weight loss

Don't eat after 6:30 pm. Ride more

tfstrum said:

Don't eat after 6:30 pm. Ride more

Ride more works, but the "don't eat after XXXX" is a crutch. Eat whenever you want, but count every calorie in and out. Once you start counting calories and do it for a week or so you'll see every wasted calorie you are consuming and be personally forced to eat healthier and smarter.

Everything else I tried failed except this. I was 90kg in May 2005. Could not break 85 kg until this year when I really started counting calories and watched the weight drop.

Count calories, count calories, count calories. Everything else will be a fad and eventually fail you.

NomadVW said:

Ride more works, but the "don't eat after XXXX" is a crutch. Eat whenever you want, but count every calorie in and out. Once you start counting calories and do it for a week or so you'll see every wasted calorie you are consuming and be personally forced to eat healthier and smarter.

Everything else I tried failed except this. I was 90kg in May 2005. Could not break 85 kg until this year when I really started counting calories and watched the weight drop.

Count calories, count calories, count calories. Everything else will be a fad and eventually fail you.

I am exactly in this now. I could not break 66 kg ... especially it is strange that after really hard consequent two days (saturday 7 hours ride and sunday 3 hours tempo) my weight increased for ~ 1 kilo...
but, a question is how can you count everything if you eat at cafe, restaurant, not all the way at home where you can count each gram of pasta etc.? Or, must it be approximate calculation..

for me, this is what seems to work...

1) MOST IMPORTANT... get out of the habit of eating until you are stuffed or just eating everything on your plate... eat until you are full and stop... save what's left over for later... seems simple but most people stuff themselves without even realizing it.

2) eat breakfast.. doesn't have to be huge but eat something... will stop you from feeling you have to binge at lunch... and real food, not doughnuts and coffee

3) eat more protein... i used to think this was hokum and would leave cyclists without enough room to eat the carbs that they need, but i have discovered, at least for myself that i probably was eating way too much carbs and not enough protein... repairing and building muscle and building back all those worn out red blood cells after hard training requires lots of protein.. i think the carb to protein guidelines need to be skewed more to the protein side than you see commonly recommended, at least while training hard

Edit - do not restrict your caloric intake while on the bike... this is counter productive and can lead to getting sick and poor, ineffective traing sessions...

NomadVW said:

Ride more works, but the "don't eat after XXXX" is a crutch. Eat whenever you want, but count every calorie in and out. Once you start counting calories and do it for a week or so you'll see every wasted calorie you are consuming and be personally forced to eat healthier and smarter.....

+1 on this advice. It's all about calories in vs. calories out.

I've just finished reading Advanced Sports Nutrition by Dan Bernadot phd, RD...... most of it was the same old stuff, but in his chapter on body composition he cites a study where two groups of athletes were fed the same number of calories per day and worked out to burn the same number of calories. Sure enough their weights tracked the same as calories in vs. calories out stayed the same between both groups. The difference is in when they ate. One group ate a few large meals and the other ate many smaller meals throughout the day. Blood glucose levels were monitored for both groups. The really interesting result is that the group with small steady eating throughout the day(and into the evening) maintained better lean body mass to body fat ratios. The large meal group sacrificed muscle mass for body fat and by the end of the study had higher percentage body fat across the board.

The researches postulate a theory that micro-starvations followed by micro-overeating encourages the body to break down muscles during the times when blood glucose drops(those mini starvations) and then encourages the body to store excess calories as fat following the big meals.

Anyway, he makes a very strong argument for eating consistently throughout the day and maintaining steady blood sugar levels if you're interested in developing or maintaining low percentages of body fat. I've been thinking about this a lot lately and make sure I eat a healthy snack in the evening and make sure I eat during every ride even short ones. The point isn't to fuel the immediate exercise, it's to make sure I keep my blood sugar stable to avoid the boom bust cyle he describes. My weight is staying stable since I'm still estimating daily calories and doing my best to balance them but they're more spread out throughout the day now.

Anyway, overall weight is definitely calories in vs. calories out as NomadVW describes, but if you buy into this study then the timing of those calories does matter.

