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It’s Amazing How Fast You Get Out of Shape

02.13.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

Rode this afternoon with my wife. It was my first ride in a week. In fact, it seems that the only riding I’ve been doing for the last month has been on the weekends, and this week, I didn’t even ride Saturday, because of a day trip out of town.

All that time off the bike is finally catching up with me. Man, am I out of shape! The out of town trip was to visit some relatives, and four of my cousins were there – so we took the obligatory cousins pic.

I’m not running it on the blog, out of deference to them. Suffice to say, it shows five American males in their mid to late 50s, all with substantial girth. In a couple of cases, the gut hangs over the belt buckle.

My wife looked at it, and said, “Well, you have the skinniest gut of them all.” Her definition of skinny differs from mine. I ain’t skinny. I suppose I am the least rotund.

My weight, which usually goes up in winter anyway, is true to form.  I’m about 10 pounds over my good summer biking weight.

That contributed to the way I felt on today’s ride. Oh, I felt good enough – but it seemed that I was putting much more effort into the ride than I normally would.

Disirregardless, the ride served as a needed wake up call.  I know I can get back on track by doing two simple things:

Riding more.

Eating less (junk).

All the nifty organized rides that I want to be on have opened registration. Time to start signing up. Time to get back in shape.

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Categories // fitness Tags // fitness, weight

Comments

  1. johnt says

    February 13, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    I gain 10 lbs in the winter, lose 10lbs in the summer, I gain 10 lbs in the winter, lose 10lbs in the summer , I gain 10 lbs in the winter, lose 10lbs in the summer, I gain 10 lbs in the winter, lose 10lbs in the summer. But now Instead of losing 10lbs on a treadmill, I now lose it on a bike… but I still feel like I am on a treadmill… I think maybe I need to lose 15 lbs in the summer…

    Reply
  2. Jane says

    February 13, 2011 at 6:15 pm

    Love it! Eat less and move more is such a simple concept for fitness….why don’t more people believe it?

    Reply
  3. Sine Botchen says

    February 13, 2011 at 7:17 pm

    I feel your pain.. Not unlike JohnT, I gain 10 pounds in the winter and lose it by summer – except for last year: the 10 pounds I gained over the winter didn’t go away. And, although for the summer I was unemployed and had nothing else to do but ride, I somehow managed to pack on another 10 pounds. Then came the typical Winter cycle of gaining 10 pounds. Suddenly I found myself in the position in which I swore I’d never again find myself: topping the scales at 190 pounds. Fug! WTF! I’m verrry thankful that this year the “old faithful” metabolism has kicked in again (and in full force) and I’ve now gotten just below 180 pounds this past week. Woo Hoo! It’s amazing how just a little bit of inspiration can really make a difference. Now I’m back on the “healthy living” train and taking a “proactive” stance on my weight loss.
    Ray, keep on trucking, and realize it’s not “all or nothing” – instead it’s cyclical and there are going to be ups and downs even they are spread out over a year (or two.)

    Reply
  4. chrisfit2009 says

    February 14, 2011 at 4:21 am

    You’re 50+ and can ride 50+ miles at a decent speed.
    I suspect you’re doing just just fine.
    I have a gut. I can ride 100 miles. I can run a Half Marathon. My cholesterol is very low, and I’ve very healthy.

    In other words, don’t worry about the gut.

    Reply
  5. Bryan says

    February 14, 2011 at 9:40 am

    You’ll be back in form before long.

    Reply
  6. Jeff says

    February 14, 2011 at 11:12 am

    With all the base miles you’ve got in, it will come back fast!

    Reply
  7. John says

    February 14, 2011 at 8:25 pm

    I haven’t been on the bike since Xmas because of all the snow. I have been going to the gym but we know it’s not the same. It really looks like that by midweek the roads and MUP will be ice free.

    Reply
  8. RamonH says

    February 15, 2011 at 8:49 am

    I just love the encouraging comment from Mrs. Bike Noob. It sounds like the ones I get from the Missus: well, you are not THAT ugly 😀

    Reply

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