Weight Loss for Cycling

[JerseyJoe]

I'd like to start a thread for members experience of trying to lose weight either for or by cycling. My own experience saw me lose 10kg in 18 months, weight which I've been able to keep stable for the past 12 years without too much effort or thought. I'm not particularly tall (5'9") and about a decade or so so I was obese. I didn't really know it, or understand the deleterious effects on my health, not until the cliche of catching yourself in a holiday photo. I was fat!

I'd like to caveat the thread by saying this really isn't about dieting, but more about what you eat, when you eat it and how much cycling can play a part in regulating and controlling both your weight and the food (and drink!) you consume.

[JerseyJoe]

Quite a good little starter intro here from BikeRadar with the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 'Don't Diet' style quote:

https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/nutrit ... ht-cycling

[crossy]

About 30 years ago I was 16 stone too heavy watched what I ate dropped to 11 stone. 10 1/2 stone when I was running a lot. Wifey thought I was ill you could see my ribs she took me to the doctor who said if you can still exercise don’t worry. Now 11st one 3 lb. I weigh my self once a week just to keep a check on it. I never really diet just watch what I eat. If the scales weigh too heavy I cut down on the food. I have to do it this way as I’m a right glutinous git I’m sure if i didn’t I’d be closer to 20 stone. I think diets don’t really work as you reduce your calories until you lose the weight then you go back to your normal diet. Unless you can maintain the way you eat the diet won’t work.

[JerseyJoe]

I was 14 and a half stone. It just creeps up on you. The clichéd holiday photo gave me a fright and I took to the scales.... I was definitely over eating and drinking. My local GP was a decent enough chap but didn't know anything about nutrition or losing weight. It's my experience that health professionals rarely have any clue about weight loss or healthy eating outside of the usual old tosh trotted out. I'd just come out of the RAF, living abroad and hating it, so I was keen to get my life (and my waistline) back on track.

Diabetes is rife in our family, so that was another real incentive to kick start an exercise regime. I did it slowly, over a period of 18 months, gradually increasing my cycling to about 8hrs a week and reducing my reliance on sugary foods and booze (I never ate a salad till I was 24!) and with a combination of high intensity training, weights and a lot of walking rather than driving, shaved off two and a half stone. The one thing I knew innately, without any science or medical advice was that my body had slowed down to a snails pace. I didn't know technically I was obese, nor that my metabolism had effectively stalled.

It probably saved my life. There isn't anyone in my mother's side of the family who does not have diabetes, it has taken 4 of them in the last decade. A lot of people put it off, and make excuses, but with the right regime and dare I say it, a good exercise programme it's relatively simple to lose 1kg per week. That doesn't sound a lot, but it's around 10kg every 3 months, about 1.5 stone. You'll thank yourself for it, and your body will thank you too

[JerseyJoe]

My first piece of advice is to get yourself a good set of digital scales. Preferably with fat measurement, some also do water content, and preferably with Bluetooth to connect to an app so you can measure and record results. I paid about £60 for mine and they are really accurate. It's not a good idea to weigh yourself every day, because there are fluctuations in fluids etc, try for twice a week.

It's a good idea to place them in a familiar place and NEVER move them. Always weigh yourself after your ablutions in the morning, and always wearing (or not!) the same type of clothing. I weigh myself in shorts and t shirt.

[Pinhead]

I was 22 stone, I have always been fat, fat Mother.

When I came home from school the average tea I had was a pound of sausages (at 12) 5 slices of bread and beans. NONE of my (single father) Autistic sons are over weight.

Two years ago I realised the only person my youngest autistic son has is me, 64, he 29, so I decided enough is enough. I would sweat in summer, hated walking.

I bought this and last year

We did have three bikes, I started to ride again, loved it, went 2 miles.

Two years on I am 13s 11lb, I am 100% fit, never been better and I mean 100% fit, I cycle every day it is sunny the 13 mile round trip to Tregaron for coffee and toast and marmalade.

Now 2 of those bikes have been converted to E bikes and I am happy to and do cycle36 miles round trip on sunny days to Aberystwyth, 50 minutes each way.

Life is GREAT, and I know unless I am killed on the road I will be there for my son a bit longer.

Here I was 14 stone 9 just back from a 35 mile ride and 100% SOAKED, I thought, cleverly, covid injection appointment cycle, idiot.

[Pinhead]

I have done it so I speak 100% from knowing.

You can NOT cut down on food, it does not work you have to change your lifestyle.

NO bread, cakes, biscuits, takeaways, chips, sausages, pies. Cut out all together. reducing them is fallacy and does not work.

In reality I now hate the taste of Mc Donalds and others, after 2 years I hate the fatty food, I now eat biscuits, toast and marmalade, and we have always had BBQs

[JerseyJoe]

I have done it so I speak 100% from knowing.

You can NOT cut down on food, it does not work you have to change your lifestyle.

NO bread, cakes, biscuits, takeaways, chips, sausages, pies. Cut out all together. reducing them is fallacy and does not work.

In reality I now hate the taste of Mc Donalds and others, after 2 years I hate the fatty food, I now eat biscuits, toast and marmalade, and we have always had BBQs

That's a great story! I now look on in pity at the queue for McDonald's, it's all processed junk, high in salt, fat and cholesterol. If you put a plate of salad in front of me 20 years ago I would never have touched it, now I can't get enough.

Changing your eating habits is not at all easy, it does take time, but eventually you come to dislike the foods you used to love, I'm not certain, but I think the body sort of rejects them as 'bad fuel'. I used to be an inveterate red wine drinker. I was travelling a lot with my job, mostly in Europe and could easily get through 2 bottles a day. That is a lot of calories, now I'm pretty much sold on soft drinks and diluting orange. I like the odd glass of whisky now and again, but I never over do it. My brother in law is an alcoholic. When he was drinking he went to to 18 stone, he is not a tall man. He stopped drinking about 5 years ago and has easily shed 6 stone, which he admits himself was probably generated by alcohol.

