I started commuting every day to work about 6 weeks ago. It's only about 20 minutes one way, but I'm also eating way more vegetables, less meat, and I've gone from almost 60 oz. of cola/day to about 24 oz. While at work I go up and down 3 flights of stairs several time a day. The only progress I've made physically is that my butt has stopped hurting. Every day my legs hurt, I often have to slow down while going up the stairs.
I have now known medical conditions, other than being about 30-40 lbs over-fat, and had a check up a few weeks ago.
I know I should cut out the sodas completely, and I'm working on it.
Why am I not losing any weight/inches? How long should I expect it to take before something starts happening?

You may be gaining muscle. It weighs more.
It does take a sedentary person a while for their body to adapt.
Also, you may consider calorie counting using fitday.com or thedailyplate.com
It helped me quite a bit. My start weight was 210lb and I currently weigh 150lbs ish.
I still count to manage a health issue and keep me fed while training.

Every 8 oz of soda contains 100 calories. That means you're consuming 300 calories from soda alone. If you cut it down to 1 can a day, you'll save 150 calories right there.

Also, you may want to let your legs rest a day or two so your muscles can recover. Once your muscles have recovered a little and had a chance to increase their mass, your metabolism may increase. Also, get some cheap dumbells from X-mart and lift weights a little at home every couple days. This should also help increase your muscle mass and, in turn, your metabolism.

I'm definitely not a nutrition or fitness expert, just passing on what I've been told in the past.

What I did to stop drinking cola was to add seltzer (plain carbonated water) to my cola. Each week I would add a bit more till I finally switched to just seltzer. I couldn't give up my bubbles.

+1 on the dailyplate.com suggestion. I went from 200# to 165#.

Also, make sure you are eating enough to support your exercise. Don't let your net calories in the day fall below your Basal Metabolic Rate.

Congratulations on your change of habits!
You are doing good so far. If you stick to it you will progress. I'm guessing it took you quite much longer than 6 weeks to gain those lbs you mentioned, it will also take some time to make them go away.
Of course one can always do better, but you are already doing more than 90% of people that are overweight. Good for you!

Eating right will help you but it's not simple or easy to figure out what is "best" or "good enough". There are however loads of good info and advise on nutrition to be found on the internet.

Stick to your new and better lifestyle, you wont regret it.

ibcrewin has the right idea, make sure you are eating enough calories to backup the amount of exercise your doing. It is good to want to burn up fat supplies with exercise, but that takes time, if you're not eating enough, your body will shut down and you will hit a wall in exercise and weight loss. It seems counterintuitive to eat more when you are trying to lose weight but that may be why you are getting burned out and having to slow down when going up the stairs. sounds like you are already eating the right stuff, just think about eating a little more of it.

Hey man that's great that you are commuting!

If you are sore all the time it's your body asking for a day off. You'd be surprised how much more energetic you will feel if you give yourself a day, or two days, or three days off after every riding day. As you find that the muscle soreness improves you can then add another riding day. Think about measuring your fitness in terms of recovery time rather than excersize time. In the beginning, just don't ride if you are sore, that will control your ramp up quite nicely. Also with a few days off each week you will find yourself sailing through your commute and really looking forward to it.

To help scale your expectations, I took off 25 lbs over the course of a year by cycle commuting alone. That is 1/2 pound per week and I didn't make any radical (by that I mean unsustainable) changes to my diet. I didn't suffer and I still look forward to my ride.

Later,
HB

I agree pretty much with everything said, but it's still hard when you stay at a plateau for a long time. I went from 240 to 215 last fall, and I was happy to keep my weight under 220 throughout the winter, but now I've been around 215 for 3 weeks despite hitting 100 miles per week during that time. I know the reasons why -- muscle mass, different amounts of food still in your body, plus your body stores more water when it is refueling glycogen stores after a big ride -- but it still gets frustrating! I just know that if I keep up my riding and watch what I eat, the pounds will eventually come off -- I've also seen that it happens all the sudden -- one day I'll wake up and be 2 pounds lighter. I'm definitely going to try fitday or dailyplate -- my fiance tells me that I really need to keep a food journal to see where I can shave off a few more calories.

Keep up the good work!

