1,000 Miles Later: Cutting the Fat and Losing the “Can’t”

I have never been great at sticking to my own goals. I am fantastic at setting really high goals but achieving them has often alluded me. Still, I decided that this summer I would reach pretty high yet again. The goal was to bike 1,000 miles before going back to school. It was a great goal, involving something I enjoyed very much. If you know me at all, you have probably seen me gawk at bikes or talk about this “awesome ride” I went on or something of the sort. But no matter the love for the ride, 1,000 miles is quite a bit for someone who was only riding recreationally. I expected failure, I as often do, and originally did not hold myself to a very high standard. But as the summer went on, something changed in me. I was not content failing this time, so I got up every morning at 6 AM to hit the bike before work and sometimes hit it after work as well. I still have a month before school but something crazy happened:

I did it. I already biked 1,000 miles.

I wanted to take a moment to have a not so #humblebrag about this accomplishment because it has fundamentally changed my life in a lot of ways. I have done some rides that tested me physically and mentally, in some cases driving me to the edge of my capabilities where all I wanted to do was scream, pull over, and hitchhike home. But I continued to ride and so with this milestone, I wanted to write this to encourage the next goal-setter to just keep pedaling.

Losing the Fat

This story goes back as far as mid-February when I decided that it was time to get “into shape” at the prompting of an old friend. The decision did not stick until a full month later, in mid-March, when my life changed a little bit and I finally committed to personal improvement. At the time, I was topping out at 205 lbs. in the morning after a night of midnight-snack Whataburger. I would simply tell myself, “don’t eat today” and skip several meals. Eventually the hunger would take over and I would binge on something like pizza, so the faux progress that I would see on the scale after a day of starvation hiked right back up. I never felt unhealthy, I even completed a 100-mile bike ride in the pouring rain. However, now I know how unhealthy I really was.

Once the switch flipped, I started factoring running and cycling into my weekly routines. Often it was early morning, circa 5:30 AM, when I would be alone on the bike track at school watching the sun rise as I did laps. Looking back, I lied to myself a lot about my average speeds. I thought they were around 19+ mph but really sat closer to 16 or 17 mph. My initial thought was that the late 1980s bike I was using clearly did not have the power capabilities to match my efforts. I assumed the older equipment had too much friction or weighed too much to really get up to those speeds. However, I remember one issue of Bicycling Magazine had a story about how the weight of the bike makes up barely 10% of the rider+bike weight equation. They went on to address the friction issues too saying that unless you’re spinning at 90+ rpm for hours on end, your bike’s performance is probably not the problem.

Poignant.

The cool thing about cycling is that as I rode more, I built muscle and lost weight simultaneously. So I was stronger and pedaling with less weight which translated into speed gains. This encouraged me to ride more. Once I got to New Mexico, I did. I could tell I was getting stronger and the needle on the scale was heading south but I did not feel like I could see any differences until a couple weeks ago, while riding in Colorado, when someone snapped a photo of me. (At my request, they weren’t being creepy.) I compared it to a similar photo that was taken right before I started this health journey and finally said, “Whoa. When did that happen.” So I went and stepped on the scale to find the needle pointing at 169. This is huge for me, I have not been in the 160s since maybe high school, but probably more like middle school. I have needed to overhaul my wardrobe twice this summer having dropped an entire shirt size and 4 pants sizes. It is by far the best worst problem to have.

The results:

My selfie game was radically improved too:

Losing the “Can’t”

Above the physical gains, something else has happened that I was not prepared for but welcomed with open arms. In accomplishing this goal, I have started to remove the word “can’t” from my vocabulary. I was so used to giving up on my own goals that I rarely ever felt accomplished. Whether it was in school or relationships, giving up was always easier and an option I exercised regularly. This was primarily true in making life-altering decisions such as the one above. After riding for a few days, I would just say “there’s no point” and give up. However, the same is no longer true.

I have gone on some crazy adventures here in New Mexico; things I have always wanted to do but left to the plague of the “can’t.” One morning I woke up and rode 100-miles solo, finishing in my fastest time of 5 hours 30 minutes with an average speed of about 19 mph (the speed tanked when I ran out of water at mile 75). I climbed an 8% grade in Colorado that ascended over 2,000 feet in less than 3 miles. I also rode alone from Albuquerque to Santa Fe (the hard way), for a total of 71.1 miles and 4,500 feet of climbing. I kayaked 35 miles of the Rio Grande from sun up to sun down. I learned how to flip on a trampoline, something I vowed I would never be able to do. The list goes on but I will stop there for the sake of brevity.

The beautiful thing about all of these adventures is they forced me to be alone in my head for hours on end. In addition, I disconnected from social media, leaving me truly “alone out there.” The time allowed me to really think about things. Sometimes it would be about Steve Jobs (having read his biography this summer as well) or the cute barista from the coffeeshop I frequent. But most of the time I would pose myself a question such as, “Why are you so unhappy when __________.” And the question would eat at me until I could deconstruct it and come up with a solution. Looking inward is always very difficult and it could get really depressing. But these fundamental questions have allowed me to really figure out my own worth and opinions on things. My internal dialogue has done an almost entire 180 degree turn, in the positive direction. There are still tough days but overall I feel much more confident.

The Takeaway

I promise I did not take you through this journey just to brag about how awesome my summer has been. Instead, I hope you can take something away from this story.

First and foremost, losing weight is a tough commitment. I gave up most late night food, counted calories until I had a good grasp on what a day’s worth of food looked like, and limited sweets like ice cream to once a week at most. However, I educated myself along the way, watching programs like Food Inc. and reading blogs and research articles on advantages of organic foods, healthy proteins, portion control etc. This being said, I did not give up the things I enjoy: pizza, beer, trail mix and even ice cream. They are rewards now, not a dietary staple. The best advice here is something I read on reddit, “Weight loss happens in the kitchen. Strength is built on the bike. [or running, or in the gym, or whatever your thing is]. So, stock your fridge with the good stuff and limit, not eliminate, the rest (except soda, eliminate that).

Second, a support network of people that actually love and care about you is huge. A good friend who is taking a similar journey, Ariel Penny, has been a great motivator. We have been trading progress updates both about our physical and emotional/ mental states. You should certainly check out her blog here: https://headedhealthy.wordpress.com/. Additionally my cousin, Monica Maxwell, has also been a fantastic inspiration watching her make tough life changes like food prep, workout routines, and portion control. You can find her awesomeness here: https://www.facebook.com/MonicaMaxwellFitness?fref=ts. It also helps to see old teachers declaring similar changes and I wish them all the best on their journies. In addition to physical motivators, friends who take of you mentally and emotionally are equally important. My best friend, who I know well enough to know he doesn’t want his name here, calls me twice per week just to check-in.

Third and finally, you need to stick to it. I think Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation put it best when he said, “Never half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing.” The simplicity there is profound in its own right and something I believe most people struggle with. It is so easy to say, “I don’t have enough time. Or I will tomorrow. Or I can’t.” However, none of these are true. You are conveniently and totally in charge of one thing in life: yourself. So make time, today because you can. When I would be wasting away hours on the early morning social media check, I get to bike along a path where I see wild coyotes and roadrunners on the daily.

My journey is not over. If anything it has only begun. I will continue to ride every day, getting stronger and faster. Areas where I often give up, riding into a headwind, pushing up a hill or pedaling under the hot sun, will become challenges to overcome, not reasons to quit.