But... how to lose weight?



dot

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Apr 28, 2003
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I'm bigboned guy who is 180 cm(5'11")/80 kg (176 lbs) and cannot lose any weight now. Some time ago I weighed more than 100 kg but then I've changed my eating habits and trimmed myself down to 93 kg. Then I started cycling and trimmed down to 83-85 kg with no problem. Next two years I tried to go down to 77 kg. I did a lot of long slow rides with weekly volume 15-20 hrs.
But I still cannot go below 79 kg mark.
I know I'm fat. I never did any measurments but online calculators show I've got 18-19% of body fat. I've got fat legs and some fat in front of my belly. And my legs almost didn't change their look during my years of cycling training!
Another problem: when I exercise and do not eat enough I start to feel myself dizzy and completely sick.
 
Originally posted by dot
I'm bigboned guy who is 180 cm(5'11")/80 kg (176 lbs) and cannot lose any weight now. Some time ago I weighed more than 100 kg but then I've changed my eating habits and trimmed myself down to 93 kg. Then I started cycling and trimmed down to 83-85 kg with no problem. Next two years I tried to go down to 77 kg. I did a lot of long slow rides with weekly volume 15-20 hrs.
But I still cannot go below 79 kg mark.

This is going to put the cat amongst the pigeons, but I have had success reducing carbs! Yes, carbs!

But, not in the conventional low-carb sense. I always eat carbs+(some) protein (e.g. milk & cereal) for breakfast, but then eat lower carb meals (e.g. chicken & salad) at other times except for 2-4hours after training when I eat sufficient carb + protein meals to restore the glycogen I've burnt in training. It's important not to go overboard and starve yourself after training! Restock those carbs after training, but don't go overboard, and return to eating low-carb after 2-4hours (time depends on how many carbs you need to restock).

From being stuck at 80kg 13% BF, no matter what my training hours, I've steadily dropped fat in the last 4months and am now down to 76kg and 9% BF. Training on the bike is going great :cool:

TTer (hurriedly putting on flame retardant bibshorts)
 
Originally posted by TTer
This is going to put the cat amongst the pigeons, but I have had success reducing carbs! Yes, carbs!
Here comes the first pigeon. I bet you reduced you total calorie intake at the same time as reducing the carbs...
Originally posted by TTer
But, not in the conventional low-carb sense. I always eat carbs+(some) protein (e.g. milk & cereal) for breakfast, but then eat lower carb meals (e.g. chicken & salad) at other times except for 2-4hours after training when I eat sufficient carb + protein meals to restore the glycogen I've burnt in training. It's important not to go overboard and starve yourself after training! Restock those carbs after training, but don't go overboard, and return to eating low-carb after 2-4hours (time depends on how many carbs you need to restock).
That doesn't sound too 'low carbs' to me and infact looks pretty healthy and balanced. TTer, when most people talk about 'low carbs' they usualy mean 'high fat' and/or 'high protein' as well. Looks like you have struck a balance not too much fat, carbs or protein.
Originally posted by TTer
From being stuck at 80kg 13% BF, no matter what my training hours, I've steadily dropped fat in the last 4months and am now down to 76kg and 9% BF. Training on the bike is going great :cool:
Great job; your numbers add up too. 5% drop in body mass and 4% drop in body fat. How have you measured the body fat?
Originally posted by TTer
TTer (hurriedly putting on flame retardant bibshorts)
Curry last night was it? Only joking, but read through your post again as this seems like a good diet!!!!! One of the interesting things you do that people struggle with is adjusting the diet dending upon training.
 
Originally posted by dot
I'm bigboned guy who is 180 cm(5'11")/80 kg (176 lbs) and cannot lose any weight now. Some time ago I weighed more than 100 kg but then I've changed my eating habits and trimmed myself down to 93 kg. Then I started cycling and trimmed down to 83-85 kg with no problem. Next two years I tried to go down to 77 kg. I did a lot of long slow rides with weekly volume 15-20 hrs. But I still cannot go below 79 kg mark.
Sounds like your doing OK to me; slow weight loss is healthiest and longest lasting!!!!

