cmcenroe

I have made my fitday profile public at

https://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJ...Owner=cmcenroe

I have been keeping up for about a week now and I haven't made any drastic changes in my diet. I am trying to drop about 10 or so pounds over the next month or two. I just need some suggestions on where I can improve.

Thanks!

Colin

DannoXYZ 

What kind of riding are you doing? What kind of fitness-level are you at? Diet look fine if you're getting in 1.5-2 hours of riding a day at a brisk pace. This will give you roughly a 1 lb/wk weight-loss rate. You can increase it to 1.5 lb/wk with about 15-17 hours total riding per week.

Personally, I try to limit my fat-intake to 500-calories/day. This is sufficient to get all the essential fatty acids in. Try to replace that mayo with something more beneficial like olive or fish oils.

Dump the cheese-its and cheerios. Try oatmeal for breakfast. Switch the simple white-breads & cake for whole-grain breads & pastas, dirty-rice. Add more fruits and veggies. An apple/orange/pear/grapefruit/banana/etc. at breakfast & lunch. They're good for snacks as well. Baked low-fat crackers or chips can be good for snacks to keep your blood-sugar and leptin levels high to prevent hunger-pangs which might result in binge-eating of fast-foods & chips.

Mix up your protein sources as well. A lean slice of steak for dinner, or a chicken-breast
for lunch, fresh fish, shrimp, lobster, or rice+beans/legumes once a day.

Add some veggies to dinner. You can get pre-packaged stir-fry brocolli/beans/carrot/etc. mix in the market. Dump them in the rice-cooker along with the rice and you'll get instant steamed veggies.

Personally, I find boredom to be the biggest threat when targetting a weight-loss calorie-deficit diet. So I try to mix it up as much as possible and not have the same dish twice in a week.

cmcenroe

I am riding at least 1 hour three days a week with a climb. I am going by fitday calculations which say that I need 3500 or so calories each day. I really can't tell exactly how many calories to take in, particularly because I feel like I am going to malnourish myself if I don't eat at least 2000-2500 a day! I just can't get a good answer on this. I went from 215 down to 175 (~two pounds a week), but I am not sure that I did it right and probably lost some muscle in the process. Now I want some advice to slowly melt the pounds off, say one pound a week. Its all so confusing

BTW, I do really well when I get into a routine of eating. When I find something that seems to be good and is working well, I stick with it until I get tired of it. I get a little overwhelmed by all the choices and the prospect of planning meals just doesn't fit my schedule as an extremely busy college student. I really appreciate your advice, and I am going to try and mix things up a bit.

Colin

cmcenroe

BTW, the cake is not a regular thing, I was over at the GF's house and her mom made it, I couldn't say no to her

DannoXYZ 

In addition to tracking food, track your fitness and performance as well. Do a 10-15k time-trial somewhere on a standardized course once a month and track your times. If you're losing too much muscle, you'll find your times will be decreasing or you'll have fatigue that requires taking an extra day off.

Looks like you're doing fine, keep up the good work!

ericgu

To lose 10 pounds of fat, you need a calorie deficit of about 36,000 calories. To do that in a month would imply around 1000 calories/day.

Frankly, it's not going to happen. Most recommendations are in the 1 lb/week range.

You can lose that much weight with some diets, but it won't be fat weight, it will be water weight.

cmcenroe

Oh yeah, I am not shooting for 10 in one month, sorry about that. I am shooting for 10 over the 2-3 months. We'll see if my body will allow it Don't worry, no crash/starvation dieting here, just trying to lose it slowly and watch what I eat a little bit better.