DerekU2

One of the resons I started commuting was because it provided me an oppurtunity to get a lot of exercise with a little extra time invested. Driving, I'd be in my car for about an hour roundtrip. On my Bike, the 23 mile roundtrip takes two hours (so far). To me, that's a lot of exercise.

I tip the scales at about 203 pounds and I'm 5'11". I'd like to shed 20-25 pounds, and I'm wondering if any commuters out there are in a similar boat or have had success losing weight by commuting. Any tips for me? I checked out the training forum, but I gotta say they're way over my head.

noisebeam

I started commuting a bit over a year ago (18mi RT every work day) and ride hard the whole way, almost like a race. The 9mi route took 40min when I started, by best time now is 23min.

I didn't start commuting with any intention to loose weight, but over the course of a year have lost 35lbs (210-175) and am 6'2". I didn't change my eating habits and enjoy high calories food (but avoid bad fats). I don't eat junk foods, but probably eat more carbs than I did before.

That comes to about 0.6 lbs per week. Slow and steady is the way to go. Don't look for quick results. Don't eat more than you do today and do try and eat healthy (i.e. balanced reasonable calorie diet)

Al

Bloodstallion

I'm 5'10" and 200 lbs. I also would like to lose about 20 or so lbs. I haven't been able to lose weight riding the bike even though I ride 30 mi. round trip 3-4 times a week. I haven't been consistent but the times that I've added weight-lifting are the times that I've started to lose weight.

kf5nd

Derek, riding for two hours at a stretch will definitely not hurt you. I never was overweight, but bike commuting has DEFINITELY helped me control my weight. If I can't bike commute in the winter, I do put on pounds. When I start up again in the Spring, they fall off.

I'm 5' 11.5" and 182#, but have been as heavy as 196# in the past which for me was too much.

One problem is, work is a toxic food environment, so the temptation is to pull into the office, and hit the doughnuts / sausage rolls / breakfast tacos that are awaiting you in the coffee room.

So bring fruit with you, and eat it when you get there as your snack, and get re-hydrated with lots of water immediately upon arriving.

Try to eat THE SAME AMOUNT that you eat on your bike days that you've always eaten before you started riding. You will find that bike riding, if you don't hammer too hard, has a mildly appetite suppressing effect for a few hours. Take advantage of it. But if you hammer hard (anaerobic) and burn up the carbohydrate in your muscles and liver and blood, you will crave carbs, then you might over-eat.

On bike days, you'll be burning up 800-900- 1000 Calories roundtrip, which is great. Do that 3x a week, and do a ride on the weekends, and you'll lose weight.

James55Thompson

My experience has been about the same. I have lost a little over 10 pounds since February. I have modified my diet, no white sugar or white flour. I consume more carbs for lunch and dinner and more protein for breakfast. My commute is only 17.5 miles round-trip and I ride it to decrease time, so each week is a little faster than the last. Keep at it and the weight will come off.

muccapazza

I think it's a great way to lose weight. When I started commuting to school about this time last year, I weighed 230. I did a 56 mile round trip commute 3 times a week, with a 40 miler on the weekend. By August, when my school schedule changed to evenings, I was down to 185 lbs, with my height remaining 6' 4". I would try to keep an average of about 16-18 mph on the fixed gear, but when you're looking at the computer and can see you are at a certain spot on the commute faster than the previous week, it's hard not to get a little competitive and see what you can get your personal best time down to.

DerekU2

Well, my diet is what got me to 200+ pounds. I've been as high as 215 and as low as 185. I got to 185 mostly by eating right and playing basketball now and then. I'm going to try and go back to eating right, but it's tough. I figure if I can do reasonably well eating, then adding the bike ride should help me shed the pounds. We'll see, I guess.

What do you guys generally eat for breakfast before a ride? I've been going with Kellogs Smart Start with a Banana Chopped up in it. Lunch is really where I screw up. I go out with friends from the office, and generally eat bread/chips that they plop in front of you when you order and then scarf down my meal.

One thing diet wise I've found that is pretty easy to do is to stop drinking empty calories (soda, etc). Beer is the toughest of that...

Eggplant Jeff

The thing to watch for is that you will tend to increase your food consumption as your exercise level goes up. You have to notice and make sure you're eating about the same.

Everyone's body has an "ideal weight" dialed in, that it will try to stay at (that's why people who are overweight don't just keep getting fatter and fatter until they cannot move). In some lucky people, that happens to be the same as their healthy weight, but for many people what your body wants to weigh and what you want it to weigh are not the same.

