Originally Posted by
FBinNY
I suggest you find whatever you can to burn fuel and maintain fitness, but also pay attention to the diet side.
+1, I'm in this boat. I bike-commuted almost every day in 2013, plus recreational riding, and I didn't lose weight. Well, I lost 10-15lbs near the beginning of the year, but it all came back. And I know why, I eat like a pig.
BTW- one less known way to burn fuel is to intentionally stay cool. Underdress whn you go out, and keep the thermostat low. In a short while you'll acclimate to the cooler surroundings by burning more fuel, and you won't be uncomfortable. I let my house temp drop by about one degree a week in the late fall, until 64° where I keep it all winter. (Deb stays in Cozumel) This saves heating fuel, and I make up for it by not aging as much weight. It's like getting paid by Con Ed to stay fit.
I'm not sure this is as significant for weight loss as for energy bill savings. I remember I had a physics professor in college who told us he had the bright idea that he could lose tons of weight simply by drinking cold water; it's a simple equation, since a calorie is defined as the amount of energy required to raise 1ml of water 1deg celsius. Back of the envelope, and he thought he could just drink x many glasses of 32-degree ice-water per day and drop tons of weight. The fatal flaw was that he forgot that dietary "Calories" are actual kilo-calories, so he underestimated the amount of ice water he would have to drink by a factor of 1000.
But I'm not disputing the benefits of a cold house. Not only do you save on your energy bill, but my wife has also read that you stay healthier; moving between larger temperature extremes all the time makes your immune system weaker, or warmth makes germs stronger, or something like that. We live in San Diego, so it doesn't get that cold, but we set our thermostat to 55 (i.e. turn it off). Once in a while the house will get down to 60; but that's what sweaters are for!