ModeratedUser150120149

Weight and Fitness are very important, if not key, to riding bikes and enjoying our lives. So, this is not a trivial subject. It strikes to the heart of enjoying our sport.

Over and over people come to BF asking for specifics on how others have lost weight. The tone is generally one of looking for the Magic Potion that if consumed will result in perpetual weight loss and happiness. A few people post that it isn't diet but lifestyle that is important. More post that they do this, or that and have lost weight, at least for now. So, what is The Way? I suggest The Way is to forget about weight loss and concentrate on lifestyle.

First of all everyone should read the National Geographic article on Sugar. That points out that sugar hits the same brain receptors and is as addictive as cocaine. National Geographic is known for its' reliability and authority so should be taken seriously. Considering what sugar does it is reasonable to severely limit how much we use. First change is lifestyle.

Next, we need to understand this is a life long change. To make the change is a lot of work. Reading food labels, understanding nutrition, researching what professional athletes do and why, putting food and exercise at the top of the daily routine are all work until they become habits.

Swapping our experiences will help us all get more fit and have more fun. What could be better for our hobby?

UtahRider

Very good advice.

digibud

I couldn't agree more. To me, the word "diet" implies a short term reduction in this or that food or a concentration on some fad, often without regard to exercise. Virtually all such efforts are doomed to failure. A few people can use a diet to kick start weight loss but if you do something like an Atkins diet for two months and lose a bunch of weight and then say, "Whoopee! Time for burgers and fries" as so many people do, it's doomed to fail. Some "diets" can be a healthy part of a lifestyle change. I've not met many or any people that have lost and kept weight off that did not incorporate exercise of some kind. Eating well...more veggies, less empty junk calories (fats and sugars), reasonable portions isn't terribly hard if you're motivated. I think the exercise part is just as tough. A good level of exercise is really quite difficult in today's society for many people.
I got the studded tires on today, HawkOwl....didn't have time to get out for a ride but that will happen soon enough. But it will be spinning class that will provide most of my serious, sweat pouring efforts through the winter.

daihard 

Couldn't agree more, especially the "diet" part. I always consider my "sugar-buster" method a lifestyle. It's part of my everyday life, not just something I do for a few months to lose weight. If you can't sustain it, it's not going to help you in the long run.

That's one reason I find cycling such a great hobby for me. Not only does it help me stay in shape, it's also something I enjoy every single day, and will be able to for the rest of my life.

Mobile 155

My health coach gave me a card that has a philosophy that will bring focus to the process. Stop, Challenge, Choose. I was standing in the store intently reading the label on a box of Kashi Go Lean hot cereal. It was low in fat, sugar, carbs and high in protean and fiber. I heard a voice of someone calling my name and warning me to "get away for all that sugary cereal. I look around and say two friends that have watched my life change over the last few months smiling at me. They knew I wasn't anywhere close to the normal sugar filled boxes. And why read some may ask? Because I have decided what I want for my life is worth checking out. So I stop and challenge myself with, "will this food help me as a cyclist or will it hinder me? And if it will hinder me is it worth it anyway?

I also agree diets are not the answer generally. In most cases people perceive a problem and go on a diet. As soon as they feel the problem is under control they revert to how they were before they noticed the problem. It isn't a life change it is a stop gap. Stop gaps only lead to Yo-Yo diets.

I don't know how many times someone has asked me how I lost my weight and when I told them I read all the information on the labels of the foods I eat I hear, "Oh man I don't have time for that." Translation; I don't really want to change.

daihard 

+100

Gerryattrick

I try to follow the advice of an uncle of mine. He was a coal miner all his working life and as thin as a whippet. He said that he never left the table feeling as if he couldn't eat any more. It works for me (except for special occasions!).

Added to the fact I have a wife who is a great cook but who ensures we eat healthily.

b2run

In my opinion, the exercise/diet focus is backwards. I eat as much as I want but ALWAYS make sure I get a variety of foods. Then I exercise enough to keep my weight. Of course, what you eat is important to the body but more focus should be on being active.

Dave Cutter

Highly refined foods are like drugs. Sugary, fatty, caffeinated diets... of course lead to weight gain... but also lead to addiction. Going on-the-wagon or on-a-diet has never had a long term effect for the addict or the obese.

I've never heard or read of any "lifestyle" change being an effective treatment of any addict. I believe the few percent of addicts that find long term relief... due so by treating their addictions as a spiritual illness.

Twelve step programs for cigarette smokers and people with weight problems have had some positive results.