-Dave

P.S. Romis, You don't need to be perfectly exact when counting calories. Sure it's great when you have a label that lays out exact numbers but most natural foods like salad greens don't give you an exact number. And you'll never get an exact number for how many you burn during exercise. Even with my power meter where I get an exact measure of energy I've got to use an approximation to convert to calories burned. Anyway, pay attention, read labels, use online calorie estimators for both those consumed and those burned during exercise and you'll get good at estimating calories. You'll never know the answer to the third decimal point so don't beat yourself up trying. Just developing an awareness of calories and portion sizes is a huge step forward. Stick with it and be patient. I dropped over 40 pounds in the last year while developing a lot more sustainable power on the bike and my racing has never been better. The key is to stay slow and steady(a pound to pound and a half a week for instance) and to take the long view. You didn't put all that weight on in a month or two so it won't come off that fast either but it can and will come off if you stay focused and don't try to rush it.

doctorSpoc said:

for me, this is what seems to work...

1) MOST IMPORTANT... get out of the habit of eating until you are stuffed or just eating everything on your plate... eat until you are full and stop... save what's left over for later... seems simple but most people stuff themselves without even realizing it.

2) eat breakfast.. doesn't have to be huge but eat something... will stop you from feeling you have to binge at lunch... and real food, not doughnuts and coffee

Same for me, a healthy breakfast is key and portion sizes are really important. Never skipping breakfast and taking a smaller first serving at dinner were my two big changes last year and it was pretty darn painless.

Quoted post said:

3) eat more protein... i used to think this was hokum and would leave cyclists without enough room to eat the carbs that they need, but i have discovered, at least for myself that i probably was eating way too much carbs and not enough protein... repairing and building muscle and building back all those worn out red blood cells after hard training requires lots of protein.. i think the carb to protein guidelines need to be skewed more to the protein side than you see commonly recommended, at least while training hard

That's cool that it worked for you, but I think it depends on your typical diet and what you're already getting in terms of protein. No doubt you need some and athletes need more than sedentary folks but an awful lot of athletes are chasing protein powder and amino acid supplements while ignoring carbs so I hate to push protein. No doubt protein is necessary for the reasons you listed, I just wonder how many meat eating westerners really need much in the way of protein supplementation?

Quoted post said:

Edit - do not restrict your caloric intake while on the bike... this is counter productive and can lead to getting sick and poor, ineffective traing sessions...

Yeah I'm still amazed when I hear folks talking about long rides on empty stomachs to lose weight or even some books advocating starvation training. The study I cited above is a really good reason to avoid that approach.

-Dave

Here's what worked for me:

I cut my carbohydrate intake a bit and replaced it with protien. Exception: for the bike I still eat a large bowl of oatmeal before, and eat during the ride. This is just to keep from bonking and make the ride more enjoyable.
I also cut overall calories off the bike. I would eat half as much as usual, pause for a few minutes to see if I was really still hungry, rather than going on autopilot. This way I didn change my diet that much and still lost 35 lbs. I'm still losing, but more importantly, I feel better too.
another thing: I jog when riding isn't convenient. It's important to exercise everyday, even if it's a just a mile or two of jogging.
Oh, and watch out for alcohol. It's good, but so so empty.

Cheers for the awesome advice, i've been checking out online calorie counters and all that jazz, seems like from doing some calculations to figure out my BMR (basal metabolic rate) that i need to consume about 2000 calories a day to sustain a healthy weight loss. Trouble with these things is they dont seem to take into account the fact that i could burn up to 500 calories (or more? I dunno) on a 2-3 hour ride.

Any thoughts on that? - should i include 500 more calories on a day when i have a big ride?
Just one more question- i've been getting killer headaches after i have finished my rides, i drink plenty when i ride so we can rule out the hydration issue, i'm not much of an eater though- could this be causing my headaches?

Cheers again for your feedback.

2chubby said:

Cheers for the awesome advice, i've been checking out online calorie counters and all that jazz, seems like from doing some calculations to figure out my BMR (basal metabolic rate) that i need to consume about 2000 calories a day to sustain a healthy weight loss. Trouble with these things is they dont seem to take into account the fact that i could burn up to 500 calories (or more? I dunno) on a 2-3 hour ride.

