antokelly

have any of you folk's lost weight through cycling. the reason i ask im going on a diet starting tomarrow (god help me),anyway as long as i've been cycling i dont think i've ever lost an ounce it proberly has helped keeping the weight off but this last year i have gotten very lazy on the bike.
but my plan for what it's worth is to loose 2 stone between now and march, at the moment im almost 13 stone way to heavy for me im only 5ft 6 in ,okay im in my 50's but the heart of a ninteen year old (joke).
anyway what im looking for is a good diet one that works /exercise a program that will tighten up all the loose flab only jokeing all my weight is on my belly sorry to say .
So folk's help out a fellow cyclists .
oh yeah for all the troller's out there if this thread offends your intelligence UP YOURS>

10 Wheels

Ride more, eat smaller portions.

Niles H.

Eating fewer calories will do it. It typically takes about three thousand calories less in your diet to lose a pound, as I recall.

Eating foods that fill you up but don't have a lot of calories will help. Carrot sticks, vegetables, fruits, whole grains. Staying away from oils and fats helps -- they are very dense in calories.

Using lower-calorie substitutes can help -- salad dressings, toppings for potatoes, gravies and sauces, dairy products... all have high-calorie versions and low-calorie versions.

probe1957

Meth.

bobframe

Lost 50 pounds cycling. Here's my formula.

LOTS of exercise. I averaged 400-660/miles /month.

Stayed away from fast foods.

Very light lunch-no fried foods there.

No alcohol. Zero. Zilch.

Portion control was key- I'd eat a half a baked potato not a whole. Half a chicken breast, not a whole. Really turned up the fresh veggies and fruit. I was often (mildly) hungry, but would tell myself that there was another meal coming in just a few hours. Learn to live with mild hunger pangs- they do go away after a while and as the body gets used to smaller amounts it seems to get simpler.

The human brain is the big problem- if you could just shut it up everything would be easy.

antokelly

10 wheels good advice im sure but easer said than done.niles h the big problem i have im a tea and coffee aholic and i snack whenever i have a cuppa which is pretty often,i love fruit and indeen veg .thank's guy's i will try and count the calories.

10 Wheels

Tea and coffee good according to my doctor drink the heck out of them. I do.
Eating less of the same is much easier then a Whole New Diet, which won't last long.

Stay in touch..

bobfromwaco

I've lost thirty plus pounds and I never changed what I ate.

antokelly

bobframe sounds good that's a lot of miles per month thank's10wheels i was about to ask should i cut back on the tea/coffee thank god i don't dont think i could make it if i had to give them up.bob from waco how did you manage that one .

Crash2Much

When I was young I could loose 1 lb a day doing a 20 mile HARD ride every day but now that I am 59 yrs old I am having a hard time loosing weight.

Don't eat or drink caffeine in coffee, tea, soft drinks, chocolate or anything else caffeine makes you hungry.

Don't eat sugar it makes you hungry.

Don't buy food with more that 3% total fat. Eat fish and chicken and nothing fried.

Eat all the vegatables you can eat.

Eat a lot of carbs.

If I do an easy ride 20 miles, 10 mph, 2 hr ride every day and watch what I eat I can loose 5 lbs a month. The hardest part for me is watching what I eat. I had no soft drinks for over a year and no coffee or tea for about 2 months, no cookies or donuts for about 3 months last week, but 2 weeks ago I drank 2 cokes, started drinking coffee again, ate a box of cookies, chips, fries, etc. I gained about 3 lbs in a week. It is slow to loose but easy to gain it back.

Reprogram your brain to eat less. Eat slow give you stomach a chance to catch up with your mouth. Put about 1/2 the food on your plate as you usually do. When the plate is clean just set there and wait or get up and go doing something else. If you feel hungry in 30 minutes then eat a few bits more. Learn to eat less.

Cyclebum

Eat whatever, just limit your intake to 2000 cals/day. Start each day with a good low fat breakfast. Ride an hour a day for physical and mental health. You'll lose all the weight you want.

Wish I would do that.

bobframe

antokelly:

400 miles per month= 100 miles/week. If avg speed is 12 mph then it takes ~ 8 hours per week. A week has 168 hrs./week...surely we can claim 8 of them as "our own" ???

I know, easier to say than do. But most of us are world class excuse makers (if excuse making was an Olympic sport, I would Gold medal in it), but the reality is that the time is usually there for us if we really want it. There goes that damn brain again...getting in the way.

antokelly

crash to much i dont take caffeine i drink decaf tea/coffee im used to the taste now as you said it's hard to shift when you get older and to be honest it's the weight that is is putting me off getting on the bike, the climb's are so much harder these days. two years ago i was 11 stone my fitness was fantastic but after a few bad trips on the bike i've kinda lost intrest ,so now im cycling on my own much prefair it that way to be honest.some people have been wrecking my head this past couple years (cycling wise) so i've decided it's time i started to look after no 1,i want for myself to get back where i was two years ago i know it wont be easy but i'll give it a go .thanks for all the replys folks i appreciate one and all.

coffeecake

Tea and coffee are fine, just watch what you put in them. If you're loading them up with cream and sugar, lay off.