I'm not saying changing your eating and drinking habits are easy (it's taken me 10 years to fully transition), but it's so worth it to be healthy and have a spring in your step.

[ed.lazda]

Before and during the pandemic I lost about 4 stone over a period of 18 months. I did this by targetting my weaknesses (like many of you, I'm a bit of a glutton and don't have an "off" switch). I excluded biscuits, cakes, nibbles etc; paid attention to portion size; and stopped having second helpings. Other than that, I didn't really change what I ate. About half way through, I took up regular cycling after a long time off. The weight has stayed off, needing the occasional month or two of effort to keep it that way. I'm cycling about 10 hours a week, which in kcal burned equates to a bit more than a pound of fat a week. I feel a whole lot better for the loss of weight and increased fitness.

[JerseyJoe]

My second tip, aside from good digital scales, is to set reasonable, achievable goals. If you're 20 stone, your not going to get down to 12 stone by the summer! 2lbs a week is a good target, where you land or finish it's pretty much up to you. Personally I found my body rationalised the weight loss and when I got to 12 stone, it kinda said 'stop'. I'm in no way eating like a saint now, and enjoy a bit of cake and a beer it cycling, but I try and do that in the context of exercise. Cycling every day helps a lot also.

[crossy]

Cake, biscuits and sweets are my down fall so I don’t keep them in house. We make a cake or tart or pudding on a Saturday for the two of us made on Saturday gone by Sunday it doesn’t matter the sizes of it, it will be gone. The only thing I like from Macdonalds is an apple lava pie. I first ate burgers when I was in Germany fresh bun and burger on the grill with crispy onions and mayo after that Macdonalds just wouldn’t cut it. My favourite there was frikadell, chips and mayonnaise, currywurst. Yum yum.

[briansnail]

Eat more.Stuff your plate with veg.You will not want excess ice cream or cakes after.
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I ride Brompton,Hetchins 531

[axel_knutt]

My first piece of advice is to get yourself a good set of digital scales. Preferably with fat measurement, some also do water content, and preferably with Bluetooth to connect to an app so you can measure and record results. I paid about £60 for mine and they are really accurate. It's not a good idea to weigh yourself every day, because there are fluctuations in fluids etc, try for twice a week.

It's a good idea to place them in a familiar place and NEVER move them. Always weigh yourself after your ablutions in the morning, and always wearing (or not!) the same type of clothing. I weigh myself in shorts and t shirt.

The best way to deal with random fluctuation due to hydration level etc is to weigh as often as possible and average the data. On the chart I showed you on the other thread the weight data was plotted weekly, but each point on the chart is the average of 7 daily figures, and each of those daily figures is the mode or median of three steps onto the scale.

I doubt your scale is as accurate as you assume, all the ones I've used have rather poor repeatability because the load cells under each foot aren't accurately matched. (Note that if you're interested in monitoring weight change it's the repeatability that's important, more than overall accuracy.) The readings you get vary according to how you distribute your weight: left/right, toe/heel, so you can improve the repeatability by cultivating the art of distributing your weight evenly. Don't put the scale on a soft carpet, I have mine stood on a stout piece of 20mm blockboard.

I have done it so I speak 100% from knowing.

You can NOT cut down on food, it does not work you have to change your lifestyle.

NO bread, cakes, biscuits, takeaways, chips, sausages, pies. Cut out all together. reducing them is fallacy and does not work.

In reality I now hate the taste of Mc Donalds and others, after 2 years I hate the fatty food, I now eat biscuits, toast and marmalade, and we have always had BBQs

About 16 years ago I noticed a Xanthelasma in the corner of my eye, and thanks to a TV doctor I recognised that as a sign of high cholesterol, so I decided to reduce my fat intake. What I didn't do was jump to conclusions about where all the fat was coming from though. Instead of just cutting out all the 'junk food' from my shopping list I took 8 months of till receipts and totted up how much actual fat there was in my diet, and where it was all coming from.

What I found was that the majority of the fat was coming from just a handful of products (whole milk, margarine, corned beef, cheese, & pate) and that I could make a far bigger reduction in my fat intake by selectively removing those foodstuffs than by removing all the products that I just assumed would be the culprits. A bigger improvement, and without having to turn my entire menu on its head. This is known as the Pareto Principle: in most systems, the majority of an effect derives from just a minority of the causes.

In my diet containing over 200 different foodstuffs, in each of the different macronutrient categories, 70% of the total intake comes from just the top ten items:

[853]

Eat more.Stuff your plate with veg.You will not want excess ice cream or cakes after.
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That's what I've been doing for decades. Like a lot of people, I don't really have an OFF button when it comes to eating. Fortunately, we had an allotment when I was growing up, so there was always a lot of veg in the house. I've never reached 11 stone and I'm 5'8". I eat until my stomach is full, but when two-thirds of your diet is vegetables your weight doesn't increase.

[Pinhead]

Eat more.Stuff your plate with veg.You will not want excess ice cream or cakes after.
********************************************************

That's what I've been doing for decades. Like a lot of people, I don't really have an OFF button when it comes to eating. Fortunately, we had an allotment when I was growing up, so there was always a lot of veg in the house. I've never reached 11 stone and I'm 5'8". I eat until my stomach is full, but when two-thirds of your diet is vegetables your weight doesn't increase.

There are still calories in veg, remember SWEET corn, high in starch etc, sweet potatoes, fruit, lay off bananas