Getting Into Cycling

[AndyCr15]

I originally bought a bike around 6 years ago, when the gym I used closed down and I thought I'd try cycling instead. I think I cycled a couple of times a week for about 6 months and I remember losing a lot of weight, but I also remember realising I lost a lot of size too (upper body) and so got myself back into the gym. The cycling rather tapered off somewhat and it was at most just a mile ride to the gym and back. Then over the last couple of years it wasn't even that.

Recently I've started up a bit of a get fit theme at work, we're all in a Strava Club and we're walking, jogging and cycling and keeping track of how far we've gone as a group. I got the bike back out of the garage and have been cycling 4 or 5 times a week and also eating better, buying a smoothie maker and having a smoothie instead of an evening meal quite often.



I've then looked at what gadgetry I can use and bought myself a Wahoo Bike Computer, which I really like.



I particularly like the live segments, which tells me how I'm doing against my PR and motivates me to push harder and faster for that new record!

Then, I've used the Cycle2work scheme to get myself a nice new bike.



It's about 3 times as expensive as the one I bought years ago, but it's a very nice bike. 1x11 gearing is nice and simple, it's lighter, has better brakes and has more road based tyres on it. I honestly didn't expect it would make as much difference as it did to my pace though. My first ride on it, I covered 18 segments and set 16 new PR's!



For example, one long uphill segment, my previous best was something like 11:11, but this time I did it in 9:19! That's a huge difference!

So, has it been working? For sure! Not only am I constantly getting quicker on my rides, but I'm losing weight. I started cycling on the 10th March and weighed in at 21st 8.4lbs and today, I am 20st 6.2lbs! Lets hope I can keep it up!

[AndyCr15]

I've generally managed to keep this all up. I've cycled 4 or 5 times a week (barring an illness at Easter) and have generally been sticking to around 2,000 calories a day (with the occasional/weekly cheat day) and tomorrow will be 3 months since I started it all.

As posted above, I was 21st 8.4lbs then. This morning I weighed in at 18st 10lbs, just 1½lbs from 3 stone in 3 months!

That's 302lbs to 262lbs or 137kgs to 119kgs! I honestly didn't expect it to work this well!

On the one handy I could say it's easy, as in, all I'm doing it eating sensibly/less and exercising more.

At the same time, it's really hard! I spend most of my day hungry and my rides have extended to 12 or 14 miles most days (about an hour) so it takes a lot of will power and dedication!

At this point I'm not really sure where my target is. I remember last time I cycled a lot, back in 2016, I seem to remember I lost half a stone and dropped to 18st. I guess I'd like to at least get there now and then see how I go. It would be nice to be able to eat a few sausages for breakfast or an almond croissant before bed again... maybe once at 18st I'll allow myself that!

[AndyCr15]

Yesterday and this morning I've weighed in at 17st 12lbs. I think it's the first time I can actually remember weighing in under 18st, so very pleased with that.

I also decided it was time to go and buy a new suit and shirts for work, it was getting silly how big my suit was feeling on me.

Current/Old business dress -

Jacket: 50R
Shirt: 19"
Trousers: 44R

New business dress -

Jacket: 46R
Shirt: 17.5"
Trousers: 40L

This might not seem like much, but I'm now down to sizes I can actually buy in a store! Previously I generally had to order online for sizes like that. So pleased with a proper fitting suit.

[AndyCr15]

I realise it's been a while since I update this thread, so here we go! At the start of September I completed my first Sportive -



A 30 mile ride, with a timing chip, so kind of competitive... but not a race! I had the fastest time by a clear 7 minutes! I should probably have done the longer distance. Definitely next year I need to.





I've also bought a new bike from a friend, finally moving up to a road bike -



And then splashed out on some fancy new wheels that actually cost more than the bike did -



I'm now happy with where my weight is, I've settled on between 15st 10 and 15st 13 it would seem. Update to above, I had to go and buy another suit, this time a 44 Slim jacket and 36L trousers! I've literally spent thousands of pounds replacing my wardrobe!



I also did a video on my weight loss, if anyone is interested.



It's been a really hard journey, but I'm so glad I made it. I'm now letting myself eat a bit more, up to around 2,500 to 3,000 calories a day and I've started jogging, now the weather has made cycling much less appealing!