Losing weight or cycling

LennoxR

Hi folks, longtime reader, first time poster.

I just got back into cycling last year after a break of about 5 years. In my 20s I was quite a strong climber due to being small and fairly light, but now (32) I'm finding it hard to shift the kilos no matter how much cycling I do. I get out most weekends with some friends in Wicklow.

Any ideas on how to get rid of excess flab?

seamus

It's all down to diet.

You can cycle like a mofo, but if you don't eat properly you won't lose weight.

Work out how many calories you burn during an average day. Record what you eat and aim to eat 10% less than you burn every day.

It's that simple.

LennoxR

seamus wrote: »

It's all down to diet.

You can cycle like a mofo, but if you don't eat properly you won't lose weight.

Work out how many calories you burn during an average day. Record what you eat and aim to eat 10% less than you burn every day.

It's that simple.

Sounds like a plan. Pity all the bad stuff tastes so good though.

Thanks.

Ps the title should read 'for cycling'.

Dubba

Cycle loads, smaller portions and even skipping a meal here and there helps. I went from 92kg to 76kg in a few years doing this and don't follow a strict diet.

StickyMcGinty

Record your diet using a tool like this

It's a pain at the start but you'll get in to the swing of it. you dont need to do it every day, but essentially you need to know ballpark how many cal's your putting into you each day

Use something like this to figure out how many cals you burn each day just by being awake (Basal metabolic rate - BMR calculator)

Then invest €60 in a heart rate monitor (got mine from here), wear it during each cycle. Again it'll give you a ball park calorie burn during your cycle.

You will not lose weight unless your burning more cals per day than you're taking in, as seamus says above it's that simple.

1 pound of fat is around 3500 calories so aiming to be under by this amount per week is a good place to start

LennoxR

Dubba wrote: »

Cycle loads, smaller portions and even skipping a meal here and there helps. I went from 92kg to 76kg in a few years doing this and don't follow a strict diet.

Thing is though, after say 80 km in the hills in winter you get hungry, you need to eat lots to replenish your batteries. Don't you do yourself damage too if you don't eat enough after a spin?

(Ok that only applies to the immediate aftermath of a hard spin).

nattyguest

Recommend Sticky's post with myfitnesspal - Not only do you track your calories but you eventually train yourself to identify what is going to have a big hit or not. I'm down 6kg since the end of December just by managing calories. Example, wife picked up pork pies on the final day offer in tesco for 25c, down from 2 euro something. 404 calories per little pie! Needless to say, I steered clear.

StickyMcGinty

Dubba wrote: »

Cycle loads, smaller portions and even skipping a meal here and there helps. I went from 92kg to 76kg in a few years doing this and don't follow a strict diet.

I find it better to eat 5 smaller meals a day instead of skipping - speeds up the metabolism so when you do go on the beer or eat something high in cal's the body works it off a bit quicker

Dubba

LennoxR wrote: »

Thing is though, after say 80 km in the hills in winter you get hungry, you need to eat lots to replenish your batteries. Don't you do yourself damage too if you don't eat enough after a spin?

(Ok that only applies to the immediate aftermath of a hard spin).

Yeah I wouldn't recommend not eating while on and after a hard spin. I just eat relatively healthy stuff, like no take-away's and such.

Another good way to lose weight is if your doing an early morning short spin / commute (sub 1 hour), have your breakfast afterwards.

Leroy42

6kg since December! Wow, well done.

@LennoxR - of course you have to eat properly to keep cycling, and the 30 minutes to 2 hours (depending on what you read) is a very important window for refilling the reverses you depleted.

However, as nattyguest alluded to, it all depend on what you eat. Sit down with a chocolate cake, and some coke or sit down with a glass of chocolate milk and some toast.

I'm big into my sweets & drinks etc so find that the best way for me is to cut out the small things. No butter on your toast, just marmalade, avoid fry ups, cut down on beer. If like me you love deserts, then avoid a starter (avoid both really but I have to have something to enjoy).

Avoid pasta sauces, just use some olive oil etc. It's amazing how many empty calories we take in each day and getting rid of them won't make too much difference (but takes a bit of gettig used to!).

I tend to tr to be quite strict during the week, but at the weekend I don't worry about it too much.

petethedrummer

LennoxR wrote: »

Any ideas on how to get rid of excess flab?

Eat a bit less than you're eating now.

nattyguest

I think it's also important to find a routine that works for you. My big flaw was that I would cook fresh in the morning, go to work, and eat the fresh cooked food five hours later (after morning snack, usually fruit) - the problem is that I'm a fussy eater so five hours of my food sweating in a tub made it taste foul. I would pick at it, poke at it and then head to the machine for two twix bars.

Now I cook fresh in the morning, have half it there and then, half it as the morning snack, some fruit for lunch, and then later on (depends on your shift and so forth of course, I work odd hours) I have my warm weetabix with canderel which fulfills my sweet need as well as being healthy.

