Weight Loss & Cycling - Help!!

OK here goes. Last week I weighed myself, and almost had a heart attack. Well, at the weight the
scales showed I figured it was kind of inevitable anyway so why delay?

I want to lose weight and not too long ago bought myself a very nice new flat bar road bike, upon
which I have become no more than an occasional rider. I want to do more but, as yet, my brain will
not allow me to do so. The trouble is that I am a tad confused about diet, exercise etc etc, as well
as inherently lazy due to years of inactivity and a serious knee injury.

In the hope that someone is able to help me I thought I'd ask specific questions rather than be
generalist in approach:

1. I currently ride around 20 miles per week at a moderate pace, on roughly 3 outings. Is
this enough?

2. I weigh 16st at 5 feet 11 tall. Common opinion states I need to eat around 2500 cals a day but
does this allow for the above exercise?

3. When I return from a ride I am starving. No I mean starving and the urge to gorge on anything I
lay eyes upon is almost overwhelming, except my dog and my girlfriend. What should I eat and how
soon afterwards so as not to counteract the purpose of my ride?

4. After a long day at work, incorporating a 100 mile commute, how the hell can I motivate myself
to stick to a riding/exercise routine? I love riding, I want to ride, but my body will not
always allow me to go outside the house!

I'm sure the above is a parody of what many beginners have felt. The request for help is serious, if
with a humourous slant.

Thanks in advance.

A

I used to have a similar problem to you. First things first. Number one priority - you MUST stop
eating bread, pasta, potatoes and rice after six in the evening. MUST. You might say this is low in
calories so why bother? The problem is that they are VERY high in carbohydrates. So, you might
think, I thought that was a good thing. Well, it is, during the day. However, what are carbs used
for? Energy right? So why do you need energy when you are asleep in the pit for eight hours? You
don't. So what does the millions of years old metabolsim think? I'll store that as fat. Trust me, I
know from experience. Just by doing this one simple thiung alone you can lose three pounds a week at
least. That's on top of you rgeneral dieting and exercise. Read this:

http://www.lamuscle.com/warp/navigate.php3?d=archive&o=

It really works, believe me.

As for the cycling part of your question, there are greater experts thatn me here. However, try to
aim in getting a good "burn" in the muscles just above your knee - the quadriceps - and a good sweat
on. IF you can do this three times a week, for an hour each ride then you are on the right track.
You need to do a lot more cycling in order to achieve this. I do twenty miles, three times a week. I
am getting into road biking and I am struggling for suggestions for a bike.

Hope this helps somewhat.

Steve

"Anno Mundi" <annomundi@lycos.co.uk> wrote in message news:bfs64c$t83$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> OK here goes. Last week I weighed myself, and almost had a heart attack. Well, at the weight the
> scales showed I figured it was kind of inevitable anyway so why delay?
>
> I want to lose weight and not too long ago bought myself a very nice new flat bar road bike, upon
> which I have become no more than an occasional rider. I want to do more but, as yet, my brain will
> not allow me to do
so.
> The trouble is that I am a tad confused about diet, exercise etc etc, as well as inherently lazy
> due to years of inactivity and a serious knee injury.
>
> In the hope that someone is able to help me I thought I'd ask specific questions rather than be
> generalist in approach:
>
> 1. I currently ride around 20 miles per week at a moderate pace, on
roughly
> 3 outings. Is this enough?
>
> 2. I weigh 16st at 5 feet 11 tall. Common opinion states I need to eat around 2500 cals a day but
> does this allow for the above exercise?
>
> 3. When I return from a ride I am starving. No I mean starving and the urge to gorge on anything
> I lay eyes upon is almost overwhelming, except
my
> dog and my girlfriend. What should I eat and how soon afterwards so as
not
> to counteract the purpose of my ride?
>
> 4. After a long day at work, incorporating a 100 mile commute, how the
hell
> can I motivate myself to stick to a riding/exercise routine? I love
riding,
> I want to ride, but my body will not always allow me to go outside the house!
>
> I'm sure the above is a parody of what many beginners have felt. The request for help is serious,
> if with a humourous slant.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> A

> 2. I weigh 16st at 5 feet 11 tall. Common opinion states I need to eat around 2500 cals a day but
> does this allow for the above exercise?

oh, i remember the days when i was soooo lean

well ... keep on here for your cycling info, etc and take a trip into alt.support.diet (newsgroup)
for the actual food side of your diet - give them an idea of what your eating roughly during a
normal day and say a normal weekend day and how much exercise your doing and the tips and info
should be forthcoming a plenty

the only diet things i'll say is you have to find one that you can do and keep doing .. forget crash
diets, forget trying to trick the body into this or that, what it all boils down to is energy in -
energy out = if decifit then lose, if not then maintain or gain but if you lose weight without
learning to eat properly then you'll only gain if you then go and stop a diet so really its
relearning how to eat for life

but overall more exercise and generally eating more healthy are good initial motivations ... you can
fine tune your diet with info from the cycle group and the diet one ... and if you wish to track it
all if your the sort that likes that sort of thing then take a look at:-

www.fitday.com

anyway, im drunk and going to bed ... good luck on your quest ... its one very close to me heart!

