Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Depends how fat the bad diet has got
Building up the miles
- Thread starter LemonJuice
- Start date
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Depends how fat the bad diet has got
BigMeatball
Senior Member
Already you'll see massive benefits now that you've managed to drastically cut down the booze, so good job on that front
Someone said something on the lines of "if man made it, don't eat it", meaning you should try limit processed foods and aim. This of course should be done gradually,
All changes need to be gradual if you want to stick to them in the long term, so all the people who are suggesting you to cut this/cut that they just don't know what they're talking about. This is why a lot of people who start a diet end up failing: they go too hard too soon. They cut all bread, all pasta, all potatoes, all sugars....they last a couple of weeks and then they crush and go back to the bad old habits.
Also avoiding potatoes, bread, pasta, rice....AWFUL IDEA, probably the worst one I've read on this thread: if you're picking up cycling and you plan on riding 5 times a week, you need energy, which you're going to get from carbs.
You've already cut out alcohol, well done (I need to do this also but then I'm a lifelong cyclist and ride around 8 to 10K miles a year. Like has been said, you can't out exercise a bad diet which is why I want to reduce beer!
Your weight will naturally drop after giving up beer/alcohol. Don't get too obsessive about the exercise and eating in general, if you do you'll eventually run out of motivation as it's not sustainable. Define the sustainable lifestyle you want for the rest of your life and stick to that, it's much more realistic.
Your weight will naturally drop after giving up beer/alcohol. Don't get too obsessive about the exercise and eating in general, if you do you'll eventually run out of motivation as it's not sustainable. Define the sustainable lifestyle you want for the rest of your life and stick to that, it's much more realistic.
vickster
Legendary Member
while you’re waiting for the bike, start exercising with long brisk walks. Get Your body used to working out on a lower calorie intake.
Just make sure you wear well fitting supportive footwear 👍
Also, when you do start cycling, make sure that you include weight bearing exercise and stretching into your regimen, the former is crucial for bone density and working different muscles to cycling. The latter to avoid injury and shortened hamstring and calf muscles for example from riding
Just make sure you wear well fitting supportive footwear 👍
Also, when you do start cycling, make sure that you include weight bearing exercise and stretching into your regimen, the former is crucial for bone density and working different muscles to cycling. The latter to avoid injury and shortened hamstring and calf muscles for example from riding
BigMeatball
Senior Member
Yes, that's 100% right. It's not a diet; it's a new lifestyle. It's not something you can do for x months until you reach your desired weight and then go back to your previous habits. It's a behavioural change that you need to be happy to keep for the long term.
I struggle with my weight - always have, probably always will - but I have managed to lose 2 stone this year. It's not much different from what everyone else has said - eat less, exercise more - but I find keeping a record helps massively, and the app myfitnesspal has worked very well. It can link with exercise apps (so you can 'earn' calories from exercise) and tracks nutrients rather than just calories. But actually the key thing isn't what it tells me I have eaten, but just having to be honest about what I eat. Knowing that I shall have to log something is a genuine brake on the impulse to snack!
Anyway, good luck.
Anyway, good luck.
BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
Health Warning: Consult a doctor before taking advice from a random cyclist on a forum!
I'm worried that your problem may be a bit more than just a little overweight. 14 stone isn't that bad (unless you are really short), and your comments about exaggerating the beer belly, hating your physical appearance and being made redundant so spending too much time in the pub all ring alarm bells for me. Even more so when you seem fixated on diet and reducing calories.
Yes, sensible diet is important. Certainly dropping alcohol consumption is critical, not just for the calories in the drink, but also the associated snacking. However severely limiting calories can put your body into starvation mode, and you are in danger of missing out on vitamins.
My advice, as a non-doctor, is to concentrate on the cycling, whilst maintaining a sensible diet. The problem is that calories burned are not equivalent to effort put in. So when you first get out on your bike you really feel the pain and get desparate for a food reward. Later, as you get fitter, you will do the same sort of distance without even feeling it. This is where you start loosing weight.
Quick equation: Male adult calorie requirement is roughly 2,700 per day. Probably wrong, but not wildly off. Realistically you can reduce this to around 1,500 with very careful eating. Much less and you will have to enjoy spending most of your time feeling hungry and could be damaging your body unless you take supplements. One ride of 100 miles could burn over 3,000 calories, or something like 3 days of careful eating.
So can you ride 100 miles? Yes, but not tomorrow. Will you burn that many calories? Depends on how fast you ride and the terrain. The fitter you get, the more hills you will look for and the faster you will ride. So in order to lose weight, you need to get fit. Concentrate on the fitness first, then weight loss will get easier.
