Nutrition and weight lose
- Thread starter Dudee
- Start date
i eat pretty much anything but my favorite food is bread and butter pudding with heaps of raisans and sultanas with lots of custard. HMMMMMM!Dudee said:
I eat anything - even high calorie pecan pie. I never paid any attention to eating low carbs. But I just don't overeat. I usually eat a 340 calorie carrot cake and milk for breakfast - then I eat anything for lunch and dinner. I bike long distance rides from 38 to 52 miles 2 to 3 times a week and I lose weight. I went from 205 lbs to 156.6 lbs so far. Did 2080 miles in 2004 and so far did 389 mi this year as of March 15, 2005.
No one should have an easier time with weight loss than cyclists because almost nobody gets as much cardio work as us. I'm down about 20lbs this year and here's how I've done it and my philosophy on the subject:
1. Forget about gimmicks and fad diets like Atkins.
2. Forget about diet pills of any kind. You don't need them.
3. Cut out the grease and sugar and alchohol.
4. What food you do eat, make it healthy and balanced.
5. Take in less calories than you burn (doh). Listen to your body and use a accurate scale to guage.
6. Don't be in a hurry. If you're losing more than a pound a week that's too fast. Quick weight loss increases the chance you'll gain it back later.
7. Allow yourself some pleasures and rewards. Today is Friday and I'll allow myself a reward tonight instead of the strict meals I ate on Monday through Thursday.
8. If you mess up and eat too much one day don't freak. If you fall just get up, dust yourself off and get right back on, so to speak.
9. Read bike racing magazines, look at the pictures of the fit athletes and visualize yourself lean and fit in time for summer.
10. Understand that you and only you choose your pleasures. Do you want the pleasure of eating a lot of rich food, more than your body needs? Or do you want the pleasure of having a lean, fit body, athletic body, one that the opposite sex would actually want to procreate with? Make your choice and enforce that choice with self control, willpower and discipline.
1. Forget about gimmicks and fad diets like Atkins.
2. Forget about diet pills of any kind. You don't need them.
3. Cut out the grease and sugar and alchohol.
4. What food you do eat, make it healthy and balanced.
5. Take in less calories than you burn (doh). Listen to your body and use a accurate scale to guage.
6. Don't be in a hurry. If you're losing more than a pound a week that's too fast. Quick weight loss increases the chance you'll gain it back later.
7. Allow yourself some pleasures and rewards. Today is Friday and I'll allow myself a reward tonight instead of the strict meals I ate on Monday through Thursday.
8. If you mess up and eat too much one day don't freak. If you fall just get up, dust yourself off and get right back on, so to speak.
9. Read bike racing magazines, look at the pictures of the fit athletes and visualize yourself lean and fit in time for summer.
10. Understand that you and only you choose your pleasures. Do you want the pleasure of eating a lot of rich food, more than your body needs? Or do you want the pleasure of having a lean, fit body, athletic body, one that the opposite sex would actually want to procreate with? Make your choice and enforce that choice with self control, willpower and discipline.
As the post reads, burn off more than you take in. It's a very simple math problem. If anyone tells you that their metabolism is special or they have gland or thyroid issues or any other lame excuse as to why they can't lose weight, they're full of ****. I found a few things that have helped me lose 14 pounds in the last two months. I'm climbing like a freak and I feel so much better.
A website called "FitDay" allows you to track everything you eat. You can find it at http://www.fitday.com. Sign up (it's free) and start logging what you eat. If you're like me, years of bad eating habits have taught you to eat unreasonable portions and less frequently than you should. Ideally, you should eat four, five or six times a day. The trick is to make sure no meat portion is larger than a deck of cards and keep the portions small. If you're eating every 3-4 hours, there's no need to gorge yourself.