Robes

All good stuff!!! I preach all the above to those that ask. One other item to watch. Sodium intake. In the younger days I would administer the shaker as I wanted. I was active, REAL active and it was almost a must. I would burn it off daily. Now,... I am not THAT active. I am older and the salt was causing problems that I did not see right away. I read an article about a year ago and decided to go on a low sodium ....diet.... (I'm not much on that word, it is a lifestyle change) of less than 1500mg per day. The I do the grocer getting and really read the labels. You would be stunned at the amount of salt in foods. I feel better, am more active,...and I sleep better.

B2run, well said sir,....Well said....

Dudelsack 

I bought a three pound bag of candy for the trick-or-treaters, only to have a rainstorm pass through and drive them all away.

I'll probably stick the candy in the fridge for the zombie apocalypse.

But the temptation is to sit down and eat it all this weekend. Crack cocaine, indeed.

Maybe posters will share coping techniques rather than echoing comments already made. It makes for a more interesting thread.

Anything over three sentences that looks like a rehash of previous posts doesn't get read, anyway.

Looigi

I could see where, for example, going from living in the burbs and having an office job to becoming a subsistence farmer would be a significant lifestyle change, but within the constraints most of us have, what sort of lifestyle changes are we talking about? What is a lifestyle change, specifically? If it involves mindfully choosing what, when or how much you eat, how is it different from a "diet"? If it also involves being more physically active, how does it differ from the usual recommendations of "diet and exercise"?

wphamilton

A different perspective about losing weigh, OK but people don't like it because they call me a "skinny". I'm not - bmi is in the middle of healthy and BF a healthy 9.5% - yet people who could be concerned with diets dismiss my opinions. But since you ask ... there was a time 6 or 7 years ago when my weight suddenly increased to 190+. My historical weight had been 138, or 150 after some weight training one year, so it was 45 to 60 pounds. It took 3-6 months to get back to normal.

In my mind the keys are psychological. Being completely honest with yourself, and making a decision. Carry it well, big boned, more muscle mass than most, metabolism type, a little bit won't hurt, earning an indulgence, these and the other self-delusions are road blocks. We have to be honest from the start. Another part of the honesty is knowing that it will work, no excuses. The decision is 100%. A specific goal, what has to happen to get there, complete commitment.

I didn't have to read labels, count calories or set up an exercise schedule. Some might, but in my circumstances I already knew how my diet and activities had changed, and reverted those. So, coping: I make one decision and stick with it, I don't choose over and over again every time I crave a snack or junk - it's already settled.

daihard 

Some of us, at least I, associate the term "diet" with a short-term goal of achieving one's ideal weight / health. On the other hand, "lifestyle" implies a more long-term, permanent commitment. I adopted the "sugar buster method" to lose weight (as well as exercising, of course). I chose "sugar buster" partly because the principle of the method isn't so much about becoming healthy as it is about staying healthy. That's exactly what I wanted. I wanted to be healthy for the rest of my life. So for me, the "sugar buster, cycling and walking" scheme is my lifestyle.

David Bierbaum

Instead of trying to stay healthy by losing weight, I did it the other way around, losing weight by trying to stay healthy. I literally had no clue that I was losing weight while trying to get my cholesterol and blood pressure under drugless control, but one day I couldn't help but notice that all my pants fit like clown pants. And this was during the winter, before I started bicycling for exercise.

So I have to say, eating a proper healthy diet, with little red meat at all, and less meat in general, with more fruits (unprocessed, so the sugar is safely behind the cell walls of the plant) green leafy vegetables, and nuts (not peanuts, which are legumes), and whole grain breads and cereals, rather than going ON a diet of any kind, is the sustainable way to go.

As for caffeine, you'll pry my coffee and dark chocolate habit from my cold dead fingers. The trick is to not go overboard, and try to avoid the "energy drinks." Dark (NOT milk) chocolate strangely helps one to lose weight more than the fat in the dark chocolate helps one gain weight. I am such a chocoholic, I think baker's chocolate actually tastes good. I thank these over-50 taste buds that aren't freaked out by "bitter", the way my old 20's taste buds used to be.

Mobile 155

Coping? it can be hard or easy depending on where we place our values. For me I wanted to be a better climber. To do so I needed less weight. So there were foods I learned to say no to. Processed sugar, "nope" I cope by setting a goal. That goal can be maximum calories verses exercise, how much water I drink a day and low fat, low gluten, minimum sugar. I don't drink alcohol because that is simply liquid sugar. I am a meat-a-tarian in that I get my protein form meat, fish, fowl. I cope by eating to live not living to eat. And that for me was a lifestyle change.

