daily cycling for weight loss

[Justen]

Hi,

I am in my 20's and female. I love cycling more than anything else but am finding that even though I am cycling between 30-50 Kilometers a day, I am not seeing much weight loss.

I also weight train at the gym and try to watch my diet - mostly fruits and veggies but I seem to have a very strong craving for milk from time to time. I don't drink coffee, tea, pop, alcohol or anything. All I drink is water, milk and sometimes gatorade.

Anyway, does anybody have any suggestions re the cycling. How much variance should I have in the type of cycling I do each week ? i.e. is it good to do bursts of sprinting flat out during every ride ?

Justen

[fietser_ivana]

How often do you eat in a day? Many times smaller portions work better for most people. It could be that you don't eat enough during the day and consume too much food in the evening (which is deposited as fat as it won't be burnt). That was my major mistake apart from NOT eating ENOUGH PROTEIN.
Start with eating more protein I'd say and skip the carb goodies, it's better to snack on fattier protein rich foods like nuts (pistachios are my favourite)

Also try to do intervals when cycling, eg. sprint away from traffic lights and if there's a hill do your very best to climb up as fast as possible. It has been proven that intervals work better for fat burning as your HR goes up more and then a larger amt of cals are burnt, a bit more glycogen yes , but a lot more fat too!

Ivana

[RWTD]

As far as the cycling sounds like you are building a nice base of milage.You should try to start upping the intensity through intervals and/or distance.Both techniques are effective for weight loss.If you are limited on time focus on intensity if you have more time add distance as well.Depending on your muscle type you will tend to gravitate towards the approach that is best suited to you.
However I agree it might be the diet you need to pay more attention to as well.Try to cut out all simple sugars such as gatorade and stick to mostly water.Also as Ivana mentioned smaller frequent balanced meals will provide steady energy,avoid storage as fat and stop cravings that can undermine a weight loss plan.Give us a few more details of your diet and maybe we could make a few suggestions.

[MediaCreations]

In another thread, Justen mentions that she's losing 1 pound a week. I think that's probably about right for a long term weight loss programme. Any thoughts?

[RWTD]

I agree it sounds like her weight loss may have just slowed down to a sustainable pace as 1lb/wk works out to 4lb/mo. or 48lb/yr. My only concern might be if she is on a real low calorie diet given her high activity level her metabolism might have slowed down causing her to plateau or might be causing her to go on binges .So I guess it couldn't hurt to have a few more details of her diet to see if it is on track .

[DnvrFox]

My wife and I will be starting "Body for Life" on June 2nd. The diet features six small meals per day, with a choice from each of three lists of 18 each of protein, carbo's and veggies. The 6 meals are supposed to help with the hunger and the binges.

Your body needs protein if you are exercising, and is it a mistake not to give it protein.

Anyway, I will keep the forum posted as to how successful we are.

I power walk, ride the bike and weight lift regularly. My wife power walks and rides, but no weight lifting.

I need to lose about 25 pounds and she about 20.

[cbhungry]

Don't forget the fact that you are converting fat to muscle which has a higher density so your weight may actually "plateu" at some point. A pound a week is pretty much what the medical establishment recommends.

[DnvrFox]

Technically you are not "converting fat to muscle."

You are losing fat while building muscle. But, anyway, yes, you may plateau or even increase weight.

[Justen]

Originally posted by cbhungry
Don't forget the fact that you are converting fat to muscle which has a higher density so your weight may actually "plateu" at some point. A pound a week is pretty much what the medical establishment recommends.

I have to say that the muscles in my legs..particularly my quads are getting very nicely defined and big. Obviously muscle weighs more than fat so perhaps this is causing it too look like I am not losing weight anymore.

Is it correct that muscle burns fat more efficiently ?

I am not happy with just one pound a week...I need to increase my intensity more I think.

There are parts of the route that I go on where I can really fly so I will go about 20 km/hr steady and then in these open parts, will then step it up and just get up to 30 + Km/hr. So there are short bursts of this but maybe more hills would help too and a longer route where I have more opportunities to do these sprints ?

Justen

[Justen]

Originally posted by RWTD
I agree it sounds like her weight loss may have just slowed down to a sustainable pace as 1lb/wk works out to 4lb/mo. or 48lb/yr. My only concern might be if she is on a real low calorie diet given her high activity level her metabolism might have slowed down causing her to plateau or might be causing her to go on binges .So I guess it couldn't hurt to have a few more details of her diet to see if it is on track .

Hi,

Thank you for replying. My diet at this point is anything but low calorie but I know I don't eat as well as I could and am steadily improving this. For instance, last evening, when I started to crave something to eat even after eating a decent supper - I had a spinach salad with mushrooms, green peppers and a few almonds. No dressing. It filled me up quite well and I don't think there were very many calories in it at all.

During the day I usually eat sandwiches of ham, cheese or turkey breast but my weakness is chocolate bars so I know I have to cut them out. I certainly don't eat them with every meal though.

I drink alot of milk but only skim milk.
I eat mussels about once or twice a month with rice but they are expensive so I don't get them often. I like cold meat but I guess that can be bad for you...i.e. deli meat. I guess my thought was that it is better than hamburgers or pork chops or whatever but is deli meat high in fat ?

Sorry..I can't think of what else I eat.
I know I need to improve my diet. I fortunately love spinach and boiled some eggs last night to use for my lunch time spinach salad today.

Justen

[RWTD]

The way to look at it is muscle is the furnace within which fat is burned so the more muscle you have the more fat you can/will burn.Keep in mind between the weight training ,indoor cardio and daily cycling you are doing alot of exercise.Work on upping the intensity but also watch for signs of overtraining as this will stall your progress as well. If you up the intensity alot you may actually want to lower the volume somewhat.With this high an activity level you need enough calories to create only a modest deficit and gradual weight loss.However if you have a fairly high calorie level(ie modest deficit)you might also try cutting 250 calories/day of simple sugars etc. and see what happens.P.S. I wrote this before I saw your last post so let me say it sounds like you are generally on track with your diet and like I guessed above you sound like you have a modest calorie deficit and room to cut a few empty calorie such as the chocolate bars/gatorade and the like if you want to lose weight a little faster.I think you can get decent deli cuts like turkey breast etc. but many are overprocessed with nitrates etc. and fat laden so chose carefully.

[Justen]

Hi RWTD,

I have started taking days off from cycling - usually once or twice a week I will do absolutely no cycling and once a week - will just let my body rest. I am a pretty high energy person. I don't like lying around doing nothing. When summer comes around, there is a much better selection of fruits and veggies to choose from and I find that I lose weight quite significantly during the summer months. This is the first year that I have been seriously exercising.

I have a funny little incentive program for myself - my friend gave me a bunch of colored stars and I put them on my calendar. Each color represents a different distance cycling, or going to the gym or a second exercise in one day. I know it sounds odd but I have to say that it seems to be working !

I am going to try cutting more calories - I do eat a fair amount of cold meat, cheese and chocolate bars here and there, as well as the Gatorade so those are all calories that I could cut or reduce. I like Turkey breast and the Primo Taglio (sp ?) brand is low in preservatives.

Anyway, I'll keep track of my diet and see how my weight loss changes.
I think I have a pretty good level of exercise right now as you said. I just need to work more on the diet and also change the intensity of the exercise when I am doing it - i.e. build in more hills, more sprints, etc etc.

Thank you for your help !

Justen

[RWTD]

I meant turkey breast is usu. okay but stuff like salami/bolonia etc. usu. isn't.In any event it sounds like you may have a high metabolism and once you get started like to keep going so if you cut a few more calories I bet the weight will start flying off.By the way if you just replace empty sugar calories with more nutrient dense calories you will be more filled with fewer cravings.

[Prosody]

"Gradual" is the important word in this discussion. When you start talking about changing your diet, remember that you are much more likely to be successful with gradual changes. If you decide to cut out chocolate bars, perhaps you do not have to completely eliminate them all at once. Eliminate some of them now, and once you have adjusted to that change, eliminate others. If you cut out all chocolate, then eating some chocolate is a failure. In reality, you can eat any food as long as you are smart about it.

[pletcgm]

Originally posted by DnvrFox
Technically you are not "converting fat to muscle."

You are losing fat while building muscle. But, anyway, yes, you may plateau or even increase weight.

You're exactly right! Don't go by how much you weigh. Track your size. I am 5'6", weigh 168 pounds and am a size 33. I am very satisfied with my size, but not with my weight.

If I was not into cycling, I would not be concerned with my weight because of my size. But because I cycle, I need to be around 150 pounds.

[firebolt]

Originally posted by Justen
Hi,

I am in my 20's and female. I love cycling more than anything else but am finding that even though I am cycling between 30-50 Kilometers a day, I am not seeing much weight loss.

Justen

Probably you were not riding *hard* enough. Try spinning a bit faster, on lower gear if necessary, and make yourself huffing-and-puffing throughout the entire ride. More pain, more gain ;)

[headliner]

you need to consume something with simple sugars in it after a weight program however.

[RWTD]

One comment on the chocolate you could go to a chocolate protein bar (low in addeed sugar/fat)or wheyprotein/water based chocolate shake in fact this later would make a good substitute for the milk you have been craving as it is a milk protein with calcium but the sugar and fat filtered out.

[Justen]

Hi RWTD,

Good idea ! There are so many on the market - are there any that are better than others or any that I should avoid ?
I guess the energy bars are quite high in fat and carbs ?
I just love Gatorade...but will have to go back to water. I just rented a water cooler and am loving it. I am much more motivated to drink alot of water during the day when I like the taste and it is nice and chilled !

Justen

[wabbit]

If you want to burn fat, the best thing is to do long, slow rides- we call them LSD. Those are the fat burners. Obviously, climbing hills and doing sprints are best for training, cardio, etc, but the long slow rides are for fat burning and endurance.

I went cycling nearly every day last spring and summer, and lost 10 lbs between april and oct. Probably a lot of it was water and sweat but no doubt,some of it was fat, because everything was big on me.

[Justen]

Originally posted by wabbit
If you want to burn fat, the best thing is to do long, slow rides- we call them LSD. Those are the fat burners. Obviously, climbing hills and doing sprints are best for training, cardio, etc, but the long slow rides are for fat burning and endurance.

I went cycling nearly every day last spring and summer, and lost 10 lbs between april and oct. Probably a lot of it was water and sweat but no doubt,some of it was fat, because everything was big on me.

Good !! I like the long slow rides. I have started to alternate between doing some high intensity rides where I do hills and sprints, and the longer, slower rides where I just maintain a fairly consistent pace - i.e. 10 mph/18 kph. My energy goes on forever on these rides and I enjoy them alot.

I cycle almost every day regardless of the weather but always have a day off or my knee starts to bother me and I think it is good to have one rest day a week.

Is this true ?

Justen

[montlake_mtbkr]

I think wabbit's got it wight. :D
You say your daily rides are short but intense. You are primarily burning your glycogen stores on these rides I would guess. If you get into into riding for extended periods of time while maintaining an aerobic heart rate you will first exhaust the glycogen your body has stored up and only then begin to burn the fat. So you see it takes some time before your metabolism will even think about accessing the energy stored in your body fat.

If your body (or knee in this case) is telling you to take some time off then you should take some time off. If you are riding off road every day that could be aggravating your knee. Try interspersing the off road with on road every other day to lessen the beating your body takes. Also, this is probably obvious but you could try a knee brace.

[firebolt]

Originally posted by wabbit
Obviously, climbing hills and doing sprints are best for training, cardio, etc, but the long slow rides are for fat burning and endurance.

Wouldn't continuous intense workout teach your body to use fat storage for energy? I never do long-slow-ride. I spin like crazy and slow down occasionally to recover. I only ride 2 or 3 times a week, and I don't change my eating habit (I eat everything served in front of me). BTW, I never eat while riding, which usually last 2 - 3 hours. The result: I lost 30lbs in 6 month. I am now stuck at 155lbs, most likely because of my eating habit.

Is this healthy?

[RWTD]

Justen I don't use the protein bars or flavored whey but rather unflavored(ie plain )whey in bulk that I mix with whole foods such as oatmeal/fruit /walnuts for flavor .For the bars there are a ton nowdays with protein orlow carb in their names the catch is to look at the ingredients because many have what is called glycerin in the ihngredients which acts like a carb but doesn't have to be listed as such.Buying the whey protein powder may be a better option I would say look to the 5 lb size tubs of whey protein concentrate at $5-6 /lb. as the most economical(check the local GNC/health food store or the internet supplement stores.) in choc. if you like that.Then you can just stir it into water as a snack or blend it with things like I mentioned above for a whole meal.I buy in 44lb. bulk from a manufacturor for $2/lb. which is more than most would want to go with.But check www.proteinfactory.com for some good internrt prices on protein (again I would just recommend the micro/ultrafiltered whey protein concentrate).
As far as intense vs. long slow training for fatloss you first start out burning glucose or blood sugar and when that is depleted(quicker if you haven't eaten recently you shift to a combination of fat and glycogen with the exact ratio dependent on intensity(ie high mostly glycogen and low mostly fat).At low intensity if you run out of glycogen it will actually hamper your fatburning as (particularly at lower bodyfat levels)the body will try to horde remaining fat stores by breaking down muscle to use protein as fuel.Thus at low intensity you burn more %fat but less overall calories /unit time thus the need to extend the time to be effective for fatloss.High intensity as I said burns a high % of glycogen but more overall calories so you will still burn a decent amount of fat and will tend to elevate the metabolism more than low resulting in more fat burned after exercise during regular activity where fat is again the primary source.So basically if you mix both approaches you will get the benefits of both approaches.For those that weight train this tends to have the same benefits I mentioned for high intensity particularly if done fastpaced.

