I am at the point where I have to back track to improve. I reached a power peak, got my spin up, picked up a Cf bike, hand built wheels, and in my case equipment wise I have gone as far as I can afford. Still hills are my downfall. Over the years I have tried diets, exercise routines, gym memberships and it has always been short term. I even attempted the extreme other end of what I am doing now, vegetarian, and that was a endurance disaster for me. Sure I got the carbs but on long rides I would bonk like a battery going dead in a power drill. The reason I have a health coach is to get me to goal under medical guidance and then customize my nutrition to the activity level I want to achieve. Face it if I can lose another 30 pounds that is like not having to tow a 50 pound dog in a basket up the hill around me. If I have to live with LSD rides till then I guess it will be worth it in the long run. The test will be next week during a family reunion. As I said I need a change not a diet.:D

Perception verses measured reality. The plan is still working and my eating habits have changed. Still I called nutrition support to talk about if I have been losing weight too fast and the feeling that I am down on power. They took all of my numbers and said I just need to switch when I get most of my protein and soon the feeling of being to drop the hammer will return. Until then I have been looking at my Garmin and Strava stats and I am getting PRs where I least expect it including some climbs and long speed runs. Not by the hands full but at times when I didn't think I was preforming at my normal levels. But because I have dropped 25 pounds since June 21 they said I can add a piece of fruit to my pre-ride breakfast. Blueberries here I come.

It seems that your sensible approach is working very well so far. I'm continuing to follow your thread and your progress here, it is helping me to stay motivated for my weight loss program. I agree 100% about your using the nutritionist for this program, I have given a lot of credit for my 66 lbs loss, so far, to my primary care physician and to the American Kidney Association's web site and a recipe book I found they put out. I was at 212 last night, on 22 July 2012 I was at 278 when I got the kidney disease/failure diagnosis. When I took my first flight physical for the USMC I was at 209, in 1975, it will be a nice feeling to drop below that level.

I'll be interested to hear any lab numbers on your blood and/or urine tests for your critical functions and things like cholesterol levels, both HDL and LDL. The improvements I have seen in my numbers, across the board, has amazed me the most. No added drug prescriptions that just give me side effects have been used, I have actually gone from 12 different pills each morning to only 3 now. The BP prescription may be the next to go if the PCP says that is safe for me.

How are your HR and BP looking so far? I imagine you are seeing a drop in the BP, you most likely had a low resting HR already since you have been cycling before you began the dietary control. Hope things continue to go well for you, the dietary measures and my riding have made a tremendous difference for me.

Bill

What are you using for Electrolyte replacement during and post ride?

FYI - I am doing a low carb diet and have lost 50 pounds since February. I must admit that I have gone sideways the last month and need to get back on track but, I have kept the weight off (I ride 150 miles a week and exercise at the YMCA).

At my age I have no desire to be a racer so, longer rides at a slower pace are just fine with me.

I don't remember both HDL and LDL off of the top of my head but I do remember my LDL was 90 with a total of 160 so my HDL should be at 70? My total resting HR is about 60 but my average HR during blood pressure tests between mornings and evenings, (on different days) is 67. Blood pressure seems to be 127/73 or 133/82. As of yesterday I was down 25 pounds. The only restrictions the nutrition support and coach have put on me is zone training. They don't want me in zone 4 or 5 because they don't want me out of the aerobic zone. If I spend any time in an anaerobic zone I simply don't have the carb stores to keep the body from looking for energy in the muscle mass. Or that is what I took from the suggestions they made.

I use a half measure of Heed during the ride. I use Nuun electrolyte or Endurolyte for the first drink after the ride.

I'm making a big pot of spaghetti sauce, Its loaded..

Coffie in the AM with a granola bar, or grain cereal.
A table spoon of nuts and or some carrots mid morning,

Mid day brings a salad or a turkey sandwitch or a Nutrisystem lunch Item,
http://www.nutrisystem.com/jsps_hmr/...questid=182234

The afternoon slump, the time when we need a boost, an apple does it me, or some other fruit.

