The problem
Every cyclist carries a spare tyre. It’s common sense. But right now, with the onset of winter, the only spare tyre I am carrying is around my midriff.
I have to give you the background to this: I am one of these people who has been able to eat with impunity all their lives. Quite simply I have always been able to consume colossal amounts of food, with no discernible increase to my weight. Indeed, until a year or so ago, I couldn’t have put on weight even if I’d wanted to.
But wait. What’s this? In the late summer and early autumn of this year, I have put on 5 kg (11 pounds) on top of my usual 80 kg (176 pounds), the weight I have maintained with no effort whatsoever since I was 17. While this is no huge weight gain, indeed, I was even a tad skinny before, there are a couple of worrying things about this:
1) I have never been this weight in my life;
2) virtually this entire weight gain is concentrated in the region of my waistline;
3) I can’t seem to get it off again!
I would be pleased if this was some kind of increase in muscle mass, but the reality is that I can only describe this phenomenon with the use of terms such as “spare tyre” and “love handles”.
The causes
So how did I get myself into this sorry state of affairs? Possible causes:
1) marriage - it must have been something to do with getting married: everyone told me it would happen, and lo and behold… I tied the knot with the lovely Sladja a year or so ago, and now look…!
2) I do like to eat. And some kind of biological trigger has been set off which now mysteriously transforms those self-same calories I used to consume into blubber.
3) (possibly the main cause) the amount of cycling I did began to drastically decrease as summer ended. The work began to pile up, and the weather wasn’t exactly enticing. I KNOW you can buy nice woolly cycling socks, and all credit to those who refuse to let the weather put them off cycling, but I just can’t face going out there when it’s cold and wet, or indeed snowy as it is now. So the amount of exercise drops but the calorie intake stays the same. Surely a recipe for disaster.
Whatever the cause of this new waistline accessory, I know one thing. It’s got to go.
Got any tips for me?!
(watch this space, maybe I’ll make a little campaign of losing that 5kg!)
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Posted on November 20th, 2007 by markowe
Filed under: About me, Biking - general, MTB Serbia (All)
he he he…moja lepsa polovina kad sedne na biciklu oce samo niz brdo i po mogucstvu malcice po ravnome a kad naidje brdasce ona sidje pa polako pesaka uz biciklu.. ako i ti vozis tako morat ces se odreci rucka :)))
Hey, you ain’t the only one fighting it (the raging mid drift) I figure between the riding and all the energy my body witll expend fighting hypothermia from rising next week in the freezing cold I’ll burn enough calories to justify Thanksgiving
I don’t know what it’s doing in Serbia, but we just got our first snow. 2 inches.
Zoran was comparing me to his fairer half, who would like it if cycling was all about riding downhill, with none of the uphill.
Actually Zoran, I will have you know I am something of an uphill masochist - I just love slogging up hills as it goes! It’s just the fact that it’s freezing outside now - it’s just totally demotivating..!
Yes, Karen, we’ve just had snow too, 2 or 3 inches on Saturday, so that makes offroad riding pretty much a no-no now. Actually, most of it’s melted now, but it is still freezing cold, but not cold enough for the snow melt not to have created a big muddy mess wherever you go. I think I am going to take up running… We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here, but I eat like it IS Thanksgiving most days…
Still I would blame Sladja’s cooking capabilities for your troubles!
………..by the way are you boys planning any adventures next year?
Ah… I gave up trying to regain my figure years ago, I have a muffin top like you wouldn’t believe! I think it’s something to do with age as well as marriage. You hit about 28 and suddenly what you eat sticks! Just keep up the cycling, at least that way you know you’re fit and well set to carry it all…
Cheers
BC
[...] few days ago (see here) I realised with horror that I am fatter now than I have ever been in my life. It seems that [...]
Zoran, it could have SOMETHING to do with Sladja’s cooking, but I am a bit of a cook myself and managed fine when I was on my own. But yes, I think there is something of the woman’s touch which just means you eat more regularly and just plain… more..! As for adventures next year, YES, definitely! There is no firm plan yet, but as soon as the weather gets a bit better (probably a bit later, May this time), we will head off for a week somewhere. And I hope we can do several big trips next year, but we’ll see… I will try to let you know as soon as we have a firm plan!
BC, so you suggest just living with it..!? I can’t, I just can’t! I never had stuff JIGGLE before! I have launched a bid to rid myself of the spare tyre, see my latest post!
Hmm, maybe I did well to make it to 34 then…!
[...] In case you haven’t been keeping track of my torturous progress, a few weeks ago I came to the shocking realisation that, not to put too fine a point on it, I was getting fat! [...]