Added 200Km cycle per week , zero benefit

romperstomper

hi all,

i've got good diet (i think) but I'm finding fat loss (as measured by tape measure of stomach area). my program is every second day I do a split weights program(legs;back/chest/shoulders;arms&abs),every other day I do a 5K run. Those are my after work exercises that I have been doing for the last 4 weeks. Last week I have added to that commuting to work (20Km each way for 200Km total per week).

Problem is that I'm STILL not seeing the tape measure shrinking (would have presumed I would have at least lost some water). Typical diet for completeness sake would be

brekkie: 2 shredded wheat with skimmed milk
snack: apple & banana
lunch: grilled chicken OR white fish & greens (no carbs)
snack: apple & banana
dinner: 2 boiled eggs & steamed broccoli
snack: low fat organic yoghurt

MagicMarker

Well you're obviously in pretty good shape as is and your stomach can only be so small. Why not get the bodyfat tested?

romperstomper

erm, i'm not sure what it would tell me TBH. 4 years ago I was fit & trim and weighed under 12st (i'm 5'11, late twenties). now over 13 (down from 14 but trust me there is still a LONG way to go)

rocky

You may be eating too little (under 1000 cals a day) - the organism may hold onto fat for this reason:



try adding some nuts for snacks, and a nice cottage cheese before bed

FunkZ

rocky wrote: »

You may be eating too little (under 1000 cals a day) - the organism may hold onto fat for this reason:

On teh button here I think. Eat more and you'll probably lose more fat. More proteins and good fats. I just had chicken and peanut butter, try that jazz!

You're working like a huskey, fair play!

ragg

Yup - your cals are too low.

Add olive oil to everything and find a way to get more protein - maybe scrambled eggs for brekkie - yum yum :cool:

Also - this weekend - break out. after the gym - Go for beers, have a burgerking etc A cheat day is a great plateaux buster.

You might also be over training - after your next legs day I'd suggest getting the bus to work.

One more thing that I find helps is the week after you cheat - up the weight on everything and do (5*5 on all the exercises)
You will break through the wall and then some by the end of next week

romperstomper

thanks for the responses guys. i can certainly add some more protein and I can't believe I have been over doing it on the calorie counting. just to be sure we are on the same page, i don't need to increase carbs (which i only have in the morning)? TBH since i introduced the cycling I have left the leg part of the weights for the weekend (when i don't cycle). RE cheat meals, do they REALLY help? I thought they were just to help motivation so it doesn't seem that the regime is too strict

estariol

none of that looks like fat busting, low intensity long duration cardio is the only way to 'burn' fat!

Vegeta

romperstomper wrote: »

thanks for the responses guys. i can certainly add some more protein and I can't believe I have been over doing it on the calorie counting. just to be sure we are on the same page, i don't need to increase carbs (which i only have in the morning)? TBH since i introduced the cycling I have left the leg part of the weights for the weekend (when i don't cycle). RE cheat meals, do they REALLY help? I thought they were just to help motivation so it doesn't seem that the regime is too strict

Do the above calculations add up to your own yeah?

Does 1000 calories a day sound like what you had planned.

Vegeta

estariol wrote: »

none of that looks like fat busting, low intensity long duration cardio is the only way to 'burn' fat!

Is 40km a day for 5 days in the week not long enough?

romperstomper

estariol wrote: »

none of that looks like fat busting, low intensity long duration cardio is the only way to 'burn' fat!

eh, the cycle to and from work? its 55 min of low intensity fat burn twice a day!

romperstomper

when I used the fitday calculator I came up with closer to 2K calories as TBH the amount of chicken and greens at lunch would be considered generous to say the least (at least 300g of each). also yogurt would be 250g at night (2 1125g pots of the glentisk stuff - nice). finding the weights have plateaued completely since I started the cycling which probably shows you how bad it is to do resistance after cardio but that can't really be helped.

ragg

How are you getting 300gs of protein into at once?

are you bringing 3 chicken fillets in and eating them in one go :eek:

romperstomper

they are cooked in the job by the canteen staff, i just put them on my plate. and yes it sure does get repetitive (would have thought there was protein in the greens too, no?)

ragg

I eat chicken salad every day too - not much protein in the greens, no.
It just sounds like quite a lot to eat in one go. Probably not the reason you are stuck though.

To be honest, im stuggling here - you say your cals are up around 2k.
I'd say have a cheat meal after the gym at the weekend. Also up the weights and do strong lifts for next week as a plateaux buster

mloc123

romperstomper wrote: »

they are cooked in the job by the canteen staff, i just put them on my plate. and yes it sure does get repetitive (would have thought there was protein in the greens too, no?)

