02.22.2012 | 7:42 am
A Note from Fatty: This week, Gaz, who blogs as “The FORMER Super Morbidly Obese Cyclist” will be taking over my blog. He’ll be describing his journey from fat to fit, as well as answering your questions about how it’s possible to lose a lot of weight (in Gaz’s case, hundreds of pounds) by riding.
Sorry folks, I should have been here yesterday but got called away on business at the last moment yesterday. You do, however, have my full attention again today.
I’d like to touch base on the physical side of the journey I have been through, before dealing with some more of your questions.
Before
I started my journey at 560 pounds (Give or take)
- I had Type 2 Diabetes
- I had Sleep Apnea
- I had Super High Bloody pressure
My Doctor told me that if I chose to exercise, it might well kill me, but if I chose NOT to then I’d be dead pretty darn quick. That was harsh to hear but not a total shock, to be honest.
I had 2 very young kids at the time and I knew what I was doing to myself wasn’t fair on them. Through no fault of their own, if I didn’t fix myself then the children that I had decided to bring into this world would know a future without a father, there would be no role model, no “My Daddy was a fighter.” Just “My Daddy was too fat to live.”
When I sat down and thought about that for the first time, I knew I couldn’t fail.
Where do you start though, when even walking to the bathroom hurts? Running was out, I found swimming was so very difficult at that size, and walking bored me.
As a kid I used to cycle and was pretty good at it for someone that wasn’t passionate about it (Oh how times change), but finding a bike store, let alone a bike, that would take me seriously at that weight was a REAL challenge.
I didn’t give up and a few months later my MTB was ready and waiting, it took me a few months to muster up the courage to go out in public and show the world what I had become.
During
I was REAL lucky physically with injuries during my weight loss journey, despire all the strain on my body, I only suffered one “injury” — a hamstring pull — and even that wasn’t enough to keep me off the bike, it just slowed me down, a LOT.
However, when it came to accidents, my luck wasn’t in, once slipping on a icy road and once being hit at high speed by a van.
But amazingly, that accident didn’t cause me any major , long lasting injuries. Sure, I still suffer with my back now, some 18 months later, but I was doing over 20 mph and the van driver over 30 mph and I landed on my HEAD, backwards. On any other given day, I wouldn’t have survived!
But I did and I feel its because I have someone watching me, I wear a LiveSTRONG band and have done from day one, never taking it off. It fits pretty big these days from being stretched though, but — and I know this might sound crazy — I feel that it saved my life.
That accident spooked me, but I will talk about the mental effects of it and my weight loss tomorrow.
After
So, now, after being obese , where am I ? Well, I NO LONGER have
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Sleep Apnea
- Super High Bloody pressure
I can hold an average speed on my Single Speed road bike of over 20 Mph all day long (unless we are talking serious hills of course)
I can round around playing with my kids, they are proud to have there daddy take them to school and want to show him off, unlike 3 years ago.
And along my journey I have raised around $6000 for Cancer Charity’s by just riding my bike, everyone is a winner,
It’s not all good tho, with around 14 pounds of excess skin, I have been told I need a full body reconstruction, something that I would never be able to afford or justify but I’d much rather have the skin than being dead!
Tomorrow I will cover the same areas but from a mental perspective!
Ok, questions from the floor please……..
Al
Q. Hey Gaz – nice to see you on here. I’m based in the UK and came across your story last year and was inspired then (as now) by it. I saw you’ve got a Madone now – cool, cool choice!
A: Hey Al, good to hear from you, my Madone is of course the coolest because it’s the 7 TdF champion edition J
Daddyo
Q. How far is your daily commute by bike?
A. The “normal” route is a 13 mile round trip, but in the summer, most days, I’ll ride 20 miles each way.
Snotrocketeer
Q. I have a close friend who weighs close to 400lbs and I want to help him loose a lot of that weight by embracing cycling like you did. He has expressed interest in it and I want to get him started by buying him a bike and helping him with his training.
My question is, what kind of bike did you start riding at your heaviest? It seems like one would need something specialized for such a high weight, as well as someting easy to handle with the limited mobility of someone that size. Any tips on an entry-bike for someone trying to do this for the first time at 300-400lbs?