Assume you burn around 10 calories a minute for cycling. Your commute isn't even burning up your soda consumption, if the numbers posted earlier are correct. You may be burning about an extra 400 calories per day from cycling. Heavier people can burn calories at a higher rate than lighter people as they start to get fit. The "average" person who starts to cycle commute loses an average of 12 pounds, according to one source I read. It did not mention the time frame. For me, cycling 20 to 25 minutes twice a day, 3 or 4 times a week resulted in a 15 pound weight loss in about 4 months, then I stopped losing weight for almost a year. I had to really change the way I eat and ramp up the cycling a bit before I started going down again. Every pound since the first 15 pounds has been a struggle. However, after two years, my cycling abilities were amazing compared to when I started. Leg muscle developement is noticable. I may weigh 20 pounds less now, but I suspect I have 30 pounds of less fat, due to adding muscle mass as a replacement of fat. I don't really get that short of breath anymore, but my legs still hurt after every decent cycling session (10 miles of heavy exertion or 25 plus miles of normal exertion).

Don't worry about weight loss right now. Just do the cycling thing. Believe it or not, you will come to associate the leg muscle burning with the just rewards of healthier living, and come to see it as a sign of a job well done. You get incredible benefits from cycling right away, but it takes years to develope peak cycling abilities, especially the older you get and the more out of shape you are. Don't let the early phase discourage you. By the end of this year you won't believe the differences, and by next year you will be amazed. Eat normally for now, or just a modest reduction in calories. Later, you can start cycling harder, faster, and longer, and adjust your diet a bit lower to see more change. Go slow, be patient. If you enjoy cycling, then you are replacing sedentary time with exercise you like that makes you healthier, what's not to like about that!!

Most important thing is to count the number of calories you eat. A 12oz can of pepsi actually has 150 calories. So your 40 minute commute probably burns off the equivalent of two 12oz cans of soda. Losing 40lbs at a rate of 2 lbs a week means it will take a minimum of 4.5 months of maintaining a 1000 calorie (~6 pack of soda or 2 hours of 11MPH cycling) deficit every day.

If you don't smoke, your aerobic capacity should be increasing and the stairs should be getting easier. If you are not experiencing these gains, I suggest increasing the intensity of your bike ride so as to increase your aerobic capacity.

If by chance you do smoke, you will continue to have trouble on the stairs, regardless of the bike riding or pretty much anything else you do.

I just got back from thedailyplate website. It looks pretty easy to use, then I notice the iPhone application that sync's with the website. Anyone using the iPhone app? I think I could accurately assess my caloric balance with an iPhone app, since I have it with me wherever I go.

So, just what is a reasonable weight loss goal? 2lbs per week, 1lb per week? I am more interested in sustainability than rapidity.

2 lbs a week was hard for me. I ride quite a bit and staying fueled while loosing weight was a big concern.
I think I settled around 1 to 1.5 lbs a week and took every 4th week off.

I think I will start out with the 1 lb per week, which is still plenty to make me happy. Heck, I am happy with half a pound per week. This is an interesting shift for me to take. I always scoffed and laughed at calorie counters. But I must admit that I always seem to fail at achieving weight loss goals unless they are rather timid ones. Since I am happy with my activity level, there is only one explanation for my failures...........

I don't know about the weight, I have never really tracked my weight and haven't gotten on a scale for more than a year now, but as far as the legs are concerned, I've done 17000 miles in the last 5 years and my legs still hurt at times. Mainly when there's a headwind, which often is both ways around here.

As LeMond once said, "it never gets easier, you just go faster."

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.

Source: https://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.

Congratulations on willing to do something to improve your health. Please for your sake and that of those that love you keep it up.

You asked how long should you expect before something starts happening? That is a reasonable question. I'd answer that something already is, you may just not visibly see it yet.

Weight control, despite all the rhetoric out there to complicate things is really very simple. Calories in vs calories out. Your body has a basic need for energy which it produces by metabolizing food which you eat. The more energy you use up, the more your body will burn in terms of food. If you take in more than you burn up, your body stores the excess as fat. If you take in less food than you need to burn up for energy then your body will resort to the fat stores or your mucscles for the energy it needs to sustain you. Simple, intake vs output. Do not be confused with all those that complicate the issue by saying the body metablism adjusts, you are big boned, you need to eat high protein, you need to eat low carb, yada yada yada. Eat a balanced diet, as low in saturated fats with as little processed foods and as much fresh natural foods as you can and you will be ok. Moderation over time is the key. The last thing I will say is that diet is not a 'quick fix' that can be abandoned once you reach your goal. Diet has to be a lifelong change in how you approach eating and exercising. Keep both in balance and you will reach a stable healthy body proportion.

Assuming that your commuting is entirely new added exercise you can expect to be burning something around around an additional 400 calories per day (lots of assumptions there, but in the ball park). If you keep your intake to what it was prior to beginning commuting, then you could expect to lose approximately a pound a week. Yes, you will build muscle which is denser, but your rate of building muscle will be less than your rate of burning fat assuming you haven't increased your food intake. That is the key, keep your food intake lower. If you aren't beginning to see some progress within the next several weeks try to cut down on your food intake. I would bet that is the culprit.

Again, remember that you didn't get 30-40 pounds overweight in a matter of weeks, but probably over a number of years. You won't get rid of that excess weight in weeks either, it's all about long term change. Keep it up and I promise the change will come.

It's counterintuitive because it's a myth. Or, rather, it's such a rare occurrence that it's not the first (or probably even second or third) thing a recently sedentary person should look at in answer to the question of "Why am I not losing weight???" The math of "eat more to lose more" works in a few corner cases, but if it were true across the board, nobody would have died of starvation in concentration camps. Far more likely, the culprit is a diet that is still too high in calories. Maybe OP cut out some things but what's left is still a very high-calorie diet. Maybe OP cut out a few things, but did more adding of "healthy foods" than substituting them for unhealthy foods -- peanuts are great nutrition, but if you simply add a handful of them to an unhealthy diet, it won't help you lose weight. Maybe (this one is very common) OP started exercising and immediately started eating more -- many people automatically increase their intake when they start exercising, reasoning that they "need" the calories. Who knows? There are a gazillion ways to add up to "calories in >= calories out", and that is overwhelmingly the cause of no weight loss, not "not eating enough calories". As the saying goes, when you hear hoofbeats, look for horses -- don't look for zebras.

I hereby dub you the queen of obfuscation. *scratches head*

I was a skinny kid growing up. I even got teased about it. Even into my thirties I could eat anything in any amount and not gain weight... Well, finally things changed and I began to pay for my diet in unwelcome pounds and a growing belly (looked pretty funny on an otherwise thin frame)...

Commuting to work was the first step in getting back to a normal weight. THe other part (the HARDER part) was changing the way I ate. Because I'd never paid attention to my diet in my younger days, I literally ate without thinking. Keeping a food diary revolutionized the way I related to food. I began to consider each meal and morsel...

It sounds worse than it actually is - and it's less trouble than it might seem. Keep a food diary and you'll know where those calories come from. I'll venture that taking this next step will yield results in your quest to lose weight. Just knowing what and how much you eat will change your outlook profoundly.

And after you've gotten the hang of a food diary, start keeping a SPENDING diary... That new bike you can't afford now will suddenly become a possibility!

Good luck in your journey. You are doing the right things and these new behaviors will bear positive fruit.

BTW, the sore legs might be with you for a while, but they'll eventually go away. Just make every other commuting day a gentle spin. Leave five minutes earlier for work and home on those days and DON'T push yourself on the hills.

DWR

Were the words too big for you? You don't get less by adding more, it's as simple as that.

One thing to add here...this is assuming your caloric intake and output are netting to 0 (or close to it) before you started riding. If you were consuming 800 more calories a day than you were expending and don't change your intake, then you start burning 400 a day by commuting, then you can't expect to loose weight since you'll still have a net surplus of 400 calories a day. You would just gain weight slower.

While I agree that the original poster's problem is likely an excess of calories, being stuck at a plateau due to not eating enough is real and not that rare. There are benefits to ensuring your caloric intake isn't too far below your BMR + exercise level; otherwise starvation diets would be much more popular and actually successful.

Man, I just did calorie counting for the very first day of my life. What a PITA!!! Even with an iPhone, even with neophyte friendly apps. But thanks for the suggestion of dailyplate.com.

Rather educational though. No Einstein baffling transfers of mass to my rear, offset by dark matter loss somewhere else in the universe, I just eat enough for a 250 pound man of my age who bikes frequently. So that just happens to be what I wiegh. I am faced with the reality that I need to bike way, way more so that I can eat the amount and kinds of food I have become accustomed to and still loose weight.

Or eat less. Hmmmm...