Dudelsack 

*sigh* You just don't understand......

daihard 

I was addicted to junk food until 3 and a half years ago. I decided to change my "lifestyle" using the sugar-buster method. It was at that time that I decided to begin working out regularly. The result: 50 fewer pounds and no more addiction to junk food.

travelerman

This is yet another thread that reinforces my notion that I am in a minority here on the forum. Drawn to the post for discussion about riding and training better, I find that it is more about weight loss and diet. Am I among a rare contingency of forum members who has never had to worry about being overweight?

I have been roughly the same weight - around 150 (at 5'9")- for the last 25 years. I developed about 15 lbs of muscle mass -upper body from working, thighs from cycling - between age 16 and 26, and have always been one of those people who seems able to process most of what I eat without gaining weight in the form of fat. This includes being off the bike between age 28 and 46, when knee difficulties, life, and work intervened.

It probably helps that I don't drink beer, am on my feet for most of my work-day, and have a very diverse diet that includes fruits and vegetables of all types, but also a fair amount of grains, meats, and dairy products. I drink a lot of water, but also fruit juices, coffee, and usually one or two sodas a day.

I don't mean to sound like I am trashing people who don't have my metabolism, but what is it about Americans that makes the majority overweight or obese? I know that most of us on this forum are here because we are enthusiastic about cycling and fitness, and it creates a terrific community and resource for us to help each other, so please help me understand how the average Joe or Joan goes from being mostly fit as kids (weren't we all in the 60's and 70's?) to the second-most obese nation on the planet.

jyl

Many people have sedentary jobs. I sit at a desk 10 hours/day. So even though I ride the few miles to/from work, that is not much physical activity compared to what our bodies are evolved to do/need. Yet most people think I get so much exercise, wow etc. Most of our lives are simply physically inactive for the most part. Most of us need to devote hours a week or a day to "extra" physical activity. But time is scarce for many people.

Now look at our food. Calories are ridiculously cheap in most developed countries. The food industry has figured our how to make food cheaper than we could cook at home, with lots of sugar and fat and salt, substances that we actually evolved to seek out. Back in our primitive days, these were precious and we ate as much of them as we could on the infrequent occasions that we got them. So for present-day us to avoid sugar, fat and salt is not so easy.

Finally, social norms have developed so that an overweight man isn't seen as overweight, at least in most of the country. I'm 5' 11" and when I was 216 lb, I looked kind of heavy, but to be honest I didn't look all that unusual compared to the average person on the street. No-one thought it was odd that I wore 36" pants. My doctor never told me to lose weight. There was no external pressure to lose weight.

That is why, I think, so many people are overweight in the US.

The other topic of this thread is how to ride better. I don't know if we are talking about training methods, other than losing weight? I don't have much to say about training methods anyway, as I'm not sophisticated in that regard. What I simply do is, I try to hurt in some way. Either my heart is pounding and my lungs gasping, or my legs groaning and straining, etc. For example, I have started doing this 30 mile there-and-back ride which includes a 6-7 mile climb then a 2-3 mile descent, then I turn around and do it in reverse. Both sections are average 6-7% grade with the steepest parts at 10-11%. My bike's lowest gear is 39x23x700C. I struggle on the steep parts. I have bikes with lower gears, but I won't bring them. I want to hurt on this ride until one day it stops hurting. Hopefully that will mean I'm lighter with stronger legs. Then I'll find another ride.

VNA

OH NO!

I love sugar--that is my vice!

Can't eat chocolate or drink coffee (allergic reaction)

No way I am giving up sugar--I will ride more then and counter act the supposedly bad effects!

Dudelsack 

When you were that weight, did you really need someone to tell you that you were overweight? Does it really take a physician to tell people that they would benefit from diet and exercise?

Every girl under 25 would also disagree with you about weight and external pressure. Once very four years the entire country undergoes Olympics-induced body dysmorphism.

Nice rant, though.

Mobile 155

Moving on from food to training I cope with the winter by viewing it as base mile building and don't expect much from my Strava account.

jyl

Things are not as black and white as all that. At 216 lb I knew I was clearly overweight. At 206 lb it wasn't so definite. At 196 lb even less so. At 186 lb many people say I'm slim. These things develop over decades, they say the weight sneaks up on you and that is true enough.

Garfield Cat

Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny."

Think "healthy". Some quotes substitute "character" with "lifestyle".