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Original poster

Has anyone ever gone from overweight and lazy af to become an avid cyclist

27 replies

Workdilemmas · 04/08/2024 08:40

Just this really.

size 18/20. Easy to blame weight on ill health which is a factor but don’t move anywhere near as much as should.

trying to play forward in my minds eye to be someone that rides and gets endorphin highs but getting stuck on point that I wobble and am scared of road riding in traffic!

OP posts:

MadameMassiveSalad · 04/08/2024 22:16

Gliblet · 04/08/2024 08:48

Well, I do cycle to work in fairly heavy traffic at an average speed of 20kph but I don't know if I'd describe myself as avid 😁

What I have become is an avid martial arts practitioner - in the past two years I've gone from a size 22, extremely unfit with high blood pressure and a tendency to end up with swollen feet after a day sat at my desk, to a size 14-16 (35kg lost) with healthy blood pressure, no health complaints, able to cycle to work, do a full day, cycle home, change, then go and do between 45 minutes and three hours of taekwondo or kickboxing in the evening, four days a week, and love every minute of it. I even do extra practice in my free time.

You can do it! Start slow - remember every single step, every metre, every mile is one more than you would have been doing before. Challenge yourself gently to start with, you'll soon learn where your limits are - once you get used to being out of breath, aching a bit the next morning, or being a bit sore and notice that you're still basically fine you'll be flying!

Edited

Love this it's so inspiring 🙏

delphi13 · 05/08/2024 22:04

I did this pre kids. I did nothing and was a size 18-20 and one day I decided I would buy a cheap bike. I was about four miles away from work and after a few little try outs to get used to cycling again after not riding since being a teenager I started to ride to work. Then the entered myself into a London to Oxford bike ride. Bugger me it was hard because, lazy sod that I am, I didn't really do any training for it beyond my short commute to work. But it was fab and so I booked myself on to some more organised bike rides. Some call them races, but that's not an accurate description of the pace I went at! Anyhow it culminated with me riding the London to Paris bike ride which was amazing. Bloody hard, because again, I didn't really train (I don't learn 🤣)

I don't ride now because we moved to a different house and the road we live on is seriously dangerous for cyclists. Instead I've taken up running and bodypump. I did the couch to 5 k and never thought I'd be able to run as I had never been able to. Turns out almost everyone can if they slow down. So although I'm still chunky, I do get myself out there and get my exercise done and even though I don't enjoy it as much as I did bike riding, I have to do it or I start to get achey and more bugs affect me if I don't exercise. You can definitely go from doing nothing to being motivated to exercise. I didn't really ever think it would happen to me, but it did.

I definitely recommend entering yourself into some longer bike rides as it pushes you to keep it up, even if you don't train adequately like I didn't! 🤣 also if you get into it you can join local cycle groups, the leisure ride ones where they stop at pubs which are fun, not the fast paced ones, unless you get really, really into it! Good luck!

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