My last meal of the day, happens no less than three hours before bed time,
nothing over 500 calories, good food, NEVER any processed crap,

No fluid intake from this point on,,, I want to sleep deep, not get up and pee during the night.
( It takes most of us 3 to 4 or more hours to reach R.E.M. sleep and this is where we get real body healing rest )
Interrupt that twice a night or more for bathroom trips.......
Not getting GOOD sleep makes your body, the machine, run out of tune, out of sync,, makes ya fat yes !

Most people forget to add the calories of what they drink !!
A proper serving of meat should be no larger than a deck of cards and no more than ONE THIRD of your meal.
A proper serving of veggies should be about HALF the size of a base ball,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

GET SMALLER PLATES !

Eat right six days a week,
Bulk up if your gonna ride long and hard,

Go Nuts one day a week and eat anything you like,,,BUT,,,, Stick to the proper serving size

DON'T EAT LIKE A PIG !!!


If It walks like a duck,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Calories In, Calories out, It ain't rocket science..

The numbers sound pretty good for your cholesterol, I am at 65 for LDL and 125 for HDL, pretty close to yours. I have a genetic propensity to cholesterol problems that have proved fatal to my father, uncle, grandfather and several others. I was in pretty bad territory when I was so sick and having the surgeries, now with the dietary restrictions for the kidney disease and riding regularly I am doing very well. Your BP seems good to me too, but I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so what can that mean:rolleyes:. Hope you keep up the good results, I am switching to a HR monitor a 50+ member sent me, so I can watch out for the same zone restrictions as you. Best of luck, keep us updated, too.

I took my HR monitor to my doctor and we established that my HR is indeed 181-183 Based on my flat out sprint and Climbing rate. So once she approved of that as being my Max HR I use this method to establish zones and once again informed the nutritionist. Therefore I got the stay out of zone 4 and 5 as long as I am on the low carb segment of the program so I can stay in fat burning without attack my muscle mass for energy. http://www.best-running-tips.com/hea...-karvonen.html Your rate may be different so your zones may be different than mine.

As another update today I was able to hang with the a riders till I got pushed into zone 4 and had to back off of a long fast pace line. So the weight is coming off and the legs seem to be coming back. I stepped on the scales this morning and I am 2 pounds from dropping off the Clydesdale scale and into the regular weight range. Yes after my car window accident I had let my weight creep back to 235 and it didn't seem as if I was going to get down again. today at 201 I believe I am going to make it to goal and that I will learn to live differently with the foods I should eat and the life I want to have. Hills are getting easier but I still don't love them. Blood Pressure is normal, Cholesterol is in the good zone, and I feel better. And if I reach goal how will I reward myself? A new saddle and I may sign up to race again in march, as a Master not a Clydesdale.

Congratulations.

Deja Vu all over again. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!:thumb::thumb:

I think my first reply was right on. Wish I could be so good with lottery numbers. :lol:

I'm surprised that nowhere in this thread was any mention of weight training. Cycling alone, especially at our age generally won't do much but make you skinny, doing little for your sustained BMI. And if you live in an inclimate area as I do, the weight will just come right back if you stop the cardio, i.e., winter.

Early on I mentioned I joined a gym. Didn't help much with a lifestyle change. It took a long time to learn to lift light weights a lot of time rather than heavy weights a few times before moving to another machine. Then my doctor and nutrition coach turned me onto this information. http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/li...weight-bearing I have been doing 3 and 6 now. Gave up 4. Willing to try 2. I bought a light set of weights so I don't use the gym much anymore.

+1 . You want to lose weight : just remember you eat to live , not live to eat .

Get yourself a condition of acid reflux and you'll make it 5 hours before bedtime.

I eat pretty light for breakfast anymore and eat my main meal at work in the evening....good quality wholesome stuff. I'm not doing anything much different than i did before except riding no more than 100 miles per week and my britches are getting to big for me. All of those pants that I couldn't button at the top anymore are fitting me now.

I don't really count calories or forgo a little pack of chocolate donuts at work break. I'm still doing a little serving of pancakes on a non riding weekend day now and then. I've never really picked up weight much until I stopped riding and then only about 10 pounds in the belly and butt.