10 Wheels

Your bike motor needs fuel.
Mine runs on caffine and sugar.
I ride 1400 miles a month.

John Nelson

Quit eating while you're still hungry. I think the problem many of us fall into is that we keep eating until there's no more food on the table, or until we are fully satisfied. Give up on the idea of being fully satisfied. Don't take seconds--ever!

bobframe

I think this is a really good bit of advice. Or said a little differently, if we would slow down and assess how we feel as we are eating, then we'd have a chance a stopping when our stomachs first register "no longer hungry"...as opposed to eating until the body says "if you put one more gram of that Krispy Kreme donut in your mouth, I'm going to projectile vomit"....we'd have a chance.

I know that I keeping eating beyond the point at which my stomach says "no longer hungry" because I love the food so much- not because I feel hungry. Must.....stop....this....damn....brain......

HardyWeinberg

I eat a truly huge salad for lunch every weekday, like a gallon of greens, w/ other veggies jammed in (to the tupperware) for color/texture. Definitely helps me get ahead on weight in the summer, or at least catch up to where I was the previous summer. Season for salad stuff is just about finally over for me. Last year I put ~15# on over the winter. This year I caught back up but now I'm back to figuring out a new winter's worth of lunches...

Riding more is always good. I didn't start really losing weight until I added lunchtime rides to my bike commute. Haven't had time for that for a couple years though.

NoReg

I definetly lost weight touring, need to do well over 50 miles a day, depending on terrain. 80-100 average. I put it back on however.

I have since lost weight by:

- Eating healthier food. Veggies intake increased. Find something to hate like salt, and then look at food labels, you won't be able to eat anything in the stores if you go on a low salt diet. It's like exercise, eating good food is also good for you, but it also builds up your reserve. If you exercise really hard you don't want to ruin it all by gorging on food. Same thing with eating well. It is an effort at first, so you don't want to waste it.

- Cut out all butter, other fats, high starch foods like white bread.

- Don't eat any fattening foods that you don't like, so if you were looking forward to that slice of apple pie, but it turns out it is pecan which you don't much care for, don't just eat it because it is sweat. Only break the diet for stuff you really care about. After you eat that nice thing, don't ruin the fun by scolding yourself, but pay attention to whether it was worth it. There are some foods that taste good for an instant but the overall cycle of eating them is not pleasant, so use that if it is part of your routine.

-Cut out all alcohol.

Basically that is what I did when I got diagnosed with high blood pressure. Lost a lot of weight without really trying. Am not particularly tempted to fall back into old habits. However it took a scare to get me to do it.

John Nelson

I think the moral to this thread is that although some people have successfully lost weight through exercise alone, many (including me) also need dietary changes to lose weight. If I don't change what and how I eat, I think I could ride my bike all day every day and not lose any weight.

Cyclesafe

Antokelly,

All the advice above is good, but you won't lose weight unless the regimen fits you.

Carry a little notebook arround with you and enter the type and quantity of everything you eat all day - without making any changes in your diet. Then start riding your bike more and eat the same way you did before you increased your exercising. Do not eat any more.

While maintaining the higher level of exercise, start understanding what it is you are eating. Using an online nutrition calculator, evaluate your diet and see if there are changes you can make that would improve your nutrition while increasing the satisfaction you get from meals. Make changes slowly and casually. Do not starve yourself. Look at the process as changing your lifestyle to become more healthy, not to per se lose weight.

antokelly

yes your wright john nelson i need to exercise and change my eating one won't work without the other.i basically need to stop eating crap in between meals .funny how the brain works this really should be a feel good factor especally if it works back to fitness and nice slim body ,but all i can think about is all the crap food im going to miss eating..Anyway folks thanks for the help i'll give it a good go see how i get on .cheers.

BigAura

to summarize: CALORIES -> cut them down or burn them up

coffeecake

You have to stop thinking of it as a diet, and more of a chosen lifestyle. Ideally, you want to modify your eating habits for life, otherwise you're just caught in the cycle.

sstorkel

It's also very easy for the body to turn sugar into stored fat; another reason to avoid it.

I disagree! For most people, the body seems to be very efficient at turning excess carbs into stored fat. Protein and fat, on the other hand, have a much more difficult time ending up as stored body fat. At least that's what I've found. For me, a 40-30-30 balance of carbs-fat-protein seems to work pretty well when I'm trying to lose weight and retain muscle. In addition, I've found that fat and protein help me feel full longer, and reduce post-meal cravings.

I've lost 30 pounds this summer. I ride around 100-120 miles/week: 1 hour/15 mile sprints during lunch 3-4 times a week, and 1-2 longer (2-4 hour/30-60 mile) rides on weekends. I've reduced my calorie intake overall, and shifted away from my previous carb-heavy diet.