PS I found the Actifry to be an absolute godsend in terms of time saving as well as cutting back on oil. Bung your food in while you shower, come back and it's ready

Dubba

nattyguest wrote: »

Bung your food in while you shower

You shower in the kitchen :eek:

seamus

LennoxR wrote: »

Thing is though, after say 80 km in the hills in winter you get hungry, you need to eat lots to replenish your batteries. Don't you do yourself damage too if you don't eat enough after a spin?

(Ok that only applies to the immediate aftermath of a hard spin).

"Eat lots", not really. Though it depends on the individual. It's really easy to come in from a hard spin, feel great about yourself and then sit down to two meals worth of food. I've done it myself. Toasted cheese salad sandwich, half a kilo of soup, topped off with a delicious cream cake. For lunch.

But you don't need to stuff yourself after a spin. A normal meal will do just fine. Throw a little extra on top if you want, a small reward, but you don't need to eat significantly more after a spin.

Donelson

It is very easy to fall into the post training treat trap.
If the point of a session is to burn calories and you come home and your starving, then you are training at too high an intensity.
The only thing that worked for me was to back off in the session until I don't NEED that sugary boost when I got home!

Just my 2c

petethedrummer

nattyguest wrote: »

and then head to the machine for two twix bars.

Nothing beats the fresh taste of a Twix.

route66

LennoxR wrote: »

Hi folks, longtime reader, first time poster.

I just got back into cycling last year after a break of about 5 years. In my 20s I was quite a strong climber due to being small and fairly light, but now (32) I'm finding it hard to shift the kilos no matter how much cycling I do. I get out most weekends with some friends in Wicklow.

Any ideas on how to get rid of excess flab?

Read The Hacker's Diet - link

Written By John Walker, this guy developed Autocad and then sold it and made a nice bundle. With some free time on his hands, he embarked on a "project" to loose weight and recorded his thoughts and theories in the book. It's a very pragmatic approach to dieting.

And it's free!

ugsparky

Hello LennoxR

I'm a bit like yourself only a few years older ... This works and is working for me. I was 95kg, now I'm 84kg and still losing a little bit (since last summer). I combine cycling with a healthy food diet - no processed food from packets, light milk, low fat spread, cut down on alcohol and grill or oven cook things with small amounts of olive oil. My Wife has recently got the all clear from a thyroid problem and she has embarked on a lifestyle to cut down her weight ... she makes lots of home made soups using plenty of vegetables and chicken and then stores them in the freezer until we're ready to use them. I work 12 hour and 10.5 hour shifts - for lunch I bring soup, fruit, low fat yogurt/rice. I drink coffee/tea without sugar and try to drink plenty of water with light cranberry juice or low sugar lemon/orange. I eat very little whole meal bread - I eat Quaker porridge with apple/cinnamon or forest fruits for breakfast - sometimes with additional bannana or cranberries/blackberries mixed through it. The porridge is great - keeps you going all morning. The soup is filling and you can eat as much as you want - some fruit and yoghurt keeps you going. Dinner will be chicken or fish with two spuds and lots of veg. No processed food - that is important - and plenty of water. After time you wont have a sweet tooth - in fact you will crave bitter sweet taste like pineapple or grapefruit. Anything too sweet or greasy/oily I find actually lies on my stomach and makes me feel quesy and bloated !!! Wine in moderation on the weekend - not too much if you're going out for an early morning spin (best time tbh). At the minute I'm doing about 3 X 30km spins a week either on my exercise bike indoors or wrapped up on the road bike (I find it hard breathing freezing cold air into my chest) - I know I can still spin out 60km without discomfort, so I'm confident I'll be up to 80/100km by end of March. You don't have to starve yourself or bust yourself on the bike - just control the calories and drink plenty of water - set yourself reasonable goals on the bike. Then as you start to lose the weight - trust me - you can't wait to get out on your bike to try and rip a few hills !!! Hope this helps - it works/ is working for me.

on_the_nickel

Longer, easy rides are more effective than going hard for a shorter time.

Generally speaking, regular 3 hour plus rides will shift it, even if you don't greatly change your diet. But you'll probably find your diet will improve naturally as you get fitter, you won't feel the need to graze on crap.

C3PO

LennoxR wrote: »

I get out most weekends with some friends in Wicklow.

Not sure what you mean by this but if you're talking 2-3 hours per weekend then you will defiantly need to look at your diet if you want to lose weight! Most people will burn between 500-600 calories per hour while they are cycling so you are probably burning about 1500 calories cycling per week? And by your own admission you're inclined to have a good feed when you come in (don't we all!) so some of the benefit of the cycle (in terms of calorie burn) will be lost! Given that you need a deficit of about 3500 calories to lose a pound of body weight you will need to either cycle a lot more or eat less in order to speed up your weight loss!

