Training & Nutrition - Diet suggestions and the such.

Hey all,

I need to change my diet. I'm 6'0", 207lbs, and need to lose about 20 lbs according to the doc (recently went in to have a shoulder looked at). I think the main thing to blame is my poor diet. For breakfast I'll either eat nothing, or like a bagel and cream cheese. Then directly after school, I head to the shop for work, and usually end up grabbing fast food on the way. Dinner isn't as bad, usually some sort of chicken/turkey dish my mother cooks. Half the time I don't eat dinner cause I'm not hungry from snacking at work/late lunch. So I need suggestions for the following.

-Breakfast
-General things I can cook for lunch the night before and heat up at work.
-Things to snack on throughout the day (my biggest downfall). Preferibly something filling(?)

Here's the catch, I don't like nuts, no peanut butter, no fish, fruits I like: apples, grapes, bananas. Love salad and the such.

Any suggestions? Sites you can recommend?

Also, any recommendations for weight loss training on the bike? Don't have a road bike, so it would either be done on the fixie or the gym bike. Long slow miles? High intense miles?

Thanks
Matt

Matt,

Go buy yourself a copy of South Beach Diet. It's a pretty decent base diet, though it needs to be modified for serious riding.

The key for me was tracking my calories -- each and every one, every single day. Figure out your resting metabolic rate (how many calories you burn, just by being alive). Then figure out how many calories you can eat in a day such that you end the day with about a 500 calorie deficit. That will give you about a pound of weight loss per week.

deficit = calories consumed - (RMR + calories burned through exercise)

^^^ +1...find your RMR add exercise calories, then subtract 500 -750 calories. This should result in 1 to 1 1/2 lbs/ week weight loss.
I would add, it may be worth buying some body fat analysis tools too. The goal you really want to acheive is to lose fat and maintian as much lean body mass as possible. Losing too much weight too quickly can result in loss of muscle mass, which makes your RMR lower, thus making it more difficult to lose that fat.

Along these lines...


1. How do you find your RMR?
2. What are body fat analysis tools? Like the pincher thing?
3. How do you track calories? Just write them down or what? Are their computer programs? Do you need a scale? Are there websites that help?

how detailed do wish to be?
There are numerous sites on the internet that can give you a rough idea of your RMR. Most simply require your height and weight and wether your male or female. These won't be perfect, but can be used as a starting point.

You can use the calipers or you can get a scale that uses an electical pulse to determine body fat. These are more expensive than the calipers, but probably more reliable too.

Tracking calories...there's software, or there are books with items listed. You can simply write down what you eat in a journal and tally it up at the end of the day, or use one of the software packages. I hear Calorie King is pretty good, but have not used it myself. A kitchen scale is a good thing to purchase...I prefer the digital ones, but YMMV.

Keep things simple and don't bother with diet books. The problem with diet books is that they don't provide you with a sustainable way of eating.

Focus on eating regularly. Don't skip meals. That way you don't overeat when you do eat. I tend to eat 4 times a day (breakfast at 8:00, lunch at 11, something at 3, and dinner at 7 or so). These times correspond to when I usually get hungry. Try to eat whole grain foods, fruits, vegetables, and lean meats/fish. Avoid or reduce your consumption of processed foods like crackers, junk food, pasta, bagels, etc.

For breakfast I try to have a whole grain cereal with fruit on it (frozen blueberries or bananas) or a couple eggs, piece of fruit, and whole grain toast, maybe some orange juice.

For lunch I'll often make a sandwich--tuna, turkey, any meat for that matter--accompanied by some cut carrots, a piece of fruit, or a small salad.

Afternoon meal can be dinner leftovers (but always having some vegetable--frozen or fresh--or fruit), or yogurt with whole grain cereal on top and a piece of fruit, or another sandwich and piece of fruit, etc.

Dinner is a piece of meat/fish and frozen vegetables if I am in a hurry, or a salad in place of the frozen vegetable if I am not in a hurry.

Just some starting suggestions. The key to losing weight is regular exercise and moderate eating of fresh fruits and veggies, lean meats/fish, and whole grains.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=353970


i wrote a long post about fat loss here... maybe it will help.

oh, I and 30 of my clients use (or fail to use) Calorieking.com to track calories/ macronutrients. The new "beta" version of the onlin software is quite easy to use. It has really helped me establish my RMR and start losing body fat.

Along these lines...


1. How do you find your RMR?
2. What are body fat analysis tools? Like the pincher thing?
3. How do you track calories? Just write them down or what? Are their computer programs? Do you need a scale? Are there websites that help?

Get a cheap kitchen scale, it helps a lot. Sometimes there's no other way to give yourself ONE serving of something. I also keep a pad of paper and a pen in the kitchen, so I can jot down whatever I'm eating (and the associated calories). I then put that info into my spreadsheet (see below) later.

There are websites (e.g., fitday.com) that are really good. I just use a spreadsheet and enter my calories that way (I set it up to automatically compute my daily/weekly calorie deficit). Just think of it as debits (calories consumed) and credits (calories burned).

Being a bit obsessive, I also have a section of my spreadsheet where I enter my weight (buy a decent bathroom scale at the same time you buy your kitchen scale). Because your weight will vary throughout the day (mine as much as 4 pounds), I weight myself three times a day and take the average. Some people weight themselves at the same time every day (e.g., first thing in the morning), but I've found that my weight varies from day to day, even at the same time of the day. So, I like the average of multiple measurements. But you don't have to be as geeky as me.

Lots of websites will give you your RMR if you enter your age, weight and height. Just google.

