# Cycling, weight loss and alcohol



## TrevorM (24 Nov 2010)

May be of some interest to those trying to lose weight. Attached is my weight loss chart.
From 1st Sept to 29th Oct cycled average 80 miles a week, no attempt to diet, just normal eating (and drinking). Weight loss mainly due to cycling I think.

On 29th Oct (red arrow) stopped drinking alcohol completely and have had none since then. No change in cycling, still 80 miles a week. No change in diet, except I am eating more cake and chocolate than before. Losing 2-3 pounds a week now.


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## avsd (24 Nov 2010)

well done. I always knew there was a lot of calories in alcohol but to stop completely may well be beyond me. How many units of alcohol were you consuming. I only drink at the weekend and then is is just a few glasses of wine each evening.


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## Iain p (24 Nov 2010)

Units.... think we're talking gallons


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## zacklaws (24 Nov 2010)

TrevorM said:


> I am eating more cake and chocolate than before



TThats odd, I saw a diet somewhere the other day that recommends eating nothing but cakes and biscuits, but I cannot remember where.

Just my type of diet, maybe it does work.


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## TrevorM (24 Nov 2010)

avsd said:


> How many units of alcohol were you consuming.



Too much and increasing, which is why I stopped. On average 2-3 glasses wine most nights. No beer or spirits. 
I found as I get older (I'm 55) even a couple of glasses would leave me feeling sluggish next day.
So now I can put much more effort into my rides which I think has also helped with the weight loss.


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## snorri (24 Nov 2010)

TrevorM said:


> Too much and increasing, which is why I stopped. On average 2-3 glasses wine most nights.


Now that you have stopped the wine, you could probably stop the cycling too, and still lose weight. 

Good luck with your new regime.


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## Globalti (25 Nov 2010)

I've known this for years - every few months I go on a 2 week business trip to Africa where I probably don't walk more than a mile in the fortnight and I drink a lot of beer. I always come home feeling full around the waist but after a couple of weeks of normal life it's back to the regular 32 inches.


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## ventoux50 (25 Nov 2010)

TrevorM said:


> Too much and increasing, which is why I stopped. On average 2-3 glasses wine most nights. No beer or spirits.
> I found as I get older (I'm 55) even a couple of glasses would leave me feeling sluggish next day.
> So now I can put much more effort into my rides which I think has also helped with the weight loss.




Well done mate, the graph is fantastic and just shows what a difference cutting out the drink can make - I know exactly where you're coming from, I have found myself enjoying a few too many glasses of wine of an evening for a while now and decided to have a complete week off . . . . . I really could feel a difference without it, more alert in a morning, more comfortable on the bike, and healthier !

To be honest, my taste for wine has diminished since I realised how much better I feel without it and now only have an occasional glass.

I reckon my weight should be decreasing as well, if only I could leave the bloody Jaffa Cakes alone !


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## youngoldbloke (25 Nov 2010)

Calories in alcohol


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## Bodhbh (25 Nov 2010)

500 calories a day, so removing them is something like 1/2 a kilo fat a week extra you should be loosing iirc

I think apart from calories there, are other issues with alcohol consumption on weight - it decreases production of testosterone and growth hormone so will be more inclined to put on weight as fat rather than muscle, which will also decrease your metabolic rate. Not that it stops me much...


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## Woldwanderer (25 Nov 2010)

Your spot on about the booze. I've had a similar weight loss over the last eight weeks, with a slight adjustment to the diet, 3 big rides and 3 days in the gym/pool. 

Pretty sure would be under the 90kg mark if I cut out the booze. Looks as though you will make the 90kg if you stay off the booze. 

Back to sea/work for me on Sunday on a vessel without a gym! Hoping to weigh in at less than 92kg after last session on Saturday - but out on the beer Friday night - oh well


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## lukesdad (25 Nov 2010)

Outrageous Ill have to stop eating to feed the wine habit.


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## BSRU (25 Nov 2010)

Apart from the calories from alcohol there is always the extra calories consumed with regards to eating more during/after alcohol, that is kebab/curry and general junk food.


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## Dan B (25 Nov 2010)

Woldwanderer said:


> Back to sea/work for me on Sunday on a vessel without a gym!


You could swim behind?


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## e-rider (25 Nov 2010)

that's pretty good going. When I did LEJOG last year, I was in the pub every night living like a king - big meal and several pints every night of the trip. Still managed to lose about 6 kgs in 2 weeks! I was quite big at the start though.


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## dellzeqq (25 Nov 2010)

TrevorM said:


> *Too much and increasing*, which is why I stopped. *On average 2-3 glasses wine most nights*. No beer or spirits.
> I found as I get older (I'm 55) even a couple of glasses would leave me feeling sluggish next day.
> So now I can put much more effort into my rides which I think has also helped with the weight loss.


that's barely enough! Good grief man, you had me convinced you were one step away from a starring role in a Hogarth engraving! 

I genuinely don't think that if I stopped drinking (my intake is a little less modest than your own) that I would lose two or three pounds in total, never mind a week. And the risks of sobriety are considerable! 

