Beggars Would Ride
The Fatted Calf Must Die
Right up until about ten minutes before cracking open the laptop to write this column, I had always believed that the term “to kill the fatted calf” had meant to talk, converse, engage in verbal dialogue, bend the ear, shoot the breeze, chew the fat…
It’s probably because of that last synonymous phrase that I had got the wires crossed in my head way back when as to the meaning of The Fatted Calf, and so it is with regret that I confess it is no longer an adequate title for this piece. See, I was hoping to tie together the idea of flapping my gums with the flabby gut check realization that I’ve gained a pant size of marbled goo around my middle in the course of the past two months, and the idea of a Fatted Calf getting sent to the great beyond would have served as an apt metaphor for the cycle of shame, deprivation and catharsis that I am going to once again have to suffer through in order to fit into my new duds.
Buuut, the phrase “to kill the fatted calf” actually means to engage in celebration. Derived from the Parable of the Prodigal Son, somewhere around Luke 15:23; “Bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So, that kind of shoots the whole metaphor in the foot. Nevertheless, here I am, with a brand new pair of Endura Singletrack Trousers to wear, and they fit great everywhere except AROUND MY WAIST.
They would have fit just fine six weeks ago. But here, in the dead of winter, at the tail end of something like 8000 miles of driving between six weeks ago and now, in the spiritual doldrums following the orgy of consumption known as “the holidays,” things are not looking quite as svelte as they were just an eyeblink ago. “Svelte” being relative…
My primary caloric intake during this time spent driving from one weather hammered location to the next has consisted mainly of gas station food and lots of coffee heavily supplemented with sugar and cream. Meals have consisted of lard-based flour tortillas, tacos al pastor, chilaquiles and mole poblano, washed down with a steady sluice of margaritas. Do this just for a couple days, and it’ll leave a mark on the slowing metabolism of an old burnout who really oughtta know better. But SIX WEEKS? Helloooo, fatso.
I agonized over this image. Too ashamed to post up a shot of me in my fat glory, I looked to photos of mountain bikers sporting some girth, but then realized that it was totally fat-ist to point out others who might be packing some excess heft when I was too chickenshit to out myself, even when talking about myself. So, I settled on everyone's beloved iconic fatso, Bibendum. He's used to it, he's French, and he probably doesn't care.
It does not matter one bit that I have also ridden enough in the past six weeks to decently chew up a rear tire, or that I am actually getting faster on my rides at the same time as I am gaining weight. Gaining somewhere between 10 and 15 pounds, by the way, in case you were asking. Much as exercise influencers on Instagram will promise that their workout routines will burn all those unsightly calories right away, anyone who has gone to war with their own bulging midriff and flagging self-esteem knows that caloric austerity measures are really the only thing that’ll turn this fat boat around.
Inexact as the phrase may be for the title, the Fatted Calf is still gonna have to go down for the long sleep. This isn’t the time for gentle sentimentality. Brutal measures will need to be undertaken. Wish I could say this is the first time I have fought the Battle Of The Bulge, but it isn’t. I’m not naturally an athlete. I never was. It could be argued that even at my leanest and most disciplined, during my highest wattage years, I still was never really an athlete.
The real athletes that I’ve known have come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but one of the commonalities almost every single one of them possessed has been a high caloric burn rate, for lack of a better term. Turbocharged metabolisms. They run hot. They are big engines, and can ingest calories by the thousand that readily and rapidly convert to energy and heat. They have trouble sitting still, exertion and motion and expression of energy from potential to kinetic are existential bread and butter for them. Being active is not something they aspire to. It is just what they are; manifestations of energy, burning fuel with a physical restlessness that is hardwired into their DNA.
Me? Not so much. I can gain weight just by looking at a glazed donut. I question the observational powers of anyone who sees a pint of ice cream as being sufficient for more than one person, or to be consumed in more than one sitting. But instead of immediately turning all those calories into heat and motion, I can pound down 16 ounces of Ben and Jerry’s tastiest poison and then nap like a champion, while my digestive tract converts all that sugar and fat into a squishy layer of insulation around my middle. A real athlete may look at the word “inertia” and envision perpetual motion. I see “inertia” and think of a boulder at rest, requiring monumental effort to get moving. The same heavy leg reluctance that used to well up in me as I trudged up the long gravel hill coming home from school every afternoon is there the day after every big ride, and has been there for as long as I can remember.
"Now, Sisyphus, stop complaining about how heavy that rock is, or you won't get any ice cream for dessert."