Canteen chicken.. breaded? roast, grilled or deep fried?

romperstomper

plateaux buster: great idea, will go through that.

RE diet, one thing I'd didn't mention was that I can only keep up my 6 meals a day stuff during the week. on the weekend i sleep in and it way more likely to be 3 large meals. could that be holding me back?

estariol

Vegeta wrote: »

Is 40km a day for 5 days in the week not long enough?

to start serious fat catabolism 20km is prob not enough, 2x20 is not the same as 1x40

ragg

estariol wrote: »

to start serious fat catabolism 20km is prob not enough, 2x20 is not the same as 1x40

I'm sorry, but I couldn't agree less with this.
he is doing a resistance programme too. he doesn't need to be cycling 50 kms to lose fat. Come off it.

estariol

ragg wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I couldn't agree less with this.
he is doing a resistance programme too. he doesn't need to be cycling 50 kms to lose fat. Come off it.

I cant see anyone spending a signicant time in the right heart rate zone over such a short distance, 55mins for seems a bit on the long side so I suspect that the op is barely reaching the 'fat burning zone' HR

romperstomper

i won't deny that i'm not 'sprint' into work but i arrive cloaked in sweat. having said that I am always out of breath (read ready to fall over) after my 5 k runs but they are when i have nothing else to do. after the first cycle I have to work all day. after the second its either weights OR run, so what would be the benefit of sprinting for either cycle?
55 minutes is because of traffic, if the lights are kind its easily 5 -7 minutes shorter

MagicMarker

I'd say very few people who successfully lose fat do so by cycling 40km a day so I wouldn't really pay too much heed to what estariol is saying.

mloc123

MagicMarker wrote: »

I'd say very few people who successfully lose fat do so by cycling 40km a day so I wouldn't really pay too much heed to what estariol is saying.

Managed quite a few stone cycling 20k-40k a day 4/5 days a week.

MagicMarker

mloc123 wrote: »

Managed quite a few stone cycling 20k-40k a day 4/5 days a week.

Congratulations.

Of course you'll lose weight doing that, I'm just saying not everyone does it and they still manage to lose weight.

ragg

exactly - the sum total of my cardio is about 20 - 30 minutes 3 times a week.

OP i think to get more out of you cycleing try and beat your time everyday.

Of course - as you are on actual roads - don't try and do it by pulling out in front of cars. But if you have a free road up ithe pace to sprint

lukasbasic

it seems like you eat too less healthy carbs like brown rice
the body need carbs to burn the fat

romperstomper wrote: »

hi all,

i've got good diet (i think) but I'm finding fat loss (as measured by tape measure of stomach area). my program is every second day I do a split weights program(legs;back/chest/shoulders;arms&abs),every other day I do a 5K run. Those are my after work exercises that I have been doing for the last 4 weeks. Last week I have added to that commuting to work (20Km each way for 200Km total per week).

Problem is that I'm STILL not seeing the tape measure shrinking (would have presumed I would have at least lost some water). Typical diet for completeness sake would be

brekkie: 2 shredded wheat with skimmed milk
snack: apple & banana
lunch: grilled chicken OR white fish & greens (no carbs)
snack: apple & banana
dinner: 2 boiled eggs & steamed broccoli
snack: low fat organic yoghurt

metamorphosis

To me its that you are not eating enough. Don't be afraid to up the cals healthily like more nuts. 100gms nuts has anywhere from 5-700 cals and are fiberous, have some protein and have very healthy fats

+1 on what magicmarker says about not listening to esteriol

A Fit Body

from what you are saying it looks like you are training everyday, even though you are cross training to an extent, You would be better off taking at least a days recovery or have active recovery with something like Yoga to stretch and lenghten muscles. Studies have shown that peolple will perform better and get better results with taking one day rcovery

You dont say if you are trying to build muscle but overtraining can cause tight bulkly muscles even if not trying to build muscle

As for your diet your overall calorie intake does seem low for what you are doing but you have not indicated intensity of weights session or reps you are doing. For the level to which you are training you should be having more carbs, you seem to be having a lot of protein which can be very high in fat. Also as stated above if your calorie intake is low your body will try to store what its taking in

In regards to your 5km run, if you have been doing this for a long time, the same rules apply as with weights, you need to change the route, or the tempo or add hills.
For example chose a route that has hills and challenge yourself by increasing your pace on the incline, some days reduce your distance but increase you pace for this run. Find an area that you can use intervals so sprinting for a set distance recovering back to your normal jog and repeating this