The Oracle <kojaknospam@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> I used to have a similar problem to you. First things first. Number one priority - you MUST stop
> eating bread, pasta, potatoes and rice after six in the evening. MUST.

I'm not sure you are completely right about that. There was an article in the Independent a couple
of weeks ago that disputed the saying that 'everything you eat just before going to bed turns to
fat'. A dietician said it didnt matter what you ate before bed - if you have eaten too much that
day, you will be putting on weight,no matter when it was eaten.Your body will burn off the calories
you require at any time of the day, so long as you dont 'binge', and overload your system. It boils
down to only eat the amount of calories that you will likely burn through the day.Eat more and you
put on weight.

There was another article last week about fast food and the general packaged food industry.It was
quite alarming reading.Instead of using a 'natural' fat in food, they use a 'man made' fat (cant
remeber the name
- corn syrup?), which costs them half as much, but has twice as many calories as a natural fat.And
because it costs them half as much, they add in a bit more to make a little more profit, and make
the calorie count even higher.The worst calorie count foods are also the cheapest. No wonder
people are getting fatter. Alan.
--
Change the 'minus' to 'plus' to reply by e-mail. http://www.dvatc.co.uk - Off-road Cycling in the
North Midlands.

This thread has sparked a debate in this household. My wife has tried all sorts of diets and read a
lot about various diets. My plan is the Shed loads of Exercise diet. Cut down on fat, no need to
eliminate it. Get a regular balanced diet and lots of exercise.

I think 20 miles a week is not enough

"Anno Mundi" <annomundi@lycos.co.uk> wrote in message news:bfs64c$t83$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> OK here goes. Last week I weighed myself, and almost had a heart attack. Well, at the weight the
> scales showed I figured it was kind of inevitable anyway so why delay?
>
> I want to lose weight and not too long ago bought myself a very nice new flat bar road bike, upon
> which I have become no more than an occasional rider. I want to do more but, as yet, my brain will
> not allow me to do
so.
> The trouble is that I am a tad confused about diet, exercise etc etc, as well as inherently lazy
> due to years of inactivity and a serious knee injury.
>
> In the hope that someone is able to help me I thought I'd ask specific questions rather than be
> generalist in approach:
>
> 1. I currently ride around 20 miles per week at a moderate pace, on
roughly
> 3 outings. Is this enough?
>
> 2. I weigh 16st at 5 feet 11 tall. Common opinion states I need to eat around 2500 cals a day but
> does this allow for the above exercise?
>
> 3. When I return from a ride I am starving. No I mean starving and the urge to gorge on anything
> I lay eyes upon is almost overwhelming, except
my
> dog and my girlfriend. What should I eat and how soon afterwards so as
not
> to counteract the purpose of my ride?
>
> 4. After a long day at work, incorporating a 100 mile commute, how the
hell
> can I motivate myself to stick to a riding/exercise routine? I love
riding,
> I want to ride, but my body will not always allow me to go outside the house!
>
> I'm sure the above is a parody of what many beginners have felt. The request for help is serious,
> if with a humourous slant.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> A

"Anno Mundi" <annomundi@lycos.co.uk> wrote in message news:bfs64c$t83$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> In the hope that someone is able to help me I thought I'd ask specific questions rather than be
> generalist in approach:
>
> 1. I currently ride around 20 miles per week at a moderate pace, on
roughly
> 3 outings. Is this enough?

You should be looking at 20 miles per ride 3 times a week as an attainable useful target. Six miles
on a bike is neither here nor there and you'd be better off going for a brisk 30 minute walk. Sorry
if that's a bit brutal but you did ask ;-)

> 2. I weigh 16st at 5 feet 11 tall. Common opinion states I need to eat around 2500 cals a day but
> does this allow for the above exercise?

See above.

>
> 3. When I return from a ride I am starving. No I mean starving and the urge to gorge on anything
> I lay eyes upon is almost overwhelming, except
my
> dog and my girlfriend. What should I eat and how soon afterwards so as
not
> to counteract the purpose of my ride?

