OK . I started riding my bike again in early march after not riding regularly for years. I started commuting the 5 miles to work and then home each day. I did this to lose weight,get in better shape,half-ass train for a long distance tour and to save money on gas. I got out my dress pants to go to a job interview this morning and they didnt fit! too small around the waist. I dont get it! I have altered my route to work to get around 8 miles each way(5 miles got easy!),and regularly go around an extra 5 with my wife after dinner. I have noticed my appitite has gotten larger but I havent givin in yet.we were on weight watchers and it was working great before I started riding again. I feel awsome and I know riding will help me lose more weight and get in better shape ,but I just dont understand this. Hopefully it (my waist!)will start to shrink again soon! any ideas whats going on? this is very frustrating. thanks

There is no magic. Diet + exercise = weight loss. I mean this in a nice way, but you have to close your pie hole. You have to maintain the diet part of the equation even though you have increased exercise to realize weight loss.

Exactly...creating a caloric deficit is key...

trust me , the pie hole is staying as closed as it can! I have lost over a 100 lbs since jan 03 so the diet and exersice part I got down! I still want to lose around 50 more so dusted off the old bike and started riding. I figured I could lose it all by christmas,but this has me stumped. and I still am losing 1- 3 pounds a week when we weigh in.

Keep diggin man!

yeah that's it. mabey they are cotton and the wife dried them ! I'll have to go check . Thanks, hadnt thought of that!

65% poly and 35% cotton. I dont think they shrank that much

thanks!

Now it makes more sense. It is much easier to loose weight when you are very heavy. The last few pounds come off much more difficult than the first ones. Small changes in your habits helped take off a lot, but now it will take a much bigger effort as you work your way down to fighting weight.

Haha if your pants are wool and got washed and dried, they can fit your kids now

When did you get them? If you were a 34 when you bought them, then became a 40, then started dieting and biking and brought yourself down to a 36, that might explain why they don't fit?

well I bought them after I got down to a 40,cause all my clothes that werer bigger was like wearing tents!
I found my belt and wore a larger pair. still like a tent,but at least they looked good. got the job too! and rode 10 extra miles after lunch to help out!

Larger muscles in your thighs from cycling and you're losing fat elsewhere?

I think you have a misconception of what cycling will do for your weightloss. I don't view riding a bike as a necessary guarantee. Despite all of the fad diets etc. you basically need to burn more calories than you eat in a day. That doesn't mean for one day. That means for every day, each day of the year, each year of your life.

I am not a physician but if you are healthy I can think of no reason that your waist could get larger unless you are burning fewer calories than you are consuming.

Losing 1-3 pounds/week is still very good, and it would probably be unhealthy to lose much more than that. The closer you get to your ideal weight the slower the loss will be. I also imagine you are building up a bit of muscle from biking which is adding a bit of weight as well.

Make sure that the weight you are losing is fat and not muscle. Even though the Tanita body fat scale isn't 100% accurate, it still gives you a ballpark figure of your body fat %. You could monitor your body fat % with that.

Also, instead of eating three large meals a day, try eating 5 - 6 small meals a day. If you total 2400 calories a day, that's a good start to getting that calorie deficit. Remember it takes 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat.

Hope that helps!

No offense, but I find that claim very hard to believe. It's been 111 days since the start of the year. 100 lbs of weight loss equates to 0.9 lbs per DAY, or 6.3 lbs per week. This would require a daily caloric deficit of 3150 calories...something that is practically impossible. Do you have before and after pictures to share?

Uuuuuuuh. This is 2004, Sir.

He said January 2003, not January 2004.

My starting date was jan 03, not jan 04. that makes 476 days. my math makes that around .21 pounds per day,or 1.47 per week. is it as hard to believe now? as far as pics,unfortunatly no just drivers license. cameras are not a fat guys friend. and no offense taken

Doh!!!! My bad...now that makes a lot more sense, and congratulations!!!

thanks!

you have to make the long steady rides to burn the fat. On you short commute do you ride fast and hard or just take your time?

BTW - have you considered registering with the National Weight Control Registry? This is a research project that is studying successful "losers". They currently have a database of over 3000 indivduals who have lost, on average, 60 lbs or more, and kept the weight off successfully. Their goal is to study how succesful weight loss happens, in order to provide more effective strategies in fighting obesity.

Hey spanky. Are you using a "heart rate monitor" when you ride? If not, get one!
To get the most out of the ride, you MUST keep your heart rate in the Aerobic range to insure you are getting the most benefit from your riding. I am not expert so won't even attempt to recommend a range for you. I use the numbers provided by my doctor. 140-165. I try to keep in the mid 150bpm on a typical ride.

I have also lost over 100#s and am now in within 50#s of my goal. It really is much harder to get the inches to come off. I'm now in 38" pants. Lost 7#s and still in the same size pants. There is a lot of places you can loose fat/weight. The tummy is only one of many. Keep cranking and good luck.

I ride harder to work then to home.I tend to get ther about 30 min early to give myself time to relax and get ready for the day. I try to enjoy the evening ride. I guess i need to ride harder for longer huh? I have thought about a HRM but havent purchased one yet. thanks for the link to the registry . I will check it out.
I really hadnt thought of that. it seems most of my loss has been in my middle region ,but a quick look in the mirror reveals the differance in my face and neck as well.
I guess I just need to stick with it,ride more vigorusly(sp?) more often. thanks for the support