msheron

Since I started cycling and getting into it I have went from 225 lbs. to 195 lbs. I can't seem to get away from the 195 lb. mark however. I guess this summer will be the answer if I can lose any more weight. Anyone else here had similar results?

AzureDrpTp

Good Job! How long have you been cycling? Was it just adding cycling to your lifestyle or did you make a change to your diet as well?

Snicklefritz

I've been riding for a few years because I love the sport, but it is also the one thing that really helps me lose my winter fat. For whatever reason, doing machines in the gym never really worked for me, even though I enjoy the stairmaster, elliptical stuff, etc.

I lost 15 lbs since last september and am within a few lbs of where my coach wants me to be for the early part of the season. I could stand to lose another 15 on top of that to get to a good racing weight, but I'm doing it slowly (ie ~1 lb/week) so I will maxmize fat loss and hopefully not lose muscle mass.

msheron

A little over a year. No, diet is the same. Baked and grilled foods mainly and cook in Olive Oil only.

spinnaker

You did a great job dropping all of that weight.

Seems like a reasonable diet to me. Have you cut out the snacks and sodas? Have you talked to your doctor or dietitian? Perhaps they can find something in your diet.


You didn't say how tall you were. If you are around 6' 4" or so that weight is not all that bad.

pedex

At age 35 my car driving courier butt switched to a bike and went from 0 to 250 miles/wk and lost 38lbs in about 8 months. I fought losing the weight tooth and nail too, couldnt keep it on. Ive gained about 5 lbs of it back in the last 5 years but thats it. Im riding about 300 miles/wk average year round now, I eat prettymuch whatever I want and as much as I want, its embarrassing somedays to be honest. The last 5 lbs or so do take awhile to come off but if you keep riding and riding hard w/o letting up, they will come off whether you like it or not. I think thats one of the secrets too. Most folks let up cause they think they are getting "overtrained", bunch of BS most of the time. The body can handle way more than most people are willing to put themsleves thru. Exercise hides an enormous amount of dietary sins.

msheron

6'0" tall. Hardly ever any sodas or chips; candy bars; or even things like cake or ice cream. I eat alot of fish if possible and white meats. I cut down on my portions and feel alot better. I lifted weights from the time I was in 7th grade until about two years ago and I am 36 now. I do like iced tea however being from the south. Besides, tea is a antioxidant!

thad

Sweet tea? That could be your problem. Once sweet tea must be like 4 cokes. It's so good though. Try unsweetened with a sugar alternative maybe?

taddyangle

Not bad at all. I just started cycling 2.5 months ago and went from 246lbs to 235. I am 6-0 feet tall.

How many miles a week are you riding? On your bike computer can you track cadance?

I find when I push up the miles (doing about 50 miles a week) the lbs drop easier. I am thinking about pushing it up more to see if I can lose more weight.

I also started logging each ride, it is great to see the progress over the last few weeks. I went from 5 minutes a mile (12 MPH) to about 4:15 minutes per mile (14.5 MPH) in the last 2.5 months. On my ride today I averaged 4:09 minutes per mile on a 20 mile ride (14.4 MPH).

burbankbiker

I started cycling again in August of last year and in those 8 months (along with gym and eating healthy) I've dropped 78 pounds to date and I'm back into the range of normal. I went from 252 in August to 173.5 this weekend. My goal now is 155 which seems totally doable. But I can relate to your plateau at 195.

I was stuck around 185 for a month and was totally frustrated each week seeing the same number - even going up a little bit.

I'm not sure if it was just a temporary plateau or what but it went away and I started the decline again. I think sometimes the body adjusts. I also have an unfounded theory that the lower you go the harder it is to shed pounds. Losing 5-6 pounds in the beginning of my return to health seemed as easy (or hard depending on perspective) as losing 1.5-2 pounds now.

But keep at it and good luck! You'll get moving on the decline again!

nobrainer440

I had been at 180 lbs for about the last 3 years, so I had quit weighing myself, then about 3 months after I started riding I weighed myself out of curiosity and I had dropped 10 lbs! It was scary. I am a skinny punk anyway.

fore0121

Man, you and I sound exactly alike.