(Actually I gave up drink for six months in 2003 and lost about half a stone, but I was also doing 250 miles a week at a tad under Mach 1)


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## rich p (25 Nov 2010)

I do a 'cut-down on certain things but not booze' diet at regular intervals, before the effort and misery makes me give up. I hardly lose a pound but I gave up the alcohol ( 1/2 bottle of wine a night, a few beers at the weekend, the odd nippy sweetie etc ) for a month before my recent operation and lost 7lbs.

It seemed to make a big difference to me but I am creeping back to my previous intake and levels of enjoyment now.


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## Woldwanderer (25 Nov 2010)

tundragumski said:


> that's pretty good going. When I did LEJOG last year, I was in the pub every night living like a king - big meal and several pints every night of the trip.


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## Woldwanderer (25 Nov 2010)

Sorry about the mistake above still getting the hang of this!!

Would love to do the big one up the country. Still training for the 100miler, which I reckon could be done if the weather and work put a halt to that.

The tatse of beer is so much better after a long ride!!!


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## Woldwanderer (25 Nov 2010)

Worked in some hot and sweaty places and always think of the final scene in 'Ice Cold in Alex' - keeps you going sometimes!!


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## chigman (25 Nov 2010)

Woldwanderer said:


> The tatse of beer is so much better after a long ride!!!



You are so right my freind, you are so right. 

Steve


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## TrevorM (25 Nov 2010)

I just noticed tonight that my local off licence (I still prefer the South African name 'bottle store'), has closed down after 16 years. I wonder if I am responsible?


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## Garz (25 Nov 2010)

The alcohol intake would make a difference over time if your consumption was steady. I do however feel a glass of wine say once a week (or two glasses if you were really enjoying it) would do you no harm, add no weight and should give you some health benefits of the fruity goodness!


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## Fab Foodie (25 Nov 2010)

Globalti said:


> I've known this for years - every few months I go on a 2 week business trip to Africa where I probably don't walk more than a mile in the fortnight and I drink a lot of beer. I always come home feeling full around the waist but after a couple of weeks of normal life it's back to the *regular 32 inches*.


Skinny git...


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## Fab Foodie (25 Nov 2010)

I gave up alcohol once... it was the worst day of my life...


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## ventoux50 (26 Nov 2010)

I had a couple of glasses of a nice red last night, feel as rough as a badgers a**e this morning . . . . . . I'm wondering if I'm developing an aversion to alcohol ?

I've done my fair share of imbibing over the years (Rugby club, CID, etc) but now I reckon that although I enjoy the taste, I really don't enjoy the after effects which seem to be getting worse.

Right - thats it I've done drinking.

I am now teatotal.

Merry Christmas.


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## youngoldbloke (26 Nov 2010)

ventoux50 said:


> I had a couple of glasses of a nice red last night, feel as rough as a badgers a**e this morning . . . . . . I'm wondering if I'm developing an aversion to alcohol ?
> 
> I've done my fair share of imbibing over the years (Rugby club, CID, etc) but now I reckon that although I enjoy the taste, I really don't enjoy the after effects which seem to be getting worse.
> 
> ...



and to you! - been there, done that - its not that difficult - there's nothing like a nice pint of lime and soda  (he said with feeling).


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## fossyant (27 Nov 2010)

I've cut down a fair amount recently, and now only 'try' and drink one night at weekends. Mainly as I need to take pain killers for my shoulder - drinking helped, but was crap for sleep......... so pain killers, no booze.

Lost 2kg's within a couple of weeks - been a steady 80kg's for a long time.....


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## MarkF (3 Mar 2011)

I stopped drinking on New Year Eve, not had a drop since. I was drinking too much, not ga-ga drinking, but a bottle of wine every night, maybe a couple of beers too on a weekend. Was also developing a "belly". My diet has otherwise remained the same, it was pretty good anyway, I don't eat meat or any crap, sweets, pasties etc

Was 89kg on Jan 1st and am now 82kg, with the weather I haven't done much cycling either.


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## Fiona N (4 Mar 2011)

It's not fair 

I gave up alcohol on January 1st and have stuck to it except for a 2 weeks business trip to Japan where it would have been socially awkward to be teetotal. I have lost 0 kgs - that's it. Given up the pleasure of a bottle of wine and a beer or two each weeks (pretty much stayed within the 14 units limit) and it's made no difference. I haven't upped the biscuits or anything to compensate - I have a glass of water with my meal instead of wine. 

Mind you, I'm used to this. One a typical 2 week training camp in Mallorca where I'll do 1000-1200 km in 11 days of riding (rest day in the middle), plenty of hills and a decent speed and I'll lose maybe 1 kg if I'm lucky while male colleagues lose a stone or more without cutting back on the evening beers, either. On a mtb tour in northern India a few years ago, one of the guys lost 14kg (over 2 stone) over the trip where I lost about 1 kg when I got a touch of Dehli-belly but put it back on when we had a rest day  

This is the downside of a physiology built for endurance.


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## subaqua (4 Mar 2011)

that was the big one for me. stopping drinking in the week. i was having 6 pints a night in the week and more at weekends. now have a few pints at weekend only. 

weight dropped off. i found a website http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-holsten-lager-i75048 that helped me realise how many calories i was chucking down me neck.

that was a huge amount of bad carbs . apparently made me a better person in work too for stopping the boozing


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## Garz (5 Mar 2011)

Good job subaqua!


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