After a good ride, say 20 miles plus in your case, you should eat carbohydrate rich food within 40
minutes of your return for best effect. The more you ride the more you can scoff and you don't even
have to be particular, in my case pizza and cold beer followed by ice-cream is heaven

> 4. After a long day at work, incorporating a 100 mile commute, how the
hell
> can I motivate myself to stick to a riding/exercise routine? I love
riding,
> I want to ride, but my body will not always allow me to go outside the house!

I love riding but sometimes the arm chair beckons wheras other times I can't wait to get on the
bike. If the arm chair beckons I don't give in and get on the bike, often the first part of the ride
on familiar urban roads is a chore but once in the countryside and warmed up only time and energy
dictate the length of ride. If I don't feel I'm enjoying the ride (rare) I head back to the arm
chair. The thing is to only do it if you enjoy it but in my case the enjoyment doesn't always kick
in immediately.

You could also set yourself attainable targets, increase mileage, increase average speed, enter a
charity ride that's just beyond your current capability and train for it etc.

Pete

"Anno Mundi" <annomundi@lycos.co.uk> writes:

> OK here goes. Last week I weighed myself, and almost had a heart attack. Well, at the weight the
> scales showed I figured it was kind of inevitable anyway so why delay?
>
> I want to lose weight and not too long ago bought myself a very nice new flat bar road bike, upon
> which I have become no more than an occasional rider. I want to do more but, as yet, my brain will
> not allow me to do so. The trouble is that I am a tad confused about diet, exercise etc etc, as
> well as inherently lazy due to years of inactivity and a serious knee injury.
>
> In the hope that someone is able to help me I thought I'd ask specific questions rather than be
> generalist in approach:
>

I'm not expert - but to summarise things I've read various places (probably not all reliable so take
with a pinch of salt):

> 1. I currently ride around 20 miles per week at a moderate pace, on roughly 3 outings. Is this
> enough?

Probably not... of course you don't need to exercise at all to lose weight, just eat less. But the
recieved wisdom seems to be that for losing weight it helps to take regular exercise sessions of 40
or so minutes or more.

3 seven mile rides? How long does each ride take you?

If you find longer rides difficult to start with then gradually build it up. Once you get used to it
you should find that you can manage longer rides. The intensity of the exercise is not so important
if weight loss is your primary goal.. of course the harder you work the more calories you burn; but
don't sacrifice duration for intensity. Better a longer, relatively low-intensity session that a
short very intense session.

>
> 2. I weigh 16st at 5 feet 11 tall. Common opinion states I need to eat around 2500 cals a day but
> does this allow for the above exercise?

20 miles at a moderate pace should be what - maybe a thousand calories in the week? So it should not
really make a big difference to the total food you require over the week. If you want to lose weight
you specifically don't want to replace all the calories you burn during exercise.

>
> 3. When I return from a ride I am starving. No I mean starving and the urge to gorge on anything
> I lay eyes upon is almost overwhelming, except my dog and my girlfriend. What should I eat and
> how soon afterwards so as not to counteract the purpose of my ride?
>

Hmm... that seems little odd for a seven mile moderated paced ride, perhaps you should check with
your doctor that you don't have some kind of medical condition? In a way the fact that you're hungry
might be a good sign... it shows that the ride is having some effect on your body :-)

Maybe try slowing it down a little (not less distance - just a bit slower).

Apart from that, make sure you're getting a good percentage of complex carbohydrates in your food -
in particular have a meal involving something like rice, pasta or potatoes a few hours prior to
exercise. Restrict the amount of fat in your diet. Shoot anyone who mentions the word "Atkins" in
your presence :-) - although alcohol is bad for your weight too, although good in other ways :-)
Maybe try to plan your rides so that you have one of your regular meals immediately afterwards to
deal with the hunger.

General opinion seems to be that it's better to take the bulk of your calories at breakfast and
(particularly) lunch rather than dinner. This can be tricky if you're used to having you evening
meal as the big meal of the day. Think quality rather than quantity for the evening meal.

> 4. After a long day at work, incorporating a 100 mile commute, how the hell can I motivate myself
> to stick to a riding/exercise routine? I love riding, I want to ride, but my body will not
> always allow me to go outside the house!

Move house? Move jobs? :-) Go for a run at lunch time? Do you commute by car or train - if the
latter maybe you can cycle to the station at each end. Or if by car maybe do 90 miles in the car and
cycle the last bit? Converting wasted time like comuting time to exercise time is good if you can do
it because you don't end up using up extra free time for your exercise.