Try these...

Try analysing your current eating and drinking and see where you can make it more healthy.

Try more intense rides and have a go at intervals to raise your fitness. Remember that energy expendature is greater the more intense the exercise; so why do and hour slow when you can do an hour harder.

Remember that if you eat less energy than you use you will lose weight. Keep this in mind and start to adjust your dietary parctices along with training or rest.

Finaly... the closer your diet/lifestyle is to its ideal the harder it is to find and make changes, any changes that you do make will have a smaller effect than when you did little exercise and ate badly.
Originally posted by dot
I know I'm fat. I never did any measurments but online calculators show I've got 18-19% of body fat. I've got fat legs and some fat in front of my belly. And my legs almost didn't change their look during my years of cycling training!
I can't see that an online analyser would be very accurate!! When you start to get close to your traget weight then start thinking about having body fat measured correctly
Originally posted by dot
Another problem: when I exercise and do not eat enough I start to feel myself dizzy and completely sick.
This is called glycogen depletion or 'bonk' and is directly a result of running out of carbs (glycogen) on your bike. There are loads of posts on this topic.

Finaly check out TTer's post and see how his diet works. TTer's diet seems quite balanced and healthy too me. Also ignore TTer describing his diet as 'low carb' as (1) its not low in carbs and (2) low carb diets are problematic particularly for active people!!!! Again there are lots of posts on this topic as well.
 
Originally posted by 2LAP
Sounds like your doing OK to me; slow weight loss is healthiest and longest lasting!!!!

Try these...

Try analysing your current eating and drinking and see where you can make it more healthy.


It lasts three years between 80 and 80 :) I'm always trying to fix my eating. It's a very big problem to change it.

Try more intense rides and have a go at intervals to raise your fitness. Remember that energy expendature is greater the more intense the exercise; so why do and hour slow when you can do an hour harder.

My last season was low volume/high intensity. No change.

Remember that if you eat less energy than you use you will lose weight. Keep this in mind and start to adjust your dietary parctices along with training or rest.

Finaly... the closer your diet/lifestyle is to its ideal the harder it is to find and make changes, any changes that you do make will have a smaller effect than when you did little exercise and ate badly.
I can't see that an online analyser would be very accurate!! When you start to get close to your traget weight then start thinking about having body fat measured correctly

I don't need to measure how fat are my legs. They are fat. It's obvious one just should to have a look at them.

This is called glycogen depletion or 'bonk' and is directly a result of running out of carbs (glycogen) on your bike. There are loads of posts on this topic.

Finaly check out TTer's post and see how his diet works. TTer's diet seems quite balanced and healthy too me. Also ignore TTer describing his diet as 'low carb' as (1) its not low in carbs and (2) low carb diets are problematic particularly for active people!!!! Again there are lots of posts on this topic as well.

I know "bonking" and I understand it but I cannot deal with it. I just should eat enough. I think my problem is to define how much calories to cut is enough. It looks like my "calorie cutting" should be very little so it's almost impossible to define. If I (ocassionally) cut too much I feel sick and I eat. If I (ocassionally) don't cut them at all I gain little weight. That's why I don't lose weight.
The only exercise helps me now: morning sessions on trainer without eating before.
 
Originally posted by dot
I know "bonking" and I understand it but I cannot deal with it. I just should eat enough. I think my problem is to define how much calories to cut is enough. It looks like my "calorie cutting" should be very little so it's almost impossible to define. If I (ocassionally) cut too much I feel sick and I eat. If I (ocassionally) don't cut them at all I gain little weight. That's why I don't lose weight.
Have you considered the timing of eating and drinking? Someone that eats enough food may still get the bonk if its eaten at the wrong time (i.e. so that they don't replace their carbs during and following exercise).

Calorie cutting is really hard to do; that's why for someone like you I simply suggest making the diet more healthy (without adding more calories) and getting into a routine (eating 3 or more times a day (I eat 5 smaller meals)). By doing this you tend to cut out a few extra calories without noticing it, getting less hungry and recovering better due to improved diet.

