Weight Loss

[moosterbounce]

Hi all.

As there are quite a few people on the forum who have discovered cycling with weightloss in mind, I thought I would share with you my last 12 months.

In December 2005, we bought a set of scales and I got on I had expanded to 107.6kg and was embarressed. I used to do triathalons when they first started (about 12 years ago) but had since swapped road bike for mountain bike and never used it. So I started thinking...

Step 1 - buy a rideable road bike that wouldn't bend when I sat on it!! Went with an Avanti Blade Sport and started riding. This was hard to start with but I slowly began enjoying myself. I remember when I was proud that I had ridden 20km...and then 30km...and then 50km!!

The first 10kg came off by about May and I took some time out (had a few months relax) just trying to maintain this new weight. We made a number of lifestyle changes and was able to hold this weight which was good. Low GI food totally worked for us. Just converting to low GI grain bread and sweet potato instead of normal made a big difference. It doesn't all need to be rabbit food!!

Then I got back into heavier training...but the weight didn't budge. Regardless of what I did, it didn't seem to shift. One day someone at work decided to hold a 10 week Biggest Loser competition. $10 entry fee with mid comp and end comp prize money. If you gained weight, there was a $1 fine. Two weight gains in a row (weekly weighins) doubled the fine.

My competitive streak came out and I signed up.

At that time, I wsn't losing any weight so I also went out and bought a Polar F11 HRM and started using the fitness program with my bike on a stationary trainer. I won the mid comp ($50!!) and then won the end comp ($100)!! I managed to lose 11kg in that 10 weeks and was the only person who had lost weight every week.

At 90kg I was finally able to find some knicks that fitted which made riding a bit more comfy.

I had set myself a goal to buy a new bike when I got to 80kg but my husband talked me in to getting it a little early (86kg) as we were taking some time off over Christmas and it would be a perfect time to enjoy it.

I got a Scott CR1 Team full carbon road bike. Before anyone comments, yes, I did get matching full carbon bidon cages and carbon pedals (well, they did match, and deep down I'm just a girl ).

I continued with the trainer on weeknights and my new road bike on weekends. I would feel like I cheated if I didn't get to 80kg. But something weird happened. I lost some weight during the week (my normal program on the trainer), but gained it again on the weekend!!

I checked food intake and there was nothing different there. Then it came to me - when I ride on the road, I put much more effort into it and was probably developing some muscles that riding the trainer didn't. So I kept at it.

This week some kind of equilibrium has been reached and I am now losing weight when I ride on the road Yay!!

I'm now down to 84kg and am planning to have these last 4kg gone within 6 weeks. Anything beyond that is a bonus.

So to everyone who is in the same boat - keep at it. You may reach a plateau, but don't lose heart. Look at what you are eating, and make some changes if you need to.

I wouldn't recommend throwing yourself into salad too much though. With BBQ season here, this isn't too bad, but look at other low GI options too. Sweet potato, corn, berries - all good!! You don't have to do without either. I ate chocolate every day but converted to dark chocolate (mmmm Club dark chocolate with roasted almonds!!) Not only is dark better for you, it is richer so you only need 1 or 2 pieces to feel satisfied.

So, to those who are trying to lose a few kilos - or a lot of kilos like me - I hope this story gives you some motivation and a few ideas.

Moo...

[tuco]

That's a moo-velous story.

I've still got 10kg to lose. I was going well then I had holidays away from the bike then after I got back it's been too wet to ride safely.

Hopefully this week the weather will improve and I'll be back out on the road.

[commi]

Keep up the good work, moosterbounce

I'm a skinny man with an average build but I have a bit of a gut. And I don't think cycling along is going to make any difference. I'm too lazy to do sit ups (plus its boring)...

I need to start jogging again. That helped tone up overall and loss a bit of weight (cos I was sweating so much!)

So far cycling has given me stronger thighs and calfs to some degree and that's about it.

