Why am I not losing weight?
- Thread starter BintanMan
- Start date
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I call it a gene problem[sup]1[/sup], not a health problem! My family suffer from osteoarthritis and I seem to be following in my father's footsteps. Both his hips went in his 50s. Fortunately, I spend most of my time in front of a computer rather than doing hard physical work so I'm not damaging my hips as quickly as he damaged his.
Keeping my weight down is the most important thing I can do to protect my joints, together with avoiding the activities which hurt them, and doing more of the ones that don't.
The highly efficient weight loss methods of taking in fewer calories and vigorous cycling are both available to me. I have done many one day rides taking off over a pound of body fat. I'm not talking fluid losses here. I've come back from rides weighing 7 pounds less than when I set off because I haven't been able to get enough fluids in, but when I'm fully rehydrated, a 1.0-1.5 pound loss remains. I've lost an inch off my waist in one day!
I actually like swimming but haven't done it for years. I only do breast stroke and the kick action gets to my hips. I would be okay with the crawl leg action, but I never mastered the breathing technique. I might give it a go some time.
The reason why I am 3 stone overweight is because I drink too much beer, simple as that. If I ride my bike frequently and get plenty of walks in, I easily lose 2+ pounds a week. When I tried really hard, I was losing 3-4 pounds a week but I felt that was excessive, probably not healthy.
I can put weight on quickly but also lose it quickly so I must be one of those people with a very predictable metabolism. My body does exactly what you'd expect it to do - it stores surplus calories as fat but easily burns fat when required to.
[sup]1[/sup]It's not all bad news though - both sides of my family tend to live well into their 80s, 90s, or even 100s!
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One of my bro's has similar issues, is getting some full on treatment these days. kind of like myself you are trapped between a rock and a hard place...you need to keep the weight down to keep the symptoms away. high impact almost always means bad for body/joints etc... water being one of the few ways to increase resistance without negatives. But serious listen to your physio not me.. The reason I'm over weight is I gave the fags up and went onto haggen das for 6 month...I deserve it, but full fat ice cream is a bitch to move.... My endocrines converts carbs into fats X times quicker than the average... the dietician was like reduce your calories down to 1200 and keep it there for life... and I'm like, well actually I can pretty much eat what I like when my weight is down and it takes about 2 year before it creeps up.
You have my sympathies its a very painful condition
Avoid the beer - which is easier said than done, but the government is due to hike prices so you may have a curfu on you sooner than you think. Have a look through the activities and see which ones are gentle on the joins, and don't just think swimming, water aerobics or volley ball etc may be a fun way to just get active without it feeling like working out... which means you will want to do it rather than a chore.
I can say 100% sure, I prefer cycling (and skating) far, far more than skipping, although I do the latter quite often during soaps....
Oh for those low carbing... a top tip from Ms carbs really screw me up.... load your carb intake earlier in the day... Ie if you are having 150 grams of carb in the whole day, have 50 for breakfast, 80 for lunch and 20 for dinner. Breakfast as per, lunch has 2 portions of carbs and 1 portion of protein and dinner has 2 protein one carb. So you may have chicken advocado and a slice of bread at lunch (or soups or what have you)... and for dinner two spoons of stew and 1 potion of potatoe. That way you are not hungry and you have lot of the day to burn the carb off in your daily activity.
Lizzy - despite your obvious enthusiasm this just isn't going to work.
This is a cycling forum. It also appears to me to be largely populated by middle age men. Ballet and skipping is likely to be a very difficult sell.
If it works for you then good for you- however most of your evidence just doesn't stack up. It's hard to accept an argument that goes something like - cycling doesn't work because the bike carries your weight making it too easy- yet at the same time it's harder on your joints?
I lost 69 pounds in just over a year- losing at least a pound a week every single week except for two weeks over Christmas. I did it by running a calorie deficit - burning more than I consumed. For almost everybody that is the way to go.
Your body doesn't normalise - what it tries to do is achieve balance. On a long tour you will go slower than many people on here ride, your body wil become more efficient - and you will up your calories to match.
Most people who get on the diet cycle go too fast, then revert back to old habits and pile it back on again. My intention was to take it slow and steady whilst embedding some real lifestyle changes that I can keep now that I have stopped losing weight.
This is a cycling forum. It also appears to me to be largely populated by middle age men. Ballet and skipping is likely to be a very difficult sell.
If it works for you then good for you- however most of your evidence just doesn't stack up. It's hard to accept an argument that goes something like - cycling doesn't work because the bike carries your weight making it too easy- yet at the same time it's harder on your joints?
I lost 69 pounds in just over a year- losing at least a pound a week every single week except for two weeks over Christmas. I did it by running a calorie deficit - burning more than I consumed. For almost everybody that is the way to go.
Your body doesn't normalise - what it tries to do is achieve balance. On a long tour you will go slower than many people on here ride, your body wil become more efficient - and you will up your calories to match.
Most people who get on the diet cycle go too fast, then revert back to old habits and pile it back on again. My intention was to take it slow and steady whilst embedding some real lifestyle changes that I can keep now that I have stopped losing weight.
lulubel
Über Member
- Location
- Malaga, Spain
Interesting.
Since I run and cycle, I'll compare those two.
I burn around 600 calories an hour running, or 500 calories an hour cycling.
The longest I can realistically run for on a regular basis is an hour every other day (can't run every day because it's too hard on my joints). The longest I can realistically cycle for on a regular basis is 1.5 hours every day.
That's 600 calories every 2 days from running or
1500 calories every 2 days from cycling
That would explain why the weight started falling off me when I switched my focus from running to cycling.
MacB
Lover of things that come in 3's
- Location
- Farnborough, Hampshire
I think ColinJ must be quite a similar body type to me, I rate cycling at an average 1lb per 100 miles as well. I don't need to diet for that as, for some reason, the more active I am the less I crave the sort of junk that puts weight on for me. From my current weight I would start losing at about 4lbs a week and that would drop off after the first 20lbs or so to abround the 2lb a week mark. But I can guarantee that if I cycled consistently, at least 200 miles per week, then I could lose about 70lbs in 7000 miles or 35 weeks. That would see me around the 12.5 stone mark and, at that point, fitness targets would take over from weight loss.