Do you mean you can't face going out specifically; or that you can't face doing any excersice? If
the former You could get a turbo trainer? Personally I've just bought a rowing machine because I
often like to do a bit of exercise when the kids are asleep in bed - so I'm unable to leave the
house for that reason; also because the rest of my exercise - cycling and running - only really
involves the legs so it's make a change to work the arms too.

"Anno Mundi" <annomundi@lycos.co.uk> wrote in message news:bfs64c$t83$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> OK here goes. Last week I weighed myself, and almost had a heart attack. Well, at the weight the
> scales showed I figured it was kind of inevitable anyway so why delay?
<snip>

A couple of things to keep in mind. Eat less processed food, it's crap. Eat more veg / fruit. As
others have said it is a fairly simple formula, energy in / energy out. Less in, more out = weight
loss. Hard exercise will create muscle, gentler exercise will burn fat. Muscle is denser than fat so
heavier per square inch. If you want

work at approx 65% of capacity. If you want to build muscle, work at 85%. (Think those are the
figures, no doubt I'll be corrected - and, as with everything, it's a bit more complicated, but
thats a starting point.) Build up to it, don't go and try to do 100 mile runs immediately. I did an
8 mile round trip, 5 days a week, for 3 months. This gave me a superb basis to build on. I've since
done various greater mileage trips with no problems because (I believe) my muscles had had a chance
to adapt to the new exercise type. Get over the urge to hit the armchair. Make the effort and within
about quarter of an hour of starting out you'll be getting the 'feel good' chemicals being released
and it will have been worth the effort. Natures little reward!! Good luck and most importantly enjoy
it. Remember, you want to do this for your own benefit, so no point in killing yourself over it ;-)
Cheers, Dave.

"A Lee" <alan@darkroom.minus.com> wrote in message
news:1fyp1c4.5apc2p8boo2yN%alan@darkroom.minus.com...
> The Oracle <kojaknospam@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
> > I used to have a similar problem to you. First things first. Number
one
> > priority - you MUST stop eating bread, pasta, potatoes and rice after
six in
> > the evening. MUST.
>
> I'm not sure you are completely right about that. There was an article in the Independent a couple
> of weeks ago that disputed the saying that 'everything you eat just before going to bed turns to
> fat'. A dietician said it didnt matter what you ate before bed - if you have eaten too much that
> day, you will be putting on weight,no matter when it was eaten.

The "no carbs before bedtime" works because it forces you to eat less! An evening meal before 6pm is
lilely to be a smaller meal than say 8pm simply because it is a shorter gap since lunch. Plus not
late evening snacks

pk

On 26 Jul 2003 09:32:55 +0100, Paul Rudin <paul.rudin@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> "Anno Mundi" <annomundi@lycos.co.uk> writes:
>
>>
>> 3. When I return from a ride I am starving. No I mean starving and the urge to gorge on anything
>> I lay eyes upon is almost overwhelming, except my dog and my girlfriend. What should I eat
>> and how soon afterwards so as not to counteract the purpose of my ride?
>>
>
>
> Hmm... that seems little odd for a seven mile moderated paced ride, perhaps you should check with
> your doctor that you don't have some kind of medical condition? In a way the fact that you're
> hungry might be a good sign... it shows that the ride is having some effect on your body :-)
>
I'm no expert and this is merely a theory I've just invented so it is probably bollox :-)

Maybe the OP is using calories but because he is only burning maybe 300 calories in a ride he is
merely depleting his blood sugar and not burning any fat. Perhaps the solution to weight loss (in
the short term) is to NOT eat after the exercise and force his body to start metabolizing some of
the fat reserves it has built up.

Tim.

--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t," and there was light.

http://tjw.hn.org/ http://www.locofungus.btinternet.co.uk/

"Peter B" <peter28@btinternet.com> wrote in message news:bftasu$407$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
> After a good ride, say 20 miles plus in your case, you should eat carbohydrate rich food within 40
> minutes of your return for best effect. The more you ride the more you can scoff and you don't
> even have to be particular, in my case pizza and cold beer followed by ice-cream is heaven

And I meant to add that you should drink plenty, before, during and after cycling and despite my
previous posts comment beer isn't the best re-hydrator. Received wisdom is that by the time you feel
thirsty you are already dehydrated. In wamer weather with lighter clothing you may not notice how
much you are perspiring as it quickly evaporates whilst on the move.

