Exercise and weight loss?

[JBoaB]

I think exercise is more about a healthy lifestyle than anything else. It can be part of a weight loss effect but it's more a positive lifestyle that promotes the weight loss not the exercise itself exactly, it's just to small by comparison. The Tour De France cyclists might not be able to overcome the calorie deficit of their excursions but most mortals (of which I am one) can easily overtake the in/out ratio if they eat the wrong things. The fact is people with a fitness ethic will probably be less inclined to binge on cheap plentiful processes food because they are more likely to be eating well as part of their lifestyle.

I think the mental advantage in an exercise regime is the most important aspect. While 30 minutes cycling might only be equivalent to 3/4 of a mars bar it is the positive mental attitude that counts. Calories were a unit developed for steam engines not humans. Steam engines don't nip off down the chippy when they feel hungry. I think the part of the article that was most important was that it's what we eat more than how much. Our diet is bombarded by cheap processed food rather than fresh whole food. Exercise is pushed as an alternative by the people that want to keep selling this stuff. It's a commercial thing and nobodies going to stop McTessco, it's just too powerful a body at the moment. Exercise is good but it can't solve the problems of poor diet on it's own.

[Richard D]

I've spent the last eight weeks shovelling food in as fast as it will go (between 3,000 and 4,000 calories most days), and although I am now doing a gentle 500m walk three times a day, for seven weeks I wasn't even doing that. And I've out on one single pound.

The answer? Smash your femur. It takes so many calories to heal that (and replace the lost blood etc) that you can eat pretty well as much as you want. Bit extreme, though, and it buggered up my audaxing, cycle commuting and mileage target of 150 miles per week.

For the rest, my past experience has been that exercise alone won't help you to lose weight, as you need to fuel the exercise. But exercising does kickstart the metabolism, and building new muscle and fitness will also consume calories.

As I now have fairly mediocre muscles in my right leg and sod all muscle on my left leg, I'm looking forward to dropping another stone and a half once I start to build those leg muscles back up. Not there yet, though, as the left leg is still held together by a rubbery blood clot (and a chuffing great titanium rod).

[JBoaB]

The answer? Smash your femur.

I've heard of the F-Plan Diet but I'd always assumed it referred to high 'Fibre'....

Good luck on the comeback trail. I'm guessing you have a grizzly war story behind the injury, my loss of fitness has been down to choice (with a smidgen of knee surgery but not that major).

My bucket list includes 'doing a century' each year for as long as I'm capable so audaxers are a bit of a hollowed* group to me. I'm about as far away at the minute but I think I might fit the 1st one in before the years out.

*maybe should have been hallowed???

[beardy]

The answer? Smash your femur.

I've heard of the F-Plan Diet but I'd always assumed it referred to high 'Fibre'....

Good luck on the comeback trail. I'm guessing you have a grizzly war story behind the injury, my loss of fitness has been down to choice (with a smidgen of knee surgery but not that major).

My bucket list includes 'doing a century' each year for as long as I'm capable so audaxers are a bit of a hollowed group to me. I'm about as far away at the minute but I think I might fit the 1st one in before the years out.

I think it is all those days and nights in the saddle talking about the same things, with the same people, on the same roads, over and over again that have taken it out of us.

[JBoaB]

The answer? Smash your femur.

I've heard of the F-Plan Diet but I'd always assumed it referred to high 'Fibre'....

Good luck on the comeback trail. I'm guessing you have a grizzly war story behind the injury, my loss of fitness has been down to choice (with a smidgen of knee surgery but not that major).

My bucket list includes 'doing a century' each year for as long as I'm capable so audaxers are a bit of a hollowed group to me. I'm about as far away at the minute but I think I might fit the 1st one in before the years out.

I think it is all those days and nights in the saddle talking about the same things, with the same people, on the same roads, over and over again that have taken it out of us.

I'd blame dyslexia but it's more down to being a bit dim. I think the brain had picked it up but didn't pass the message on to the fingers.

[bazzo]

I am on the mead diet as used by the Vikings, I lost three days this week.

[axel_knutt]

I'm on a Mediterranean diet, I get all my burgers from McDonalds in Venice.

