I'm about 5 pounds from my ideal weight, but I'm not very tall, so I feel like the Lampre guy. Ugh, I hate it. But, I know I just need to be extra good at cutting back intake. I have a one year old son and not getting in as much riding as I used to, while not adjusting my intake as much as I should.

Going on a fall beach trip with some other couples, that'll be motivation for me. Don't want all the attractive gals there to think I'm a blimp:) Oh, and I know I'll feel better too. Nothing like bending over and feeling your gut push out. All my weight is lower belly, which stinks.

Tips for an obese guy starting out?
 

You could say I am just beginning my "success story" if all goes well. For some context, I'm 27 years old and have gained a significant amount of weight in recent years. I was very active until about 3 years ago when I suddenly gained 40 lbs in just one year, followed by another 35 the next year, and now I've put on 30 more this last year (just over 100 lbs total). I wish I had a good excuse like an injury, or side effects of a medication. Nope! I just became super sedentary, gradually shifted my diet to larger portions of fatty food, and let my self go.

I've reached the point now where I can still stop my trajectory up the scale, or surrender to a lifetime of obesity. The only problem now is that I've become so fat, that many exercises I could do to loose weight are nearly impossible for me to do. I can no longer do even a single push-up, sit-up, pull-up, squat, etc. Running is hard on my joints with the extra load. I figured cycling would be the best way for me to start getting back in shape by keeping my fatty heft from over stressing my knees and ankles.

I'm curious if anyone has experience (personal or anecdotal) with a fat beginner to cycling. Should I try to lose weight before starting? Are there bikes made for big-bellied guys? I'm also open to just general weight loss tips.

Curious as to which calorie tracker you are using? Would you recommend it? My wife and I are researching them.

something called My Fitness Pal. It seems to be part of the under armor empire, but the calorie tracker part of it is really useful and it links to other apps like st**va or map my ride.

Today I reached my first goal. I Started at 275 and my goal was to get too 240. I weighed in at 239. :D

I set a new goal of 215lbs now.

Cycling Nutrition
 

Hi Guys,

Please excuse me going slightly on a tangent but I would be really interested in your thoughts on an app that a friend and I are in the process of building.

The aim is to bring professional standards of nutrition to amateur athletes to help them maximise their performance. We are first focussing on road cycling but want to build out to other endurance sports if there is interest.

First version is a mobile app which gives you your guideline calorie requirement, per meal, broken down by macro, based on your vitals, and your exercise regime.

It synchronises instantly with your training apps to give real time updated nutritional requirements for each meal.

It allows you to plan days and workouts to get your planner in advance. It adjust real time based on the workout done. It allows you to compare to past workouts to allow you to work out what you should replicate in your nutrition, and what you should change to drive up performance.

It allows you to differentiate between your baseline requirement and what you need to fuel for and recover from your workouts.

The idea is to see nutrition as a positive thing that helps you reach your potential as opposed to just something to be minimised to hit certain body composition.

What do you think?
Thanks a lot,

Dan

Dan:

Congratulations! If you are patient, I promise you will reach your goals. If I might make a few suggestions:

1. It is a long process. Be patient. You didn't gain the weight overnight and you won't lose it overnight.

2. Because of #1, pick something you actually enjoy. Maybe that is cycling -- it was for me. But even walking will work. The key is to do enough if it.

3. NO amount of exercise will help until you get your calories in order. Don't let people over-complicate this for you. Here is a simple way to get your calories right:

a. Eat a mix of protein, fat and carbs. You need all of those. Don't cut one group out. Just try to keep it more or less balanced. You'll probably have more carbs than you want, but just keep it realistic. If you try to be a monk you'll stop doing it within two months and then feel so guilty you rebound and gain even more than you have lost.

b. Keep a food diary for a while and find out where the really big calories are coming from. For me it was sweets and treats and also alcohol. It is easier to get rid of a few big things than to try to perfect on everything. I stopped alcohol and ice cream and lost 30 lbs in 8 weeks. I reached a plateau, so I dropped chocolate milk and lost another 10 lbs. In the end I lost 75 lbs of fat and gained 25 lbs of muscle.

4. As for exercise, long and slow works just as well than short and intense. Maybe better because you will probably enjoy it more! After a while you'll naturally increase intensity as you get stronger.

5. It is all about habits. Old habits are slow to die and new ones take a long time to form. TAKE YOUR TIME -- BE PATIENT. In a few years you'll wonder how you could every have eaten the way you used to.

I sincerely wish you luck in your journey. Have fun!

Hi Neil,

Thanks a lot for your reply - I really appreciate you taking the time to write this.

A friend and I are actually in the process of developing a mobile app to give people target amounts of nutrition per day, based on their vitals and their exercise regime. It's about maximising performance though, not just weight loss. Is that the kind of thing you would find useful? I would be really grateful for any thoughts you have on the type of capability also. We are building certain types of functionality in the app at the moment but ultimately want to build something that people find useful, and so would find your feedback really useful.

Thank you very much,

Dan

I'm finding the information in My Fitness Pal to be adequate for my needs at the moment. Have you researched what's available currently?

