Losing weight - here's another inspiration story

[Crackle]

Confessions of a weight-loss cyclist

For 10 years Frank Kinlan's bike remained unused and gathering dust in his attic.
He piled on the pounds and did no exercise, but refused help to lose weight.
Then one morning, weighing 21 stones (133kg) Frank decided he had to do something.

Full sory here:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7953197.stm

and his blog:- http://frank.kinlan.co.uk/

 

[Oddjob62]

On a simliar note, last weekend i hit the 4stone weight loss mark (currently 15st2) since deciding to get my ass into gear and get into shape last year. Now that i've moved from my hybrid to a fixeg gear, i'm hoping to shed a bit more.

 

[ColinJ]

I found Frank's blog a couple of years ago through a report he'd written about doing the Mini North-West Passage, a local audax ride that I've done myself a couple of times. Yes, he's certainly an inspiration to those of us who are trying to lose weight and get out on our bikes more.

Congratulations to you Oddjobb62 - that's a big loss!

I'm down 1 stone with another 2-and-a-bit to go. I'm documenting my progress online too (follow link in my 'signature'). Not so much because I think lots of people will be interested, as because it motivates me to keep trying. There have been a few days when I wasn't going to bother doing anything, but the thought of having to publicly admit to being lazy got me out of the house.

 

[Oddjob62]

Congratulations to you Oddjobb62 - that's a big loss!

And same to you ColinJ, and nice blog. It probably would have been a good idea for me to do one, but i'm very bad at keeping up with things like that. When i was a kid i started about 6 diaries, they are very detailed, but only continue for a maximum of 2 weeks each. Fortunately i'm not quite so bad at keeping up with the exercise

 

[dav1d]

I weighed 15 stone a few years ago. I bought a cheap bike and cycled everywhere, and saved around £16 a week bus fare most weeks (I didn't use it in heavy rain, apart from once when I got caught in it and there was a massive, deep puddle blocking my path, and no other way to go! I got soaked of course!).

I got down to 12 stone, which wasn't bad for my height and body frame. Though my arms and legs did (and still do) look too thin, despite weight lifting, andit's more noticable because I have naturally broad shoulders (some cheeky buggers in a lift were commenting about the size of the shoulder pads in my t-shirt - then they swore when they realised I wasn't wearing shoulder pads! .)

But my bike needed so many parts replacing in the end, it would have been cheaper to buy a new bike (it was only around £45 from Wollies), but it had still saved me a lot of money. Problem was, the money I saved on bus fares, I spent! I got better at saving up since, and bought my current bike (though that wasn't bought out of my savings, as I put £3 on a 66/1 horse in December which won [though I was going to put £10 on it but thought I'd be sensible!), so I had about £200 to spend: should have bought a better bike that my Kinetic Sabre, but it seems to be OK so far despite it being a cheap bike).

So I've been riding my new bike since and not got long to go now before I'm back down to 12 stone. Although my doctor says my weight is fine, but I can't get rid of my stomach.

 

[dodgy]

Hey Crackle, do you know Frank? I bump into him fairly often on rides or at the Eureka, you too?

 

[jay clock]

Good story.... I was nowhere near that big but have gone from 105 to 82kg, down to 90-92 in one spurt about 5 years back and a concerted effort to drop below 80 over the past few months

 

[Crackle]

Hey Crackle, do you know Frank? I bump into him fairly often on rides or at the Eureka, you too?

Dodgy, no I don't know him, I wondered if anyone would though and of course I know all the places in his blog.

Believe it or not, I've only been to the Eureka cafe once or twice, probably because I'm not involved in any clubs. I might change that next year.

 

[dodgy]

Hi Crackle, I'm not involved in any clubs either, but almost all my rides take in a stop at the Eureka as it's 12 miles from home so a convenient break before the final effort.
Let me know if you're likely to drop in some time, I'll get the brews in
Dave.