Started in November of '04 at 229, made my way to 192 around Christmas of '05. I was stuck at 200 for the longest time but as nobrainer suggested once I stopped worrying about it I broke through that barrier. Unfortunately I have plateaued again and can't seem to get myself through the 190 barrier (in fact I've gone up a few to 197, damn winter).


A few ideas:

1. Shake up your routine. If you have set rides at set times during the week, change them around. For example, if you ride Monday, Wednesday, Friday and the weekend, try riding Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and the weekend. Same for your diet. If you have the same thing on the same days, shake it up. Even changing the time you ride/eat can 'shock' the body in to waking up from autopilot.

2. Shake up your routes. Try riding your route backwards, or even find a new route or two.

3. Change your intensity. Do something different in your rides like sprints or hill repeats one day and a fast spinning workout the next. Your body needs variety.


The body is always looking for the path of least resistance, the easiest way to do a given task. Sometimes your body knows what to expect and goes on autopilot, trying to find the most efficient way through your day. Making a few of these changes can get your body thinking again so everything is not so routine.

Also, your intensity always has to be raised. You're a more efficient machine now than you were before, so you have to work it a bit harder. Try to do your fastest average ride, or hit your fastest peak speed, or climb one of your hills in a higher or lower cadence, anything to shake it up. Again, your body has gained some efficiency and may need to be challenged again.

Just a few thoughts. Good luck.

f

Mo'Phat

Now is when you might really want to start counting your calories. Eat right, and try to make sure that the amount of calories you ingest is just a little less than you burn off in a day. Your body will have no choice but to use stored energy (fat) to keep you going. (eg: you burn 1800 cal in a day, but only take in 1500, that's 300 that's taken from your fat stores. Roughly equal to 1/12 of a pound.) An hour of vigorous cycling (16-19 mph @ 190 lbs) is close to 900 calories. One weight maintenance calculator I found online says that to maintain 195 lbs for a 6' man who is 36 years old, he needs 2000 +/- calories in a day. That's just sitting on the couch and breathing in and out. Basal Metabolic Rate...walking to the fridge a few times, or going to the bathroom could bump that up to 2400.

So, count those calories, and get yourself to a sub-2000 calorie diet of lean meat, fruit, vegetables, simple carbohydrates, and the like, while doing something active everyday, and you should start shedding the lbs. You'd be surprised at how much food that actually is...it's alot.

The last 20 take about 10 times as long to lose as the first 20.

Lucky07

I lost weight when I got my 1st road bike & started putting in miles. (Previous to that I was commuting back & forth to work about 6 miles per day). I also changed my eating habits (stop drinking soda & most sugar, ate more conservatively, etc) and started exercising with some frequency. I dropped 10 pds initially and then another 5 over about 6 months. I can probably get down to about 170 (I'm 6ft tall) but not much less than that.

Unless you're racing, I don't see weight as a critical factor as long as you're a healthy weight for your size. On the other hand I've met people who were v. good rec riders and clearly overweight. Personally, I wouldn't want to carry around all the extra pds, but some people seem to have no problem doing it & at the same time, be a strong rider.

cyclintom

There are several reasons that you started out and lost a lot of weight and then seemed to hit a plateau.

But the main reason is likely to be this: As you started getting more fit you started riding with people who rode fast. Ot you started trying to average higher speeds. If you ride fast your body burns sugar instead of fat and then actually starts breaking down muscle instead of fat.

In order to get back to losing weight you have to ride long slow distances. Your heart rate should be about 65% or less of max and the problem is that the distance required to burn the fat starts increasing.

At this point I don't lose much weight until I start doing rides over 80 miles pretty regularly and at speeds that can best be described as slow. Well, slow compared to most club riders who think that riding 17 mph is for kiddies.

The fact is that I notice that at the end of long rides I'm one of the first to come in and I'm walking normally while the rest are walking like they sat on a pipe.

Contrary to the other notes:

Sweetened tea generally has fewer calories than a soft drink. Significantly less unless it's South Pacific Tea which is like all sugar and lemon juice and only enough tea to call it tea. A teaspoon of sugar only has something like 10 calories whereas the sodas are something like 30% sugar by volume.

Dieting isn't the answer for healthy people. It makes you think about food too much.