If you are really struggling try getting your diet checked out by a proffessional (or even by an unbias/honest and knowledgable friend). Its really difficult to give specific info over the web.

The other thing to do is to record what you eat and then sit down and look to see where you went wrong or could improve. Lots of people don't really know what they are eating until they go through this process; even people who think they do get a shock!!! You could simply record volumes and timings of foods eaten for a simple analysis (or record %carbs, %fat, %protein and cals for a more complex analysis).

As you point out if you are overweight you don't need someone to tell you; so %BF measurements are sometimes not very helpfull.
 
try to time meals so that instead of a post training gorge in addition to a meal, you just eat a meal (ex. finish a ride right before dinner). You said youve tried low volume/high intensity, and vice versa. Im gonna **** you off, do both! high volume and high intensity. In other words, maybe do some speed work in the middle of a ride, then take a break, letting your HR recover, and allowing you to stay out longer. Also, eat while working out, especially anything over 100 min. This might prevent bonking. Caffiene can be a sure cure for a bonk too.
 
Originally posted by 2LAP
Have you considered the timing of eating and drinking? Someone that eats enough food may still get the bonk if its eaten at the wrong time (i.e. so that they don't replace their carbs during and following exercise).

Calorie cutting is really hard to do; that's why for someone like you I simply suggest making the diet more healthy (without adding more calories) and getting into a routine (eating 3 or more times a day (I eat 5 smaller meals)). By doing this you tend to cut out a few extra calories without noticing it, getting less hungry and recovering better due to improved diet.

If you are really struggling try getting your diet checked out by a proffessional (or even by an unbias/honest and knowledgable friend). Its really difficult to give specific info over the web.

The other thing to do is to record what you eat and then sit down and look to see where you went wrong or could improve. Lots of people don't really know what they are eating until they go through this process; even people who think they do get a shock!!! You could simply record volumes and timings of foods eaten for a simple analysis (or record %carbs, %fat, %protein and cals for a more complex analysis).

As you point out if you are overweight you don't need someone to tell you; so %BF measurements are sometimes not very helpfull.

Hi, (not the ideal way to make my first post but It seemed interesting and related so I thought id give it a shot!)

I started riding again in July after nine years break, weighing 12st 10lbs - 13st 6lbs to start with)(having lost 8 lbs previously by sensible eating) I now weigh 11st 6lbs (163lbs - 74kgs) Target weight is 10st 8lbs) .

Here's how i did it.. built up from 1hr to 6 hr rides at 65-75% of my max hr, a 500 calorie deficity of my daily intake from 2,500 (RDA) - 2000 (or around 1800 a day- any less than this and it would be impossible to ride such distances and affect your general demenour) with exercise.. Taking bananas/cerial/snack bars and PSP22 mixed @60g in 700ml of water. ( the recommended mix for psp22 is 100g per 700ml of water but I've found that 40-60% is sufficient for low intensity riding)

Counted fat content in foods <=75g a day.. stopped eating after 5pm, going to bed hungry, eating little and often with plenty of cold water. making sure i get a proper breakfast ( ie x2 slices of wholemeal toast, porridge, banana and cup 'o' coffee)

Stopped eating junk food, only allowed chicken kebabs with salad which is basically grilled chicken, and natural yohgurt.. Eat plenty of fresh fruit and veg too.. Tuna, chicken/fish.

Longest ride so far was 64 miles in 5.5 hrs (eclipsed by 62 in 4.5 hrs last week)

Resting heart rate dropped from 68 to 52 bpm since last august '03.

Average speed inclreased from 10mph to 13.mph..
Noticable weight loss on face, back, chest, stomach and obviously legs.

A healthy weight loss of 2-3 lbs a week is normal, any more then you either need to see a doctor, unless you're on a specially medically controlled diet (ie Cambridge diet - if so, you shouldn't be riding at all!) You shouldn't skip meals either.. it's really easy these days to actually calculate how many calories you're consuming by the labelling on the foods!!!!!!!

On finishing rides I use PSP Rego followed by a main meal within an hour or so..

Continuing as we speak for training for charity ride and first racing season!!
 