Any thoughts on that? - should i include 500 more calories on a day when i have a big ride?
Just one more question- i've been getting killer headaches after i have finished my rides, i drink plenty when i ride so we can rule out the hydration issue, i'm not much of an eater though- could this be causing my headaches?

Cheers again for your feedback.

You should include the extra calories as part of your daily intake. If you're trying to cut say 250 calories per day (which is a good amount to go for) you would be tripling that by not including the 500 from riding, and 750/day is not sustainable for most people (certainly not me). BTW you are almost certainly burning well over 500 per hour while riding, assuming these aren't sight-seeing rides.
But don't worry about the food that you eat on the rides. They have a specific purpose, and unless you are going very slowly, you will bonk without some replenishment of carbohydrates. Concentrate on the rest of your diet. 2 or 3 power bars and some Gatoraid on a ride is not much compared to three slices of pizza and a beer.
I have no idea why you get headaches. Do you replace electrolytes with gatoraid or the like? Pure water is not the best for cycling, especially in the summer.

2chubby said:

.... Trouble with these things is they dont seem to take into account the fact that i could burn up to 500 calories (or more? I dunno) on a 2-3 hour ride....

Yep, that's just your basal rate or your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) you need to account for your other activities as well. Try an online estimator like this one: nutristrategy.comcycling.htmOpen ↗

Quoted post said:

- i've been getting killer headaches after i have finished my rides, i drink plenty when i ride so we can rule out the hydration issue, i'm not much of an eater though- could this be causing my headaches?...

You should definitely be eating something while you ride and again when you first get home. It doesn't have to be much, but as they say "fat burns in a carbo fire" you need blood sugar and glycogen to fuel exercise. This could contribute to your headaches as could a lack of electrolytes as benkoostra pointed out. As could a poor fitting helmet, dirty sunglasses or a host of other possibilities.

Good luck,
Dave

benkoostra said:

BTW you are almost certainly burning well over 500 per hour while riding, assuming these aren't sight-seeing rides.
But don't worry about the food that you eat on the rides.

500 calories per hour is actually pretty reasonable a number. Without a power meter the most accurate method I've seen and been able to verify is that you can typically burn 40 calories per mile traveled. This obviously varies if you're biking hills/descents a lot or doing intervals, but if I go through my power files to double check the data - a good overall average is 40 calories per mile.

Once you've started tracking your calories, you can pretty much "ballpark" your resting metabolic rate (RMR). BMR is a little trickier. I have an excel spreadsheet I use that gives me a good idea of how many calories per day I am burning that is NOT cycling. Based on my 7-10 day weight changes, my cycling calories, and my intake, it gets me pretty close to what I've had measured on equipment as my resting metabolic rate.

It's also been very close to this calculator, for me. You need to know your % body fat to get the best estimate of RMR.

bodybuilding.comcalrmr.htmOpen ↗

(in the results, method five is the closest to mine when I have my % body fat)

He doesn't sound like he's starving himself and he asked. I don't see a problem limiting intake after a certain part of the day. Why does someone need to eat dinner at 9 pm if they can eat ~ 6:30 or 7 pm. He's not body building. If he was I'd say eat protein, like chicken all day. I've heard of guys that wake up to eat and then go back to bed.

He wants to lose weight. Eat healthy and limit your intake.

Another thing to keep in mind when counting your calories is to take in to concideration what those calories contain. Are they empty calories like a bunch of fried bread or calories from a healthy salad.

I put myself on a 1200 calorie a day diet a year ago and even had days where i only had 900 calorie days(I honestly wasn't trying to). i continued to gain weight. Why? Because the carbs in those calories were screwing me up. A few doctor's appointment's and I quickly found out some stuff. Since limiting my carbs to good healthy carbs with occasional indulgences. I have lost 60 pounds.

I'm not saying cut out carb's, but maybe be more selective with the carbs that make up your calorie intake🙂 .

Biking-Momma said:

Another thing to keep in mind when counting your calories is to take in to concideration what those calories contain. Are they empty calories like a bunch of fried bread or calories from a healthy salad.

