Training & Nutrition - Losing weight w/o changing diet?

I'm really at kind of a compfortable weight, but I wouldn't mind losing 15 lbs (mostly around the stomach). Anyway, knowing myself, I won't make drastic changes to my diet, but I have gone from sedentary to biking 30 minutes toan hour a day (soon to be more as I prepare for an MS 150 in October). I guess what I'm wondering is whether the new exercise combined with my regular diet will actually result in some weight loss (I had leveled out). Explanations of the science behind it all are welcome.

Also, since I AM beginning training for an MS 150, are there any relatively painless changes to my diet I should make (i.e. the ones everyone should make to prepare)? Just assume the normal American diet (i.e. easy to make, high fat, not well-rounded), though I do eat a lot of pasta...

Carl,

Losing weight is basically math. If you burn more calories than you take in you lose weight. There are about 3600 calories in a pound of body weight (I know I'm not being scientific here). So, if you burn an extra 300 calories a day you will lose an additional pound roughly every 12 days.

Understand that you can lose a lot more weight temporarily just by water loss.

There are a zillion theories on what types of foods are better or worse for weight loss. Some like Atkin would tell you that carbs are the culprit, others would say fats...but no matter it all comes down to how many calories you intake (eat) and how many your burn. Remember that you burn calories all the time...not just when you exercise (you just burn more then).

Based on age and activity level you should be able to roughly figure out your daily calorie burn. Then figure out how much you're eating.

As for preparing for an MS ride...
1. Most MS rides are very, very well run. There is little chance of having to go without food or water for very long. They're generally not all that competitive and my guess is if you stopped at every rest stop they setup and ate all that they offered...you'd probably gain weight! :)
2. But in preparation for a long ride...if you don't want to get real detailed about it try reducing your fat intake and increasing your carb intake as you draw within a few days of the ride. The night before the ride eat something you're familiar with that has fairly easily digestible carbs (spaghetti is good...but watch out for spicy sauce). You'll also want to make sure you have plenty of water the night before (not gallons or anything...just don't be dehydrated) The morning of the ride make sure you get up in plenty of time so that you're not eating breakfast on the way to the ride. Try to again have some easily digestible carbs (oatmeal and fig bars/newtons are good) and have some water.
3. During the ride make sure you drink enough water! A decent rule of thumb is a water bottle every 30 minutes...but part of that depends on the effort you're putting in. You can stop at rest stop every couple of hours and have carbs early on. Don't get full. Good stuff to eat is things like fig bars, bananas, Peanut butter and Jelly and even a turke hoagie. Make sure and drink plenty of water...or if you believe it's better Gatorade...but it's very important you keep hydrated!
4. Later in the day if you're really putting in an effort you may want to switch from solid carbs to some of the gel foods...but that's generally fairly extreme
5. If this is an overnight trip make sure and stretch after you get off the bike. Once again eat easily digestible carbs.

This isn't the regiment that Lance Armstrong would take, but it should be fairly easy to follow. Easily digestible carbs in moderation and plenty of water. Remember if you're moving along you may not feel thirsty and you may not feel sweaty...but trust me your body is losing fluids...and you need to replace them.

Hope this is of some help and have a great time on the ride.
Ken

That was PERFECT!!!!! Thanks! That's EXACTLY what I wanted. I know that I stck with long distance cycling I'll eventually get more technical, but I just wanted some simple guidelines that didn't require radical diet changes, etc.
Thanks a TON!

-Carl

Losing weight is easy too do, as described above, burn more calories than you consume, and WHA-LA, weight goes down.

However, in that weight lose is fat and more importantly muscle. If your goal is to lose fat, while conserving muscle, it's alittle bit complicated.

I think sacrificing that pasta should be your first step in continuing to drop the fat.

I eat whatever the hell I want drink plenty of beer and bike about 100 miles a week, I'm not sure when it happend but I'm down to 185 from the 200 I weighed this spring, good luck