Originally Posted by
DataJunkie
You may be gaining muscle. It weighs more.
Bingo! You could be gaining muscle while loosing fat yet the scale won't budge because muscle weighs more than fat. If you are getting slower going up stairs then that says one or a combination of the following thing(s):
1. You're not eating enough: Up the amount of protein and carbs you eat while cutting out some of the refined sugar (the soda and sweets). Refined sugar not only has a lot of empty calories but spikes your blood sugar then makes you crash and burn VERY quickly.
2. You're over-training: You need to give your body time to heal and build itself back up and stronger. If you're doing the same routine day in and day out your body is actually being broken down with no chance to repair itself. Give yourself a day or two off and get at least 8 hours of sleep a day.
3. You're not sleeping enough: As stated above, your body needs time to repair itself and build itself stronger. It doesn't do that when you're wide awake moving around. It does it while you are sleeping/resting. So you have to make sure you are getting enough sleep: 8 hours minimum a night.
Next, you have to look at your daily intake of calories. You should keep a food and drink journal. Literally EVERY SINGLE THING you put in your mouth needs to be written down including any liquids! That's right, you have to write down every single soda, water, juice, tea, coffee, etc., too, not just the food. You'll be shocked at how much you're consuming, trust me.
1 lb of fat = 3,500 calories.
If you want to loose 1 pound of fat you can do that by simply consuming 500 calories
less a day for a week or burning off an extra 500 calories through exercise a day for a week.
To shift 1lb of body fat, you need to ‘lose’ 3,500 calories. That might sound a lot, but over a week, it amounts to just 500 calories a day – and that can easily be done by making a few little changes to your diet, being a bit more active, or best of all, doing both. For example, cutting 500 calories in a day is as simple as swapping a bowl of creamy chicken soup for vegetable soup, topping your jacket potato with cottage cheese rather than Cheddar cheese, switching a can of cola for the diet version and doing 50 minutes of housework! Make little changes like this every day and in a week you’ll lose 1lb – without having to starve yourself or fill up on an unpleasant milkshake in place of a meal or banning all your favourite foods! And if you want to lose 2lb a week, you simply need to double your calorie saving and ‘lose’ 7,000 calories in a week or 1,000 calories a day!
Understanding the ‘maths’ is crucial to slimming but it’s also essential to set realistic goals, both in terms of the total amount of weight you want to lose – and how long it will take you.
Source: http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk...lories_fat.htm
CUT OUT THE FULL CALORIE COLA!! SWITCH TO DIET COLA or lay off sugary drinks completely and only drink water!
Also, a way to speed up weight lose is to do weight training. Not only are you burning calories while you're working out but the resulting muscle that you put on from weight training will raise you basal metabolic rate! Meaning you will be burning more calories just breathing, sleeping, watching TV, on the toilet, etc., AND you can eat more! Weight training is the best for weight lose. It's even better than cardio!
Cardio only burns calories while you do it and for a few minutes after you finish doing it. Weight training builds muscle (and quickly!!) and that muscle will constantly be burning calories, 24/7! It's always burning calories. Have you ever seen a body builder eat?!? I have and it's INSANE! They can eat literally 10,000 calories in one sitting yet they're ripped to shreds and not a ounce of fat on them. "But how", you ask?? Because all that muscle requires a crap load of calories to maintain. So hit the weights!
(BTW, you do gain some lean muscle while riding a bike but you'd gain a heck of a lot more and quicker if you did some weight training.)
Going from sedentary to active is a HUGE shock on your body. It takes your body some time to adapt and grow but once you get your body acclimated to the new workload, it becomes easier. BUT if you want to loose weight then you have to constantly push your body in order to not
plateau, which is what's happening to you. If you want to loose another pound you have to somehow find a way to loose 3,500 calories a week and I would suggest, again, that you look at the amount of calories you're consuming and the actual amount of calories you are burning from cycling only 20 minutes.
So, after resting up and making sure you are eating right, try to speed it up your commute or cycle in a higher gear that challenges your body to do more work. Or
simply add weight training 3 times a week. That'll get you dropping pounds quick!
Good luck.