Building up the miles

[Blue Hills]

I eat loads of junk food, drink loads of beer and am 10 stone 7 at 5 foot 11.
(Don't know what that is in new money)

I think a lot depends on the individual body and how it sheds fat. I do about 130 miles a week so burn a lot of calories to compensate.

Losing weight should come as a by product of cycling / exercise but I wouldn't obsess about it, it should happen naturally.

You're very lucky.
Would consider selling your glands.
(I'm not a doctor)

 

[LemonJuice]

I eat loads of junk food, drink loads of beer and am 10 stone 7 at 5 foot 11.
(Don't know what that is in new money)

I think a lot depends on the individual body and how it sheds fat. I do about 130 miles a week so burn a lot of calories to compensate.

Losing weight should come as a by product of cycling / exercise but I wouldn't obsess about it, it should happen naturally.

If you don’t mind my asking, what size are you in jeans?

 

[PaulSB]

When I first got my road bike fixed I was somewhere between 13-14 stone. I weighed myself earlier today and I am exactly 13 stone.

My diet at the moment is a small bowl of porridge in the morning for my breakfast, 2-4 slices of wholemeal bread with the French paste pate or something similar on them for my dinner and a small tin of salmon or lean meat with a few vegetables for my tea. Sometimes I have a banana and strawberry smoothie with my breakfast or tea. Every couple of days I’ll have a packet of dates over the day as well.

I have no idea how many calories all of that is and what I am therefore consuming on a daily basis.

At the moment, I am going for a ride at about 5am for 30-60 minutes at a fairly quick pace and on the evening I go out for 60+ minutes and change my pace frequently.

I understand that I’m not going to be able to lose 21 pounds in a couple of weeks, but how much more time and many more miles on the bike in order to keep losing the weight?

I’ve heard that one loses weight quickly in the first couple of weeks and then it becomes more difficult to lose weight. Is that true?

To be honest if this is the direction you are taking yes you'll lose weight. Will it last? No. I'm sorry to be harsh but this is how I see it.

The exercise is good. I feel 90 minutes 5 days out of 7 is adequate. You must allow your body to rest as well. In my opinion a 90 minute ride would be better but I understand not everyone can fit this in to their daily life.

From what I've gleaned you've had the bike ten days and given up drinking four pints of lager a night. You've lost fluid not fat. Sounds like you've lost 7lbs which is par for the course initially as the first few days are usually fluid loss.

You don't understand the calories you are consuming. Porridge (good breakfast) is +/- 200, salmon 150, 4 slices of bread 280, banana 100, vegetables 200g/day is 130, dates 100g/day is 300 (70% is sugar). Total 1160 calories. The NHS state 2500 is the average for men. You're starving your body of the fuel it needs

To lose weight you MUST understand the correct fuel for your body and put that fuel in to your body. If you provide the wrong fuel and stress your body by doing more exercise than it can handle it will respond by retaining every calorie it can. This is stored as fat!

I can only reiterate what I and several others have already suggested, understand diet and exercise. Enjoy both sensibly and do it slowly.

 

[vickster]

Have you calculated your BMR (basal metabolic rate)? If not, Google it

 

[PaulSB]

I'll add I'm keen on maintaining my body shape and not my weight - for me the two are closely connected. I quickly store fat on my waist. I really do not like this and it feels uncomfortable, I don't need scales to tell me.

I've had a bad week, I've been very bored. This has lead me to the biscuit barrel during the day and a couple of whiskies in the evening. I've gained a kilo and had to admit this to my weight loss group. I'm disappointed but know the cause and will be back on track by the next Wednesday weigh-in.

 

[Starchivore]

From what I've seen, and for me, if you don't fill your stomach enough during the day, and you have some tempting food in the house, it's going to get eaten, and probably in significant amounts.

For trying to lose/control weight, but not be hungry and go insane, it's important to fill your stomach up without consuming too many calories- which can be done by eating foods that are lower in "calorie-density" (calories per pound of food). So you get the volume of food, but not too many calories. Of course you do still need enough calories to have good energy.

A good way to do this is to take a healthy, medium-calorie density starchy food (steamed/baked potatoes, brown rice, things like that) and eat it with low-calorie density vegetables. That way you can have a big plate of tasty food and be satisfied, and you can have pretty much any sauces as long as they don't contain oil.

The dietitian Jeff Novick has a great presentation on Calorie Density on Youtube, very informative. I think diets fail because they rely so much on willpower, whereas filling up with the right foods does not.

 

[MartinQ]

When I first got my road bike fixed I was somewhere between 13-14 stone. I weighed myself earlier today and I am exactly 13 stone.

My diet at the moment is a small bowl of porridge in the morning for my breakfast, 2-4 slices of wholemeal bread with the French paste pate or something similar on them for my dinner and a small tin of salmon or lean meat with a few vegetables for my tea. Sometimes I have a banana and strawberry smoothie with my breakfast or tea. Every couple of days I’ll have a packet of dates over the day as well.

I have no idea how many calories all of that is and what I am therefore consuming on a daily basis.

