John Bailey

I was wondering if any other Clydes have this problem. I weigh in at 260. I bought a bike 3 weeks ago to help me with fitness and weight loss.

My history has been that the more I exercise, the more weight I gain, at least, temporarily. It's almost as if my body has a reflex to hang on to all the weight while I'm working hard. This has always been the case. I can go weeks, sometimes months working hard and still gaining weight. I know, some are going to tell me it's what I eat, but most folks think I'm a health nut. I've been a vegetarian for 8 yrs. and really do watch what I eat. Right now we eat almost totally out of our garden. Most food we eat is organic. The weight gain will continue and it gets very frustrating. Then, all of a sudden I will start losing. The last time this happened, I walked 8 mi. or rode 20 mi. every day for two weeks, gained 7 lbs., then, finally, lost 9 lbs. in two days. That, by the way, got me down to my present 260.

In the last two weeks I've ridden my bike over 350K with a 100K day and I'm up to 263 lbs. today. I know it'll break soon but it sure is frustrating. I did lose 67 lbs. one year, but I've gained 40 of it back and want to lose it.

Anyway, my question is, have others experienced this.

John

JoelS

How many calories are you eating? Do you know? That's what makes the difference.

RatedZeroHero

1- as you exercise you gain muscle
2- you gain muscle but lose visceral fat (as internal fat in and around the organs)
3- weight can fluctuate -/+10lbs per day in water weight
4- just keep doing what your doing... it'll start coming off
.
seriously watch your salt intake salt holds water... water = lbs.
.
that is the normal thing that most dieters do is get frustrated when they plateau or gain it is because their sedentary lifestyle is no more... and muscle starts to grow!!!

keep it up!

BigPete74

I'm with this guy. I have just recently gotten into bicycling but I can tell you from past experiences that when you start to plateau or even gain weight while eating properly and exercising it's almost always due to the fact that you are putting on muscle and losing fat.

Too many people worry about what number is on the scale. I tend to not weigh myself much and as long as my clothes gets looser and looser that's all I care about. I also measure distance and how long it takes to go that distance. There are a lot more and better metrics to determine overall health than some silly number on a scale.

John Bailey

Thanks all,

My wife and I say I have to "break" my body before I start to lose weight. Maybe this will be the week. I've done 204K this week and will do another 30 or so tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow will be the day.

John

oddball

Weight isn't the only measure you should be looking at. I almost always plateau on weight loss quickly when I start an exercise/diet program. However, I continue to get smaller. I have been 250 lbs for about three years now but as I started cycling and eating better my waist size has gone from 40" to 36". My shirts are the same size but they don't fit as tight around the middle.
And, stop weighing yourself everyday, once a week should be enough.

jdon

A few things not yet mentioned:

Drink lots of water. Not fruit juices soda or diet soda.

Don't get stuck in a rut riding. Mix things up. Do sprints, do climbs, do steady endurance, do recovery rides and take REST DAYS!

Try to squeeze in some cross training. Even walking helps. Free weights and core exercises really help. I used lighter weights so as not to get too bulky.

Keep up the good work. It takes 6 months to make a habit (lifestyle change).

Good luck!

c_m_shooter

I have also found that I gain weight if I ride too much, for a couple of reasons. Check out "The Primal Blueprint" by Mark Sisson. He has a website about where you can get the basics of the program and a forum to talk to others who have adopted the lifestyle or are just trying it out. It is working for me and my cycling hasn't suffered. I am only riding 3 days a week instead of 6 and am down to 175 pounds from 205 in June.

RatedZeroHero

oh yeah...
the heck with the scale...
get out a cloth tape measure and start measuring...
.
.
I bet you'll be surprised...
.
I started doing some actual miles and mountain biking just for fun, 3 inches and 20 pounds in just a little over two weeks...

turtlewoman

If you don't take in enough calories, your body will go into a starvation mode with an increase of exercise. I would really look at what you're taking in and what you're expending in exercise. Especially if you are a vegetarian. You may not be taking in enough. I would advise a dietician consult. Go to your pcp and get a referral. Trust me, I'm a nurse.