Going full Kafka here, metamorphizing myself into an actual mountain bike, I spent a couple decades pretending to be a Trek Supercaliber, or maybe an S-Works Epic, when really, I was more like a Transition Smuggler with chunky tires. I could pedal okay, but I couldn’t ever fully light the afterburners the way the real fast kids could. Eventually, I kinda got used to my place in life. Some months I was an alloy Smuggler, at other times I was a little snappier, let’s say a Yeti SB120, perhaps a Rocky Mountain Element at my sharpest. Not a bad place to be. I know my limits, can pedal long if not furiously, and have enough circumspection to no longer try to get too sendy.
Yesterday, as I stared aghast at my stomach straining the (thankfully) double snap button AND hook closure of my new pants, I realized I had morphed in a few short weeks into something more like a Sentinel, or hell, maybe even a Spire. With MaxxGrip Assegais front and rear. DoubleDown casings. If I knew how to actually handle this newfound mass, convert it somehow into awe-inspiring momentum, turn that jelly roll into wattage, I wouldn’t really care. But no. Alberto Tomba, I am not. Same old slow reflexes, a lower back and hips that really are sick of all this driving, and a genuine fear of broken bones; all phobias and limitations still fully intact and now nicely padded. I may look like a Forbidden Dreadnought, but really, I’m still just a Smuggler, being ridden poorly by a fat old man.
This is no time for celebration. The Prodigal Son has come home, after partying way too much, squandering goodwill and his fortune. In this case, the Prodigal Son is the spare tire around my waist, evidenced in an uncomfortable bulkiness when I reach down to ratchet my shoes tight. It is time for that tubby slacker to fear his brother, atone for his frivolous and wasteful ways, and make himself scarce. In the parable, the brother of the Prodigal Son is mortified at the waste of the Fatted Calf, killed in celebration of the return of the Original Bad Penny. He does not understand his father’s joy:
“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
“But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’”
Exactly, older brother. There is nothing to celebrate here. The Fatted Calf is dead for no good reason and your useless brother has forgotten how to suffer. Now he needs to starve. No more harlots. No more sugar. No more ice cream. No more lard. No more second servings. No more chilaquiles. No more margaritas. Chew on gravel, breathe in dust, sweat out the toxic winter. Atone. Make those damn pants fit. Then, and only then, may you once again enjoy the sweet luxury of indulgence.
While digging around for suitable images for this column, I recalled the evergreen absurdism of Patrick O'grady's old corner in the back of VeloNews, long before that august publication got absorbed into the soulless purgatory of the corporate greed machine. This, in turn, led me to find that not only is Patrick alive and well, but still tilting at windmills from his batcave somewhere in the Land of Enchantment. Anyone feeling like they need a little more salt in their diets could do well to head over to his blog and catch a glimpse of life through his lens. Not sure what you call a lens that is definitively NOT rose colored, but you'll know it when you see through it... Thanks for the image, Patrick. Stay weird.
Comments
Cooper Quinn
8 months ago
"Meals have consisted of lard-based flour tortillas, tacos al pastor, chilaquiles and mole poblano, washed down with a steady sluice of margaritas. "
BRB, gotta go find a smaller violin.
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Velocipedestrian
8 months ago
One of my riding buddies is an "active relaxer". Dude can't sit still, I'm not sure he's ever sat through a movie, but he's got the muscles and fat content the influencers are touting.
I make him wait for me.
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Vik Banerjee
8 months ago
You can tell I'm middle aged when I looked at the Michelin Man and thought "You been working out bro?"
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mikesee
8 months ago
I find it adorable when friends peel the lid off of a pint of B&J, Haagen Dazs, Talenti, etc... and then set it on the counter, as though it will be needed again...
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TristanC
8 months ago
I have the metabolism of a small nuclear reactor. It doesn't seem like it matters what goes it, it all burns. I'm terrified of what will happen when it slows down and I quadruple in weight.
Shout out to making me remember paging through my dad's copy of "The Season Starts When?" I haven't thought about that in 20 years.
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Allen Lloyd
8 months ago
Mine switched around 40. I had been 6 foot tall and 180'ish pounds from 25-40. Nothing changed with my eating or activity, but within 6 months I gained 20 pounds. I have been 200-215 every day since. I have tried diets and different exercise routines, gave up drinking beer for a month, all kinds of other things. I have come to the conclusion I weight 200 pounds now.
The crazy thing to me is I am riding better than I have ridden my entire life. As much as I want to be the shape I used to be I just want to be able to ride my bike and ski and neither of those seems to be impacted greatly. I do worry that falls are more dangerous due to the added mass.
