The Math Didn't Add Up: How I Finally Dropped the "Un-Loseable" 60 Pounds
Category: Nutrition / Performance
Author: A. B. Ryder
There is a lie we tell ourselves in cycling: "If I just ride more miles, the weight will come off."
I believed it. I lived it. And for a long time, it completely failed me.
When I started riding, I weighed 245 pounds. I was committed. I put in the work. I was logging 150 miles a week—serious volume by any standard. By the "calories in, calories out" math, I should have been melting away.
But the reality? I lost the first 10 pounds... and then I hit a brick wall.
Despite the sweat, the long weekends in the saddle, and the discipline, I was still stuck 60 pounds above a healthy BMI. I was a high-mileage cyclist hauling a trailer’s worth of dead weight up every hill. I was fit, but my engine was running on the wrong fuel.
The Fuel Switch (And The Crash)
That frustration drove me to look under the hood. I realized my body had become efficient at burning sugar, but terrible at burning fat. I decided to switch the fuel source. I went Keto.
I won’t sugarcoat it (pun intended): The transition was brutal.
In The Engine, I talk about the "adaptation phase," but living it was a different beast. In those first few weeks, I felt like someone had pulled the spark plugs out of my motor. I felt sluggish and heavy. I barely had the energy to drive to the gym, let alone crush a resistance training session.
My body was screaming for carbs because it didn't know how to access the 60 pounds of fuel stored around my waist.
The Other Side of the Wall
But then, the adaptation clicked. The fog lifted. The engine turned over.
Once my body learned to tap into fat for fuel, everything changed. The weight didn't just come off; it fell off. But the real victory wasn't on the scale—it was on the road.
Gravity became a suggestion: As the weight dropped, my power-to-weight ratio skyrocketed. Hills that used to drown me became opportunities. I even snagged a couple of local KOMs (King of the Mountain segments)—something the "245-pound me" would have laughed at.
Diesel Endurance: The "bonk" disappeared. Instead of needing a gel every 45 minutes, I found I could ride for hours with steady, relentless energy.
Stop Fighting Physics
If you are riding huge miles but the scale isn't moving, you don't need to pedal harder. You need to change the fuel.
In my book, The Engine, I break down the exact protocol I used to survive that "sluggish" phase and turn my body into a fat-burning machine without losing top-end power.