[Guest]

It's the other way around.... LSD rides teach your body to use fat storage for energy.

When you start going into anaerobic exercise, the body begins using glucose stored in the muscles (and other body areas) for energy instead of fat. With anaerobic exercise, oxygen is not present (hence the an= without, aerobic= oxygen). FAT IS ONLY BURNED IN THE PRESENCE OF OXYGEN.... so doing high intensity exercise all the time just teaches the body to go to the more inefficient form of burning energy- breakdown of glucose through the anaerobic processes, which leads to less energy produced by the body to perform the exercise. The best thing you can do for your body is to do enough LSD to tech the body how to use fat is it's primary source of energy. This is your base training. Once you've done that, you can start venturing into the higher intensity workouts. If you've trained your base well enough, when you do go higher intensity, the body will "remember" this fat is available to use for energy. There are other important things that happen when you do your base training, but this is one of the things that you become more efficient at. If you skip the base training and go to the high intensity training, at some point down the road, you will start suffering the consequences. In a way, it's like a baby trying to go from crawling to running without mastering the walking. Eventually, that baby will run, but it takes longer, and maybe that baby ends up bowlegged or something! ;) You never know, and it's important to go through all the stages of a good periodization program for superior performance. Look at our prime example- Lance Armstrong. He takes a few months off after the race season to recover, then starts in January with base training, and he stays in base training until he starts going into higher intensity training. I'm not saying we should all train like Lance- it's impossible because we're not all athletes, but I tell everyone that if you could look 40% like Lance by modifying his schedule by 40% (which is do-able), wouldn't you go for it? We're not all professional athletes, but we can certainly learn from them and take a page from their book.

Firebolt, I would have to ask what your goals are, how you eat, and what your training program is like before I could even start to comment on what's going on with you. I do think it's great you've lost 30 pounds in 6 months, but consider that women and men lose weight differently under different circumstances. You guys have more testosterone, which gives youall a higher metabolism than women, so for you all to lose fat, it's a bit easier than women.

O cursed estrogen!!!

[Guest]

Oh shoot- I forgot.... Justen, try the Balance bars. They have some very good tasting bars that would work for you. I am very selective about which protein bars I like. Most of them taste terrible! Balance bars have a little more fat than the other bars (like 1- 2 grams more), but it's not significant enough to lose your mind over if you are doing that much exercise. I don't know if they have them where you are, but if not, let me know. We can do a PM and I can send you some- they are on sale here this week, and I just bought a box (20) with a bunch of different flavors. Some of them taste like regular candy bars, I swear! ;)

[Inoplanetyanin]

I think that loosing weight is not possible at all. What I mean is, every person has his (her) own NORMAL weight, that is normal at normal activity level and at certain AGE. Excersizing c a n , change the weight a little, but it is against the nature, as amount of fat tissue, or muscle, or any other tissue, is preprogrammed by persons DNA - so it is a genetic characteristic.
Often, we can see how a skinny person gains weight if he started, let's say an office job and started to eat more than usually. Or person from the office, started to work as a construction worker and ride bicycle... Bother will change their normal weight, a little, untill the activity changes back.

People who naturally weight, let's say 230 lbs and 5'5 feet height, even if they manage to loose 25 lbs, it will not be healthy. They will feel hunger almost constantly which can sometimes even lead to passing out!

Don't fight against your nature!
Live in peace with it.

[Justen]

Originally posted by Inoplanetyanin
I think that loosing weight is not possible at all. What I mean is, every person has his (her) own NORMAL weight, that is normal at normal activity level and at certain AGE. Excersizing c a n , change the weight a little, but it is against the nature, as amount of fat tissue, or muscle, or any other tissue, is preprogrammed by persons DNA - so it is a genetic characteristic.


I honestly don't think this is correct. Exercising is not against nature. The human body is meant to be active.
There are VERY few people who end up being morbidly overweight due to their DNA. Many get that way from having sedentry lifestyles and poor diets.
Exercising can change your weight and fitness level ALOT !!

It has nothing to do with DNA. We are all humans. Unless we have a specific medical condition, the majority of us react the same way to exercising...your fat and muscle composition change when you exercise. Your metabolism increases too.

So...losing weight is in fact, entirely possible. You just have to go about it the right way - eat a healthy diet, understand how your body works and get some exercise.

I am learning so much from the people here. I feel great after I exercise. A sense of accomplishment and knowing I am doing something good for my body.

It's fun !! Try it !