A book called "Core Peformance" is filled with very simple and very effective exercises. The book is written by Mark Verstegen who has a killer fitness center out West. You can find it on Amazon or email me $15 and I'll send you my copy used. He uses half a dozen successful athletes to explain the exercises and lend testimony to their effectiveness. 20 minutes of core exercises three times weekly with an exercise ball will do wonders for your core muscle group. Perhaps the best part of the book is the last chapter that talks about portion control and what types of food you can eat. Fortunately, you can eat almost anything you want as long as it fits into a sensible program.
A scale that measures weight and bodyfat. Tanita makes a great scale for $99 bucks that is very accurate. The bodyfat is a little suspect but it's all relative. Keep in mind that fat, by volume, weighs less than muscle. Oddly enough, I've gained two pounds the past couple of weeks but my waist, hips and legs have shrunk. I'm now building muscle where useless fat once came along for the ride. I started out at 22% body fat and now am registering low 17%. I hope to get to 15% shortly. Note that the bodyfat scales typically run 2-3% points higher than getting your bodyfat tested accurately in a water displacement device.
Find a nutritionist and understand what type of intake you need for your body and lifestyle. For example, the low-carb Atkins diet is horse ****. If you're an athlete, especially a cyclist, you're burning 600-900 calories PER HOUR. You need your carbohydrates. Be mindful of the amount of fats and proteins you're eating. The FitDay website shows you all of that. Also be mindful of important vitamins. FitDay also covers that. I was fortunate to meet a dietician at a cycling clinic and she was incredible. Her name is Leslie Bonci. An article on what she knows appears here: http://www.annonline.com/interviews/991109/
Don't lose too much too fast. Any competent dietician will tell you to lose no more than 1/2 pound a week. Any more than that and you're probably losing water weight. You're also prone to yo-yo the weight back and lose your confidence. Drink AT LEAST 120 ozs. water daily. 22 oz. more per hour you ride. You need water. A lot of people losing weight get excited as they get on the scale after a workout and see that they've "lost 2, 3 or 4 pounds." Well, you haven't. The truth is that you're dehydrated. Make sure you replace the water you sweat out. Staying hydrated will help your body stay healthy. A dehydrated body slows the metabolism and can actually cause you to conserve your fuel (and weight). Take note that your body needs 12 calories per pound just to maintain your weight. At 185 pounds, I needed 2,220 calories just to stay at that weight. What I didn't realize was that with my crappy eating habits, I was taking in closer to 3,000 calories daily. I was exercising plenty and couldn't understand why I wasn't losing weight.
Get a good understanding of what you want to accomplish. For me, I wanted to lose enough weight and body fat to climb better and increase my endurance. I laid out a plan to ramp up my efforts. The first few weeks I only biked an hour at a time for at most three days. This past week, I've ridden five out of 7 days and have spent almost 12 hours on the bike. I set reasonable goals and now am at the point that I'm losing more than I thought possible.
The last thing to consider is a good support system. It's making my wife and kids a little crazy but I now cook all my own meals. I also shop for myself - once a month at Costco/Sam's club for meats (pork, chicken, salmon) and once a week at the local grocer for onions, carrorts, asparagus, lettuce, pepers, etc. I eat at least four times a day. I average about 2,000 calories daily. 2,500-3,500 on long ride days. I gave up fast food altogether. I honestly don't miss it one bit. I cook my meals on the weekends, freeze 'em up and take it all to work. Take a hint, buy a Foodsaver (www.foodsaver.com) and start vaccuum packing your meals.
Lastly, don't tell me it's too hard. I'm in sales and drive 500 miles weekly. There's always a sheetz or mini-mart someplace that will gladly microwave a plate for me. If anyone gives you a hard time, tell them you're on a "restricted diet." They think you have some weird allergy and will gladly warm a meal up for you.
Best of luck in getting where you want. You can do it!!!
A website called "FitDay" allows you to track everything you eat. You can find it at http://www.fitday.com. Sign up (it's free) and start logging what you eat. If you're like me, years of bad eating habits have taught you to eat unreasonable portions and less frequently than you should. Ideally, you should eat four, five or six times a day. The trick is to make sure no meat portion is larger than a deck of cards and keep the portions small. If you're eating every 3-4 hours, there's no need to gorge yourself.
