NEED WEIGHT LOSS DIETS

I use Weight Watchers, and have dropped about 35 lbs since the holidays.

For me, I like being able to shop for and eat "regular" food--no special prepared meals, etc.. I just use the internet system, I don't bother with meetings and all the social stuff--I understand that's useful to many, but it's not my cup of tea.

I've found the program very easy to stick with--I still enjoy most everything I did before--including my cherished weekend happy hours 🙂, but do so with more moderation than I did before--pay attention to portion sizes, account for what I eat, etc.. It does help that my wife and I both really like things like fish, veggies and fruit though, so we don't feel so much we're dieting.

The exercise aspect is essential, and it sounds like you're off and riding, so to speak! I'm currently alternating the treadmill at the gym with cycling, but will morph into a primarily cycling-based routine this Summer, when we move to a more cycling friendly place (long rolling country roads with little traffic). Either way though, cycling or treadmill, I try to do a min of an hour at each session, 4-5 times a week.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

To me the phrase "going on a diet" implies a change in your eating habits that has a start and an end. To use my Missus for an example; she starts a diet and loses some weight, then she ends the diet and gains the weight back. Over and over.....

That weight loss roller coaster style didn't work well for me, so I just changed my eating habits permanently. I try to cut the fat out of my diet from meats as much as possible, I mostly eat chicken breast, turkey breast, and fish. They are good low fat sources for protein, and you can use them as a beef substitute in a lot of recipies.

Like Billcycle, I eat a lot of veggies and fruit. I don't measure food serving size much beyond saying a serving of carrots should be about the size of your fist to be considered a full vegetable serving, however go ahead and eat more if you want...I don't think you can eat too many vegetables.

Be a label reader. Just because a food product says it is low calory does not mean it is low fat. I've seen diet dinners sold in the grocery store that claim in big letters "Low Cal" - "Only 250 Calories", then you read the nutrition information on the back and 120 of those 250 calories come from fat. Sure it's a low cal entree.....but it's almost 50% fat! :eek:

Anyway, I say make healthy eating your normal routine. By doing that and getting regular excercise you'll lose excess weight.

And it doesn't mean you shouldn't eat pizza, or a cheeseburger, etc if you really have a craving for one. I just try to eat healthy 80 to 85% of the time and when I eat pizza or a cheeseburger, that's when I'm on a diet. 😉

With over 20yrs. experience in the "body recomposition" business I can say with absolute certainty that the Paleo Diet is the most effective way of eating I have found.
The Paleo Diet | Paleolithic Diet, Paleo Diet, Caveman Diet, Hunter Gatherer Diet, and Ancestral Diet - all are terms that ultimately refer to the science of Paleolithic Nutrition

When I turned 40 I began adding bodyfat despite my "healthy athletic diet", intense amount of cardio and resistance training.

When I started the eating the Paleo way I was about 20%BF. Within 6 months I was 8%BF. I lost very little weight in comparison to my fat loss.

Resistance training is immeasurably important for sparing muscle. Unless you want to be "skinny-fat"?

Billcycle said:

For me, I like being able to shop for and eat "regular" food--no special prepared meals, etc.. I just use the internet system, I don't bother with meetings and all the social stuff--I understand that's useful to many, but it's not my cup of tea.

I've found the program very easy to stick with--I still enjoy most everything I did before--including my cherished weekend happy hours 🙂, but do so with more moderation than I did before--pay attention to portion sizes, account for what I eat, etc.. It does help that my wife and I both really like things like fish, veggies and fruit though, so we don't feel so much we're dieting.

I think the bolded is the key - eat a little better, eat a little less, exercise a little more.

For more drastic results, eat a LOT better, eat a LOT less, exercise a LOT more.

To lose weight calories out > calories in. I've never understood people who buy into "gimmick" diets, this isn't rocket surgery here.

Chavez said:

To lose weight calories out > calories in. I've never understood people who buy into "gimmick" diets, this isn't rocket surgery here.

From a professional stand point it's not really that simple. Weight loss for the sake of weight loss is very unhealthy. The cal in>cal out attitude is not healthy. Fat loss should be the goal, otherwise the body stores fat and sacrifices muscle.
A must read-
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Gary-Taubes/dp/1400040787]Amazon.com: Good Calories, Bad Calories (9781400040780): Gary Taubes: Books[/ame]

Wlfdg said:

From a professional stand point it's not really that simple. Weight loss for the sake of weight loss is very unhealthy. The cal in>cal out attitude is not healthy. Fat loss should be the goal, otherwise the body stores fat and sacrifices muscle.
A must read-
Amazon.com: Good Calories, Bad Calories (9781400040780): Gary Taubes: Books

Yeah, I've heard that view before that it's not "fats" per se that are bad but "PROCESSED foods" - and I'm certainly willing to grant THAT point.