Justen

[Justen]

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
Oh shoot- I forgot.... Justen, try the Balance bars. They have some very good tasting bars that would work for you. I am very selective about which protein bars I like. Most of them taste terrible! Balance bars have a little more fat than the other bars (like 1- 2 grams more), but it's not significant enough to lose your mind over if you are doing that much exercise. I don't know if they have them where you are, but if not, let me know. We can do a PM and I can send you some- they are on sale here this week, and I just bought a box (20) with a bunch of different flavors. Some of them taste like regular candy bars, I swear! ;)

Hi Koffee !
Okay - I will take your word for it for now that they taste good.

And yes, we do have Balance bars here. I'll go check them out later tonight and see what flavours I can get. We have a large warehouse like superstore which has all these bars at a great price if you buy them by the box (i.e. 20 bars per box) But..I'll try out a few flavours first and see which ones I like.

BTW...do you just eat one of these a day?
After you exercise or before ?

What is the best way to use them ?

Justen

[Inoplanetyanin]

Originally posted by Justen
I honestly don't think this is correct. Exercising is not against nature. The human body is meant to be active.
There are VERY few people who end up being morbidly overweight due to their DNA. Many get that way from having sedentry lifestyles and poor diets.
Exercising can change your weight and fitness level ALOT !!

It has nothing to do with DNA. We are all humans. Unless we have a specific medical condition, the majority of us react the same way to exercising...your fat and muscle composition change when you exercise. Your metabolism increases too.

So...losing weight is in fact, entirely possible. You just have to go about it the right way - eat a healthy diet, understand how your body works and get some exercise.

I am learning so much from the people here. I feel great after I exercise. A sense of accomplishment and knowing I am doing something good for my body.

It's fun !! Try it !

Justen

Actually, if you take two different people, with different DNA setup, keep them in exact same invironment and feed them EXACTLY the same food, one will still be overweight while other will not. One's organism stores food as fat for certain reasons...
Besides, it's not that something is wrong with excersizing, it is useless to expect to loose weight by exersizing, at least for long time...

[aerobat]

When you're thinking of losing weight, remember to also think of your body composition. In other words the ratio of fat to muscle. You can get tests done to determine this in various ways, most health clubs, gyms etc. can do it. You can buy scales, such as the Tanita, that electronically measure your fat percentage. Even if they're not exactly accurate, you can see if it's increasing or decreasing with your exercise and diet routines.

In this way you can find out if your lean body weight is increasing and thus it seems like the exercise isn't working, but really it is decreasing your fat, which is probably what you want.

You may also want to exercise with a heart rate monitor to help you to determine the intensity you're exercising at. It sounds like you may have to up your intensity a bit, even on your long rides. This site will give you more info on their use. Go to the heart rate calculator section.

http://www.heartzone.com/index.shtml

Good luck!

[Justen]

Originally posted by Inoplanetyanin
Actually, if you take two different people, with different DNA setup, keep them in exact same invironment and feed them EXACTLY the same food, one will still be overweight while other will not. One's organism stores food as fat for certain reasons...
Besides, it's not that something is wrong with excersizing, it is useless to expect to loose weight by exersizing, at least for long time...

I don't think you really understand the whole point about exercising (not exersizing). It is not useless to expect to lose weight by exercising but you have to be eating properly too. If you're going to go to Burger King everyday or eat tons of junk food everyday, you won't lose weight as easily but exercise would still be better than doing nothing at all. It helps keep the blood circulating and keeps oxygen moving to all those pudgy limbs.

I don't know what you mean by a long time either ?

If you burn off more calories than you take in, you can start losing weight within a a few weeks or less. Initially it might just be water weight that you are losing but it does not take a "long" time to lose weight if you exericse and eat properly.

Justen

[Inoplanetyanin]

You are right, but you are talking about immidiate results, while I am talking about years, or at least months periods...
I did exercise gymnstics for 14 years and actually even managed to win several regional championships, so I kind of think I do have a little comprehension about weight gaining, muscle building and similar subjects.

Again, if you, or anybody else, stops forcing, pushing, and trying to control the weight, weight will get back to NORMAL value for each person. For some it will be 200 lbs at 5'8, for others it will be 125 lbs. And this is what I am talking about, when using phrase "fighting against nature".

Good luck with sports, I appreciate you correcting the word and sharing your thoughts.

[Justen]

Originally posted by Inoplanetyanin
You are right, but you are talking about immidiate results, while I am talking about years, or at least months periods...
I did exercise gymnstics for 14 years and actually even managed to win several regional championships, so I kind of think I do have a little comprehension about weight gaining, muscle building and similar subjects.

Again, if you, or anybody else, stops forcing, pushing, and trying to control the weight, weight will get back to NORMAL value for each person. For some it will be 200 lbs at 5'8, for others it will be 125 lbs. And this is what I am talking about, when using phrase "fighting against nature".