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Mike Ferrentino
8 months ago
That seems to be about when the switch flips for most of us. I think I was 42, three years after becoming lactose intolerant overnight, when I went from a given calorie/output stasis to gaining 15 pounds just like that. Now I have what seems like a 15 pound swing from 180 to 195 that generally coincides with winter, lower activity rate and careless indulgence. 180 feels good enough now. I would love to get back down to 170, which may be possible with some real discipline and a total lack of joy in my life. But 160, which was my racing weight? If I get that light again it's probably a sign of something very malignant.
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Allen Lloyd
8 months ago
I will be 49 in a couple months. From 40-45 I tried and tried to get back to 180. 5 years of struggle I made a decision to accept being 200 pounds. It has then taken me another 4 years to actually accept being 200.
Oddly I have very low variation. I step on my scale most mornings and 99% of the time it is between 198 and 204.
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fartymarty
8 months ago
I'm 49 and are 205-210 lbs (93-95kg). I would love to get down below 90 kg (198 lbs) but have also accepted... A good stomach bug would probably do the trick tho.
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Velocipedestrian
8 months ago
A friend of mine suggested after the last round of intestinal distress swept the kids school "we're all a three-day gastro bug from our ideal weight."
I spent three weeks travelling with family straight after Christmas, the pants certainly fit tighter, but at 44 my intake is still the determining factor. I think this will be a leaner year.
Recrider
8 months ago
I am certainly the old guy in the room. Turning 65 this year, been riding MTBs (slowly) since '91 after being on dirt bikes for years. Mike, I am sure we have some history in common coming from a family of motorcycle shop owners in Wellington NZ and selling your Dad's FFM helmets.
Anyway, my metabolism has slowed and I have gained a bit of weight but upside is I am still getting PRs. Cannot handle the tight clothing though! Maybe need to reduce beer intake, but what fun would there be in life!
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Mike Ferrentino
8 months ago
Small world, eh? Your age puts you smack between my older brother and me; he was living in Karori in the late 1970s, early 1980s, and I would make holiday treks down there from Waihi to get versed in "big city life", such as it was back then. I would pine for the paddocks back home and my CR125, and would stand at the window seething with envy whenever my brother's neighbor would wheelie up Makara Road on his DR370 stuffed into an RM125 frame...
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Velocipedestrian
8 months ago
Then you probably passed me toddling up and down Aro valley on your way up the hill.
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Cr4w
8 months ago
I am also nuclear powered but I'm more of an aircraft carrier than a destroyer. I have the fuel needs of a small city but a normal sized stomach so I get full fast and hungry again even faster. I have grown to hate eating since half of my food intake every day is force fed. But the good news (if you can call it that) is that I'm close to 50 and nothing has changed and that's largely due to still being as stoked to ride, to lift, to do as ever.
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Mike Ferrentino
8 months ago
My childhood best friend, who is just as snake hipped now at 60 as he was at 18, is that way. High fuel needs, small stomach - he often says that eating is just a chore for him now, and that he wishes he could ingest some magic future-based pill that would supply all his nutritional needs without having to go through all the hassle of chewing and swallowing and digesting. I never understood where he was coming from until it dawned on me that he had to eat about 8 times a day to avoid the giant cratering bonks and the peak-trough-peak-trough energy spikes that would otherwise plague his daily life...
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Cr4w
8 months ago
The force feeding is really gross. To eat what I'm supposed to means eating to near puking twice a day or run a deficit forever and that's before accounting for riding or lifting. Running a deficit means you never really capitalize on any training you do because you barely refuel after exertion let alone build muscle. High calorie smoothies help a lot: protein, MCT, frozen fruit, peanut butter, whatever.
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JT
8 months ago
I'm the token radiator in the house. Cool nights will have spouse and pup wrapped around me, which of course is adorbs, but also doesn't help the sauna high thermostat of my particular metabolism (Water! GASP! I need water!). 2 months (mostly) off the bike as my shoulder heals post-surgery hasn't helped my waistline, regardless of my caloric burn rate. What I'm gettin' at here is gettin' old has its own set of plusses and minuses. Still working on what all the plusses are, but the biggie minus is that entropy is real and it happens on a much more personal level than one would like. I still love the hell outta Chubby Hubby, but lordylordy I sure don't want to turn into (much) more of one.
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AndrewR
8 months ago
I learnt during my two surgery requiring knee injuries that an immediate 20% reduction in calorific intake was required to avoid gaining too much weight (ie 102 kg rather than 5-8 kg) due to injury imposed activity reduction.
