[Dos_Ruedas]

Originally Posted by digibud

cycling helped me drop 60lb and go from being winded walking to the basement or 100 feet in any direction to a resting heart rate of 53 and doing century rides and feeling I could continue further with no problem. cycling rules

That's great dugibud!

[longjohn]

Originally Posted by digibud

cycling helped me drop 60lb and go from being winded walking to the basement or 100 feet in any direction to a resting heart rate of 53 and doing century rides and feeling I could continue further with no problem. cycling rules

Cyclists have some really low resting heart rates. When I was at my oncologist yesterday they took my pulse twice thinking the first time was a mistake.

[StormStrikes]

When I first started working out my resting heart rate stayed around 74 bpm. It took me some 15+ minutes to run a mile and nearly nine minutes to row a mile on the rowing machine. Several months later my resting heart rate hovers around 54 - 56 bpm, I can run a mile dang near 8 minutes and row a mile in under 7 minutes. Ive dropped 40 lbs and still falling too. My blood pressure is lower too though I have no numbers to quantify that other than the few doctor visits I have made since starting. Where previously they would always ask me if I was nervous or on blood pressure medicine. Now they tell me it all looks normal.

I just entered what they call a Lean Team Challenge at work to keep me focused on staying healthy over the holidays. The goal is to stay the same weight or loose some. With me now doing intervals on the bike trainer Im hoping that wont be much of an issue to achieve.

[avmech]

Update:

Been on the road since early September. Last cardio appointment was late October. Back on the road after a couple of days at home, back about a week now. Back to the gym tomorrow, have ridden almost every day since getting home. Gained about 5 pounds while gone.

Anyway, the last cardio appointment: everything progressing extremely well. Stress test in a couple of months (which I will use to try and get my pilot medical back). Blood work is good. Total cholesterol up a little to 144, triglycerides way down to 88, hdl 52, ldl 74, even after being off my official diet while gone. I guess doing the dietician thing did instill some things into my pea sized brain!

[John_V]

Had my annual physical on the 19th of this month and the doc was extremely pleased with the results. Overall, he said I have the cardiovascular system of a very healthy 50 year old (I'm 66) and to keep on doing what I'm doing to keep it that way. Everything else is on the better side of being within limits. I must admit that I have gained about 8 pounds since not riding for the last two months because of family issues and this damn tendinitis in my knee. That's something that I have to start working on real fast as soon as I get back on the bike and into my normal routine.

[MNRider]

Four years ago I was in a hospital bed with a heart rate of about 180 hoping the Cardizem would work so they wouldn't have to cardiovert me. I was in my mid 40s, 300+ pounds, with my "normal" resting heart rate being around 90 with a blood pressure of 150/90 give or take a bit. I had also recently had a weight exacerbated back injury. I was told my career was over and I'd be on multiple medications, probably for life. I have a family history of men dying early from heart problems and now I was wondering if I was going to survive see my daughter graduate from high school, much less college. Just walking up the stairs made me short of breath. My doctor was using words like gastric bypass.

Today I'm an avid cyclist, just passed 3,200 miles for 2012, and feel better than I did in high school (I was always obese from the time I was a young child). I'm still overweight but no longer obese having lost 80 pounds and put on some muscle through diet and exercise. My resting heart rate as of yesterday is 56 and my blood pressure was 106/58. My overall cholesterol is still borderline but my HDL is way up and my triglycerides are well into the normal range. There are still no guarantees because of my family history and my years of self abuse, but my doctor says I've increased my chances of a long life by 90%.

I post this not to brag, but to encourage others to look at cycling as a way back from poor health and obesity. I hadn't ridden a bike in 20+ years and it came back almost immediately, well at least the balance and coordination did, the stamina was ridiculous as I lay moaning on the couch after my first 5-mile ride. Doing 5 miles around the neighborhood three times a week was my initial goal. Now brisk 25-mile club rides are fun and centuries a rewarding challenge.

I really enjoyed reading the similar experiences posted in this thread and hope they inspire others. I'm sure they will.

[newleaf150]

MN,

Congratulations on your accomplishment, and thank you for sharing your story!

[digibud]

lost 60lb and now my heart rate as I type this is 54bpm and I'm doing pretty darned good in the cardio area. Can't say as much for my shoulders and knees but the heart seems to be good .

[Buffalo-jon]

Thought I'd revive this thread. Seems appropriate now.


here's why:



I was feeling some chest pain just before I went on vacation to Phoenix at the end on Feb. I had been on a food plan for about two months and just recently lost about 25 pounds, I also started to do some exercises so I assumed that the chest pain was a result of the new exercises I was doing. So I went to Phoenix anyway. While in Phoenix I spoke to a friend who had a heart attack a while ago. He gave me some Nitroglycerine and said when you get the chest pain take one of these, if it relieves the pain go in right away. Well the pain never lasted long whenever I sat up the pain would go away. So I never took any of the Nitro.
While in phoenix I played several rounds of golf, but just didn’t feel 100 percent, Then on Thursday while on vacation we went on a mountain bike ride in Sedona. This turned out to be a really bad idea. First off it snowed about three inches and the snow that was on the ground melted so the trail had about 1 inch of mud on it, the bike that they brought for me had a soft back tire, I was in jeans becauseof the snow I originally planned on riding in shorts. We were also at 4000 feet of elevation, and the first mile of the trail was up a pretty steep grade, by the time I was at the top I was out of breath. I conveniently blamed it on the factors I just described. When we got back to the room I made an appointment with My doctor for the following Wednesday.
I went to work Monday Tuesday and ½ day Wednesday. When I went to the Dr. he gave me an EKG and said that he didn’t like the way it looked and that I should got for a stress test. That test was scheduled for the next day. I went to work and left early for the stress test. Well as it turned out I failed the stress test (apparently I didn’t study hard enough) So the cardiologist tells me she didn’t like what she saw and that I should have an angiogram. I asked when and she said well we want you to get in an ambulance and go there now. So I did. I was admitted and the next morning (Friday) I had the angiogram and they found 90 percent blockage in two arteries they stinted the blockages and put me on a bunch of prescriptions and sent me home.
I’m home now and feel great. In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have gone to Phoenix, (although I’m glad I did) and I definitely should not have done the bike ride. But alls well that ends well. Really looking forward to this season now that I'm getting full oxygen to the old ticker things are looking up. stay healthy and don't ignore the warning signs you never know when things will get ugly. fortunately for me everything went very well.

[ben]

wow! scary stuff Buffalo-jon. glad to hear that it all worked out for the best.