Additional benefit is a greater sense of self-worth from riding these sort of distances. If you think 100 miles is well beyond your capabilities now, think of how you will feel when you do it. Or when you tackle that hill which you thought you could never get up. I've been up some hills I still don't think are possible.
The second benefit is that your muscles will be a lot firmer, including hamstrings and glutes. Your wife will be very happy having a husband with a firmer body. And one that can achieve so much, and has dug himself out of a drinking hole. You can be proud of yourself for starting on this journey, and even prouder when you see the improvements and smash those unatainable targets.
So, in summary:
1) Get on your bike and ride
then
2) Push yourself futher each time
then
3) Take a sensible look at your diet
then
4) Measure your increase in fitness
then
5) Measure your weight
then
6) Take a good look and your mental health
Is this all rubbish? Probably, but up to you to decide.
I'm worried that your problem may be a bit more than just a little overweight. 14 stone isn't that bad (unless you are really short), and your comments about exaggerating the beer belly, hating your physical appearance and being made redundant so spending too much time in the pub all ring alarm bells for me. Even more so when you seem fixated on diet and reducing calories.
Yes, sensible diet is important. Certainly dropping alcohol consumption is critical, not just for the calories in the drink, but also the associated snacking. However severely limiting calories can put your body into starvation mode, and you are in danger of missing out on vitamins.
My advice, as a non-doctor, is to concentrate on the cycling, whilst maintaining a sensible diet. The problem is that calories burned are not equivalent to effort put in. So when you first get out on your bike you really feel the pain and get desparate for a food reward. Later, as you get fitter, you will do the same sort of distance without even feeling it. This is where you start loosing weight.
Quick equation: Male adult calorie requirement is roughly 2,700 per day. Probably wrong, but not wildly off. Realistically you can reduce this to around 1,500 with very careful eating. Much less and you will have to enjoy spending most of your time feeling hungry and could be damaging your body unless you take supplements. One ride of 100 miles could burn over 3,000 calories, or something like 3 days of careful eating.
So can you ride 100 miles? Yes, but not tomorrow. Will you burn that many calories? Depends on how fast you ride and the terrain. The fitter you get, the more hills you will look for and the faster you will ride. So in order to lose weight, you need to get fit. Concentrate on the fitness first, then weight loss will get easier.
Additional benefit is a greater sense of self-worth from riding these sort of distances. If you think 100 miles is well beyond your capabilities now, think of how you will feel when you do it. Or when you tackle that hill which you thought you could never get up. I've been up some hills I still don't think are possible.
The second benefit is that your muscles will be a lot firmer, including hamstrings and glutes. Your wife will be very happy having a husband with a firmer body. And one that can achieve so much, and has dug himself out of a drinking hole. You can be proud of yourself for starting on this journey, and even prouder when you see the improvements and smash those unatainable targets.
So, in summary:
1) Get on your bike and ride
then
2) Push yourself futher each time
then
3) Take a sensible look at your diet
then
4) Measure your increase in fitness
then
5) Measure your weight
then
6) Take a good look and your mental health
Is this all rubbish? Probably, but up to you to decide.
RichardB
Slightly retro
- Location
- West Wales
I have lost 3.5 stone since January. I reckon the first two came off in about 2 months, and then it all slowed down a bit. Have a look at the Fast800 diet (Michael Moseley off the telly), both the book explaining the diet and the full-colour recipe book. I’ve been eating exclusively from the recipe book and I have never enjoyed my food more. It’s basically Mediterranean stuff and low carb. I’m loving the food, I am loving cooking it (a total first for me) and I am feeling better than I have for years with loads of energy. I stopped the booze for 3 months, but I have now gone back to the occasional beer and it doesn’t seem to be harming things. I guess I have been on about 1000 to 1300 calories a day. The idea is that you start to eat normally 5 days out of 7 after three months, but I have no desire to go back. If you knew how I used to love my pies and pasties and biscuits, you’d be falling off your chair in disbelief by now. I reckon I am on this for life.
Plus I am whizzing up hills I used to struggle on before. Essentially, I’m riding a bike with 22kg off the frame. Good luck and never look back.
Plus I am whizzing up hills I used to struggle on before. Essentially, I’m riding a bike with 22kg off the frame. Good luck and never look back.
Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
- Location
- Kirton, Devon.
More vegetables/plants*
Less carbs especially refined
More vegetables/plants.
Small amounts of lean meat.
More vegetables/plants
Uncoated fish
More vegetable/plants
Bingo.
*Especially raw
myfitnesspal.com is great for learning about portion size but if you log your exercise don't be tempted to eat back every calorie you earn. It's tempting when you exercise to think you've burned more calories than you have and to eat more than the exercise justifies. For weight loss, I'd support the other comments that what you eat is way more important than exercise.