Hi Machka - woukd you find it useful to be able to plan a workout in advance - day a day or so, as well as on the day, and have that reflected in the day's nutrition requirement? Would you find it useful to have your calorie requirementsbroken down by meal also - so you can fuel adequately for your workouts?

Thanks a lot,

Dan

I don't plan my workouts in advance ... or at least, I have some idea what I might like to do, but they aren't set in stone. I don't work that way. Life is too uncertain for that.

I also don't care what my calories are per meal ... just per day.

I started biking in April. I had not done anything in 17 years. I bike about 5 days a week. Now I can bike much longer. We have alot of hills in the town so I have to walk some of it. I live in Sweden so biking is a way of life here and we have bike trails everywhere. You hardly ever have to get on the roads which is great. I lost some weight but now I am losing inches. Clothes getting bigger. Come to find out my fat is turning into muscle. I guess that is good although I would rather see the lbs come off the scale. LOL
I changed my eating this summer. I never ate candy or stuff like that. I guess Alcohol would be one thing I have not given up but I dont drink that much.
I actually cant eat sweet stuff because I had GBS 5 years ago so I can only eat a little food at a time. Sadly it was working then the stupid drs put me on cymbalta, huge side effect weight gain.
Then another dr put me on Lyrica. Same thing huge side effect weight gain.
I have gotten off cymbalta for over a year ago and now getting off Lyrica. I only take 150mgs a day. Takes a while to get off the crap.
So the food isnt a problem. I think i have the metabolism of a turtle. LOL I love biking. However in Sweden it will be snowing this winter so I will get one of those spinning bikes and use that because I do not want to go sliding all over the place out there plus its cold. LOL

Well no. That's actually impossible. :)


Have you been tracking your calories?

As for winter riding, get a trainer and put your bicycle on that. I also take spinning classes from time to time. And then there's cross training like cross-country skiing.

Well according to most research I have done, it actually is what is happening to me. Oh a trainer, those little things that you have when you sit down? Not the
stand you put your actual bike on right? Are they are good as a spin bike because I need whatever will keep me going over the winter.

Oh it is one you put your bike on. The thing is I do not want to put my bike inside since its kinda big. A spin bike is small and would fit better in the room. Those trainers are more expensive in Sweden then a spin bike too.

It is impossible for fat to turn into muscle because they are two different things.

However, you can lose fat and gain muscle ... it takes some time and effort to do that, especially the gaining muscle part, and only makes a slight weight difference.

A trainer is essentially a stand for the bicycle, so you can keep riding your bicycle inside.

In order of what's good:

Rollers are supposed to be the best because they simulate road riding conditions.
Trainers are next, especially if you can get a smart trainer.
Spin bikes would be the next choice ... that's real spin bikes which are like fixed gear bicycles.
Stationary bikes are at the bottom of the heap ... kind of the last resort. And these vary in quality, some are better than others.

I have no idea what to even look for as I know nothing about trainers or spin bikes. What would be good. I cant spend tons of money on it though I need something around 250 dollars or so.

Oh no rollers, I looked at that and no thank you. LOL
I just really dont have room to put my bike in the spot where i was going to put a spin bike is the thing.

You won't get a decent spin bike for $250 ... unless maybe you get really lucky with an ebay sale or something. They're in the $1000+ range.

Trainers, however, you can get for that. I've got a basic Nashbar fluid trainer which I've had for many years and it's still good.

December 15 I was 198.6 lb.

January 6 I am 188.6 lb.

10 lb lost in 22 days.

I was carrying much of that around the belly and feel much better in the drops. It is noticeable when climbing.


-Tim-

I’ve been biking about 45-50 miles a week for commuting purposes and have found that I am running out of energy quite often. I track my food through my fitness pal and log my exercise often as well. I’ve cut out most of the breads and rice type grains out of my diet and stick mainly to meats, veggies, and some dairy.

I find myself struggling to keep up and then suffer during my rides but more often than not am able to push through and Complete my ride.

The other problem is that even though I am eating at a deficit I a, gaining weight. I’ve gained 4 pounds for no good reason even though I eat under my calorie count and ride often.

Any advice?

You don't have to cut out breads and rice type grains.

Do you weigh your food and log everything?

When you entered your information into MFP, and selected sedentary as your activity level, and selected to lose 1 lb/week ... what amount of calories did MFP give you?

You can eat all those calories + at least half your exercise calories.

I measure it all out in quantities like cups and tbsp etc. it says my daily intake should be 2000 to lose a pound weekly

Are you eating back your exercise calories? Unless you have a power meter on your bike, the calories estimates in MFP are likely to be way over reality for your rides. So you could be eating at a surplus and not realize it.

Otherwise I would suggest to stick with it for a while, weight can fluctuate in unexpected ways, it's not unusual to stall out or even gain a little water weight, only to suddenly start losing again later.

Okay I'll continue to keep track of it. I've been averaging a little lower than the BMR calorie count mainly because I have a hard time eating that much. I've been consuming on about 1600 calories per day. I usually ignore the added numbers for food calories just because I count them as "extra/bonus." Do you think this is a mistake and I should just continue to eat a little over what MFP asks for?

I have fluctuated a little bit. I was down 5 pounds since the 2nd of January but then gained 3-4 pounds out of nowhere.