Originally Posted by
RiverHills
Now back to the alcohol thing: I agree that alcohol is not good for you. But I am having a hard time with the idea that some beer on Friday night wipes out all the riding I did that week and will do in the week to come. CPFitness, why 3 weeks? Is that to say that all the riding I do for 3 weeks around some beer is nor naught?
That said, if I ride my bike on Thursday and Friday, can I have a pizza and chocolate on Saturday? Rationally thinking would say, no, not really because the riding does not match the caloric intake. Keep in mind the only way to lose weight is to take in less calories.
Here's a chart for you to consider:
Cycling - Calories Burned Bike Riding per hour
140 lbs 195 lbs
Bicycling, 10-11.9 mph, light effort 381 531
Bicycling, 12-13.9 mph, moderate effort 508 708
Bicycling, 14-15.9 mph, vigorous effort 636 885
Bicycling, 16-19 mph, very fast, racing 763 1062
Bicycling, >20 mph, racing 1017 1416
Assuming you are riding for a full hour (that is sustained, no stops etc) at 15.9 miles an hour, your loss would be something less than 1000 calories. If in that same day you consume 2 beers, a sandwich, a light breakfast, and some dinner, your caloric intake is way over 1000 calorics. Again the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you are consuming.
You do need to do some mor study on calories - what they are and how they are used by the body... Overall, calories are metabolized and utilized in the same basic fashion regardless of whether the calories have come from protein, fat or carbohydrate. There is a slight effect of food on the energy required to digest and process the food we eat. The calories needed to store excess dietary fat are fewer than the calories needed to store excess protein and carbohydrate.
Activities (walking, jogging, riding, etc.) will increase the body's use of energy (the burning of calories) and that this elevation will continue to be slightly above normal levels for a short time after exercising.
Someone eating all of his calories at the end of the day would receive no benefit from this phenomenon. For instance, consuming 3 beers at the end of the day. The body does appear to better utilize food that is eaten throughout the day than in one large meal at the end of the day. Fat is more easily stored in the body as fat than is protein or carbohydrate. And, most importantly, you are more likely to eat the nutrients that your body needs when you spread the calories over the entire day than eating them all in one sitting.
If you are going to have 3 beers, at least just have one with each meal, breakfast being your largest and dinner the smallest.