Hello

I've been using the site for about a week now. I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis several years ago. I'm a severe case and have been down pretty hard several times because of it. Walking with a cane, can't get up off the floor unassisted, etc. I've had three really bad spells where just getting around to do the day to day things was next to impossible.

I was taking lots of drugs, among them prednisone, and put on about 30 lbs. because of them. The pred pretty much destroyed my skin, thinning it and making any little bump into torn, bleeding skin. Healing was slow and everything left a scar. I was put on Enbrel which was a life changing thing. My RA went into remission for the most part with only occasional flare-ups. Three year ago I was laid off from my job and six months later lost my insurance. Since then I've been pretty much drug free. I control most of my problem with Tylenol, Alleve and benadryl.

A couple of months ago I decided I'd go back to riding my bicycle as a means to get rid of some of my excess weight. I'm riding at least five times a week and average doing at least 5 miles at a pace of about 10 mph. I live in a fairly hilly area so some of that is due to pushing hard on the hills. There is very little flat riding in my daily loop.

I was probably at about 239 when I started all this. I didn't really start looking at my weight until I'd been working out for a couple of weeks and I was at 235 on my first weigh-in and that is what I've used as a starting weight. My goal is to reach 185 lbs. I was at 226 so I'm starting to see some results. Finding this site and starting to track my caloric intake has really helped. Its still a lot of work but I'm changing my eating habits and this site has been the biggest help so far.

Its a lot of work and takes much more commitment to lose this weight than I originally thought it would be. It helps some that I've always been extremely active but too many years of sedentary life, lack of exercise and too much good cooking have packed it on. Now to get it back off.