I had the horrible RSV during December and went three weeks without a proper ride (due to no sustainable energy) and gained 3 kg despite reducing intake.
The sad thing is that I gave up alcohol (no don't miss it) five years ago so I cannot even use those empty calories as an excuse!!!
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JT
8 months ago
Yeahhhh, I should have done something along that line. Instead, I opted for the whole 'once I can ride again I'm a gonna ride double'. I too can't ditch ethanol since I quit the stuff what, 6 months ago now. Got a swell night ride in this past weekend and while my shoulder was happy, my back decided I'd been neglecting it for too long. At least I can get back to a yoga and pilates practice, now that the shoulder issue has been remedied. No one needs a full length clavicle anyway :D
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LAT
8 months ago
> A real athlete may look at the word “inertia” and envision perpetual motion. I see “inertia” and think of a boulder at rest, requiring monumental effort to get moving.
Fantastic.
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Cee Cee
8 months ago
Inertia is your friend. Inertia is not your friend. The long arm of Persephone
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fartymarty
8 months ago
Mike - I ditched milk from my coffee last summer and haven't looked back since. I've never done sugar although my Mum still tries to put sugar in my coffee (luckily for my coffee she lives 11,000 miles away). I can't remember the exact reason I stopped milking my coffee - maybe it was due to the exorbitant price of Oatly and quantity of it I was drinking. Maybe it was my bro in law hassling me about not drinking proper coffee.... anyways it's worth a try and it stays warmer longer.
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Mike Ferrentino
8 months ago
FM, I am also oat milk addicted. Dairy milk started tasting wrong to me about 20 years ago, but I still have a weakness for cheese and ice cream. That said, asking me to stop sweetening and adding something cream-esque to my coffee (sorry Cooper, Pete, and all you other coffee snobs) would be akin to me suggesting you add a pinch of salt to your cup of tea. We all know how well that goes over in the mother country...
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ackshunW
8 months ago
FM, MF, I too recently swapped to oat milk for coffee (Oatly, usually), thinking: THIS IS AWESOME NOTHING TASTES BETTER!
But then in the past couple weeks, been reading about the backlash. More so than cow or nut milks, oat has very high glycemic index. Unfortunately I think it’s one of those “nothing’s free” type situations. Usually I wouldn’t mention it in a Mt bike context… but I want to help you Mike! By. . . suggesting you worry about another vague danger lurking in your everyday life . . . Geez I’m sorry.
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fartymarty
8 months ago
Oatly Barista is the best - good to know about the high GI. I do love me some big thick nasty white bread tho... (usually dripping in peanut butter - the stuff that's just made with peanuts and nothing else)...
A lot of what Mike was talking about above resonates with me but try to ride as much as possible to keep things in check.
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Timer
8 months ago
Interesting to hear that. I tried Oatly and found it fine for cereal but unsuitable for coffee. To me, the milk is there to buffer some of the acid in the coffee and oat milk just doesn't do that.
However, i wouldn't worry too much about the glycemic index when only using small quantities in coffee.
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Pete Roggeman
8 months ago
I'm a semi snob who also uses milk or oat milk most of the time (capps at home). I WANT to drink my coffee black and go through phases where I do and inevitably revert back. No sweetener anymore, though. I try not to judge but if you need two extra ingredients to choke down your coffee, it's a different game.
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AndrewR
8 months ago
@pete It is a case of finding the right coffee (and correct grind etc etc) for your machine/ method/ the time you are willing to invest and your tastes.
My simple method of coffee testing is:
Make two cups of black coffee
Try one hot/ warm
And let the other one go cold, then taste/ drink it.
I can almost guarantee that the coffee that also tastes good cold will be the winner.
I don't have any science to back this up (acidity, caffeine, temperature affecting taste etc) as I don't have time in my life for another OCT (obsessive compulsive tendancy) level of nerdery, in addition to my mountain bike OCT, but it has been working for me for 20 years.
Ands thanks to Covid shutting every independent coffee shop in BC for 12 months I know that a Jura A1 (don't drink milk so don't need the cappuccino pfaffery) delivers a fantastic coffee, with the press of two buttons ('on' and 'coffee") every time. I will walk or pedal home rather than get a coffee out in most instances.
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Offrhodes42
8 months ago
Have you tried the Pecan Pie Ben & Jerry's? I had it for the first time last night and the night before...I made it last two sittings.