[TriggerFish]

Thankyou for sharing that testimony. I can honestly say that it is a story like that that will keep the motivation going. Any motivational tool to keep going is vital in my opinion, but, a personal success story is all the better becuase it makes you feel like it is possible. Others have done it, now I can and have to!

Regards,

TF.

[MJF]

Damn - I'd kill to lose weight like that! I'm now commuting ~ 125Km a week, and haven't really started to lose any weight. (3.5Kg in two months... and that's deck chairs on the titanic at my end of the scales).

Michael.

[Mulger bill]

I nominate moosterbounce for official cycling legend status
I never got bigger than 91kg so I'll just shut up now.

[Bnej]

I'm probably the heaviest I've ever been at 67kg at the moment.

Yeah, I'm enjoying my 20s.

[Mr888]

Did anyone hear the storey on the news (today tonight/A current affair) about how to lose weight fast and keep it off?

Apperently it works by doing sprint type excersice (cycling, running or swimming) for a continuous 8 seconds, then a sustained slower pace for 2 minutes, then a sprint again and so on and so forth for 20 minutes a day.

I'll try to find a link, but if anyone out there already know of one please show us the way.

[europa]

According to my girlfriend's scales, I've been exactly 105.8 kg for the last three months ... probably longer. The anoying thing is that it varies for her but for me, it's always exactly the flamin' same

Richard
clydsdale's unite and flatten all them skinny race horses

[Mr888]

Here's a link if you're interested

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21096920-36398,00.html

Enjoy

[mikesbytes]

Did anyone hear the storey on the news (today tonight/A current affair) about how to lose weight fast and keep it off?

Apperently it works by doing sprint type excersice (cycling, running or swimming) for a continuous 8 seconds, then a sustained slower pace for 2 minutes, then a sprint again and so on and so forth for 20 minutes a day.

I'll try to find a link, but if anyone out there already know of one please show us the way.

Thats a form of interval training. Kev, does your coach get you to do intervals?

Richard, time to convert that hard work on the bike into even more results by looking at the diet. Suggest you log your consumption on fitday to learn about your eating and drinking habits.

[Bnej]

Today Tonight/ACA is such a rag.

I'm sure the research is useful, but there's nothing that miraculous about interval exercise. They present it as if this is going to change the world...

You lose weight by diet and exercise.

The average person needs roughly 8,000Kj of energy from food/drinks per day.

A chocolate bar, "breakfast" bar, or a bag of crisps, is about 800-1,200Kj. A 600ml coke is more.

20 minutes cycling at ~30kph will consume about 800 - 1000Kj from your body. If you drink 500ml of Gatorade you will negate that.

So three regular meals will probably provide 8,000kj easily. Drink a coke and have some crisps, you're over the balance. Cycle 20km instead and drink water instead and you're under.

It's more complex than that of course, but I always like the joule/calorie equation. It's like science and stuff.

[mikesbytes]

I prefer to eat my calories, so I don't have a lot of calorie infested drinks.

[europa]

I prefer to eat my calories, so I don't have a lot of calorie infested drinks.

Well, that rules out tap water here in Adelaide

And no, I'm not ready to start loging my eats and drinks though I understand where you're coming from. Getting fit is bad enough without stuffing around with my diet Seriously, I grizzle about it, but it's good grizzling. I'm not that concerned. My cholesterol is right down, my blood pressure's good, my doctor sees me for good conversation not to help pay for his Porsche. Eventually I'll get serious about the diet (and it's not bad though probably a tad generous), but at the moment, it's not on the list of important things. The big court battle to keep contact with my daughter has been scheduled for the end of Feb (was originally going to be in June so I'm pleased about that). Once that's out of the way, and I'm smothered my grief at the latest outrage from the Family Fraud, I might just take a long look at my diet, but I'd have to dispense with the Chateau Cardboard Rough Red first methinks. Carrying a few extra kilos isn't even close to the biggest worry in my life right now.

Richard

[Mulger bill]

I've never been big on counting calories n' stuff, rather be riding. (Even though I've been up a ladder with a paintbrush today)

I used the ELDM weight loss method... Eat Less, Do More, with a part Italian wife, I've learned to take what she PILES onto my plate and leave about a quarter behind. (Did I cop some flak for a while )

Painting will be done before tucker, I'll hit the steed after that.