This winter if I don't do anything all bets are off. I'm thinking jumping jacks or something if I'm starting to gain it back. Jeezus am I going to have to get a scale? I've never been down this road before, lol.

Oh, I must have missed that. Was wondering what the difference is between walking and hiking? Does where you walk dictate whether you're hiking or not?
Hey if this is working for you GREAT! I personally would be concerned that the majority of your fitness work is with your lower body, but this is obviously a personal choice and I'm not here to judge, especially if you're successful.

I believe they consider walking an activity done on flat ground. Maybe 2 to five miles a day. Hiking is mostly done on more "rustic" venues like mountain or valley trails. Normally of longer distances and more difficult terrain. :D

It took a while before I got the picture of the difference between fitness of the upper body and building of the upper body. When my chosen activity was wrestling I did a lot heavy weights and upper body building. The same heavy weights today would be counter productive to the cycling goals I have set for my lifestyle. But cycling is more than an activity for me now. It is part of my lifestyle change. Building the upper body now is a detriment but that doesn't mean I should ignore simple load bearing movements for my bone density. So yes I want to stay fit but more from repetitive light weight than pumping iron, if I hear my coach correctly.

Unlike you it seems I have fought weight most of my life and have tried several diet plans. That may because football and wrestling required more upper body muscle and that muscle always need maintaining once developed. The Army simply ran it off me. As you suggest they rarely work in the long run and many are really designed for somewhat sedentary people. Toss in a lot of high intensity exercise and their nutritional value comes into question. So I am on the weight loss portion of my change now and once I reach goal we will work of proper nutrition and exercise for the life I want to live in the future. But thank you for your concern.

Food for thought: If weight control were indeed as simple as calories in calories out, all you'd have to do is stop eating until you reached your goal weight.

It is not that simple.

Seems true. Before I started listening to my doctor and health coach I tried to limit my intake to my calorie burn. What tosses a wrench into the formula, as it was explained to me, is individual metabolism. Hence the earlier statement about 20 something athletes with high carbohydrate preloading before cycling, running or swimming. Yes they may be setting themselves up for problems later in life but when their body is burning energy like a blast furnace they can get away with it. Then one day, if they are like me, the furnace seems to slow down and the intake must decrease because the outgoing simply isn't happening like it used to. This is why we have added zone training to me. It seems true that even during Anaerobic efforts you do burn fat. But you also allow your body to look for quick energy and that is found in the muscle itself. So in zone 3 in my case aerobic I can burn fat and keep my muscle structure while losing weight. A health coach does more than help you lose weight they help you do it properly based on the tests made on your body. Therefore what works for me might be 180 out from what the suggest for someone else. For me 2000 calories in and 2000 calories out didn't work. But for someone else it might be fine, for me it meant plateau.

Well put Al, too many people class everyone as exactly the same and that isn't true at all. Many other factors come into play, such as medications and the side effects some may experience, existing unrelated health conditions where the weight gain happens and plain old genetics. Maybe a nutritionist here can explain what can go wrong in the body to make the metabolism or other mechanism go haywire, I only know what happened to me from so many drugs, surgeries and finally kidney failure/disease.

Just reinforcing what the doctors and researchers have told us, no one answer fits all, that would certainly be nice if it were so. I have a few friends that could eat tremendous amounts of food when they were younger and not gain any weight. Now as middle aged men or women the weight has caught up with them from simple metabolism changes, health issues or other medical problems. They all made fun of anyone that gained weight and was fat, even by small amounts, they said it was simple and anyone can lose weight easily. Now to a person in that group they are all in the obese category and exasperated about trying to lose weight. I am lucky now in that I changed my entire life style when I got kidney disease and adopted a strict, medical necessary diet and exercise that the doctor monitors.

Your changes and success is one more reason that I want to keep doing the correct thing for my weight and overall health. Cycling is a big part of that change, thankfully.