A: I rode a TOTALLY Standard Giant Yukon 2007 MTB. Best tip I can give, is to avoid pot holes and don’t jump off the kerb.
Tee
Q. Gaz, great job. I was wondering what your first ride was like when you decided enough was enough. If you can remember what were your thoughts from when you took the bike out and put your leg over it to when you brought it home from the first ride. And, if you had to do it all over again would you have done anything differently? Thank you.
A: It was HARD, shameful, painful, exhausting and enlightening at all the same time, there is nothing at all I would have done differently , apart from not gain the weight in the first place.
CGradeCyclist
Q. What a brilliant blog!! Great story that has been told in great style – inspirational!! Thanks Gaz – I really enjoyed reading through some of your blog posts.
My only question is this – did you ever “fall off the wagon” or regress to old habits? If you did, how did you kick yourself back into regular riding again?
A: Thanks! I fell off the wagon just once, and that was after the accident. I felt REALLY low and couldn’t walk for a few weeks. As soon as I got back on the bike, it was all fixed though.
Bryce
Q. Did you ever figure out why you gained all the weight in the first place? What made it stick with the trade of the bike instead of the food?
A: I sure did and its something I will deal with in tomorrows post.
Dan.weise
Q. First off, congratulations on the loss and maintenance! The questions I have are regarding the temptations and “falling off the wagon”. What was your biggest temptation? How did you fight it? IF you did go overboard, what got you back on track?
Also, this is for the wider audience as well. I’d love to bike to work, but its 12+ miles and some climbing which means I wouldn’t exactly be “fresh” when I got to work, if you know what I mean. I work in an office with no shower facilities. Any suggestions or strategies that would allow me to bike and to be presentable at work?
Thanks!
Keep up the great work!
A: Thanks for the question, the bike always kept and keeps me on the straight and narrow.
12 miles isn’t as far as you think, I have 2 climbs both ways and both are not easy , I did them from the start almost though and it makes you a better rider, having no shower at work too myself, I can say, take a towel, change of clothes and LOTS of deodorant
Thanks everyone!
Gaz
Comments (18)
02.20.2012 | 11:10 am
A Note from Fatty: This week, Gaz, who blogs as “The FORMER Super Morbidly Obese Cyclist” will be taking over my blog, answering your questions about how it’s possible to lose a lot of weight (in Gaz’s case, hundreds of pounds) by riding.
Good Morning America (and the wider world)!
Fatty, first off, thanks for warm welcome, speaking of warm, it seems the chair you have given me is quite warm too.
And finally, before I start, I was told Lance & Johan would be here, waiting for me …..thats a lie, but worth a try.
So, I am Gary Brennan, I used to weigh a MAMMOTH 560 pounds! Until one day, something mentally “snapped” and I set out on a journey of a (saving my) Life(Time) that was 3 years ago, today I weigh in at under 200 pounds and for someone the height of George Hincapie (and with around 10-14 pounds of excess skin) that’s none too shabby.
It took me 2 years to lose the weight and I have had 1 year at “maintaining” my current weight.
How?
Well it was actually pretty simple, I rode my bike to and from work each day, and did 2 x 100km charity rides per year and along with cutting down from 12,000 calories to 2000: that’s about it.
I was lucky because I knew within the first half mile just how much I was going to enjoy cycling. Sure that first half mile, that first year and a half was a dark, difficult, painful place to be in but I knew, that it would all be worth it, every ride got quicker and more enjoyable and after 10 years of being “Super Super Morbidly Obese” it took be less than 18 months to no longer be classed as obese, an investment that was more than worth it.
Over the last 3 years I have thrown myself headlong into cycling. I have all the kit (Radioshack, Livestrong, the old Astana stuff, Discovery Channel, USPS, HTC).
I make no bones about the fact I feel that Lance Armstrong was the inspiration that started all this and more than that, when I was suffering on the bike, in the frozen UK winters with howling wind, snow and ice, the thought of being able to pull on the same jerseyss as Lance kept me going.
With that inspiration I managed to do it, too:
So, that’s me done for now, let’s take some questions from the floor.
