Training & Nutrition - New training schedule help.

Hi all,

I'm a new member here, just started cycling regularly again and I wonder if anyone might have some advice on cycling for weight loss?

I've already lost nearly 20kg (~44lb) through diet changes over the last 12 months, but I'm having trouble loosing the last few to get to my target weight. So, I broke out the bike and started going for a regular ride before work every weekday for the last week. Started out with a quick 5km just to remind my body what cycling was about, then ramped up to 20km (~13 miles) this morning which takes me about 45 minutes. Over the next week I'd planned to ramp up a little more and squeeze out 30km in an hour. I've done plenty of cycling before and I know I could manage these numbers pretty comfortably when I was considerably heavier.

So, a quick few calculations tells me I'll be burning about 110kJ/km, or about 3,300kJ every morning with a target weight loss of about 1kg per week when also considering my intake. Presently I'm eating a very well balanced diet, if slightly heavy on protein and slightly light on carbs. The rest of the day I spending sitting behind a desk so I really don't need a lot of energy intake anyway.

I'd like to loose 5kg+ (11lb) over the next two months so that I can buy a suit fit for my target weight. I have two weddings to attend in April and my old suit looks ridiculous now :) Does anyone have any suggestions or experience to share that might help me? My thinking is pretty simple, I treat weight loss like physics; it's simply a matter of energy in versus energy out, but I've never been through this process before so I'm all ears.

Feel free to ask questions, I'm not shy :) Thanks in advance for your help.

Dave.

P.S. I also just gave up cigarettes so it's a real struggle to not eat *all* the time right now :( D.

Keep doing what you're doing. Ride more, eat less. You may need more carbs for the extra riding. Congratulations on what you've lost so far.

Here is a link to an eating plan that you might want to check out to shed the rest of the pounds. It is called "The Drip" I also saw a diet plan in the January Bicycle magazine that might work for you.

http://www.cyclo-club.com/public/926.cfm?affID=30269

Thanks for the replies folks. Got a little advice from a personal trainer also, she likes my excercise plan too.

I totaled 120km last week, 100km so far this week with a big ride still to come on the weekend. Lost another 1.5kg already. Lovin' it!

The thing to realize here that eating can trump any amount of cycling you do. I was once on a tour in Colorado. We rode more than 70 miles per day and climbed a couple of passes on most days. On top of that we stayed in tents which meant that going to the bathroom, showers, dinner etc all meant a reasonably long walk. Most of the people gained weight. They did this by going into town and ordering the largest burger they could find with a big order of fries and a softdrink with the biggest sundae available. They also ate the "normal" 3 meals per day.

I figure it takes about 70 miles of cycling to burn a pound of fat. And it only works that way if you do not eat any more than normal and we all know THAT will not happen.

If you are going to lose weight cycling, you need to take care to keep your diet in check and ride a pile of miles.

You're dead right Pat, I calculated that it would take me an hour of hard riding to work off an average lunch. 1.5 hours for an average dinner. It's far easier to change your diet than try to exclusively work it off, but I'm trying to do both :)

For your reference, 1kg of body fat equates to roughly 35,000kJ. At my rate of energy consumption per kilometre that's about 320km of riding. Or, ~90 miles per pound... Without diet change that's over 700 miles to work off the 18lb I want to lose. :(

I'm about 3-4,000 kJ energy deficient on a daily basis, not including about 3,000kJ of riding daily. Roughly equal measures of diet and exercise seen to be working very well so far.

Do you want to lose weight or volume? Ask yourself this.

As you become more fit, you will start to notice that you feel better, and have more energy, but the weight (per the bathroom scale) seems to be about the same. Don't Panic!! Muscle is more dense than fat, and as you gain muscle from exercise, and the fat melts away, the scale might seem to say the same weight. A better metric it either taking a full-body volume measurement or start taking weekly measurements with a soft measuring tape of your arms, legs, neck, waist, etc.

Ironically, the more fit you become, the more muscle you gain, and the more you seem to weigh on the scale. Plus you get more hungry. But, are you feeding muscle (GOOD) or not? Keep in mind that muscle mass burns far more calories at rest than fat ever will at full hardcore exercise!

2 things:
1. You probably look pretty darn sharp in a suit! You can always show off those quads! Plus, 2 months is plenty of time to dial in your fitness program. Just keep it up!
2. Congrats on the weight loss and the quitting smoking. Keep it up!

I take your point J.C. I want to lose fat, not weight, but weight is the simplest quantifiable measure. According to the love-handle-o-meter (wife) the difference is evident from one week to the next, and that's better motivation than any bathroom scale can muster.

By the way, I've found it difficult to drag myself out of bed early enough to get the full 30km ride in during the morning. I have a 90 minute drive to work in the morning (which requires me to have a car, otherwise I'd ride.... it would probably be faster) so I have to get out of bed around 5am to get the full 30km in. Instead I've been breaking it up into two shorter rides; 10-15km in the morning and another 20km in the evening, plus a solid 50km on the weekend. Is there a good reason not to keep doing this? Am I better off with a single, longer ride per day?

Thanks for the encouragement!

P.S. I just received my new saddle this afternoon, so I'm hoping I can manage some longer rides soon too.