Schwinnrider

No offense, but posts like this are frustrating. You're evidently eating more calories than you need. You may be gaining muscle, but there's no way you gained that much muscle. Hardcore bodybuilders are happy with gaining 10 pounds of muscle a year---and that's with massive amounts of weight training and eating a lot.

Vegetarian? Organic? Neither of those means much if you're eating calorie dense carbohydrate in large numbers. A big plate of pasta is calorie dense. So is rice.

Practice portion control. Weigh your food. If you read the nutrition labels of your food and actually eat the recommended portioin size, you'll be surprised how much you're really eating.

Turtlewoman said you may not be eating enough. I'm not in agreement. Even IF your body goes into starvation mode, you still have lots of bodyfat to lose. Your body will burn that if you are in caloric deficit.

You're eating too much. Its not rocket science.

Ghoulardi

Starvation mode is largely a myth. (https://www.weightwatchers.com/util/a...1&art_id=35501)

Time Magazine just wrote about a side product of exercise: People end up eating more than they burn during exercise because it stimulates hunger. (https://www.time.com/time/health/arti...914857,00.html)

The reality is it's all math. If you have a calorie deficit either through less eating, more exercise or both, you will lose weight. If you do not, it could be a medical issue and you should see a doctor. Most people underestimate the amount of calories they eat and overestimate the number of calories they burn.

Gain from muscle happens in men (women rarely gain enough muscle for it to show up on the scale). It does not happen at as rapid a rate as many people indicate. Creating muscle is not a quick process.

Track everything that goes into your mouth, make sure you're getting enough protein and you'll be good. Losing weight is 80 percent diet, 20 percent exercise.

But the benefits of exercise are so much bigger than just weight loss.

Keep at it.

nkfrench 

Take a look at your activity level for the rest of the day. If you find yourself napping or sitting around more than usual after riding, then your overall energy expenditure for the day isn't as impressive as the calorie calculators may lead you to believe. I am starting to believe this is a substantial part of my own struggles.

I truly believe that individuals who have abnormally high numbers of fat cells have a more complex situation than those who have a more-normal number of fat cells that are just overstuffed with fat. When weight is lost, the number of fat cells does not decrease and they are underfilled and ready to store more fat. Also, some of us have defective "I'm full" sensors despite obeying advice to eat slowly, chew food well, etc and we will just need to measure our food and calculate calories.

Kroozin

This article in "Time" might be applicable to your situation - I know it's true for me!

Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin

My take on the article is that if you're exercising hard you might feel "entitled" to eat a bit more or you might be taking it a little easier the rest of your day which results in small caloric deficits (if any) and minimal gains.

----------------------
Edit: Looks like Ghoulardi beat me to mentioning this a couple of posts ago...

dlester

I just want to chime in as yet another one poo poo-ing the 'starvation mode' theory. I will agree it can 'slow down' your metabolism, but if you are eating less than you are burning that is an energy deficiency that will need to be made up somewhere. Your body will make up that balance by any combination of things. It will slow down (the slower metabolism), it will burn fat, and it will burn muscle. The more deficient you are, and the less you exercise, the more likely you will end up burning muscle.

But, starvation mode is totally bunk. If there was any shred of truth to it you would see nothing but rampant obesity in Ethiopia.

RatedZeroHero

OK I have been holding on this whole weight lose diet thing...
read what "Secrets of a Profesional Dieter" says about metabolism. @ www.physiquetransformation.com
.
how your body looks is based 80% on your diet...
.
if you are feeding a top fuel dragster the same gas I put in my Pinto... well you get the idea...

perryw

Was reading through the thread and thought of the timely Time article. It seems obvious when you read it, but I think most people don't realize it. You won't lose weight unless you are burning more calories than you eat. Gotta get the eating under control. Start reading labels and measuring your portions, you'll probably be surprised.