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Mike Ferrentino
8 months ago
Is it that bad? My super-Achilles heel is Talenti Sea Salt and Caramel Gelato. A pint is definitely only a single serving there...
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DanL
8 months ago
A lifelong fan of Chocolate Cherry Garcia here.....
I pick things up and put them down again and go for rides that stretch me.
And then my body wants 5x as much calories put back in it which seems unfair. A big ride and suddenly I want to scarf 4 cheeseburgers - what's the fix for that? Suck it up and don't eat , I guess.
Great writing Mike, thanks
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JT
8 months ago
Bonus for Talenti. Their containers make mighty fine nut/bolt/washer/nipple containers.
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Joseph Crabtree
8 months ago
Classic Ferrentino! Reminds me of some of the stories you wrote @ California Cyclist. I hope you don't take offense but they always felt like it had some of the style of Rick Sieman of Dirt Bike Mag fame, God rest his soul.
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Mike Ferrentino
8 months ago
In spite of the fact that Super Hunky and I would probably have ended up fistfighting over politics (and that would have been very painful for me, I suspect), I take that as a high compliment. I grew up reading him and Paul Clipper and Zeal Anderson way back when Dirt Bike was legitimately awesome, and I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Super Hunky stories, as well as beat up yellow El Caminos and references to "plush, well-lit offices." The man had a style all his own, that is for sure. Godspeed.
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ReformedRoadie
7 months, 4 weeks ago
Wow...that brought back some memories. As a wee-lad, with a healthy addiction to 50, then 80cc two-strokes, that could only get a fix on Sundays, I consumed Dirtbike, especially Super Hunk and Mr. Know It All like...well, some of the frozen dessert consumption mentioned above...
The politics do sour it a bit, and wince at the thought of those writing talents being used for that purpose.
"You really should have known..."
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Mark
8 months ago
Strength training will help make a big dent in declining testosterone levels. Done well it will also help burn fat. Middle age creep is a real thing - we continue to eat the same but our metabolism slows as we age so we need fewer calories. I think for people who are fairly active/athletic, reducing their caloric intake to account for a declining metabolism is a tough thing to do. Don't forget that we're also accumulating more visceral fat - and that's much harder to burn off. It's not impossible to lose fat over 40, but it definitely requires being tighter with what you eat and paying attention to nutrient timing.
Add some strength training, cut your calories a bit, and up your protein intake - a whey casein shake an hour or two before bed works great - and the results will come.
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Timer
8 months ago
One entire side of my family is of the high burn rate variety and thankfully I inherited that trait. That’s nice in our overfed industrial society.
But I really wonder how we ever managed to not die out long before that. It’s not been all that many generations since famine was still a real threat and it is a small miracle that my granddad lived through a pow camp in ww2.
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Mike Ferrentino
8 months ago
Much as I envy all of you nuclear reactors for your metabolism and suspected lust for life, I also empathize. I've spent enough time in near hypothermic situations with human hummingbirds, and the struggle to stay warm when there's no built-in fat suit and the calories are depleted is real and harsh.
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Timer
8 months ago
My amateurish theory is that this partially explains the backpack/no pack divide among riders. With no reserves to burn and no bioprene for insulation, we need to carry everything externally.
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Perry Schebel
8 months ago
this is me (no insulation / calorie reserves). hypothermia is no fun; had a relatively recent taste (generally know better to properly prepare for things, alas...).
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Adrian Bostock
8 months ago
I am on the dark side of 40 and my pant size has never changed. If I don’t continually snack between the time I wake up and 11am I crash in the afternoon. That gets me to about 5pm when I start eating again. I am some what careful about what I eat, with in reason. When the apocalypse hits and we are all fighting over scraps, I’ll be one of the first to starve to death.
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Todd Hellinga
8 months ago
going gluten/dairy free a decade ago for me was the critical aspect, then I went on adhd meds last year and that was the booster switch! hahaha
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Peter Appleton
8 months ago
are the shoes on "white thighs velo" the new 5:10's? they look sick
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Mike Ferrentino
8 months ago
Might have to ask Patrick. My teenager spent several years deep in anime land, and developed a drawing style along in that vein, but the depicted never really had feet, just legs that tapered to points. When asked if that was an intentional statement, then young teen shrugged and replied; "feet are hard."
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Christian Strachan
8 months ago
El ternero gordo is killing it with this piece. Can totally relate to so many juicy parts of this, no thoroughly settled into my 50’s and steadily declining T-levels.