That would fall under the "eating better" category of my 3-point plan.

And obviously my 3 point plan* is pretty dumbed-down and non-specific, but it's the basic nuts-and-bolts of weight loss, when it comes down to it. You certainly WON'T get healthier by eating more, eating worse, and exercising less.

But I'll definitely endorse education as a key to "eating better"; sad we have to educate ourselves on what healthy food is but that's the world we live in today.

* - uh, that IS a tongue-in-cheek reference

"Yeah, I've heard that view before that it's not "fats" per se that are bad but "PROCESSED foods" - and I'm certainly willing to grant THAT point."
Dietary fat doesn't make you fat. Excessive carbohydrate consumption does. Processed foods certainly fit in there as well.

"And obviously my 3 point plan* is pretty dumbed-down and non-specific, but it's the basic nuts-and-bolts of weight loss, when it comes down to it. You certainly WON'T get healthier by eating more, eating worse, and exercising less."
No but you can get healthier by eating more of the right foods. Many times exercising less and smarter will lead to healthier fat loss.

"But I'll definitely endorse education as a key to "eating better"; sad we have to educate ourselves on what healthy food is but that's the world we live in today. "

Eating better the is the key to healthy fat loss. Fat loss is the only healthy choice. Weight loss usually includes muscle loss and fat gain. This is the reason so many endurance athletes have the dreaded "skinnyfat" look which is just as unhealthy as just being big and fat. Lean and muscular is the only choice.

LB

Nix the crystal..But rather stay consistent, increase your distance a bit, no simple sugars. Eat small portions but more often so your not always thinking about your next meal and BE Patient.... If your like me I will put 300 miles a week in the saddle 8 weeks in a row and lose 2lb then the next month I will drop 15lb in that month alone. Dont get discouraged, your body needs time to adjust. Stick with it. Need any encouragement give me a holla
Rock🙂

rockapple said:

LB

Nix the crystal..But rather stay consistent, increase your distance a bit, no simple sugars. Eat small portions but more often so your not always thinking about your next meal and BE Patient.... If your like me I will put 300 miles a week in the saddle 8 weeks in a row and lose 2lb then the next month I will drop 15lb in that month alone. Dont get discouraged, your body needs time to adjust. Stick with it. Need any encouragement give me a holla
Rock🙂

Wow, I though doing 200mi/week was a lot. I guess everything is relative. Anyway, just remember the trend is your friend. Get your weight (really your body fat) moving in the right direction, and don't worry about the rate of change.

I got back to cycling when my weight loss tapered off. I did the low-carb, ketogenic diet because that worked for me. I was able to do B+/A- group rides while in ketosis, because it does not affect you anerobic performance. But I went to the cyclical ketogenic diet when I started doing AA rides, carbing up for the higher intensity rides. It's working for me, losing about a pound a week on average.

Just find something that works and stick with it. You probably didn't gain the weight that quickly, and you can't expect to lose it that quickly either.

TheMadOne said:

because it does not affect you anerobic performance.

Interesting, I found the opposite with training in ketosis. My aerobic capacity was fine. My anaerobic output was severely compromised!

Wlfdg said:

Interesting, I found the opposite with training in ketosis. My aerobic capacity was fine. My anaerobic output was severely compromised!

Oops, my bad. Of course I meant to say that. Aerobic performance is fine without carbs, but you can't match the intensity of a group when they turn it up to 11 (especially after they carb up at a rest stop). Of course when they need to recover after building up lactic acid, you can keep on going and catch them.

The one thing I found was that after being on a ketogenic diet for a while, after I was fully adapted, I could exercise at an aerobic level almost indefinitely. So I was able to ramp up the daily miles very quickly. Because you can't go anerobic, you don't overdo it, and I didn't suffer from DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). After a long ride my muscles were fatigued, but they only hurt when I used them, not the aching that keeps you up at night.

The other thing is that I never bonked, even though I did not eat carbs while on these long rides. I would hit the wall anytime I tried to turn it up to 11, but I could run just fine below that level. This is after adapting to ketosis, however. Don't try this right out of the gate!

My experience was exactly the same. All day endurance, no speed!

Wlfdg said:

My experience was exactly the same. All day endurance, no speed!

My speed was OK, definitely B+/A-. I even did a few A rides while in ketosis, and was able to just hang on by my fingernails. But I decided to switch to the cyclical ketogenic diet when I moved up to the AA rides to work on speed.

BTW, I did a VO2max CPET test while on the CKD, and the Dr. was astounded that I did >5 L/min VO2, but my RER never went over 100% until recovery. This indicates that I was still burning a high proportion of fat at max effort. Normally 100% RER indicates pure aerobic carb burning, and RER >100% indicates that anaerobic carb burning is releasing CO2 from buffering lactic acid, which is the typical end result for an athlete on this test.