I put myself on a 1200 calorie a day diet a year ago and even had days where i only had 900 calorie days(I honestly wasn't trying to). i continued to gain weight. Why? Because the carbs in those calories were screwing me up. A few doctor's appointment's and I quickly found out some stuff. Since limiting my carbs to good healthy carbs with occasional indulgences. I have lost 60 pounds.

I'm not saying cut out carb's, but maybe be more selective with the carbs that make up your calorie intake🙂 .

That sounds like pretty good advice- when you say be selective what kind of carbs are the good stuff and the bad stuff! I've always struggled with that...

like a previous poster said, don't stick with plain water during long rides. i don't know if this would give you headaches but it sure can't help!

Biking-Momma said:

A few doctor's appointment's and I quickly found out some stuff. Since limiting my carbs to good healthy carbs with occasional indulgences. I have lost 60 pounds.

So now you have my interest. What are good carbs? I looked on-line and noticed nuts and legumes, and some fruit and vegetables. Anything else??

Thanks

tfstrum said:

So now you have my interest. What are good carbs? I looked on-line and noticed nuts and legumes, and some fruit and vegetables. Anything else??

Thanks

This is going to seem like a novel but here I go.

First things first, I was once told people fail on diet's they make it on "live its" because you have to be willing to live with your eating habit changes for the rest of your life whereas, diet are usually fad's people get tired of.

Back last October I was trying to lose weight. i couldn't so I went in to my doctor to have blood work done. So months later after my OBGYN canceling some of the appointments (how dare some woman give birth during my appointment😄 ) i finally was able to attend my apointment(end of January). I found out I was insulin resistant. I was given literature and a book to read to get a grasp of it and what I needed to do diet wise. I tell you this only for background I am not saying this is any of you guys reading this. Just more of a FYI.

So I was told to eat only "good" carbs and to cut back the "bad". I was also told to link and balance my protein. Here is how it works.

I am only allowed 30 carbs in a meal. I also suppose to eat 1/2 of the amount of my carbs in protien. I usually eat 3 main meals and 2 snacks. So let's say for Breakfast i have a piece of dry toast(15 carbs), an egg(8 grams of protien). I had 15 carbs and paired it with 8 grams of protein. i only needed 7.5 (half of 15). I linked and balanced my meal. i could have had 2 pieces of toast, but I won't be able to have any other carbs for 2 hours. But if I had eaten 2 pieces of dry toast (30 carbs) now i have to eat at least 15 (half of 30) grams of protein. Every meal goes like this.

What I quickly found out I was doing when I was eating my 1200 calorie diet plans was even thoght something was only 150 calories it was sometime 20 carbs and then I'd have another 250 calorie item and it would have 15 carbs and so forth. So even though I kept my calories low I was getting high carb counts. Hence when I said check and be sure you are chosing wisely what carbs your calories are made of.

Your initial question was what are good vs bad carbs. A generalized list of good would be salad, fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts so forth. Whereas, bad is chips, cookies, fruit juice, high carb ice creams, pre-packaged foods, cakes and so forth. So what I have had to do is say to myself "I can have 5 of these chips or a small salad with my favorite dressing for the same amount of carbs. I can have a cup of this carb smart ice cream or 1/4 cup for that typical ice cream. I can have this Taco Bell Taco Salad without the shell and refried beans for 14 carbs or 77carbs with shell and beans."

Also as a side note, my husband was somewhat forced into this "live it". He has lost 60 pounds as well. I asked my doctor when I was told to do this if it was healthy for my husband to do the same as me. She assured me it would be fine. So at my last appointment I mentioned again that he had lost all this weight and she said "Yeah, everyone should essentially be living this way. Our bodies were not designed to have all the preservitives, processed nutrients and processed/packaged foods." It kind of took me back for a minute. I kept thinking I was doing some amazing equation to get results. in reality I was being a smart eater.

I have found I don't feel deprived. I can still have indulgences. But I have to make conscious indulgences.

If you have any other questions just ask.

Shelia

Oh I lost another pound today. I have officially lost 61 pounds now!🙂

Thanks! And congrats on the 61 lbs. That's major...

a really good website to track your calories is a website called fitday.com

and its free fitday.comfitday.comOpen ↗ :eek: