Howdy folks!
Wow, what good and thoughtful replies! It is also wonderful to hear of all the support out there!
Ok, let me see if I can kinda cover all the replies and whatnot in one fell swoop. Here goes.
The ideas on teaching him to ride are great, especially the ones that mentioned riding first with
the feet and legs out and perhaps no pedals and whatnot... learning to balance first before starting
up cyclical motion... that makes a lot of sense!
That is my biggest concern right now, to be honest, in that before he can even begin riding and
mapping out what he can and can't do as far as riding goes, we've first got to get him to where he
can actually ride.
As far as health issues go, he is under the care of very good medical staff and has the green light
from them to explore biking as a means of exercise. They'll comment more when we figure out what he
can and can't do on the bike. To be sure though, we're talking about a guy who IS overweight but has
the desire to lose. I don't know if this makes sense or not, but I consider him overweight but not
terribly out of shape?
As for support, he looked to me, I reckon, because I was in his position at the beginning of this
year. I'm 6'6" and 218 lbs right now. It's what I weighed when I got married 15 years ago. At the
beginning of this year, I was 300 lbs. I got a bad "report card" from my doc, who then gave me 6
months to get my act together or face a lifetime of meds for blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. It
was enough of a wake up call for me, but what cemented the deal was when my youngest daughter came
to me and asked how my doctors appointment went. (My wife and oldest daughter knew to NOT ask me
when I came in because they know that "look" on my face that says "don't ask me about it right now".
My youngest daughter did not recognize that "face".) I looked at her and was honest and said "Daddy
got a bad report card and he needs to take better care of himself." She looked right at me and said
"Daddy ,you always talk about how much you love mommy and sissy and me, but if you loved us, you'd
love yourself more."
That did it.
If ever I needed something to provide ownership along with commitment, that was the deal sealer.
Bottom line? I lost the weight. I changed my diet, dropped bad eating habits, began riding and
working out every day. My friend knows me from college days and knows how lazy I can be. I think he
is heartened by the fact that I did it. He should be, because I could scarcely believe I did it too.
I feel pretty good about him losing the weight (he'll be doing other exercise too as well as dietary
changes); I think it will happen for him. I admire his desire to do something (ride bikes) that he's
never done and always wanted to do. He's nervous and apprehensive, but his desire remains. It is
heartening to read all the advice and support on here - I'm passing it all on to him.
--
"Sea" ya! --Lars S. Mulford "You can find evil anywhere you look. The question is, why are you
looking?" "Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to reply" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Ian wrote:
> >
> > You make good points, the only thing I worry about with new cyclists is
they
> > cycle an easy 5 miles and suddenly find themselves 5 miles from home,
then
> > instead of being sensible and calling for a lift home they adopt pig
head
> > status and try to ride back,
>
> Okay. But if this guy is 300-plus pounds and inactive, I doubt he is going to be able to make it 5
> miles on his first day. I know that I couldn't, and I wouldn't have even tried. Half a mile the
> first week was all I could do, and I was definitely trying to take it easy. And he can't even ride
> a bike yet, so having to learn *will* keep his initial distances short. Hopefully if he is seeking
> the counsel of his thoughtful buddy who is the OP on this thread, he will be easily convinced that
> he has to go v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y and make sure he gets an okay from his doc.
>
> I'm with you on the dietition recommendation, too, but sometimes with health plans the way they
> are you can't get too many good ideas from them. I know that I went to the dietician a quite
> number of years ago and basically all we worked on was getting me to automatically figure out a
> standard portion of anything and eat one portion at a time before deciding to eat a second
> portion. It helped keep me from putting on 20 pounds a year because I never learned how to eat
> right, but it hasn't helped me lose any. Of course she was right that being seriously overweight
> sort of precluded me from going on a 1000-cal-a-day diet and that portion control was the first
> step, but she never mentioned exercise and we never seemed to get any further than that before I
> had to quit.
>
> it has been known for a heart fighting against
> > fat to give up when expected to provide the extra for the ride home, a largely inactive life
> > with a poor diet does not just lead to the storage
of
> > body fat but also to the build up of arterial fat, and it is the
arterial
> > fat that kills. In example, my girlfriend has a thyroid problem, she has difficulty
keeping
> > weight off but she has a sensible diet and she is able to exercise, conversely a slightly
> > overweight guy with a fatty diet and inactive lifestyle will be more likely to suffer cardial
> > infarction if he starts
to
> > exercise without first addressing his dietry problems. And yes I have been trained in
> > nutritional and sports sciences. I would hope this guy has been referred to or has been to see a
nutritionist
> > as well.
> >
>
>
> --
> I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.
> - Mother Teresa