Good luck with sports, I appreciate you correcting the word and sharing your thoughts.

No....I was not just talking about immediate results. I was talking about exercising in general. You were pretty much saying it was useless and I disagreed.

I was just trying to understand what you meant about exercise being useless and some people not being able to lose weight whatever they do.

Sorry about correcting your word. I hope you didn't think it was being rude. I didn't mean it that way.

Justen

[mrfix]

Well I know most don't like to hear this but her is the plain and simple truth.

Your body is like a bank.

In a bank, you put money in, if you put more money in than you take out the account balance goes up.

If you take more money out than you put in, the account balance goes down.

In you body, you put calories in, If you put more calories in than you take out, the weight goes up.

If you take out or burn more calories out than you put in, your weight goes down.

1 pound of body fat = about 3500 calories, so in order to loose 1 pound of fat you need to burn roughly 3500 calories more than your daily average. To gain a pound you need to take in roughly 3500 calories more than your daily average.

This was explained to me by my doctor when I weighed 285 pounds, I spent most of my life on a diet, I tried just about everything. When he told me this and I thought about it I decided to give it a go, I decided that I can't diet, so I changed my life style, I eat only healthy food, no more junk, and I started riding a bike. I ride to work, I ride for fun and I ride to the store when I need to go there. 6 years ago I weighed 285 pounds, for the past 5 years I weigh 175 pounds, so I guess this works. Think about it, money in vs money out, calories in vs calories out

[pletcgm]

Originally posted by Inoplanetyanin
I think that loosing weight is not possible at all. What I mean is, every person has his (her) own NORMAL weight, that is normal at normal activity level and at certain AGE. Excersizing c a n , change the weight a little, but it is against the nature, as amount of fat tissue, or muscle, or any other tissue, is preprogrammed by persons DNA - so it is a genetic characteristic.

I definitley disagree! I was overweight all of my life until 2 years ago. Now, I am a normal size and have kept the weight off. I do have cravings for food sometimes, but my metabolism is high enough that I burn it right off. I have dropped 72 pounds and have not gained any back. I even slacked off of exercise for about three months and still maintained my weight.

[hgalindo]

Justen,

I've been doing Weight Watchers for nearly a year and have lost 67 lbs. and had maybe 3-4 weeks where I've gained or maintained my weight, and usually it was around holidays or I'd had high sodium foods the night before weigh-in, etc.

In the last few weeks, I've started riding more seriously and buring about 2500 cals per week on the bike (www.caloriesperhour.com). What I've found is that, in order to continue losing weight, I have to incorporate several days (weekend is most convenient) of high-calorie eating, balanced with several days of lighter eating, and a couple of moderate days. And I ride according to how high-cal the day is. Very high cal on long ride days, med cal on medium ride days, and low can on short or no ride days.

I mention WW because of the journaling aspect. Keeping a food journal has allowed me to track what I eat, how much I've exercised, and then look for patterns. When I started riding more seriously, I stopped losing, and I've discovered it was because my metabolism gets SO fired up from riding that it's just wanting to burn calories like crazy... far more than just the calories expended on the rides themselves.

So, In WW terms, while I should be eating a max of 1350 per day (before exercise), I have to eat about 1850 on those high days to keep my body from going into starvation mode.

Try journaling your food and approaching this scientifically. Experiment with alternating your caloric intake through the week to keep your body guessing, experiment with cutting back calories, and with increasing calories. Eventually you'll find the right balance for your metabolism.

BTW, the milk drinking is great. Do load up on protein (eggs are wonderful), get your fiber in, and don't cut out, but do cut down on the refined sugars. Candy just kills my weight loss efforts, but sometimes it's worth it. :)

[msparks]

Originally posted by Inoplanetyanin


Again, if you, or anybody else, stops forcing, pushing, and trying to control the weight, weight will get back to NORMAL value for each person. For some it will be 200 lbs at 5'8, for others it will be 125 lbs. And this is what I am talking about, when using phrase "fighting against nature".




Hmm how natural is it to sit in front of a Tee Vee and consum huge amounts of fat and refined sugar??

Sorry to say, your weight is a controllable process, no matter what your DNA says. It has more to do with your disposition/environment than it has to do with DNA. Kind of like a Sumo Wrestler, these guys train to be that way and are not naturally huge!!

[Tilly1]

Has anyone heard about the Sugar Busters diet? I have been on it for a few weeks and have had pretty good results, but for the last couple of weeks I have been stuck on my weight loss.
Am I getting too impatient? :confused:

[Justen]

Originally posted by msparks
Hmm how natural is it to sit in front of a Tee Vee and consum huge amounts of fat and refined sugar??

