before and after progress report

I went in for my monthly weigh in and measurement session with my trainer the other day. Although I didn't loose much weight during the bike trip, or perhaps I made whatever weight I lost up by not reining in my non stop eating for a week or so after the trip, I did loose inches, and the biggest victory of all, 2% body fat, which puts me at 27% ,a number that is considered acceptable- not great, but acceptable by most dietary guidelines. I will continue to focus on the body fat, and on maintaining the lean body mass without becoming muscle bound. My jubilation was confirmed when I went to buy a new pair of shorts and discovered that I am now a normal size 10. That means that I have come down 12 sizes from a Woman's 22-24 or XXL. That is also 80 pounds weight loss or 280,000 calories and I've lost count of how many hours on treadmills, eliptical trainers, stationary bikes, and my road bike. Figure an average of 6 hours a week at the gym and 100 miles per week on the bike and about 48 weeks out of the year spent doing it and you can do the math. Obviously, my best investment in the last four years has been a gym membership and making a committment to working with a trainer. Some people can do it on their own and I admire them for it. For me it takes the structure of a trainer, committment to a set number of hours of cardio, and loving to ride a bike.

It has taken four years and a lot of work, along with a lot of patience, understanding and support from my family and friends, not to mention the endless patience of various trainers who have had to put up with my whining and whimpering and many changes in lifestyle. I regret that I didn't take these steps sooner, but life circumstances are life circumstances, and at least I'm doing it now. "Better late than never" to quote the old cliche.

Now, having just turned 60 and becoming officially "a crone" in the parlance of philosophy, I am celebrating finally starting to look like a reasonably healthy and active person, and of having the stregth and mental fortitude to have done a long distance bike ride, and in recognition of the fact that, four years after starting to bike and train, my comfortable cruising speed in now around 17 miles an hour instead of 8 miles an hour, and my normal leg stretcher ride is 30 miles instead of 3. In acknowledgement of all of the above, I offer pictures of myself before and after- a work in progress, and still not finished, but pretty happy with the results thus far.

With three of my four sisters in Vermont on my first ever bike trip in September of 2004. That's me to the far left in the pink top.

My next oldest sister Kirsten and I at Niagara Falls, June 2008- I'm on the right