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.
A strict diet is very difficult for the majority to maintain and is why most people fail.
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.
Carry on riding 90 minutes a day five days a week and you'll soon be able to do that. It's about building strength and stamina i your legs
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 probably feel less bloated because you've stopped taking in a lot of alcohol.
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
Restricting your calories to less than half that required by the average male will help you lose weight. At the same time your body will be stressed and when you start eating more the body will lay down fat reserves for the next time you stress it through lack of fuel.
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.
There is a stack of information on the web, find some quality resources and understand how different foods work for you. I'll give you an example which works for me. I have one or two cups of coffee when I get up. Breakfast* is 40g of oats with 260g of water and one dessert spoon of honey, 750ml of water to drink. Lunch will be, for example, a small wedge of cheese or perhaps tuna 60g, a slice of sourdough, couple of gherkins. The evening meal is an everyday normal meal**, no particular care taken, as I've no desire to impose a strict regime on myself or my wife. BUT when I ride I will increase breakfast by 50%, in the cafe I will eat beans, NO toast, sometimes a poached egg - this food fuels +/- 75 miles comfortably. I then eat a normal evening meal.
There is a BIG but to this. I can ride 100-110 miles on the above but if I do it empties my tank completely - I've used all the fuel/food. If I want to go further I have to eat properly again. How do I know this? I am epileptic and my main trigger is blood sugar levels. If I don't eat properly I run the risk of fitting - I get +/- 20-30 minutes warning of this - it doesn't matter whether it's a cycling day or not, it's about what I have eaten and done. I understand my body and it's reactions and so I'm very fortunate to be able to control it. On occasions I've arrived home after 100 miles knowing I'm in a poor way and have to eat immediately - I've exhausted the fuel I gave my body. Obviously I take steps to avoid this while riding but it doesn't always work.
If I get hungry during the day or after a 100 miler I'll have a couple of Weetabix.
I can't tell you what works for you but I can urge you to understand the principles and adapt them to your own body. You don't have to measure everything, that's obsessive, but it costs nothing to put the pan on the scales, chuck in 40g of oats and top the weight up to 300g with water. You'll quickly learn what 100g of cheese looks like etc.
* this fuels my 5/7 30/35 miles rides
** we eat a lot of vegetables, chicken or meat 2-3 times/week, fish probably twice a week, pasta, rice, pulses, none meat or fish meals twice a week.