Sorry to say, your weight is a controllable process, no matter what your DNA says. It has more to do with your disposition/environment than it has to do with DNA. Kind of like a Sumo Wrestler, these guys train to be that way and are not naturally huge!!

This is what I was trying to explain to.
DNA has very little to do with it, if any.
Weight can be controlled and managed and there is NOTHING unnatural about exercising and eating a balanced diet to lose weight. Just as there is nothing natural about eating mega loads of sugars, fats and carbs and then sitting around watching TV and never moving off the sofa to exercise.

One of my friends was warning me not to overdo it with my exercise and that perhaps cycling everyday was too much. This is a person who does all of the above and then wonders why she is not losing weight. I told her I exercise not just to lose weight but primarily because I enjoy it so much. Of course, I love the endorphin response that I get after each ride and also knowing that I am gradually getting fitter and losing weight. 10 kilometer rides every 2-3 days used to be a BIG deal for me. Now I can do 30 KM a day and often do two 40-50 KM rides a week.

Anyway, to the person that posted that it is all about DNA - I hate to say that you are operating under a misconception. It is a great way to rationalize the lack of weight loss but you are only short changing yourself if you follow the DNA reasoning.

Justen

[firebolt]

It would be nice if someone could invent a device, planted in our body, that could measure calorie intake and outtake, and an alarm would go off when we're consuming more than we're spending. Boy, the US would be a very noisy place to live :)

[msparks]

Originally posted by Justen
This is what I was trying to explain to.


One of my friends was warning me not to overdo it with my exercise and that perhaps cycling everyday was too much.
Justen

I probably agree, at some point you might want to take rest days. Also you might want to think about doing some resistance training. Either with weights in the gym or at least do some push ups, pull ups, situp, lunges, tricep dips, in your home.

Toning your mucscles will help you lose more weight, and help you become a better bicyclist.

[belfast-biker]

Originally posted by firebolt
It would be nice if someone could invent a device, planted in our body, that could measure calorie intake and outtake, and an alarm would go off when we're consuming more than we're spending. Boy, the US would be a very noisy place to live :)



But I, um, they, would find a way to disable or disguise the sounds... :)

[firebolt]

Originally posted by belfast-biker
But I, um, they, would find a way to disable or disguise the sounds... :)

A vibrate mode would be nice. "One large coke please!"...... GLUP..GLUP...GLUP ...BZZZZZZZZ! .... splash! :p

[Pat]

Well, I have a Ph'D in Entomology and have taught oh about 20 different undergraduate courses in biology and read up on sports medicine and so on. So I have some back ground. Unfortunately, there is not much science in weight loss or back ground on this stuff. It is all more anecdotal.

In order to lose weight you need to 1) cut your intake 2) or up your exercise. It takes 3500 calories to burn a lb of fat. The great thing about cycling is if you are fit, you can burn around 5000 calories (on a big day like a century) and still have your basic 1500-2000 calories for basic activities added in. On multiday tours, I have lost 10 lbs in 14 days - but they were long days with lots of climbing. That sort of stuff is not usually practical and I managed to hit a lucky combination. I was amazed I lost that much because I really was not trying that hard. I just ate lots of carbohydrates and rode a lot and avoided fats.

Around here, our local club tends to ride flat out for 40-50 miles until everyone falls over dead. I find these rides are great for conditioning but they burn up virtually nothing but carbohydrate and almost no fat. After one of those rides, I am ravenous and I tend to load up on carbos and I think all I do is replace them and have burned little or no fat.

As you get closer to your anaerobic threshold you burn proportionately more carbo and less fat. When you ride at your aerobic threshold - you burn proportionally more fat. So riding at moderate intensity on a long ride maximizes fat burn. Of course, you can ride all out till you bonk (glycogen depletion) then all you will burn after that is fat. But that is no fun and I don't know anyone who follows that strategy.

Now as for training. I have seen all sorts of schedules. Most I have seen have one day of rest per week and two days of intervals, a couple recovery rides, and a short fast ride and a longer fast ride. Personally, I don't follow a rigid schedule.

I find I recover better if I ride even if it is just low intensity. I think getting the muscles warm and working helps my muscles recover. If I feel frisky, I will put in speed work - sprints up hills or something like that. If I don't feel frisky, I take it easy. I generally get into at least one intense ride during the weekend.

Of course, the point is to vary your intensity. High intensity beats up your muscles and they need so recover. Long rides aid your aerobic base. I think most people emphasize intensity more than mileage, but going out and riding for distance at a moderate pace is great for conditioning and burns up those calories too - a double benefit. And for losing weight, you can't beat going out and putting in big miles day after day at a moderate pace and just eating to replenish your carbohydrates. Also going out daily and getting the mileage in keeps you from gaining the weight back during the week.