Also if you really feel you are at a plateau, I would take something out from your training and take up something new that will challenge your body and muscles in a completely new way, shock your body into reacting to the change

romperstomper

fat loss is the goal here. only doing weights to raise metabolism, and and only really want to build muscle to burn fat.

good thoughts on introducing a new exercise to shock my body, but didn't i do that by introducing the cycle last week?

as for the run, varying times/distances/terrain is a great idea (and should help with boredom too)

as regards weights, i have been doing super-sets of 3 exercies per major muscle group X 10 reps X 3 sets. so that would be 90 reps total for arms, abs, shoulders, back, chest and legs

A Fit Body

what kind of a cycle is it? what kind of area you travelling through?
If its a city it might be a bit stop and start to be very effective

Maybe try a Spin class (indoor cycling) 45 mins so time savinf and excellent for burning fat

Also Cycling, running etc all exercises in the same plane, so maybe the odd kick boxing class or circuits class to, or see if there is a bag in your gym

estariol

MagicMarker wrote: »

Congratulations.

Of course you'll lose weight doing that, I'm just saying not everyone does it and they still manage to lose weight.

you've missed my point! the op was wondering why they were not shifting significant amounts of body fat, one of the points they raised was that they were cycling 200km a week. My point was that 2x20k's @55mins would not be likely to start fat catabolism.

The only way to effectively burn body fat is cardio, long continual sessions in the right heart rate zone, this is a widely accepted fact not my opinion.

MagicMarker

estariol wrote: »

you've missed my point! the op was wondering why they were not shifting significant amounts of body fat, one of the points they raised was that they were cycling 200km a week. My point was that 2x20k's @55mins would not be likely to start fat catabolism.

The only way to effectively burn body fat is cardio, long continual sessions in the right heart rate zone, this is a widely accepted fact not my opinion.

Well define long? Imo an average cardio session would be 30-45 minutes, and that's generally multiple forms of cardio, not just 45mins straight.

mloc

estariol wrote: »

none of that looks like fat busting, low intensity long duration cardio is the only way to 'burn' fat!

Could not be more wrong. Low intensity, long duration cardio is the single most ineffecient way to burn fat.

High intensity cardio, metabolism stimulating resistance training and correct dieting are far more effective in lowering body fat than low intensity cardio.

celestial

estariol wrote: »

you've missed my point! the op was wondering why they were not shifting significant amounts of body fat, one of the points they raised was that they were cycling 200km a week. My point was that 2x20k's @55mins would not be likely to start fat catabolism.

You're so, so wrong. Of course he will be burning fat - he will start burning it for energy very shortly after commencing exercising.

unreggd

estariol wrote: »

you've missed my point! the op was wondering why they were not shifting significant amounts of body fat, one of the points they raised was that they were cycling 200km a week. My point was that 2x20k's @55mins would not be likely to start fat catabolism.

The only way to effectively burn body fat is cardio, long continual sessions in the right heart rate zone, this is a widely accepted fact not my opinion.

Wrong

The idea behind "lower intensity for longer" is that you can go for longer, maybe over an hour, and therefore burn lots of calories

BUT, this wont improve cardiac strength/fitness level, and it wont increase your metabolism

You're metabolism increases to accommodate a higher, regular max of energy needs, like the way you grow muscle to accommodate the new, regular stress of weights

Intensity, Intensity, Intensity!!!!

ragg

estariol wrote: »

The only way to effectively burn body fat is cardio, long continual sessions in the right heart rate zone, this is a widely accepted fact not my opinion.

Couldn't agree less

romperstomper

In fairness city cycling is fairly stop-start, so should I be treating the cycle like HIT training? so alternate sprinting for a minute and taking it easy (obviously adjusting for traffic)? will this see more results than my current method which is to go for about 90% speed for the whole distance

I don't think I'd have the time for training 3 times a day if my cycle wasn't a commute

mloc123

tbf a week is nothing, give it a few weeks and see if you get any results.

mloc

mloc123 wrote: »

tbf a week is nothing, give it a few weeks and see if you get any results.

Deadly username!

ronbyrne2005

So whats the story with cardio. If i want to lose bodyfat and cant do HIIT will doing crosstrainer at 70-75% of max heart rate burn fat effectively?

remus808

rocky wrote: »

Sorry to interfere with the thread, but just wondering what website this is from? Looks very usefull.

I am currently cycling 20k about 3-4 times a week so hearing you are having little results from all your exertions is a bit depressing! Albeit I'd be significantly heavier than you, at least 3 stone overweight

cardio,shoot me

i believe thats fitday.com