A book called "Core Peformance" is filled with very simple and very effective exercises. The book is written by Mark Verstegen who has a killer fitness center out West. You can find it on Amazon or email me $15 and I'll send you my copy used. He uses half a dozen successful athletes to explain the exercises and lend testimony to their effectiveness. 20 minutes of core exercises three times weekly with an exercise ball will do wonders for your core muscle group. Perhaps the best part of the book is the last chapter that talks about portion control and what types of food you can eat. Fortunately, you can eat almost anything you want as long as it fits into a sensible program.
A scale that measures weight and bodyfat. Tanita makes a great scale for $99 bucks that is very accurate. The bodyfat is a little suspect but it's all relative. Keep in mind that fat, by volume, weighs less than muscle. Oddly enough, I've gained two pounds the past couple of weeks but my waist, hips and legs have shrunk. I'm now building muscle where useless fat once came along for the ride. I started out at 22% body fat and now am registering low 17%. I hope to get to 15% shortly. Note that the bodyfat scales typically run 2-3% points higher than getting your bodyfat tested accurately in a water displacement device.
Find a nutritionist and understand what type of intake you need for your body and lifestyle. For example, the low-carb Atkins diet is horse ****. If you're an athlete, especially a cyclist, you're burning 600-900 calories PER HOUR. You need your carbohydrates. Be mindful of the amount of fats and proteins you're eating. The FitDay website shows you all of that. Also be mindful of important vitamins. FitDay also covers that. I was fortunate to meet a dietician at a cycling clinic and she was incredible. Her name is Leslie Bonci. An article on what she knows appears here: http://www.annonline.com/interviews/991109/
Don't lose too much too fast. Any competent dietician will tell you to lose no more than 1/2 pound a week. Any more than that and you're probably losing water weight. You're also prone to yo-yo the weight back and lose your confidence. Drink AT LEAST 120 ozs. water daily. 22 oz. more per hour you ride. You need water. A lot of people losing weight get excited as they get on the scale after a workout and see that they've "lost 2, 3 or 4 pounds." Well, you haven't. The truth is that you're dehydrated. Make sure you replace the water you sweat out. Staying hydrated will help your body stay healthy. A dehydrated body slows the metabolism and can actually cause you to conserve your fuel (and weight). Take note that your body needs 12 calories per pound just to maintain your weight. At 185 pounds, I needed 2,220 calories just to stay at that weight. What I didn't realize was that with my crappy eating habits, I was taking in closer to 3,000 calories daily. I was exercising plenty and couldn't understand why I wasn't losing weight.
Get a good understanding of what you want to accomplish. For me, I wanted to lose enough weight and body fat to climb better and increase my endurance. I laid out a plan to ramp up my efforts. The first few weeks I only biked an hour at a time for at most three days. This past week, I've ridden five out of 7 days and have spent almost 12 hours on the bike. I set reasonable goals and now am at the point that I'm losing more than I thought possible.
The last thing to consider is a good support system. It's making my wife and kids a little crazy but I now cook all my own meals. I also shop for myself - once a month at Costco/Sam's club for meats (pork, chicken, salmon) and once a week at the local grocer for onions, carrorts, asparagus, lettuce, pepers, etc. I eat at least four times a day. I average about 2,000 calories daily. 2,500-3,500 on long ride days. I gave up fast food altogether. I honestly don't miss it one bit. I cook my meals on the weekends, freeze 'em up and take it all to work. Take a hint, buy a Foodsaver (www.foodsaver.com) and start vaccuum packing your meals.
Lastly, don't tell me it's too hard. I'm in sales and drive 500 miles weekly. There's always a sheetz or mini-mart someplace that will gladly microwave a plate for me. If anyone gives you a hard time, tell them you're on a "restricted diet." They think you have some weird allergy and will gladly warm a meal up for you.
Best of luck in getting where you want. You can do it!!!
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