At the moment, I am going for a ride at about 5am for 30-60 minutes at a fairly quick pace and on the evening I go out for 60+ minutes and change my pace frequently.

I understand that I’m not going to be able to lose 21 pounds in a couple of weeks, but how much more time and many more miles on the bike in order to keep losing the weight?

I’ve heard that one loses weight quickly in the first couple of weeks and then it becomes more difficult to lose weight. Is that true?

@PaulSB post 3 above seems to have it nailed. Just enjoy your cycling and eat a sensible diet.

 

[Racing roadkill]

It’s complicated. There are a lot of factors that influence these things. The basic ‘burn more than you take on’ advice is true, but that’s just talking raw calories. It matters exactly how you get those calories, it’s also important to understand how you burn them off. Nutritional values are very important, different food groups introduce calories different ways, so require different ways of burning them off. Most people will be fine eating a sensible, balanced diet, with the odd ‘off piste excursion’ as long as they keep their activity levels up.

 

[LemonJuice]

Have you calculated your BMR (basal metabolic rate)? If not, Google it

According to the first website that showed up for me on Google, my BMR is just over 1,800 calories.

 

[vickster]

According to the first website that showed up for me on Google, my BMR is just over 1,800 calories.

Thus you should in theory lose weight if you stick to that as an absolute minimum (with quality clean food) and exercise

 

[LemonJuice]

To be honest if this is the direction you are taking yes you'll lose weight. Will it last? No. I'm sorry to be harsh but this is how I see it.

May I ask, why will it not last? Once I am at my ideal weight (11/2 stone) then I’ll feel that I can relax a little bit whilst still keeping to a strict diet.

The exercise is good. I feel 90 minutes 5 days out of 7 is adequate. You must allow your body to rest as well. In my opinion a 90 minute ride would be better but I understand not everyone can fit this in to their daily life.

i am aiming to be able to ride 50+ miles. During every ride I am going a little bit faster and doing a little bit more distance. I can notice the difference from when I first started a few weeks ago.

From what I've gleaned you've had the bike ten days and given up drinking four pints of lager a night. You've lost fluid not fat. Sounds like you've lost 7lbs which is par for the course initially as the first few days are usually fluid loss.

I weighed myself earlier and I am exactly 13 stone.

My stomach looks a lot less bloated, but I still have a bit of belly and that’s what I’m trying to shift. All of the weight I put on is on my belly which is understandable since it’s mainly from drinking excessively for quite a while.

You don't understand the calories you are consuming. Porridge (good breakfast) is +/- 200, salmon 150, 4 slices of bread 280, banana 100, vegetables 200g/day is 130, dates 100g/day is 300 (70% is sugar). Total 1160 calories. The NHS state 2500 is the average for men. You're starving your body of the fuel it needs.

By that logic, if I am restricting my diet to that many calories and I am exercising twice a day, am I going to ke

To lose weight you MUST understand the correct fuel for your body and put that fuel in to your body. If you provide the wrong fuel and stress your body by doing more exercise than it can handle it will respond by retaining every calorie it can. This is stored as fat!

What are the correct types of fuel to give my body? I’m mainly drinking water and the tea with a little bit of milk.

 

[raleighnut]

From what I've seen, and for me, if you don't fill your stomach enough during the day, and you have some tempting food in the house, it's going to get eaten, and probably in significant amounts.

For trying to lose/control weight, but not be hungry and go insane, it's important to fill your stomach up without consuming too many calories- which can be done by eating foods that are lower in "calorie-density" (calories per pound of food). So you get the volume of food, but not too many calories. Of course you do still need enough calories to have good energy.

A good way to do this is to take a healthy, medium-calorie density starchy food (steamed/baked potatoes, brown rice, things like that) and eat it with low-calorie density vegetables. That way you can have a big plate of tasty food and be satisfied, and you can have pretty much any sauces as long as they don't contain oil.

The dietitian Jeff Novick has a great presentation on Calorie Density on Youtube, very informative. I think diets fail because they rely so much on willpower, whereas filling up with the right foods does not.

But then of course there is the 'Atkins' ultra low Carbohydrate diet full of lovely tasty meat.

 

[vickster]

But then of course there is the 'Atkins' ultra low Carbohydrate diet full of lovely tasty meat.

Potentially not great for liver though I think, which in someone with a history of heavy drinking may also not be in the finest fettle

 

[Fab Foodie]

But then of course there is the 'Atkins' ultra low Carbohydrate diet full of lovely tasty meat.

Let's not go down that route!

 

[wafter]

Yes - you'll gain a fair bit of immediate weight by eating a large carb-heavy meal such as a big bowl of rice / pasta / chips / pizza etc. If I do this I usually find I've gained ballpark 0.5-1kg the next morning; however the good news is that the bulk of this is water retention due to its requirement to store the metabolised carbs you've eaten, and things will drop back nearer normal over the following days.

That said there's no such thing as a (guilt!) free lunch and binging on unhealthy / high energy food will obvously still mean you gain some weight / your losses slow due to the extra energy consumed; although in terms of fat mass you're probably only talking a few hundred grams per meal; once the water retention has abated.