Pete

In news:bftig7$9f3$1@titan.btinternet.com, Peter B <peter28@btinternet.com> typed:
> "Peter B" <peter28@btinternet.com> wrote in message news:bftasu$407$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
>> After a good ride, say 20 miles plus in your case, you should eat carbohydrate rich food within
>> 40 minutes of your return for best effect. The more you ride the more you can scoff and you don't
>> even have to be particular, in my case pizza and cold beer followed by ice-cream is heaven
>
> And I meant to add that you should drink plenty, before, during and after cycling and despite my
> previous posts comment beer isn't the best re-hydrator. Received wisdom is that by the time you
> feel thirsty you are already dehydrated. In wamer weather with lighter clothing you may not notice
> how much you are perspiring as it quickly evaporates whilst on the move.

Me and 5 mates did the South Downs in two days (Petersfield to Lewis) a few weekends ago - the very
hot one! - we were all carrying around 2/3 litres and filling up on route. So we were drinking over
a gallon of water each day. I don't think any of us went for a pee all day.

alan@darkroom.minus.com (A Lee) wrote in message
news:<1fyp1c4.5apc2p8boo2yN%alan@darkroom.minus.com>...
> The Oracle <kojaknospam@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
> > I used to have a similar problem to you. First things first. Number one priority - you MUST stop
> > eating bread, pasta, potatoes and rice after six in the evening. MUST.

Nearly everthing I eat is after 1800. I have an evening sauna along with a meal of rye bread, pork
chops and salad as well as 3-4 pints of beer. I am 44, 6ft 1 in and weigh 12.5 st. I burn it off by
cycling 24 miles to work and back, as well as every day on my day off -5000 miles a year. I find I
can eat any carbs and alcohol whenever I like, as I'm simply getting enough miles in to burn off
the calories. My wife eats and drinks much less than me, but takes no exercise at all and is ,ahem,
very fat. Simon

"Simon Mason" <MasonS@BP.com> wrote in message
news:8862a1cc.0307260439.35017ba1@posting.google.com...
> alan@darkroom.minus.com (A Lee) wrote in message
news:<1fyp1c4.5apc2p8boo2yN%alan@darkroom.minus.com>...
> > The Oracle <kojaknospam@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I used to have a similar problem to you. First things first. Number
one
> > > priority - you MUST stop eating bread, pasta, potatoes and rice after
six in
> > > the evening. MUST.
>
> Nearly everthing I eat is after 1800. I have an evening sauna along with a meal of rye bread,
> pork chops and salad as well as 3-4 pints of beer. I am 44, 6ft 1 in and weigh 12.5 st. I burn it
> off by cycling 24 miles to work and back, as well as every day on my day off -5000 miles a year.
> I find I can eat any carbs and alcohol whenever I like, as I'm simply getting enough miles in to
> burn off the calories. My wife eats and drinks much less than me, but takes no exercise at all
> and is ,ahem, very fat. Simon

Thanks to all who replied so far. I summarise that I need to cycle more or at very least longer
durations. Last week I did a 30 miler which nearly saw me off and I guess that's counter productive
as you associate cycling with pain. I will try and build up my rides slowly in distance/duration.

I guess a short ride is better that no ride at all?

The other thing I am beginning to notice is that cycling is addictive, as is the urge to constantly
upgrade your gear. I recently (6 mths ago) traded in my Specialized Crossroads for a Sirrus Sport -
flat bar road bike. The difference is amazing in terms of both speed, comfort and 'buzz factor'. The
bike cost me £499 but am already looking at what I can get next ;-) I like the look of some of the
Giant road bikes but welcome any other suggestions. I'm not, as you gather from my original thread,
gonna be racing, but rather using it to help me shed pounds and keep fit.

Thanks again.

A

Anno Mundi <Lampargoogoo@fsnet.oc.ku> wrote: Load of snips

> I guess a short ride is better that no ride at all?

When I go out, I do an 18 mile circuit, which includes a few short hills. Depending on how I'm
feeling, I can do it in 50 minutes or 65 mins. I reckon you have to be out for 45 mins to get any
benefit, and obviously the harder you ride, the better you'll get.

> The bike cost me £499 but am already looking at what I can get next ;-) I like the look of some of
> the Giant road bikes

I bought a Giant TCR frame 2 years ago, and built it up with odds and ends bought cheap in sales,
but spent extra on a carbon fork and carbon seatpost.This is the smoothest bike I've ever owned, and
I cant see me wanted to buy anything else in the near future.I love it! Alan.

--
Change the 'minus' to 'plus' to reply by e-mail. http://www.dvatc.co.uk - Off-road Cycling in the
North Midlands.