Wlfdg said:

A must read-
Amazon.com: Good Calories, Bad Calories (9781400040780): Gary Taubes: Books

+1 on Taubes

Also the concept of calorie counting is insane. Just a +/- 5% error in your calorie counting would be the difference between gaining or losing 10 pounds per year! So the idea that you can acchieve or maintain a helathy weight by becoming a food energy accountant is horse [censored]. You have to make changes to your diet and lifestyle that alter your metabolism and re-set your set-point to a lower level. And you have to stick with it until you get there. Also agree that exercise has to be part of the lifestyle change, unless you want to become skinny-fat.

Wlfdg said:

My experience was exactly the same. All day endurance, no speed!

TheMadOne said:

My speed was OK, definitely B+/A-. I even did a few A rides while in ketosis, and was able to just hang on by my fingernails. But I decided to switch to the cyclical ketogenic diet when I moved up to the AA rides to work on speed.

I guess what I should have said was no sprint.

TheMadOne said:

BTW, I did a VO2max CPET test while on the CKD, and the Dr. was astounded that I did >5 L/min VO2, but my RER never went over 100% until recovery. This indicates that I was still burning a high proportion of fat at max effort. Normally 100% RER indicates pure aerobic carb burning, and RER >100% indicates that anaerobic carb burning is releasing CO2 from buffering lactic acid, which is the typical end result for an athlete on this test.

That's interesting!

LB CYCLIST said:

any info would help.
thank you for your time.
im 6ft and 200 pounds
would like to lose 30 pounds.

Reduce your caloric intake while increasing your caloric expenditure, simple as that.

I'd start by increasing your aerobic activity while also incorporating a weight/resistance exercises. The increase in muscle mass/activity will result in increasing your basal metabolic rate and therefore allows you to reaching your goal faster.

What I wouldn't do is skimp on calories while riding. Especially the longer rides, e.g. 2+hrs of riding as you otherwise bonk and with that your energy expenditure goes down for the session. For any sessions under an hour you don't need anything else but water. I wouldn't go for any of the zero calorie drinks or diet drinks as they often come with sucralose or aspartame and there is much data out there that questions the long term safety of those artificial sweeteners. I'd stay away from those. You could easily make your low calorie drink by diluting existing sports drinks.

The easiest way to consume calories is by drinking them, so make sure you cut those out or reduce them. Dilution works again in your favor.

Increase your exercise regimen and stay on track. There are a number of ways to get there but they all come with an overall net negative caloric balance (less calories in, more calories out).

Best of luck. I've also had people successfully incorporate MoodBoost Drink into their weight loss diet as this energy supplement comes with only 20 calories per serving without all the junk molecules that the diet drinks, zero calories energy shots, etc. usually come with.

I lost the first few kilos by cutting out sugar, added benefit was a stronger immune system. Next I attempted a 2000 calorie diet, that may have been a little extreme but if you only go over the target by a little you are probably eating enough and eating healthy; something that really helps with the hunger is eating one serving at a time, have a baked potato, then wait 15mins, make some veggies, eat that and wait another 15mins, by this time you may not need anything more, but if you do some cherry tomatoes and another waiting period and you have only eaten maybe 300 calories and feel satisfied for several hours, probably long enough to last to the next meal. it is very impractical if you are eating/cooking with others but it really helps control the hunger. also drinking plenty of water (leave out the juice with meals and save it for a snack)

with a regular exercise regimen these methods should yield results

curby said:

I lost the first few kilos by cutting out sugar, added benefit was a stronger immune system. Next I attempted a 2000 calorie diet, that may have been a little extreme but if you only go over the target by a little you are probably eating enough and eating healthy; something that really helps with the hunger is eating one serving at a time, have a baked potato, then wait 15mins, make some veggies, eat that and wait another 15mins, by this time you may not need anything more, but if you do some cherry tomatoes and another waiting period and you have only eaten maybe 300 calories and feel satisfied for several hours, probably long enough to last to the next meal. it is very impractical if you are eating/cooking with others but it really helps control the hunger. also drinking plenty of water (leave out the juice with meals and save it for a snack)

with a regular exercise regimen these methods should yield results

You've made several great points.

When counting calories, keep in mind that the nutritional labels come with about a 15% error margin, so if you consume 2000 calories according to your calculations of the nutritional supplement facts on the various food items it could be 1800-2200...

MitoChondria said:

Reduce your caloric intake while increasing your caloric expenditure, simple as that.

Technically speaking it actually isn't that simple. At least from a healthy, lean mass sparing view.