Weight Loss
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Weight Loss
Postby moosterbounce » Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:23 pm
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...
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Postby commi » Mon Jan 29, 2007 1:09 pm
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.
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Postby TriggerFish » Mon Jan 29, 2007 4:02 pm
Regards,
TF.
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Postby Mulger bill » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:04 pm
I never got bigger than 91kg so I'll just shut up now.
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Postby Mr888 » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:37 pm
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.
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Postby europa » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:41 pm
Richard
clydsdale's unite and flatten all them skinny race horses
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Postby mikesbytes » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:03 pm
Thats a form of interval training. Kev, does your coach get you to do intervals?Mr888 wrote: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.
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.
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Postby Bnej » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:04 pm
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.
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Postby mikesbytes » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:08 pm
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Postby europa » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:49 pm
Well, that rules out tap water here in Adelaidemikesbytes wrote:I prefer to eat my calories, so I don't have a lot of calorie infested drinks.
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
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Postby Mulger bill » Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:56 pm
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.
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Postby mikesbytes » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:01 pm
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.
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Postby mikesbytes » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:31 am
Just downed a slice of chocolate cake. Yummy.Bnej wrote: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.
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.
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Postby europa » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:41 am
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
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Postby mikesbytes » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:54 am
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Postby europa » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:01 pm
Richard
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Postby sogood » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:06 pm
BMI = weight (kg) / (height (m))^2
Health is equated at BMI of 20-25.
RK wrote:And that is Wikipedia - I can write my own definition.
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Postby mikesbytes » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:49 pm
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.sogood wrote: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.
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Postby beauyboy » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:55 pm
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
Upgrade the NCL now QR!!!!!!
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Postby europa » Wed Jan 31, 2007 1:15 pm
Richard
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