One nice things about fitday.com (and similar sites) is that they give you a complete nutritional breakdown (% of calories from fat, etc). Of course, the spreadsheet is a bare-bones approach.

Good luck!

The key for me was tracking my calories -- each and every one, every single day. Figure out your resting metabolic rate (how many calories you burn, just by being alive). Then figure out how many calories you can eat in a day such that you end the day with about a 500 calorie deficit. That will give you about a pound of weight loss per week.

deficit = calories consumed - (RMR + calories burned through exercise)

is there a way to figure out your resting metabolic rate is?

i know there's ways to figure out other things like that...just curious!

Google. You'll find calculators all over the web....

keep eating what you normally do but workout every day for at least 45 minutes.

or

keep working out like you have been. take every meal and cut back by 20%

I lost 50 pounds over the past 15 months. FitDay was indispensible. I bought the PC version for $20, because it made it much easier to track custom meals. I also exercise a lot -- generally around 6,000 calories a week. I was doing cardio (mostly biking) and weightlifting, but now I have a bad case of tennis elbow, so the strength training program has suffered.

However, I think it's extremely important to do both cardio and weight training. Especially if you bike a lot, you need the weight training to keep your bone strength high.

Eating breakfast is very important. Have you tried oatmeal? I eat it almost every day with fruit and nuts. It can reduce your cholesterol, too.

You can buy one of those Omron fat composition monitors for about $50. It will give you a fairly accurate idea of your body fat percentage. If you get to a body fat percentage of around 15%, that's ideal, no matter what the weight is. Don't go by BMI -- that's a crock, especially if you do any serious weight training.

At your height and weight, the pounds will probably come off slowly. That's OK. It's better to lose slowly through changes in lifestyle that you can make permanent. Diets fail 95% of the time because they're just that - temporary changes. As soon as you get to your target weight on a diet, you revert back to your previous habits, which is what got you into trouble in the first place.

As for your cardio on the bike, the main thing is to mix it up a lot. Do intervals one day, hill climbing the next, long rides the next, etc. Don't let your body get too used to any one routine.

I am also a fan of fit day. It is good for tracking calories and also gives you a break down on how you are doing getting the RDA of nutrients.

You'll find that mostly all 'diets' and 'lifestyle programs' eventually boil down to the same things: removing dependency on simple sugars, lowering bad fats, and upping the fiber and whole grains. I'm working through YOU on a Diet, and it reinforces a lot of the common sense.

1. Eat breakfast. I'm a Fiber One kinda guy, but eat something. Whole wheat bagel and low-fat cream cheese works.

2. Eat during the day. You like apples, bananas, salad? There you go. Eat that during the day. Stay away from the fatty dressings.

3. Ixnay on the Ast Foodfay. Seriously.

4. Eat a dinner.

5. Get yer cardio.

6. Do some weight training. Build muscle->burn fat


Hey all,

I need to change my diet. I'm 6'0", 207lbs, and need to lose about 20 lbs according to the doc (recently went in to have a shoulder looked at). I think the main thing to blame is my poor diet. For breakfast I'll either eat nothing, or like a bagel and cream cheese. Then directly after school, I head to the shop for work, and usually end up grabbing fast food on the way. Dinner isn't as bad, usually some sort of chicken/turkey dish my mother cooks. Half the time I don't eat dinner cause I'm not hungry from snacking at work/late lunch. So I need suggestions for the following.

-Breakfast
-General things I can cook for lunch the night before and heat up at work.
-Things to snack on throughout the day (my biggest downfall). Preferibly something filling(?)

Here's the catch, I don't like nuts, no peanut butter, no fish, fruits I like: apples, grapes, bananas. Love salad and the such.

Any suggestions? Sites you can recommend?

Also, any recommendations for weight loss training on the bike? Don't have a road bike, so it would either be done on the fixie or the gym bike. Long slow miles? High intense miles?

Thanks
Matt

The biggest factor is behavior, but here's how I lost 15 lbs in the past few months:

Cook ahead of time and plan to eat the leftovers. If you aren't in the mood to cook you'll
have leftovers ready instead of having fast food.

Portion control is essential. Repeat: Portion control is essential.
Measure what you are going to eat. I eat a hearty wheat cereal (grape nuts or wheat chex)
for breakfast, or 2 pieces of toast with jam. I measure one level cup of the cereal, and add
the appropriate amount of milk to match. Lunch I have one of my leftover meals- one level
cup only. Dinner I'll portion just a little more. Ill have one cup of my leftovers, plus a side salad.
Of course you may be hungry eating such small portions. Wait 20 minutes after the meal to
decide to eat any more. "feeling full" has about a 20 minute delay after actually being full. If
youre still full after 20 minutes, have a small snack. Ill have 1 pack of cheese crackers or a small
handful of nuts. I do leave out things from the diet- stop having deserts, and scale back the sodas
as much as you can. Beer has a bunch of carbs, so dont have too much. Also- bagels really
should be avoided. They are the most concentrated source of carbs out of all foods. Avoid potatoes too.

What to cook? I love Indian food, which usually is in a stew like consistency or mashed up beans.
Its very easy to measure. Soups with lots of veggies are good too.

Dont forget to ride the bike- as much as possible.

is there a way to figure out your resting metabolic rate is?

i know there's ways to figure out other things like that...just curious!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calrmr.htm

If you know your body fat, it's more accurate. If you don't (or think you know but are really just guessing), the others are close. I've had mine measured at a gym and it's usually right in the middle of the values given with/without bodyfat.

fast food is the devil... also, stop eating meat.

oh, also, eat breakfast soon after waking up, to get your metabolism goin...