Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Recommended Diet site: You can eat like a horse and still lose with cycling.

Prior to this year, I have been gaining about 5-10lbs of weight a year. In January, I set a goal to reduce my weight of 220lbs to 200lbs and get six pack abs. To attain this goal, I started using fitday, (http://www.fitday.com) a free diet and exercise log site.

Although prior to riding, I was exercising 30-40 minutes 5 days a week, my weight stopped dropping when I got to about 205lbs. Then I started riding my bicycle to work two days a week. After only 3 days of riding, my weight started dropping again. This weight loss occurred even though I increased my calorie intake on my riding days to 4500 calories. So, for anyone interested in losing weight I would highly recommend fitday (http://www.fitday.com). If you log your food intake, your weight, and your exercise, it is easier to lose weight and see the results over time.

I started at 6'4" 220lbs. Today, I am very close to 200, and I am developing the six pack.
To maintain my weight, I am eating about 3500-4500 calories on my riding days. However, I am still losing weight. On my days when I do not ride, I still eat about 3000-3500 calories which is about two times what weight watchers who are shorter get.

Here is a link to my diet.

I love cycling. You can eat like a horse and still loose weight. It is great.
You can see I eat like a horse. (http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=tjk123)

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Although prior to riding, I was exercising 30-40 minutes 5 days a week, my weight stopped dropping when I got to about 205lbs. Then I started riding my bicycle to work two days a week. After only 3 days of riding, my weight started dropping again. This weight loss occurred even though I increased my calorie intake on my riding days to 4500 calories. So, for anyone interested in losing weight I would highly recommend fitday (http://www.fitday.com). If you log your food intake, your weight, and your exercise, it is easier to lose weight and see the results over time.


Funny, that pretty much describes me perfectly this spring. :)

Just got back on the bike for some regular riding this week. Here's to horse-like eating!

http://fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=askel

My fitday.com records go back well over a year now. From 285lbs to 204.5 today. :eek:

Yeah I too have been eating like a horse when I'm bicycling daily for long amounts of time. And.. I'm losing 4-8 pounds a week, so I must be doing something right.

I don't generally keep track of my intake as it, well, it takes too dang long! :) I do, however, adhere to a very strict nutrition regimen that helps me avoid any problems. I have a very rigid breakfast/lunch/snack plan that is the same foods daily (Breakfast - 1 cup oatmeal, Lunch - 1 cup rice, 1 can tuna, lots of black bean and corn salsa) to provide a heavy dose of good nutrients that keep me running "full bore" all day without feeling tired or stuffed. My calorie intake during the day is right around 800-1000, most of it coming from carbs, "good fats", and protein. By the time I'm on my bike at 4:30-5:00pm, I feel like a walking can of red bull.

I do this so in the evenings I basically eat whatever I want - to an extent. We no longer go "out to eat" and avoid takeout/fast food like the plague. Anything for dinner is generally home cooked, or bought from a store. I find that without fail I'm the most hungry after work. During the day I never really get hungry, but after work I could eat the house.

Anyway, this works great for me. We get so wrapped up in calories that it's easy to forget to listen to your body. If I were to stick to my rigid 1200-1500 calorie/day diet, I'd literally be falling asleep as I ride home every day.

I'm hoping horses eat like a pig, because that is what I do sometimes.

I've quit worrying about tracking my intake. I eat what I want, pretty much as much as I want and have lost 75 pounds since last June. Now that the weather is better I'm riding more and loosing more. I'm shooting for an even 100 lbs weight loss by July 1.

My colleagues at work are amazed at what I eat and am still loosing weight.

I started with http://www.fitday.com

I have just changed to http://www.thedailyplate.com as the food database is much better than fitday. I do have to back the exercise categories back a couple of notches though when I log my rides. I think it calculates way too many calories burned at stated speeds so it looks like you are burning more calories than you really are. Fitday has the same issue, but it seemed I could back the exercise category back one level there. I usually fiddle with the exercise intensity category and time to get a better estimate of the calorie burn anyway :)

There's nothing magic about weight loss or gain. If the amount of calories you consume is greater than what you burn, your body stores the excess as fat. If you burn more than you consume, your body makes up the deficiency by using your reserves, your body fat.

i see no beer in either on either of those sites. i have a very stict quota of no less than a 6-pack and no more than a 30 pack(except on weekends). so i don't think either of those sites will work for the diet that i already have in place.
:)
sadly i'm only 1/2 joking... make that 3/52 joking.

Thank you for the information. I am trying to get back to a sub 200 from near 220. I have never used a log site before but I was never over 45 before either.