I used the Noom app last year and have kept off most of the weight loss. There's a huge amount of science and psychology in it which helped me. Include lots of veg in your diet, and some fruit, as they are heavy due to their water content and make you feel fuller. Soup is also proven to make you feel fuller and consume fewer calories over the course of the day. Noom allowed you to eat half the calories you'd burned through exercise and for me that allowed me enough energy to cycle but still get some weight loss benefit from the exercise.
I used the Noom app last year and have kept off most of the weight loss. There's a huge amount of science and psychology in it which helped me. Include lots of veg in your diet, and some fruit, as they are heavy due to their water content and make you feel fuller. Soup is also proven to make you feel fuller and consume fewer calories over the course of the day. Noom allowed you to eat half the calories you'd burned through exercise and for me that allowed me enough energy to cycle but still get some weight loss benefit from the exercise.
LemonJuice
Well-Known Member
I have just got the scales out of the cupboard and weighed myself. I am 6’3 and I am 13 stone and 2 pounds. I want to get back down to between 11 1/2 stone and 12 stone. Although some people may say this is a fine weight for my height, until a little while ago I had been at least a stone lighter and that is what I want to be again. The last time I weighed myself was before the lockdown and I did have a beer belly that was noticeable, but I have just looked in a mirror and although I still feel ‘fat’ and want to get rid of the excess belly fat, I do not have a beer belly to the point that it would hang over a pair of jeans.
You are all right - cutting down on my alcohol intake has really helped me lose weight.
I want to make it clear that I do not intend for this to just be a phase, I want to be a road cyclist. I understand that this is going to mean changing my lifestyle, but I am prepared to do it because although I’m a self-proclaimed perfectionist so I do want the image in my head to become reality, realistically the most important point for me is to get rid of the belly fat that is still currently there.
The weather is actually a positive because it means I’ll sweat a lot more than usual. When I go for a walk, I listen to music and take a bottle of water with me. I’m also going to start doing some sit-ups in my house.
I know that I consume too many calories when I have dinner and tea. It’s because of the size of the portions. I always have a full plate of food and I need to stop that.
What food should I take with me when I go for a bike ride? Flapjacks? Energy bars?
When I am cutting down on calories, should I use the vitamins tablets one can buy from a supermarket like Asda?
You are all right - cutting down on my alcohol intake has really helped me lose weight.
I want to make it clear that I do not intend for this to just be a phase, I want to be a road cyclist. I understand that this is going to mean changing my lifestyle, but I am prepared to do it because although I’m a self-proclaimed perfectionist so I do want the image in my head to become reality, realistically the most important point for me is to get rid of the belly fat that is still currently there.
The weather is actually a positive because it means I’ll sweat a lot more than usual. When I go for a walk, I listen to music and take a bottle of water with me. I’m also going to start doing some sit-ups in my house.
I know that I consume too many calories when I have dinner and tea. It’s because of the size of the portions. I always have a full plate of food and I need to stop that.
What food should I take with me when I go for a bike ride? Flapjacks? Energy bars?
When I am cutting down on calories, should I use the vitamins tablets one can buy from a supermarket like Asda?
vickster
Legendary Member
Cycling for 1-2 hours after a meal, you really shouldn’t need to eat anything, just have plenty of fluid
You don’t need vitamin tablets if eating a balanced diet that includes meat and fish. (other probably than vitamin D during Autumn and winter)
LemonJuice
Well-Known Member
Although it is going to be my first time riding a road bike (I’m a little nervous about using clipless pedals! 
), I used to cycle for hours with my wife in the countryside up until a few years ago. Of course I know it’s going to take me a while before I can cycle 100 miles, but am I being reasonable to think that I’ll notice an improvement with regards to how far I can cycle with relative ease after a few weeks?
), I used to cycle for hours with my wife in the countryside up until a few years ago. Of course I know it’s going to take me a while before I can cycle 100 miles, but am I being reasonable to think that I’ll notice an improvement with regards to how far I can cycle with relative ease after a few weeks?
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BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
Yes. You will get some very fast gains.Although is going to be my first time riding a road bike (I’m a little nervous about using clipless pedals!
LemonJuice
Well-Known Member
What are the best fluids for me to drink? Is it okay for me to drink Robinsons blackcurrant or orange juice? Is flavoured water okay?
I know that I need to drink more water. I rarely ever drink coke or any other drink that contains a lot of sugar.
I know that I need to drink more water. I rarely ever drink coke or any other drink that contains a lot of sugar.
