Peter Hitchens on cycling and weight loss

Pebble
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Re: Peter Hitchens on cycling and weight loss

Post by Pebble »

Dingdong wrote: 6 May 2022, 11:33pm
Nearholmer wrote: 29 Apr 2022, 12:41pm It’s worth being very wary of the “men need 2500kcal each day” thing too.

Just out of curiosity, I monitored my calorie burn on ‘non cycling’ days by using a Fitbit watch for a while, and assuming it to be accurate if demonstrated that c2500kcal amounts to a pretty busy/active day. When I was working full time and commuting I did get through that, like wise of at home on a busy day, or on a day out, but have an easy day, go to the cinema, spend s couple of hours driving somewhere and ….. far less energy burned. I reckon an easy day only uses 1500-1800.
I think (from experience of using a variety of fit watches) you have to be very sceptical of any feedback you get from them. It's rarely accurate and is really just a good guess by a relatively simple algorithm. Measuring calorie expenditure is fiendishly complicated, but I did see a good Ted talk which explains the mechanism of losing weight, which actually boils down to the exhalation of carbon dioxide. 84% of fat burned is exhaled in the form of CO2, it is actually burned off, and the by product is a gas.
we are very similar to the internal combustion engine, people and cars both lose weight as we burn the fuel that was created by the sun, we attach oxygen to the carbon and release it back to where it once come from. its all the same principle
David2504
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Re: Peter Hitchens on cycling and weight loss

Post by David2504 »

Eat food, not too much, mainly plants
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foxyrider
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Re: Peter Hitchens on cycling and weight loss

Post by foxyrider »

Jdsk wrote: 6 May 2022, 2:05pm
Blondie wrote: 6 May 2022, 1:42pm But is there a correlation between cycling and weight? If you took 10,000 people who cycled at least 4-5 days a week throughout the year, and had done for many years, and compared that to 10,000 sedentary people, how would their weights compare stratified by age and gender etc?
It might depend on which factors you match, but I'd expect the frequent cyclists to have lower body mass.

But there would be many possible causes.

Jonathan
which makes no allowance for people like myself, i have 24" thighs, all muscle and my leg bones are quite impressive too, my upper body by comparison is quite weedy which throws out any BM assumptions, i ride @ 3-400km every week and walk on the days i don't ride. My weight sits @ 88kg give or take, nothing i do seems to make more than a temporary difference - starvation rides, diets, you name it, i've tried it. The medical professionals i've spoken to have been more concerned about physical fitness than pigeonholing with BMI, they are aware that 'ideal' weight will be different for different people, BM is an indicator tool not a requirement.
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
Dingdong
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Re: Peter Hitchens on cycling and weight loss

Post by Dingdong »

The only time I've ever lost weight by cycling alone is on consecutive day tours. I did a tour of Italy and northern Spain some years ago, riding 70-90 miles a day, every day for two weeks. With no rest days.

I ate like a Trojan, but still managed to come back over a stone and a half lighter. Of course I put the weight straight back on again, within a matter of weeks. But my reasoning is that by doing consecutive days hard riding, carrying maybe 25kg of gear my energy deficit (the difference between energy intake and output) was so great, I was probably burning between 8-10k calories per day. It was the beginning of summer in Spain when we got there and the heat was something I shall never forget .

I remember reading somewhere that the body can only process around 3500 cals per day, the rest being excreted in one form or other. So given that it takes an energy deficit of 3500 cals to burn one pound of fat, I was probably burning through 1.5lbs per day, which tallies with my overall weight loss on my return. I've had the same experience with long walking tours, carrying a heavy bag full of camping gear.
Jdsk
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Re: Peter Hitchens on cycling and weight loss

Post by Jdsk »

Dingdong wrote: 8 May 2022, 1:09amI remember reading somewhere that the body can only process around 3500 cals per day, the rest being excreted in one form or other.
It's much higher than that.

But (very nearly) everything that we consume is excreted, the question here seems to be whether it is metabolised or not, for example to carbon dioxide as mentioned above.

Jonathan
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foxyrider
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Re: Peter Hitchens on cycling and weight loss

Post by foxyrider »

Jdsk wrote: 8 May 2022, 9:29am
Dingdong wrote: 8 May 2022, 1:09amI remember reading somewhere that the body can only process around 3500 cals per day, the rest being excreted in one form or other.
It's much higher than that.

But (very nearly) everything that we consume is excreted, the question here seems to be whether it is metabolised or not, for example to carbon dioxide as mentioned above.

Jonathan
Pretty sure its @ 5500 cals - pro riders on the big tours struggle to replenish on a daily basis and can lose up to a couple of stone over 3 weeks.
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
cyclop
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Re: Peter Hitchens on cycling and weight loss

Post by cyclop »

Two stone?????? 28lbs for a professional bike rider,already honed down to the nth degree?Am I missing something?I believe the true figure is 3 to 5%.For easy maths,assume an average weight of tour rider at 150lbs,which gives 4.5lbs - 7.5lbs of weight loss,a much more reasonable figure I would think.
jois
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Re: Peter Hitchens on cycling and weight loss

Post by jois »

foxyrider wrote: 7 May 2022, 8:21pm
Jdsk wrote: 6 May 2022, 2:05pm
Blondie wrote: 6 May 2022, 1:42pm But is there a correlation between cycling and weight? If you took 10,000 people who cycled at least 4-5 days a week throughout the year, and had done for many years, and compared that to 10,000 sedentary people, how would their weights compare stratified by age and gender etc?
It might depend on which factors you match, but I'd expect the frequent cyclists to have lower body mass.

But there would be many possible causes.

Jonathan
which makes no allowance for people like myself, i have 24" thighs, all muscle and my leg bones are quite impressive too, my upper body by comparison is quite weedy which throws out any BM assumptions, i ride @ 3-400km every week and walk on the days i don't ride. My weight sits @ 88kg give or take, nothing i do seems to make more than a temporary difference - starvation rides, diets, you name it, i've tried it. The medical professionals i've spoken to have been more concerned about physical fitness than pigeonholing with BMI, they are aware that 'ideal' weight will be different for different people, BM is an indicator tool not a requirement.
I had a wake up call in my mid 50s about fitness generaly and my weight in particular, went to the doctors and was given diet and exercise sheets. The excercise were particularly undemanding and the diet reaaly dull.

So I ignored all of them and took up a stiff excercise regime, and carried on living on kebabs etal

Returned ,18 monts later with rippling muscles and visible abs, Ushered to the scale and told I was still borderline obese and I had to try harder, lost faith in them after that
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