Funny, that pretty much describes me perfectly this spring. :)

Just got back on the bike for some regular riding this week. Here's to horse-like eating!

http://fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=askel

My fitday.com records go back well over a year now. From 285lbs to 204.5 today. :eek:

Did I read this right? You had no meat? Where is all the protein coming from? Its amazing how the calories added up with 90% of your diet coming from fruits and veggies...

Did I read this right? You had no meat? Where is all the protein coming from?

Seems like from the eggs and bagel. I get my protein from peanut butter, beans, eggs, and sometimes a protein whey shake. I need to toss up what my diet is now... :D

Did I read this right? You had no meat? Where is all the protein coming from? Its amazing how the calories added up with 90% of your diet coming from fruits and veggies...

Yeah, the no meat thing is something I've been experimenting with as of late. Been able to ditch pretty much everything but sausage with my pancakes on not miss it.

You'll find that calorie for calorie, vegetables usually have way more protein than meat. But really, unless I eat all day, it's tough to eat that many calories in broccoli. :D

These days, most of my protein comes from beans, peanut butter, cottage cheese, and energy bars.

(For those reviewing my fitday data- ignore yesterday. 'Twas a rough few days at work with way too little sleep. Needed quite a few energy bars to keep me going. More than I probably should have eaten. :o )

you guys should supplment your protein with whey. try to shoot for about 1g to 1.5g x your body weight. are you guys dividing up your meals? I eat about 6 meals a day plus pre and post workout shakes. about 1lb t 1.5lbs of chicken a day, tuna, cottage cheese, leafy greens, and whey.

I shoot for about 2200 cals with a 50/25/25 macro split. I was about 450 or so 3 years ago, hit the scale at 245 this morning.

you guys should supplment your protein with whey. try to shoot for about 1g to 1.5g x your body weight. are you guys dividing up your meals? I eat about 6 meals a day plus pre and post workout shakes. about 1lb t 1.5lbs of chicken a day, tuna, cottage cheese, leafy greens, and whey.

I shoot for about 2200 cals with a 50/25/25 macro split. I was about 450 or so 3 years ago, hit the scale at 245 this morning.

I come from a bodybuilding background (philosophically obviously if you have seen me) but I agree you need to get plenty of protein in your diet and less carbs. As far as I am concerned if you have all your carbs coming from fruits and veggies you should be fine. But it makes me cringe to see such low cal/high carb diets on these forums. It makes sense though from a physiology/biochemistry perspective.

I used to shoot for 1g-1.5g of protein per intended pound of body weight per day and it worked wonderfully up until I hit 205lbs back in February. At that point, I was increasing the intensity of my cross country ski training, but no matter how I moved calories and macro nutrients around in the day, I was just totally sapped for energy. It really hurt my training and led to cravings which prevented any weight loss.

I'm still kind of playing around with the numbers as I get into cycling this spring, but I perform at my best right now shooting for 0.5g-0.75g of protein per pound of actual body weight and running no more than a 250 calorie defecit per day.

Losing weight on a calorie deficit that small will take some major discipline that I'm not sure I have, but as I mentioned in another thread- I'm more concerned with my overall fitness now rather than the number on the scale.

Never been a fan of whey protein and the like. They may be truly wonderful things that I'm really missing out on, but it's just not my thing for various reasons.

The only benefit I really see with whey is how fast it is absorbed. I personally think casein protein is better because it is slower absorbed, but whey is best as a pre/post workout supplement.

im actually loosing weight on adding more caleries. my body hit starvation mode on my diet. yeah, these high carbs diets make me cringe hard. i couldnt imagine 600 carbs a day.

whey has stepped up over the years, now you can get flavers that acctually taste good, same goes for ceasin, which has to be the protein of the gods

I used BSN Syntha 6. It tastes great with sucralose as the sweetner

I don't agree with the low calorie diets either, they might make me lose weight but whats the use in being skinny if i'm cranky and irritable and don't have any energy. I tried it before and thought i was doing more damage to myself so now i am trying to eat normally. If i do enough cycling i'll get my weight down to a healthy number:)

The other great thing about burning over 3500 calories a day and being on a psuedo-vegetarian diet is you get to pretty much eat constantly.

I don't think I go more than an hour and a half all day without stuffing something in my maw. :D

However, my grocery bill these days... :eek:

I don't agree with the low calorie diets either, they might make me lose weight but whats the use in being skinny if i'm cranky and irritable and don't have any energy. I tried it before and thought i was doing more damage to myself so now i am trying to eat normally. If i do enough cycling i'll get my weight down to a healthy number:)

How's that working for ya? (Not being sarcastic) I think its not neccessarily the amount of calories, but the quality of calories. Granted if you are taking in 1,000 more calories than you burn by eating nothing but veggies, then odds are you probably will gain weight, however, its not likely that you would be able to do that however...