Usually in order to lower your weight you need a fairly significant increase in exercise or a significant decrease in food intake. Theoretically if you were taking in 2000 calories and staying the same weight, all you have to do is drop your intake to 1999 and you'd lose weight. But your body has a large range in how efficient it can be in processing the food you take in, if you make a small change it will just become a little more efficient and your weight won't change.

That being said, adding a 23 mile round trip is definitely a significant increase in exercise, so as long as you don't have a comparable increase in food consumption you should definitely see some weight coming off. It'll probably be slow though, on the order of a pound a week. But that's OK, 2 lbs a week is about the maximum you'd ever want unless you're under supervision of a doctor.

muccapazza

I cut out dessert instead of beer. Beer is not empty calories. Beer is good food. Trappist monks brew beer.

westman2003

I skip breakfast until I get to the office. My ride is about 35 min. By not eating before you ride your body must burn fat for energy as there is no food it is digesting to access. However the max suggested empty stomach exercise is 30-40 min. Beyond this your body starts to devour muscle which you don't want.

Breakfast is a whey protein shake, 4 hard boiled egg whites, a whole wheat or multi grain bagel and a piece of fruit.

Lunch is a small meal, piece of chicken, some veggies and another piece of fruit.

Afternoons I eat 2 more eggs whites, another piece of fruit and a tuna sandwhich.

Riding 23 Mile round trip will definitly drop the pounds, that's a lot of exercise. If you eat smart low fat healthy you double your ability for your body to get healthier as your not replacing the fat your burning but adding good things like protein and low fat carbs that provide energy (i.e. an apple)

As suggested above weight training is also excellent. Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat. So more muscle helps keep the fat off. Add weights 2-3 times a week and you've just given yourself another weapon.

Finally if you can break up your meals into 4-6 smaller ones that helps. This raises your metabolism. That is why I eat a small lunch with an afternoon snack. Higher metablosm also cuts fat. Thus small meals gives yourself a 4th weapon.

You're on the right track with biking.

kf5nd

How would you feel eating the inevitable bread or chips and then:

a bowl of soup

a salad with low-fat dressing

Diet Coke

HALF of whatever you used to eat, then give the other half to someone else (maybe someone else is trying to loose weight, you can just share?)

DerekU2

That's probably a good idea. I'm already skipping the soda all-together, replacing it with water which has the advantage of 0 calories and also being free! I usually order my regular meal with the intention of eating 1/2 or 2/3rds of it but I'm a fast eater. So when waiting for others, I start to pick. I think growing up with a mother who enforced the "clean your plate" rule has hurt me as an adult . The salad or the soup thing is probably a good idea. A lot of times I end up buying a meal salad like a buffalo chicken salad or something - but those are probably too big. I should just stick to a garden salad or whatever.

As for the suggestion above of eating more meals, etc... I know why that's good for me, but I've never been able to do it. Too much of a lifestyle change for me, I guess. I'm pretty good with my dinners - the girlfriend is a vegetarian so I end up eating a lot of Boca/Morning Star stuff which is actually really healthy - or so it appears from the label....

Eggplant Jeff

Here's a tip, might get you some funny looks, but it works.

Ask for a to-go box to be brought out with your meal. Put half of it in the box and close the box BEFORE you start eating. It's a lot harder to pick at that way .

noisebeam

Then you can finish it as an afternoon snack when you get back to you desk

Better is to order wisely. Eating a burger (or breaded chicken with mayo, etc.) and fries daily is a bad choice, but 1/week or so is OK.

Or try not to go out to lunch and bring it instead.

Al

Primevci

Hmm i always herd if u don't eat something before exercise it will burn your mucles and not fat... and u never burn fat while working out your creating a calorie defcit.. But everyone is also differnt so if this is working for you cool... i do the 6 small meals a day also was kinda hard for the first few weeks but gets easy over time... im a bigger guy trying to loose a lot of fat and been droping between 1.5 to 2lbs a week.. almost lost 15 pounds in a month and a half.... give or take a week its amzing what your body will do with exercise and eating right... also cant always go by hwo much you wiegh, i knwo a guy thats 280 with 12% bf he used ot be 354 with 37%

Monument Man

Over the past 6 weeks or so I have lost around 11-12lbs. via commuting. I was 6'1" and around 197 and weighed in this AM around 186 or so. I haven't really changed my diet considerably although I find that I'm more conscious of trying to eat better. I try to limit the snacks. I also hit the gym for an upper body workout 3 times per week (gym is at work which is super convenient) but don't go overboard. Between the commuting, the diet and the gym I'm getting in pretty good shape. And by the way the weight didn't change for the first few weeks as I was actually gaining a lot of muscle in my legs and torso. Muscle weighs more than fat so the first few weeks I looked better but didn't weigh much less. Only in the past few weeks has the weight started to shed.