[al_yrpal]

Having lost 48lbs last year, a 'bit' has crept back on. 6 weeks abroad in places where the 'full english' experience was on offer did a lot of damage, especially last weeks 'all you can eat' experience at a fatties hotel in Cyprus. All those new medium size tee shirts I purchased are now uncomfortably tight and because all the XL ones went to Sue Ryder I am left with only a small number of large ones to get on with.

Thus I am back on the diet with MyFitnessPal which is telling me to eat up to 1330 calories per day. This is quite hard to achieve. My way of doing it is to eat about 1600 calories per day and reduce it substantially by doing anything from 250 to 800 calories of exercise, mostly cycling but some walking. The dieting pattern that I use is a small amount of muesli and a banana for breakfast. A salad or a single roll and piece of fruit for lunch and three carefully chosen courses for an evening dinner starting with a low calorie homemade soup and fruit and ice cream for desert. One glass of wine or a whiskey or G and T per day as a treat. No snacks. An hour of fairly vigorous cycling shifts about 600 calories. Last time I used this approach I averaged 1.3 lbs per week. Exercise definately works as an adjunct to a calorie controlled diet, its not the most effective way of losing weight but used in tbe way I do it makes restricting what you eat more tolerable.

Like all diets my first 5 days resulted in a 4 lb immediate weight loss which is quite satisfying. Now I must stay out of the pub, stay in control on meals out, but look forward to a bit of a binge at Christmas and getting back into medium tee shirts.

Al

[Zimba]

Try replacing your lunchtime roll with a large banana. It's a good slow release carb and at 80cals probably about a third of the calories. I've tried a diet like this with 300-350 cal main meals (a LOT of vegetables, a plate full of veg = roughly 50cals) and snack on more veg in the evening. Riding about 180-250 miles a week I was pretty effortlessly losing 2.5-3lbs a week which cut my dieting period (which I hate! ) from 13 to 6 weeks.

'Vigorous' cycling will burn about 5-600 cals an hour, but you'd have to be averaging 17-18mph, over terrain. About 250-350cals is normal for the average cyclist. Most people over estimate the work rate they do, I blame these silly Apps!

[loch eck steve]

you also need to remember that muscle weighs heavier then fat , so on any exercise regime you would initially lose weight as you lost fat , but then gain it again slightly as you gained muscle . A better indicator would be how you felt in yourselve rather then what the scales say.

[SpunOut]

As stated above it is all about how well you feel. When you have to make that quick dash across the road and you feel light and powerful you suddenly realize you are now fit, and no longer a struggling fatty:)

Scales are a good indication of how well you are doing at the start when you have a lot of jelly to loose but as you get fitter and leaner they become less important. imo.

Muscle is denser than fat so can make you heavier for the same size but you will look a lot better, feel a lot better, and muscle consumes more calories than fat.

Once you have developed an appetite and an ability to perform large amounts of exercise, and have developed a fit and muscular body you only have to worry about getting enough calories. Don't use it as an excuse to constantly eat rubbish though.

[Mark1978]

As stated above it is all about how well you feel. When you have to make that quick dash across the road and you feel light and powerful you suddenly realize you are now fit, and no longer a struggling fatty:)

There's been times during the summer where I've lost weight and start to feel quite powerful on the bike and hills which I've struggled with I've floated up. But the quick dash across the road still kills me every time!

[al_yrpal]

Its 17 days since I restarted my diet and exercise regime and in that time I have shifted 8 lbs. Looking at the weight loss graph the rate has slowed right down but I am down to the last notch on my belt. The exercise component consists of a hilly 10 mile + ride most days and decent brisk walks on other days. I am still over a stone heavier than I got to in 2014 so theres a long way to go. I find that the key to losing weight is to choose a moderate regime which can be sustained, one that doesnt leave you extremely hungry or tired out. I really look forward to my lunchtime salad and fruit with my evening meal. Everyone is different and what I do works well for me. The belly that appeared has practically disappeared so the vanity aspect is satisfied, now to get back comfortably into the slimmer clothes in the wardrobe.

Al