Fun & Fitness over 50

There are lots of reasons to lose weight. And lots of things that motivate me to lose weight. A new one just occurred to me today. Well, it's not like I hadn't thought about it before but it hit me more powerfully today thanks to my friend Jim Grant who is a member of Sweat365 as am I.

As I observed the statistics from Jim's rides, I was impressed to see his speed and high cadence along with low heart rate numbers. What's impressive is that Jim is 67 years old, 5 years older than me! After awhile I found out that Jim weighs 120lbs. I weigh 200. I know that a few pounds can make a big difference in climbing ability. That's why bike racers spend hundreds of dollars on high-tech components that shave ounces and grams off their machines. I suppose it can make a difference in how fast you go as well.

I have a retro bike. It's a Raleigh Olympian circa 1982-84. Weighs about 26lbs. Now I could spend a couple thousand dollars on a snazzy new, light weight aluminum, carbon fiber or titanium bike and lose 10 or more lbs that way but I thought I'd get more bang for the buck by losing 20 or 30 pounds off myself! Not to mention the health benefits. Not to mention I'd actually SAVE money eating less food rather than spend more money on a bike.

Now I'm not going to attempt to get down to 120 lbs. I'm 6' tall. That would be unhealthy for me. But 180 wouldn't be too bad. And maybe even 170. I'm dreaming of how easy these hills around here would be. You're supposed to try to spin a faster cadence when climbing hills. It's supposed to make it easier. Hey, I'm just happy to make it up at all, forget about cadence! I'm in the forties on Orchard Hill. On harder, longer hills I'm too winded to even glance down at the computer to see what my RPMs are!

I'm in my 10th day of logging my eating. Tomorrow I send the logs to another friend of mine who is going to review them. It helps to pay attention to what you're eating. It's too easy to throw down a bite of this and a handful of that and think you're hardly eating anything all day. But if you log it, it can be a revelation. And sometimes I'll think "I'm not going to eat that, I'll have to log it!" Seeing it in print somehow makes it seem worse.

Someone once said "Discipline is remembering what you want" or something to that effect. In other words, do I want to eat that cheeseburger or do I want ride fast like my buddy Jim? It's my choice but I can't have both.