I feel great too. Keep it up, 23 miles round trip is awesome.

oboeguy

I prefer to think of it as "losing fat". I find that I eat better (if not less) when I'm riding regularly. Keeps the fat at bay, I guess.

Primevci

Yea i started loosing cause my muscles are use to carrying aroudn my weight

samundsen

You live in Houston, how can you NOT bike commute in the winter? I commute year round, and winter is the most pleasant time to ride around here. Early spring is wonderful too, but during winter I can ride in regular clothes. Springtime, when the temp increase, the jersey and lycra shorts come out of the dresser again.

Jerb

my route isnt nearly as intens as some of yours but i have a daily route of about 10 Mi and about 25 on the weekends. i started biking on an old panisonic roadbike that i found at the local dump and then put some work into it (so it wasnt very streamlined)

in a matter of about 5 months i went from 195-169 lbs... not bad for a 5'11" guy

tacomee

I'm 5'11'' and around 200 pounds-- pretty chubby really. I love to walk and cycle, but not in any organized training way and I also love to eat. I've lost a couple of inches around the middle, but gained it the thighs, so the wife says I look better. I think I may be physically stronger--I know I'm mentally stronger. I no longer worry about being fat or otherwise unattactive to other people becuase I can ride a bike over a hunderd miles, up steep hills, in driving rain at night. What the hell do I care what any social norm is? Cycling changes your body and really positive ways that may or may not lower your weight.

I'd toss out the scale and just ride.

atombob

I'm in the same boat with the rest of you. 5' 11" and 217 lbs. I used to race mt. bikes and I was 170 lbs all muscle. I'm trying to commute and workout as well. God, were all a bunch of fat bastards aren't we? We should all post pics as of right now and see where we are by the end of summer. Maybe as motivation? lol!

lilHinault

You should:

(a) Lose weight
(b) Gain amazing "biker legs"
(c) Start feeling like Superman
(d) You'll find yourself eating more, but unhealthy foods won't taste as good, you'll gravitate towards the better stuff. Steak, yes, fresh veggies, yes, laboratory-grown donutes, er, No Thanks....
(e) Another effect is you may become more likeable to your co-workers - the excercise will result in your being happier and less tense, and more self-assured.

ahpook

-- UGHH Just lost a paragraph of post thanks to a misfire on the keyboard! --

Great thread. I agree with the OP that the Training type diets are more extreme than I'm really after. Since I started commuting 4-5 days a week in January and focusing on dietary stuff, I have dropped about 15 lb. Here's whats helped me out the most:

1. google 'mediterranean diet' -- not as a dogmatic diet, rather an outlook or attitude about food choices. Like olive oil as your main oil, fish as your main protein, red meat very infrequently, and lots of fruit/veg servings

2. Snacking habits -- somebody above said "toxic food environment" at work -- this was KILLING me! Now I keep trail mix in my office so I don't even GO into the snack room except to refill my water bottle.

3. Portion size -- Making / ordering smaller things really helps avoid overeating which keeps weight gain down. I like the suggestion about putting half in a to-go box before you even start, gonna have to try that one I have a bad tendency when eating out to order whatever "looks good" at the moment -- which usually means homer simpson style "mmmm...bacon".

4. Not eating much late at night-- This was a good and suprising suggestion from my Doc which required some work but ended up really helping out a lot! I was used to eating a big meal at dinner, which is metabolically the wrong thing to do -- you don't really need much energy, you're just gonna go to sleep soon. So I've made lunch the biggest meal (cause I don't have time to eat a big breakfast) and eat pretty light at dinnertime.

It's weird how deeply ingrained some of these food-related habits are. But it's all just that -- habits, learned behavior, which are pretty malleable if you really dive in and cultivate a mindset of attentiveness to it. Sort of like teaching yourself to become better at riding in traffic as opposed to tooling along on the sidewalk on the wrong side of the road...

muccapazza

I think that's one of the reasons commuting is so effective for losing weight, because you've just kick started the bodies metabolism again on the afternoon ride home. At least that's what I've gleaned from my limited reading and experience; like the OP, the guys in the training/nutrition forum are waay over my head.