I just want to first say that I'm 29 years old and haven't been on a bicycle for about 15 years now, up until recently (about a week ago).
I've been living with various physical and mental issues, ranging from severe depression (I'm bipolar), weak lung capacity (due to childhood asthma) and being overweight (due to stress and depression).
I'm so glad I got into biking again. I'm currently 5'11" and about 240lbs. I'm getting serious about fixing that and have changed and watch what I eat, eating more healthy and ride from anywhere between 30-60 minutes every single day (60 minutes if I take a road route that is flat, 30 minutes if I take a route with lots of hills and climbing). My goal is to get down to a good normal weight for my age and height which is about 170-180lbs.
Biking has also greatly improved my mood and I don't feel depressed so much anymore. It's also helping me relieve stress. I don't feel down and depressed all day, I don't feel like I have a dark cloud following me overhead all the time. I feel better all over both physically and mentally. My stress levels are way down and I feel like I'm on cloud nine most of the time and I'm feeling a lot more happy about life.
Needless to say, biking is saving me from a life that was self destructive and full of stress, depression and out of control weight gain.
I might not be one of you fancy road cyclists with my mountain bike and full on cycling outfits, but I'm still very glad I've gotten back into riding and I'm going to keep going on.
I've been living with various physical and mental issues, ranging from severe depression (I'm bipolar), weak lung capacity (due to childhood asthma) and being overweight (due to stress and depression).
I'm so glad I got into biking again. I'm currently 5'11" and about 240lbs. I'm getting serious about fixing that and have changed and watch what I eat, eating more healthy and ride from anywhere between 30-60 minutes every single day (60 minutes if I take a road route that is flat, 30 minutes if I take a route with lots of hills and climbing). My goal is to get down to a good normal weight for my age and height which is about 170-180lbs.
Biking has also greatly improved my mood and I don't feel depressed so much anymore. It's also helping me relieve stress. I don't feel down and depressed all day, I don't feel like I have a dark cloud following me overhead all the time. I feel better all over both physically and mentally. My stress levels are way down and I feel like I'm on cloud nine most of the time and I'm feeling a lot more happy about life.
Needless to say, biking is saving me from a life that was self destructive and full of stress, depression and out of control weight gain.
I might not be one of you fancy road cyclists with my mountain bike and full on cycling outfits, but I'm still very glad I've gotten back into riding and I'm going to keep going on.