Instead find lower calorie substitutes for the things you like. For instance, some of the alcohol free beers taste almost acceptable and have half the calories. You have to get used to the taste of beer without alcohol in it but the results are pleasing after your tastes have shifted.

When you want to lose more weight you ride centuries. For most people it is impossible to eat enough to make up for the calories losses on a century unless you REALLY work at it.

fmw

We lose weight by burning more calories than we take in. We gain weight by burning fewer calories than we take in. It couldn't be simpler. If you want to lose weight you either need to eat fewer calories or exercise more to burn more calories or both. It isn't any more complicated than that.

curiouskid55

Started at 235 2 1/2 years ago . Now at 175. Harder to lose weight now because I keep replacing it with muscle. Do you want to be smaller or stronger . Or smaller and stronger? Weight is an inacurate description of your level of fitness and your goals. Define your goals and then educate yourself on how to achieve them. Me , I still want to lose fat. I do not want a bunch more muscle displacing it. I also need to get faster. I have to do long low effort (aerobic) workouts to burn fat. I have to do short low resistance high cadence drills to train my muscles to twitch faster. Then of couse I have to go out on the weekend and ride or race however I want to to have fun. Don't forget to have fun.

thad

I don't think we are talking about "sweetened" tea like something you might buy from the store "liptons, etc.". I think the op means homemade, southern sweet tea, usually with lots and lots of added sugar. Most recipies I've seen measure the sugar in CUPS not teaspoons.

Chisolm

I am in a similiar situation. I lost about 80 lbs relatively easily when I started biking longer distances. I'm 6'4" and started at 295 a couple of years ago. Now I am down to 215. It would be great to lose another 10-15 lbs, but it has gotten really hard! I am riding harder and faster, but I don't have the time (2 small kids at home) to do a 6-8 hour ride more than once or twice a month.

So, I am experimenting with higher fiber foods (lots of fresh veggies/fruits and legumes) to see if they fill me up without adding a lot of extra calories.

Maybe I was just destined to be a bit on the chubby side, but I would love to be able to ride the torture 10,000 (a century up Mt Hood) this summer without dying. Every few pounds I lose I can really feel when I am climbing.

Good Luck!

Hipcycler

In a word, YES to answer your question.
I;m 6'-1" and had the EXACT same numbers as you a couple of years ago.

From my experience I can tell you I too was stuck there at 195 for a while.
But as you continue to ride and simply eat smart...not really diet...it will continue to come off in riding season.

Last season I fluctuated 187-189.
Winter weight comes on for almost all of us in snow climates. But I have found it drops off again rather easily just by starting to ride outside again.

Feels good don't it?!

Avalanche325

I went from 212 to 192 when I got my road bike. I made it down to 187 for a while. But, haven't been able to ride that much for the last year or so.
I gave up sodas about 4 years ago.
I am an iced tea junkie. But I only drink the unsweatened hard core hairy man type.

C_Heath

Man, I hate to rehash an old thread but Im officially stuck

210 to 187 like nothing. Im faster and in way better shape now. Just cant get under 187. GOnna shake it up, even eat some bad foods, that has helped in the past. Do a little Mcd's and sodas. Bacon, eggs, for a day or so. Then hit the good foods again, say, Monday. Hopefully that will work. Upped the mileage to 100 this week but to no avail.

kevinmcdade

Still stuck, huh? Me too but I stopped worrying about it. I went from 230 to 195 like it was nothing. I have been stuck at 195 for a while and can occasionally get down to 190 but I don't feel my best at 190. I am 6'1" and according my scale I have 14% body fat (not that this is the most accurate measurment). I was really big into weight lifting/body building before I started cycling so I do carry a lot of muscle mass. I am going to continue to up my milage and see what happens. I am stronger, faster, and more physically fit than I have been in a long time.

ragmathewombat

Just because CDC/NIH say that 6' 195 is too heavy, don't make it so...if you feel pudgy, keep going, but if you're building muscle, just keep doing what you're doing. As you add muscle, with a similar diet, the fat will come off faster...you may stay the same weight, but if your muscles can support it and if you can see your abs, go with it. No need to be huge, but unless you're trying to build rock climbing stamina as well, no point in trying to be skinnier than your body will allow without dropping muscle as well.

kevinmcdade

Very well put!!!