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Mike Ferrentino
8 months ago
And then there's that. The testosterone void. Whatever surplus of the stuff I may have once possessed that led to my head going bald and my chest and back getting furry has definitely left the building, or is enjoying a steady exodus from my bloodstream. Watching my wattage levels fall has been interesting. I'm not willing to try and game the system by taking supplements, for a whole lot of reasons, but it is definitely time to resume picking up heavy objects and putting them back down again, along with paying attention to the foodstuffs being ingested.
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BarryW
8 months ago
I'm very recently on team 'watch my weight' where until two years ago had to eat somewhere around 6k calories a day just to not lose weight.
Chalk that up to begin very active, being younger than 42 and having Crohn's disease. If anything it was simply annoying having to eat that much.
But after putting in some effort I'm 10lbs down from early December and only 7-8 over my current goal weight.
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Morgan Heater
8 months ago
One of my favorite Andrew Major quotes is, "winter fatness goals".
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Vincent Edwards
8 months ago
And here I was, thinking from the title that this would be a piece about the tragic 'boom bust' cycle of the bike industry from the fatted highs (and inflated prices) of the Covid bike boom to the 'which small brand will go into receivership next' lows of the present moment. (and the dramatic price corrections/ sales that accompany them)
I still enjoyed it, in relation to my own summer winter cycles.
My (semi-effective) strategy of the past few years is to mostly cut beer when daylight savings time ends.
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Clyde Pointer
8 months ago
So much to sink one's teeth into; the O'Grady/Ferrentino brotherhood of misfits, miscreants, and misanthropes society. My two favorite scribes, and none the worse for wear over the duration of the evolution/de-evolution of cycling in the past 35 or so years. I had been at 1/8 ton for many years, and changing a few eating practices (mostly stopping the late dinners) has dropped about 15 lbs of lard off my can. I still dream about 220, though it seems way far off. Nipping about to 64 trips around the sun has brought me some realizations, such as the things that made me happy about a bike when I was a teen, are still very much alive and present in my current pedaling regime. Freedom, self sufficiency, exploration, and that good ol' oxygen debt. The essence of life. Transitioning to the medical field some 17 years ago has me up close to the relative un-health of 'merica, and the devastation brought on by obesity. Any time spent outside on a bike has to be better than limiting one's recreation to endless pints of ben and jerrys.
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93EXCivic
8 months ago
I really feel this article. I am attempting to get down 200lbs after creeping up to 220lbs. My biggest problem is I usually get down to 205lbs, get discouraged and then stop tracking food intake and slowly go back up.
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Dave Smith
8 months ago
I'm not fat but it felt like the minute I upgraded from level 49 to 50 the waste band of my underwear started to do that flippy-over-thing and few of my favourite shirts seem to be grabbing at me. I consulted a trainer and I now work out 4 days a week to get the metabolism going and 2 of my 4 rides days have become longer solo pedals - but still the thickening seems to be unavoidable if you like/love/lust after beer and other carb-loaded treats.
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Recrider
8 months ago
Totally get the "waste band of my underwear started to do that flippy-over-thing". Thought it was just me....
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Andy Eunson
8 months ago
There’s a different science of weight gain as one ages. For example. I may eat a single serving size package of Tim Tams. The 200 gram size. With milk. Weigh myself the next day and I’m up a kilo. WTF? I’ve also lost some height as the disc spacing in the back reduces. I tell myself I’m not chubby really, just a little bunched up. Yeah, that’s the ticket. The weather here this past few months has not been conducive to my kinds of exercise. Hence, the wee ponch. Such is life.
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Velocipedestrian
8 months ago
+1 for the serving size specificity.
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JT
8 months ago
Love how I can come here for some of the realest product reviews as well as read/engage in rational discourse about how life's a terrible way to treat an animal.
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Hbar
8 months ago
I think it's a testament to the quality of the commenters on nsmb that I haven't seen one reference to ozempic and its derivatives. Sorry to even make the mention, actually
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Mike Ferrentino
8 months ago
Ozomatli? I love that band!
Oh, wait... Yeah, that other thing. Good for Elon Musk, if that's how he wants to get ripped. I have trouble with the idea of spending $1000 a month and injecting shit into my stomach to achieve that end. Hell, taking $1000 a month away from my food budget would work as a dietary aid all by itself.
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Grant Blankenship
8 months ago
No shame in a "thrifty" metabolism. When I was at my lowest race weight of 165lbs., in complete controversion of what my body knew to be a real homeostasis, I had friends who thought I was ill. ~180 and pushing 50 now. The heart rate is low and the bloodwork's good. No stress.
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