The Quick & Easy Answer

No, I don't have "The Quick & Easy Answer". I hope you didn't click here hoping to find it!

I started MFP right around the start of the year. Between January 1st & approximately March 15th, I lost 24 lbs.

Then, in mid-March, I bought a new bike and started riding it all over town, even to work. I chose the bike over a car, so I ride it to work often. I'd say I typically ride it to work 2-3 mornings per week, and I ride it home just about every day.

Between March 15th, when I bought the bike, and today I have lost a total of..... 10 lbs.

I'm not complaining about the bike, I love the bike. I'm not complaining about my slower loss, I know I've been slacking lately!!

What I have a problem with is that everyone I know wants to convince me that all of this weight loss, and I mean ALL of it, is due entirely to my biking!! I can't tell you how many times co-workers have stopped me and mentioned my weight loss and then insisted on attributing it ALL to the bike!

I posted on my page recently about this, because someone at work had mentioned it again and I wasn't sure how to respond to the "Wow, that bike is doing wonders for you" comments. I was frustrated. But today when I tried to explain to a co-worker that, while the bike helps me stay active and I definitely burn calories and build muscle when I'm riding, the results I have seen are not entirely due to the bike... she argued with me.

She tried the "well, you're building muscle, that's why you don't see as much of a loss because muscle weighs more than fat" line.... I'm not ignorant... Yes, I'm building muscle, but it takes a whole lot more time to build a pound of muscle than it does to lose a pound of fat. It just doesn't compute.

Then she said that she didn't notice how much I had lost in those first couple months, it wasn't until a couple months into riding the bike that she noticed I was visible slimmer. Which of course must mean that it STILL is all due to the bike...

I'm sure it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that I recently bought new, smaller clothes that fit me better?

I'm sure it couldn't have anything to do wtih the fact that the bike sitting in my cubicle every day made her suddenly start paying attention?

I'm actually wondering if it isn't that desire to find the quick & easy solution that makes people ignore all other evidence and latch onto this one thing? Is it because people don't want to acknowledge that there is actual work that goes into losing weight and being healthy that they look for that one thing that they can attribute such success to? Is it that desire to know what my "secret" is? Because calorie counting is far too much work, and clearly nobody is actually doing THAT, right?