Kwin Peterson is an avid cyclist from Salt Lake City who has ridden over 23,000 miles in the last seven years, most of those logged from his home to the office. Kwin started pedaling to work as a way to lose weight, unfortunately, the calories he was burning on his ride were being offset by poor eating habits. Finally, Kwin pinpointed a key downfall in his weight loss plan that was right in front of him every day. “The fact that I was only losing about a pound a month was a personal scandal,” he said. “It didn’t take much to realize that the free cookies constantly available at my office were a prime culprit.”
Realizing he needed to balance an exercise strategy with a new diet, Kwin made a plan and set a weight loss goal, “On January 1, 2024, I resolved to drop at least 31 pounds by July 24,” he explained. “Once the decision to give up cookies and stop eating after 7 p.m. was made, the results came rather painlessly. I kept a rough count of my calorie intake each day and tried to hit between 2400 and 2800 calories a day.”
We asked Kwin to share more details about his weight loss journey.
Tell me when your weight struggles began. My struggles began when I married a good cook and were greatly exacerbated when I started cubicle life.
What habits specifically led you to gain weight? Eating my wife’s cooking before settling in for an evening on the couch after a long day sitting at my desk.
What caused you to realize you needed to change? I saw an ugly fat guy looking at me from a full length mirror in a hotel bathroom. I tell the story on my blog at Bike To Work Blog.
How did you lose the weight? I rode my bike to and from work everyday and counted calories.
What diet and exercise methods did you employ? For seven months I cut out cookies (mostly) and stopped eating after 7 p.m.
Did you have any “ah ha” moments along the way that really made a difference in your transformation? If so, what were they? About five months in to my seven-month goal, my brother got married and I was measured for a tux. I was astonished at my new measurements.
Biggest struggle in your journey? Biggest triumphs? Giving up cookies was a shock to the system, but not all that painful. When you are burning 3500 calories per day, you can run consistent 1000 calorie deficits and still feel like you are getting a good amount of food.
Current/future goals? I would like to get to 180, which is about where I think I was when I got married, but my body seems to like where I am now. I have maintained my weight for a year and a half.
Advice you’d give to other people struggling to lose weight? Make healthy habits a part of your lifestyle, not an appendix to it. I can’t stand exercise, but riding a bike to work is just a regular part of my day.
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