The Flyin’ Ute
Q. Can you post about your level of energy now vs. before as well as confidence now vs. then. Has your self view changed? or do you still “see” yourself as the big guy in the skinny body? Also, how do you view other fit people? other large people? What do you think of the marketing hype to be fit?
A. Energy and confidence used to be through the floor , now they are through the ROOF.
I do still have self-image issues, but that’s mainly down to the fact that I have so much excess skin, something I am in negotiations regarding.
I view other people, large or small, as people, with individual needs.
Hype shouldn’t inspire people to get fit but sometimes people need that push, so if it works for them then it’s cool by me, if I can be part of that, then so much the better.
Next up we have:
Clydesteve
Q. OK Gaz, I am down about 40 lbs from my top, but I yoyo around 205 – 215. My ideal weight would be 188 lbs. (I got there once when I re-started riding in 2003). How do you lose that last 15-20 lbs? You obviously have – great job BTW.
A: Well, the theory behind it is simple, eat less and move more, be it cycling, running, walking, swimming. Good luck , the theory is easy, the practical aspect isn’t as easy.
Centurion
Q. What is a “stone” in American measurement?
A: 14 Pounds.
CeCe
Q. Yes, I agree! Keeping your motivation up and also prioritizing your self-care? Need strategies for both. have lost 125+ pounds and working on the next 15, then 15 more.
A: That’s a good point, keep your goals SMALL, with other goals on the bigger picture.
Ok that’s all I can get to right now. I am here all week and would love to answer more of your weight loss / cycling questions so feel free to add them to comments section here & I will get through as many as I can.
Gaz
Comments (22)
02.17.2012 | 9:15 am
There’s something that’s always made me a little bit uncomfortable about my blog — the name of the blog itself. “Fat Cyclist.” Yeah, I generally have 15 – 30 pounds to lose. And when the blog started, I had closer to 50 to lose: Here’s my origingal “before” photo, just for some reminder-style humiliation:
I think it’s safe to say: that’s some serious pudge (and for what it’s worth, you can see that in this photo I’m not quite over the Bell’s Palsy yet). Oh, and also I had hair. And a wristwatch. And Ralph Lauren RLX bibshorts (really good shorts, actually — it’s too bad they got out of bike clothing).
The thing is though, that’s about as big as I have ever been. So when people who are quite a bit bigger find my blog and think they’ve found a place where a guy can answer their questions about how someone who has a hundred (or much more) pounds to lose can start biking, I don’t have much in the way of personal experience that can help.
Which, considering the name of my blog, is stupid.
So I’m going to fix that. All next week.
(Re) Meet Gary Brennan — The Man Who Lost 364 Pounds on His Bike
Last April, Gary Brennan — known to his friends as “Gaz” guest-posted on my blog, giving an overview of how he lost 364 pounds by cycling. Check out his “before” picture:
And — much more importantly — check out his “after” picture:
That, my friends, is a guy who has walked the walk.
Ask Gaz
So, all next week, Gaz is going to guest-post here. This is awesome for many, many reasons, including:
- He can give you “been there” advice on losing weight with cycling that you know works . . . because he’s living proof.
- It will give you inspiration and information for the weight loss challenge we’re going to kick off sometime shortly after next week.
- I will be unable to post myself next week, because of day-job work-type-stuff reasons.
What I’ve asked Gaz to do is read the comments in today’s post and then write posts next week giving you advice you can use.
It’ll be like this blog is actually useful. For a week.
A good first step would be for you to check out Gary’s story — the short version’s here on my blog, the longer, ongoing version is on his own blog.
Then ask him your questions here in the comments section.
Much thanks to Gaz for agreeing to do this; I think it’s going to be a really fantastic week of posts!
Comments (48)
02.16.2012 | 9:49 am
I find it really startling that I am not the only one around who tends to put weight on in the winter. And I find it equally astonishing that I am not the only one who needs some kind of external motivation.
So, it seems that we’re going back to the beginning: back to the original reason I started this blog. But this time I’m taking you with me.
I’m starting work, right now, on some kind of contest that we can use to do the following:
- lose weight
- motivate each other
- win prizes
- trash talk
But setting that infrastructure and the rules up is going to take some work, and it’s not ready. So, meanwhile, you can help me shape this contest by answering the questions I’m trying to answer myself:
- How would you like the competition matchup to work?