John Bailey

Great responses guys/gals.

So, I spent the day riding 33K, working in my wood shop and counting calories. I rode 237K for the week. My calorie count ended up at 2050 for the day and was a pretty normal day for me with the exception of eating a Veggie Delite at Subway for lunch.

Until today I have not been counting calories, so I'll start. I don't think I've been over eating, but if I have to write it down, it'll be hard to lose track.

Again, thanks for all the comments. I do believe in the starvation mode. It may not be true for everyone, but I have a 59 year history that tells me there's something to it in my case. That doesn't mean that I'll forget the good common sense of fewer calories and more exercise.

There are a lot of very inspiring stories in this forum. I'll try to live up to all the good examples here.

John

Dewey Oxberger

John,

I had the same experience as you and I'd guess it's normal. Several things going here:

1) It's dang hard to get a good weight. Knowing your baseline weight and tacking changes is really tricky.

2) So you haven't been actively exercising for years. You start riding bike and you gain weight. It's normal. Once you have enough hungry muscle on you, your base metabolic rate is high enough that you burn more than you take in and you loose weight. You implode.

3) If you start changing everything all at once you'll make a lot of stress. Don't worry about it. Just ride every day. After you've tuned up some muscle then tweak your intake.

Keep it up man!

cod.peace

Your body will also increase its blood volume to handle the additional demands of cooling your body (via heat transport to the skin - this is why you get flushed during exercise) and simultaneously supplying oxygen to the working muscles. This can account for some of that weight gain - a pint's a pound. I've had the same experience,you loaf around for a while, starting exercising, and gain a pound or three.

mtclifford

As someone who did lose a lot of weight I find that article to be insulting. Basically saying exercise forces you to eat more is BS, no matter what you need to show discipline and self control. You are not some mindless automaton at the whim of uncontrollable forces.

As far as your diet goes you need to cut calories, it doesn't matter if you are a 100% organic vegetarian or snarfing down McD's burgers. To lose weight you need to burn more calories than you take in. Now yes the eating healthy is going to make this process easier and more enjoyable, and you will feel better but you still need to create a caloric deficit.

deraltekluge

One problem I see is that you're looking at things over a short term (a couple of weeks), and that really doesn't mean much. Your weight may vary up and down quite a bit in the short term (fluid loss or gain), but it's the longer term...a few months...that counts. It's OK to weigh every day, but don't take day-to-day variations seriously...look at the long-term trends.

Ghostcode

Weight loss is 90% diet, I speak from experience. You are what you eat. Weight loss is a simple mathematical formula. 1 Pound ~ 3500 calories. Take in less then you put out, and you will lose weight.

John Bailey

Thanks again for all the replies. As I said before, I think I'll start counting calories. I counted again yesterday with 1977. So it looks like a normal day for me has been right around 2000. I do tend to drink a lot of fruit juices, so, if I cut back a little in that area, I should be able to easily be at 1800 calories a day. Just keeping track again should help.

By the way, my last weigh in was on Aug. 8th when I tipped the scales at 263. (Actually I weigh my self in Kilograms and I was 119.6) Today I'm at 268 (121.6K), so that's an increase of 5 lbs. in 3 days. While I didn't ride yesterday (14 hrs. at work) I did 44K on Saturday and 33k on Sunday.

I know, I know, my doctor shakes his head when I tell him this stuff too.

The "Break" will come soon, it always does and then I'll have to keep up the diet watch.

Thanks again.

John

RubenX 

I'll say, see your doc first. Probably the lap band thing or something else...

That said, I was 250 and got it down to 160 by:

1) Ride the bike daily
2) Change regular soda to diet soda
3) Watch sugar intake (limit candies)
4) Watch fat intake (Chicken over Cow)

But by what you have posted, your's seems to be a different issue... see the doc... now.

PS: most failing diet programs fail due to self-sabotage...