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Already in good shape, want to keep it that way

TCMacRae
TCMacRae Posts: 4 Member
edited November 2024 in Introduce Yourself
In April 2001, I looked in the mirror one morning and said, "Ted, you're turning into a fat, middle-aged dad!" I had tried to lose weight many times before by riding a bike, but that time I also tracked my calories on a computer and the effort stuck. Over the next 6 months I went from 208 to 175 lbs. The following year I decided to give bike racing a try, and at the age of 44 I lined up against 100 other Cat5 racers - mostly in their 20s and 30s - gave it everything I had, and got 4th. It was the hardest, most exhilarating experience I'd ever had, and I ended up racing bikes for 8 years, racking up 15 wins and 4 state championships. This from a guy who had never been an athlete in his entire life and who, for much of his adult life, had struggled to keep the weight off.

Four years ago I stopped racing, but I still love to ride my bike - a lot! However, the lack of training goals for competition made it difficult to stay focused on keeping the weight off, and by Jan 2014 I was back up to my original weight. I decided - once again - to get back to my former weight and fitness level, and tracked calories on a computer along with increased bike riding to achieve that goal. By Dec 2014 I was back down to 175 lbs and am almost as fast on the bike as when I was racing - despite now being 57 years old! Even though I'm no longer racing, I ride with guys who do race, and being able to to out-ride and out-climb many of them - especially guys that are 10-20 years younger than me - gives me the motivation to keep my weight down and maintain my current level of fitness. I know that the only way I'm going to accomplish this is by continuing to track my calories, and I have found MyFitnessPal to be an incredibly easy way to do this. In fact, I'm going to see if I can get my weight down to 170 lbs (I was in my early 30s the last time I was at that weight), because that additional 5 lbs might allow me to be even better on the climbs (as long as I don't also lose power - if that happens I'll stay at 175).

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