Bill

Rather an extreme argument, but calories in, calories out is a simplification as well, but, generally, more calories spent than calories taken in will start weight loss and continue loss but not necessarily at the same rate. Weight loss is complex of course. Many factors come in play with losing weight, metabolism, exercise, caloric intake, mental state, etc.

Good point. For me when I started cycling I started losing weight. I was at 265 and within the first two years I got down to 215. But something happened and I hit a plateau and stayed there. I tried more riding, more gym time, more swimming and some more or less fad diets and becoming a vegetarian. I wasn't meant to be a vegetarian I guess because I couldn't ride more than 40 miles without bonking, and having a medicine cabinet full of vitamin supplements, mostly B. My problem was too many carbs it seems and my body simply didn't metabolize carbs as fast as the younger guys. Soon I was back at 235 while not eating more than 4 ounces of meat twice a day with vegetables, rice or a small baked potato. But I thought bread and cheese was a good snack. It wasn't. By working with my doctor and a health coach I can deal with most of the factors you mentioned. Attitude? I expect to make goal before October. I expect to no longer be a Clydesdale by the end of next week. :)

Way to go 155, well done Sir, well done. It is a pleasure to read a thread with positive outcomes and progress for a rider. You are helping me stay motivated in maintaining my weight loss, 212 right now, and feeling better overall than I have in many years.

Bill

Just remember when a person burns off a good percentage of extra fat, you get to a cross over point where the extra muscle that you develop pretty much brings weight loss to a halt. Im not sure a person should diet beyond that point.

I have found that weight control is calories in versus calories burned. For me, the wild card is time. My weight is a function of eating habits. For example, if I add something to my diet and do it over a long period of time, I gain weight. For example, I would buy a candy bar when I would go into the drug store or the grocery store and eat it right away. Well, if I do that three times a week at 300 calories a pop for 52 weeks a year, that equates to 900 times 52 or 46,800 calories or 13.37 pounds. So that is a really bad habit. Eating chips, drinking soft drinks with sugar, drinking beer, eating whole grain bread, crackers and etc, etc, etc, can have a similar effect. So I do not allow any carb consumption outside meals to become habits. For me, habits overwhelm my metabolism even with a lot of exercise. And I have learned from my power meter that I do not burn as many calories as many "calculators" based on heart rate indicate.

On the exercise side of the equation, we were in London for a few days last month. Everyone walks a lot and the underground has few escalators so we climbed a lot of stairs. Let's assume one walks and climbs stairs every day and burns 150 calories each day. That equates to 54,600 calories each year or 15.6 pounds of fat. Couple that with food being extremely expensive in London and it is really easy to eat less and exercise more. Walking a lot every day is a good habit and it occurs throughout the day versus cycling which typically occurs once and after it is over, I tend to get hungry.

Weight control is a never ending attention to detail and discipline not to eat very much and pick high quality protein and fats and limit the carbs while keeping ones exercise up. Eat less exercise more. It is not complicated but it is extremely hard to execute.

Stands to reason, But that being said it seems we have different things that effect different people in different ways. Before I started this program there were a few blood test and such things done and some foods are off my list till I get to goal and some my never come back. But I do walk two to three miles a day in addition to cycling. But right now most of my meals are pre packaged and measured for me. Reach in the cupboard and in five minutes I am eating. I have also been moved to eating six times a day. And I intend to continue that practice for the rest of my life.

Today I broke under 200 pounds for the first time in ten or fifteen years. Today my energy level started to come back for the first time since I started this program, the coach and doctor avoid the word diet. But the calories verses exercise thing has a bigger impact on my riding now because I have to be far more concerned with fueling my body during a long or fast ride than I did two years ago. However my enjoyment on those same rides has increased. 31 pounds since June 21st and still losing.

Just to keep you posted, I have almost reached my first goal, I am down 37 pounds since June 21st, my Blood Pressure is steady at 130/78 and my energy is finally coming back. The coach is starting to add back fruit for breakfast and starting to prepare my maintenance program for when I reach goal.

Way to go Mobile 155, that is very good weight loss for that short period of time and your blood pressure numbers are getting much better. I am sure you are feeling the difference in your entire health and well being.

Bill