Diet Cycling for Old, Fat Guys

Gaining weight is an insidious process. It's sly and crafty.

If you've ever been transformed from athlete to helpless, hapless slob like I was, you know that the whole weight-gain thing is even more; it is downright underhanded and sneaky.

I looked at myself in the mirror and thought, "Man! There ought to be a law...!" Then I remembered there is a law; it's called the law of "Cause and Effect". What I saw in the mirror was the effect of one set of causes.

Since I didn't like what I saw in that mirror, I instituted a different set of "causes" that I knew would result in a different "effect"; one that I would be much happier with. Naturally (because the law is nature, itself) the new causes produced the new effect.

Almost everyone likes to eat and Missourians are no different. And boy, had I become a Missourian!

When I first moved to MO and engaged folks in conversation, they would invariably respond with, "You're not from around here - are you?" I've come to understand that my new neighbors and I didn't share a certain mind-set - and a big part of that mind-set had to do with physical fitness for us Old Folks.

When folks stopped asking me that question, it kind of scared me. I wondered just what I'd started to "fit into".... it didn't take long realize it was those pesky size 43 pants...

There and then, I decided that the overweight old guys in the herd needed to be "thinned out" - starting with me!

Don't get me wrong; I was working HARD at my cycling and had gotten my average training ride up to about 20 miles.

Since I was riding on country roads ruled by MO's infamous Homicidal Pickup Trucks, I got an ID bracelet made up with my vital info PLUS my motto (thanks to author John Irving): "Get Obsessed and Stay Obsessed!"

But my body had been re-programmed; I really couldn't eat enough to gain weight because I was burning so many calories on my bike. Progress was indeed being made.

In our heart-of-hearts, we know that the magic number on the scale is only part of the story: We want to feel better, sleep better, have more energy, regain some strength. It's only attaining the whole package that will get us out of the category of "Old, Fat Guys" and the key is 30+ minutes each day of aerobic exercise at about 75% of your maximum heart rate.

Cycling is the greatest fitness, recreational, competitive, social and family oriented training that I've found. Cycling is low-impact; it increases lean muscle mass; it burns fat while increasing aerobic capacity; it's even "cool" (in certain, lycra-friendly parts of the country). It's an exercise that you can enjoy with friends & family for the rest of your life.

Diet-Cycling has certainly enhanced and surely extended my life. I hope it will do the same for you!