guys that have lost close to 40 lbs. Although maybe it is just the color they were assigned. The two blue lines are the big losers. Who assigned the colors?

Jeff

[vqdriver]

Graph colors?
automatically assigned by google in order of the spreadsheet

[jlwdm]

I was just kidding.

Jeff

[dimsy]

I'll participate in this one.

Last year, when I started riding road bikes after getting laid off of a traveling job in which I spent way too much time behind the wheel of a car eating crap I ballooned to 210lb @ 5'10" tall. April - November consistent riding and better eating and I dropped down to 168lb during that time I put on over 1000 miles on the road with an overloaded work schedule (new job at the time).

My persistence dropped in the winter months and my eating habits became bad again, thinking "hey i've been doing well so far, adding 5 lb wont kill me" well now I weigh in at 178lb and I'm just not satisfied. My athletic performance hasn't been the greatest either. Today after work I've decided to start riding again as consistently as I had last year. My goal is 160lb before the winter chill kicks in.

Good luck to anyone who's got similar goals.

[SoCalSteve]

In reading all these threads and my own personal experience...

Seems like it's much easier to take off weight then it is to keep the weight off.

I wonder why that is.

[gone]

I'm not going to enter because I've met the weight loss goal that I set two months ago: 20 pounds. I may lose a pound or two more but I'm happy (and fairly light, for my height) where I'm at.

Good luck to all trying to shed some weight! You can do it! If a fat, basically lazy pig like me (who rides 10k+ miles a year) can do it, so can you!

[gone]

In reading all these threads and my own personal experience...

Seems like it's much easier to take off weight then it is to keep the weight off.

I wonder why that is.
Not true for me. What typically happens is some "event" keeps me from riding (non-cycling trip, accident, injury, etc) and I put on xx pounds. Once I get over whatever has stopped me from riding, I'll continue to weigh "normal" weight plus xx pounds basically forever until I make an extra effort to lose the excess weight I put on but, once I get to my target weight, no effort at all to maintain it - until the next "event" that is.

What I need to learn to do is cut way back on my intake when I'm not riding. Haven't learned that yet :D

[Avispa]

I keep almonds in my desk drawer as a snack to make sure I don't go crazy at lunch or dinner even though I've been so freakin' hungry each day.

Perhaps training too much and triggering cortisol hormones? I ride like mad (for me) and hardly, if ever, I am hungry in between meals of after the ride...

Mind you I am now 138 lbs and I am 5'8".... Down from 145 lbs in the Winter, so don't count me in on this dog fight! :eek:

..A..

[dimsy]

Steve,

for me, the riding part was easy, but i was determined to maintain good nutrition, that was the hard part, as chocolate and soft drinks just taste so damn good.

i really started to shed the weight when i stopped eating fried foods and limited my intake of refined sugar. i went from two sugars in my coffee to just half, from at least 1 can of soda a day to one can a week. scaling back on the junk was the biggest deal. but i still am disappointed that my mileage has taken a hit in the last six months, even though i crashed 3 times (twice pretty bad) in a matter of two months. that will shake your confidence, it did mine.

but i'm happy to say i went for a short but fast paced ride this evening.

[flydhest]

Perhaps training too much and triggering cortisol hormones? I ride like mad (for me) and hardly, if ever, I am hungry in between meals of after the ride...

Mind you I am now 138 lbs and I am 5'8".... Down from 145 lbs in the Winter, so don't count me in on this dog fight! :eek:

..A..

Clearly, that could be part of it, and my understanding is that stress triggers cortisol, as well, and I have a non-trivial chunk of stress at work. I have always been a stress eater, anyway. Mostly, though, I think the hunger for me is a reflection of intentionally restricting caloric intake in order to lose weight.

Oh, one more thing <sarcasm> I hate skinny guys like you. </sarcasm>

I'm 6'2", years ago in my 20s when I raced, I was 170 and my family all were thinking of doing an intervention because I was so thin. Now, as an aging, greying bureaucrat, I'm at 190, so . . . I'm slim by most people's metrics, but I'm still a big boy.

[beungood]

I got weighed at the docs this morning and weighed 162.7 ,down from somewhere north of 188. I think I took a little too much off. I just ran every morning during the winter along with XC skiing and got on the bike early this year. Someone said you look like a cyclist now! I think I need to bulk my upper body a little. I am gorging myself,riding frequently but dont seem to be able to keep weight on. Even hacked 3 " off the end of my duty belt so it would fit..