Originally posted by Daniel Cave
Hi, (not the ideal way to make my first post but It seemed interesting and related so I thought id give it a shot!)

I started riding again in July after nine years break, weighing 12st 10lbs - 13st 6lbs to start with)(having lost 8 lbs previously by sensible eating) I now weigh 11st 6lbs (163lbs - 74kgs) Target weight is 10st 8lbs) .
Welcome to the site... another success with conventional and sound techniques. Well done.
 
Let me put in my 2 cents now. What everyone has posted so far is great and can work. I also have my own little thing of dieting. In Sept of last year I weighed in at 220lbs(100kg) and on 5'6" tall, over the months I lost weight by doing 2 things.

1) I started to ride again and placed a goal on myself and that was to race in the 2004 season and try to make CAT 4 by the end. By placing a goal not only in your head but on paper it gives you insentive on following through with your goal and doing this you need to be realistic.

2) I started to eat the right foods. I picked up a book called The South Beach Diet and it worked great for the first 4 1/2 months and losing a total of 30lbs(13kg).

As I got more serious about my cycling I realized that I needed to change that diet. So I called a friend of mine that is a sports nutritionist and use to race with 7 11 in the mid '80s. I sat down and spoke for about 3 hours about different plans and the bottom line that he expressed was this, eat your carbs in the morning with some protein and no fat, after your ride refuel the body with moderate carbs and extra protein and reduce the carbs at night with moderate protein intake. The carbs to stay away from while losing weight; bread, rice of any kind, pasta, and potatoes.

Once you reach that target weight you can have those items as any other cyclist does. since that I am now 179lbs (81kg) and still losing. My target weight is 165lbs(75kg) because of my body type I can't lose any more than that. I've been told that I need to be in the 150s(68kg) but it would be impossible since it may be unhealthy for me. Also look up metabolic rate there is a threshold that we all come to in our body type that says this the end of the line no more or I will make you sick.

If you need any extra info I'm around to ask. :confused:
 
Originally posted by dot
I'm bigboned guy who is 180 cm(5'11")/80 kg (176 lbs) and cannot lose any weight now. Some time ago I weighed more than 100 kg but then I've changed my eating habits and trimmed myself down to 93 kg. Then I started cycling and trimmed down to 83-85 kg with no problem. Next two years I tried to go down to 77 kg. I did a lot of long slow rides with weekly volume 15-20 hrs.
But I still cannot go below 79 kg mark.
I know I'm fat. I never did any measurments but online calculators show I've got 18-19% of body fat. I've got fat legs and some fat in front of my belly. And my legs almost didn't change their look during my years of cycling training!
Another problem: when I exercise and do not eat enough I start to feel myself dizzy and completely sick.

Reply.............
What is really the fat that leads to much weight? It is really nothing but refuse / garbage! We cannot ger rid of it from
exercise, however much we train! 1 kg is supposed to be about some 7000 calories. That is much! When people go on for example a protein powder diet, they can get rid of up 10 kg in two weeks, and they do not burn 70 000 calories from doing nothing but eating / drinking this powder. How come? Is the loss simply water? No, because these diets tell you to drink lots of water, and people do? Do they lose muscles? Some might be lost, but that will be very very little. 10 kg of muscles are very much muscles.....and that is no answer to it. So what is lost? Simply the refuse / garbage which the body has not been able to get rid of.
There is very little, if any, energy in it. Just regard the amount of lost tissue / weight!
The calorie teories are simply not correct. Most people with socalled overweight have it because the body cannot get rid of the garbage / refuse. So, if a person eats what his body can cope with, the problem will not occur in this way. It is very individual what we should eat. You can, according to the energy theories,
use much more energy that you take in, but still get no weightloss. Why, simply because your body gets the wrong food.
Food is important, but remember, food is also poison and we react different to different kinds of food.
How much do we need? No calorietable or theory can tell you, just your own body. Some people refer to slow or reduced metabolism because of low calorie diets. Well, just tell that to people starving to death around the world!

No, find out yourself what your body needs and can take!
good luck!
 

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