[Guest]

How do you correlate people with lower metabolisms and people with higher metabolisms into your data?

How do you correlate people with more muscle (therefore higher metabolism) vs. people with less muscle content?

What happens if you're not doing any lifting and you're doing the cardio vs. people who do both weights and cardio?

Can you give us a little information on the differences between women vs. men with losing weight?

What if you're not as fit, so you can't burn those 5000 cal on the long rides?

What can you do if you have a 40- 50 hour per week job and you need to maximize your time in order to burn fat (assuming you've already restricted your diet by the 500 cal per day defecit)?

Lots of questions, but looking for a way to answer them within the confines of your explanation.

Thanks,

Koff

[Grendel]

Originally posted by Justen
I like cold meat but I guess that can be bad for you...i.e. deli meat. I guess my thought was that it is better than hamburgers or pork chops or whatever but is deli meat high in fat ?

Well, as always, the nutrition label is your friend -- read it when you're selecting cold cuts and you'll easily be able to separate the good from the bad. I never used to pay attention to those labels and now I read them on everything and look up nutrition info online as well. Anyway, one thing to look out for with cold cuts is a high level of sodium -- lotta salt in most cold cuts so keep an eye out for that. Some can be very fatty as well, but again you have to pay attention to the labels. For instance, I love pastrami and eat quite a lot of it (despite the relatively high sodium content), and one brand I prefer, Hillshire Farms Deli Select Pastrami, seems to be relatively healthy (7 slices = 2% of daily allowance of fat, 9% cholesterol, no carbs or sugars, 23% protein and 25% sodium (ouch!)) while another brand is more processed (one of those kinds where they chop everything up and reassemble it in the shape of food) that has just horrendous amounts of fat -- like about 50% daily allowance!

[Justen]

Originally posted by Grendel
Well, as always, the nutrition label is your friend -- read it when you're selecting cold cuts and you'll easily be able to separate the good from the bad.

Hi,

Thanks for all the tips.
Problem is - by deli meat - I don't mean the packaged stuff. I mean the stuff that you actually go up and have them cut for you on the spot. They sometimes have a bunch of different kinds already sliced but non of it is a plastic package with labels.

I generally stick with the preservative free ones and prefer turkey breast over any thing else. I don't like bologna or salami much at all. In the summer, I like having turkey breast sandwiches with different kinds of fruit on the side. Not heavy but filling.

Does this seem okay ?

Justen

[kneighbour]

I started cycling for the sole purpose of losing weight. I have been at it now for alomst 2 years, which is a real record for me. I have been on virtually every diet known to man,and have even been put in hospital twice just to lose weight.

I started off at 123kg, and am currently at 106kg. Pretty poor if you consider that it has taken 2 years....

Like you, I found that cycling does not help all that much in the weight loss area. But then neither does going to the gym, which I have also tried. In fact, I do not think that exercise of any sort helps all that much. The thing is, the body is just too damm efficient.

But you do become a lot fitter - which is a great thing all by itself.

I have found that I need to do rides of over 100km to lose any weight at all. Anything less is ok and usually fun, but no weight loss occurs. If I do around 200km, I usually end up losing 1 or 2 kg. Nothing remarkable, but every kg helps! This is truly weird if you work out how many calories you burn on a 200km ride (around 9,000).

The thing about cycling is that is is social. I do it with other people (I am in a local club). So I actually do it - and I keep at it. This is totally unlike going to the gym, dieting, etc. These are usually only tempory measures, and you give them up after a short time. Cycling has so far passed the test of time, and I am still at it. In fact, since I am getting better at it, I am now starting to enjoy cycling even more - so I see myself cycling for a number of years yet.

[The Terminator]

Originally posted by kneighbour
Like you, I found that cycling does not help all that much in the weight loss area. But then neither does going to the gym, which I have also tried. In fact, I do not think that exercise of any sort helps all that much. The thing is, the body is just too damm efficient.

I could not disagree with you more. See my latest cycling log update in my sig file. I have lost 10 lbs in a month, perhaps more when any offset in muscle size is considered. I'll take the 10 lb number that my bathroom scale is giving me. I am a beginner cyclist, but even a beginner can read a weigh scale accurately. I have shifted my eating pattern to include more food in the morning and midday and less in the evening. If one were to eat to excess on a constant basis, no amount of excercise would cause a loss of weight. I may be wrong here, but I view it as simple mathamatics. Burn more calories than you take in, and your body will have to burn fat in order to operate. The simplest advice that anyone has given me is low on the carbs, and high on the protein. Best -