- How should we set up who competes against whom?
- Each person competing, individually, against me
- Each person competing against one other person each week
- Two teams competing against each other
- Some other interesting way
- Should the contest go for a certain period of time or until you reach your goal weight, or something else?
- There will be an entry fee. Specifically, to be in the competition you’ll have to make a donation to my Boston Marathon LiveStrong account. I’m thinking $50. Are you cool with that or would that be too much?
- Also, to play, you’ll need to put up a prize to go in the prize pool. I’m trying to decide whether that should be money or some cool item you will provide. Money’s easier, stuff is more fun. Got a strong opinion on this?
- Got any other ideas on how this game ought to be played?
- Would you be more interested in playing if there were a t-shirt and / or other swag?
For those of you who haven’t been with the blog too long, this is not the first time I’ve done a big group weight loss challenge. Check out the B7 Challenge from 2006 to get an idea of what this might (or might not) be like.
Even if you don’t have strong opinions on the 6 questions above, leave a comment if you’re interested in participating, to give me an idea of the scope of this project.
Comments (112)
02.15.2012 | 1:53 pm
I have a horrible, horrible secret, which I will reveal in just a moment. As soon as I can work up the courage.
I should warn you that what I am about to reveal is very, very shocking.
Are you ready? I don’t think I’m ready; I still need to collect myself. Find my center and stuff.
There. I’m ready.
The secret I have to reveal is the following: my weight is now 171.4 pounds.
Yes, I intentionally made that text light grey, so it wouldn’t jump out at you. And also because I am not super proud of the fact that I am up approximately 15 pounds from last year’s racing weight.
This is a problem, which I really want (and need) to fix, starting now. I have my reasons for the “starting now” part:
Crusher in the Tushar
On July 14, I’ll be racing the “Crusher in the Tushar,” a nearly new (this will be its second year) race that has a massive amount of climbing and descending. Some on pavement, some on dirt. I’ve talked with a couple people who have done it (Mark and Adam), and it sounds like I should absolutely positively not arrive there fat and out of shape.
Although I have to admit, my stories about epic rides are more entertaining when I ride fat and out of shape.
So maybe it would be OK if — for the sake of my “art” — I did this ride before working on losing the weight.
The Leadville 100
I just (as in “an hour ago” got my confirmation: The Hammer, The IT Guy, Kenny, Heather, and I are all in for The Leadville 100. This will be my 16th start (and hopefully, my fifteenth finish).
Last year, on my fifteenth try, I finally finished this race in under nine hours. I kind of would like to do that again.
But honestly, if I don’t finish it in under nine hours, nobody will be surprised. Especially me. So that’s not the real reason I need to lose all that weight.
The Breck Epic
Six days of mountain bike racing, starting the day after the Leadville 100? Why should I worry about being in shape for that?
Honestly, this is the race that I’m most afraid of. I have no experience with racing multiple days of anything, and seven days of racing is frankly a little bit incomprehensible to me. But I’m excited to try it.
The Park City P2P
OK, I’m not even registered for this, yet. Registration opens tonight, and it will fill up instantly. But if I can get in, I’m going to try it again. Even though this is the only race that has ever made me cry.
But you know what? This race isn’t the reason I need to get into shape, pronto, either.
One More Thing
The reason I absolutely positively must start losing weight and get into shape right now is…OK, actually I can’t reveal the reason. Seriously, I’m not allowed to.
But it’s a good reason, and I’ll be able to talk about it in a couple weeks.
Meanwhile, I’m going to start posting my weight again. And if I don’t make substantial progress, quickly, I’ll come up with an additional incentive (although considering the motivation I already have, I’m hoping that I won’t need to do a contest).
What is this motivation? Well, feel free to guess. Here are some (intentionally misleading but entirely true) hints to (fail to) help you out:
- It is not a race
- It is bike-related
- My vanity is involved
Excuse me while I now go fix myself some eggs and avacadoes.
Comments (54)
« Previous Page — « Previous Entries Next Entries » — Next Page »