Having said that it only takes some small(ish) changes to make a significant difference. I've lost close to 25kgs since I started cycling about four years ago by a combination of lots of bike time and cutting out sweets, biscuits etc!

johnk123

I won't comment on your diet, but I will share one thing about my own experiences with weight loss and diet change. I lived abroad with my family until I was 13, moved home and gained weight through school.. didn't really matter to me as I never really got any bullying etc for being heavy and I played school rugby and while I was heavy, I was also relatively fit for the size so being the guy to take the crash balls worked in my favour..... I wasn't morbidly obese or anything, but definitely overweight and just a bit pudgy around the face and everywhere else!

Towards the end of school I wasn't really happy with myself (bit embarassing to admit and call it vein or whatever you want) but I didn't like the excess weight and how it made me look and feel so set about shifting it. It's all about diet, and changing your eating habits. I feel genuinely disgusting thinking back about what I used to eat.... muffins a few times a week with my tea in school? Soup and 3 slices of mammys brown bread when I came in from training, then shower and THEN my dinner after.. usually two portions? Genuinely disgusts me thinking back on it. Of course it was an awkward stage of ones life to start making changes and I never wanted to admit that I was trying to 'lose weight' at the time, if you understand where I'm coming from?


Anyway, I just changed the diet slowly and eventually my eating habits changed with it. Granted, I slowly moved away from rugby and started running most evenings instead as I preferred it and it was good for clearing the head while studying. (Still is!!) But even with this excercise, which I would have considered more intense than my rugby training ever was in school, I still would not have got to where I did without diet change.


This might sound stupid to a lot of people here, but I 'rediscovered' fruit big time... changed up my breakfast completely. With breakfast, i find a lot of people either don't get enough(or none at all!), or over do it. I used to 'need' about 3 bowls of cereal to feel full, and I'd still be snacking at 11 no matter what. So I changed, and started back on the porridge. (I hated porridge so chopped in bananas or berries or apples to make it tasty) Now, I think it's delicious. If I didn't want porridge, I'd have an egg on toast or something.. I also have some good smoothie recipies I found and invented a few, through in some porridge oats in teh blender and they keep you full..... the calories in cereal are retty high and you don't get much value out of them.

I won't go through everthing I changed as I doubt anybody is still reading this by now.. but long story short, it's about changing your diet and changing it for good. Friends from college have come to my house down home and seen pictures of me with the extra weight and ask who is that???... yeah I know I know.. tear tear and all that, but point I'm trying to make is that I changed everything about my body and my fitness by changing the food I was putting into my mouth. Cut out the crap and replace it with healthy alternatives. Everyone needs nice things and treats... but a twix a day ain't gonna do anything for you. Eat berries, they're delicious and sweet.

Sad thing was, I surprised myself by actually being half decent at endurance sports in the end of it all! Lost huge weight and body fat... Coming to College I got involved in a lot of sports, did Vo2 max testing etc etc and scored up their with people I would never have imagined myself as ever being that fit.

To OP, if you made it this far, just look after the food you put into your mouth and think about everything you eat and the weight you are trying to lose. Bring a camelbak around with you and sip all day. As others have said, ease off on the overloading post-cycle feast (We all love it, and I'm sure have all done it too! :P) One spin at the weekend won't be enough, so if you can get the heart moving mid-week with a light run or something Im sure that would help. Best of luck with shifting the last few! They're always the trickiest! And I now hope I don't read this after I post it and die of embarrassment....

Cee-Jay-Cee

I've lost 11kg since last June when i started cycling after a 15 yr hiatus. I also changed my diet and cut out all crisps, chocolate, coke etc etc and started eating a proper breakfast every morning, fruit for lunch and a proper dinner in the evening. I don't count calories or measure portions but i also dont eat till i'm stuffed. I would estimate that 90% of my weight loss was from diet alone and the rest from cycling.

I haven't been out for a spin since early December and my weight has remained constant, even over christmas. Diet is the biggest part of losing weight, excercise can help you to keep the weight off and help you tone up but unless your planning on putting in serious amount of time in the saddle then you wont lose that much weight if you dont alter your diet accordingly.

Myksyk

Started cycling in September last year. Weighed 80.3kg the morning of my first spin. Weigh 71.8kg now.

I changed my diet significantly primarily for health reasons as opposed to weight - cut out almost all bread and milk, cakes, biscuits ... you know yourself. Good breakfast now of porridge with honey, protein drink and a boiled egg, good lunch, fruit thru the day, and actually more recently sometimes a second 'dinner' meal in the evening of steak or chicken with brown rice and greens, tho usually things like lo-fat yoghurts, fresh fruit, cheese, crackers, salami, smoked salmon, etc. Evening is difficult because I was in a habit of grazing all the time but I'm finding that I'm training myself to realise I don't need to be eating after 9 or 10 at night.

I'm beginning to do strength sessions 2-3 times per week at home, some running at the gym and 3-4 sessions on the bike each week (typically amounting to about 150-180k per week). I'm actually thinking now that I have to push the weight back up to about 74k-ish. The combination of no-crap diet and a good amount of exercise is making a very big difference. I am sensitive to its sustainability so I'm trying not to make it too demanding but at the moment I'm happy.