[mikesbytes]

I don't count calories, but what I did do, was meddle with the source of my calories, increasing the amount that came from protein and fat, while decreasing that amount that came from carbs, in particular sugar. In the end I got the calorie count roughly even between protein, carbs and fat at about 1000 calories each or 3000 per day.

Over christmas I didn't do so well, so I've toned the consumption down a fraction. I died a death in yoga at lunchtime, my body was covered in sweat in an airconditioned room. Confessed to my failure in my Training Log

Generally boys may have better dynamic strength that chicks, but they have better static strength. Another area where females do better than males is the strength were the joint is fully bent, generally females have more even stength thru the full range of the muscle movement where males have the stength concentrated at the end of the muscle movement.

[Bnej]

Thing about sugar and carbs, is while they aren't really any worse for you, they don't make you feel full like protein & fats do, which is apparently why the Atkins diet works.

[mikesbytes]

Thing about sugar and carbs, is while they aren't really any worse for you, they don't make you feel full like protein & fats do, which is apparently why the Atkins diet works.

Just downed a slice of chocolate cake. Yummy.

Atkins is really strict, some people won't eat tomatos because they have carbs. Others use the terms good carbs and bad carbs, which is referring to what you are eating the carbs from, for example a piece of fruit has lots of good stuff in it, so the carbs within are called good carbs.

Another strategy is not to reduce carbs after a certain time of day, for example dinner could consist of a large slab of grilled chicken breast and salad.

Reading the labels on the food in interesting, check out the difference between jasmin rice and bisanti rice, its huge. I always thought that rice was rice but it ain't.

[europa]

Right, so half my trouble is buying 'no frills' rice and eating lots of tomatoes

Life was a lot simpler in the good old days when you ate what came from your garden ... because there wasn't anthing else.

Richard
no, I'm not a Yorkshireman and I never wrote for Monty Python

veiled reference to the 4 Yorkshiremen skit

[mikesbytes]

Keep the tomatos Richard and start reading the labels.

[europa]

Yeah, I'm a label reader but like you, never thought to look at rice. Guess I should look at me pastas too. There's very little processed food in my diet - I'd rather start with fresh ingredients - spent yesterday making tomato sauces seeing I put them with most of my concoctions (my son cringes when I use a recipe).

Richard

[sogood]

I would suggest that people also look at their body mass index (BMI) rather than just absolute weight in kg and shape in the mirror.

BMI = weight (kg) / (height (m))^2

Health is equated at BMI of 20-25.

[mikesbytes]

I would suggest that people also look at their body mass index (BMI) rather than just absolute weight in kg and shape in the mirror.

BMI = weight (kg) / (height (m))^2

Health is equated at BMI of 20-25.

BMI doesn't work for me, I'm too muscular. sogood, if you keep riding like you did last Sunday, eventually BMI will be wrong for you too.

[beauyboy]

I hate BMI, using that thing I'm got a BMI of 20.5. BMI is good as a general guide but not the be and end all. Judgeing fitness is a total thing. My other half bought a electronic scale which measures huge amount of things including body fat.
I do count imput but only in general terms as I am small and need to keep it up to maintain weight. One thing that everyone here would of noticed is as you get fitter you crave different foods. Generally i do not crave suger now (besides the four Table spoons on breaky ).

Donald

[europa]

These generalisations like BMI don't really work for me either. I've always been officially overweight, even back in my twenties when I was at footy training three times a week, playing two matches on the saturday and had the nick name 'ribs' because you could count all my ribs. Actually, those were the days when I was riding my old white bike 15km to uni every day too. And the ruddy scales claimed I was well overweight. Pah. Solid bones and dense muscles combined with big thighs. Of course, nowadays I can't escape the tummy, though I'll always have that - it's genetic from my mother's side but yeah, there is a goodly selection of things that could reduce ... when I decide to worry about them

Richard