[GrabberGT]

Well. Im caught up now. (Nice thread)

I've been trying to get healthy again for the last 3 years. Many years ago, a neighbor introduced me to biking. I'm 5'11", weighed 235 and new I need to do something so I gave it a shot. My first goal was to do the Hotter than Hell 100 bike ride. After a couple months I had lost a little weight. Not very motivated, I did it anyway. The Hotter than Hell kicked my butt. I had never pushed myself into soo much pain before. Took me all day to do it. But the kudos and support I got from doing it motivated me though. I vowed I would return the next year and do better. So I spent a year riding and getting used to it. The weight started to fall off. I told myself that when I hit 190 I'd be happy. I was wrong. Next was 180. I kept getting faster and faster. I no longer ate anything that would hamper my ride for the next day. I joined a racing team and rode on avg 8000 miles a year for the next 3 years. I got my weight down to a 155 race weight, was ripped and in the best shape of my life. I was now RACING the Hotter than Hell rather than narrowly surviving it. My time was down to a hair over 4 hrs.

Somewhere along the way though I got lost. Got married, Kid, Work, Car hobby... I've spent the last 5 years putting the weight back on. This year Im 38 and I've hit 200 again. My biggest problems are eating and drinking. I dont have to tell you what over indulging will do to scheduled morning workouts for the next day or 2. I love to eat and just about everything is good with a Martini, better with 2 and just orgasmic with 3. The other problem is the car. Beer and working in the hot garage just seems to go together. I'd skip the morning ride to beat the heat in the garage and then spend the entire afternoon drinking beer to cool down and deal with the stress of parts not working out.

A couple months ago I started biking to work again and watching my eating and drinking. Im now down 15 lbs. I get to ride ~150 miles a week now and am seeing the weight start to come off. (Yes slowly coming off as I have struggled with my vices) The goal is to get down to 170 and start adding in some weight training. I hate being in the gym. It just feels stuffy and lifting doesnt excite me one bit. I long to draft off unsuspecting SUV's, put the hurt on my riding companions and sprint for the county line signs on Saturday mornings. But lifting to add muscle mass and watching my eating and drinking is likely the answer to keeping the weight off. More muscle mass means more calories are burned thru regular activity rather than relying solely on cardio as I did before.

Thanks for getting this thread started. I look forward to the added motivation from reading it daily.