WEIGHTLOSS cycling

ermintrude123 said:

I am attempting to cycle a 40 mile cycle in 10 weeks time and ideally woudl like to combine my training with weight loss which i think will be necessary to have any chance of succeeding. Ideally i would like to lose about 20lbs over the next ten weeks. Any suggestions regarding training ? Am i right in thinking i shoudl be training at 75% my MHR and if so, for how long each day and should i be focussing on hills or endurance flats ?

GIVE UP:-Booze, soft drinks that are high in sugar (most are), sweets, biscuits, puddings, pies, cakes, crisps, ready meals.......

Dear Dr Shipp, thanks for your constructive and well researched nutritional advice. However, what with not having eaten sweets, biscuits, puddings, pies, cakes, crisps or ready meals, nor drinking any sugary soft drink and minimal alcohol in my adult life (fifteen years), its a little difficult to give them up. My diet consists of fish, salad, vegetables and pulses only and only miminal alcohol at a wk end. Thank you once again.

Don Shipp said:

GIVE UP:-Booze, soft drinks that are high in sugar (most are), sweets, biscuits, puddings, pies, cakes, crisps, ready meals.......

ermintrude123 said:

Dear Dr Shipp, thanks for your constructive and well researched nutritional advice. However, what with not having eaten sweets, biscuits, puddings, pies, cakes, crisps or ready meals, nor drinking any sugary soft drink and minimal alcohol in my adult life (fifteen years), its a little difficult to give them up. My diet consists of fish, salad, vegetables and pulses only and only miminal alcohol at a wk end. Thank you once again.

You're welcome.
For most people the answer is to cut something out, but clearly for you that is not the case.
I wonder how much fat you can really need to lose on that diet. But before I dare say anything else that doesn't apply to you, how many miles do you normally cycle in one go, and at what speed?

I've found that the most efficient and enjoyable way to lose weight while cycling is not cycling to lose weight. Sure you can start with that, but what I do is that I ride around at least 3 hours after school (I'm a student), sometimes to downtown (I live in Toronto) and sometimes up north into the country side. Setting a destination to go seems to be more effective than setting a distance or a time limit. Sometimes you may be tight with time, so what I do is I just go north as far as I go until I know its the half way point in time and I turn back. Its all about enjoying the sport, the speed, the endorphins that gets released when you cycle. However, if you need to lose a lot of weight REALLY quick, I guess that would work too provided you can stick to it.

Just my two cents.

Train at 79% to 83% MHR and go for 35 to 56 mile rides. Just eat what you would regularly eat without gaining weight and you will lose weight. To lose 2 lbs a week I think you'll have to do 140 miles a week.

This year it took me 1643.6 miles to go from 162.6 lbs to 145 lbs. And last year I did 2080 miles to go from 193 to 159 lbs.

There are a lot of other threads on weight loss, so just look at those.

75% sounds about right. If weight loss is your only goal, I don't think hills are all that important at all.

If you're fat right now you will lose weight easily. If your slim (about 20% body fat) it will be harder for you to lose weight. If your new to cycling first try a 20 miler, then a 30 miler, then a 40 miler. Really, biking 30+ miles up to 54 miles is nothing - up to 3 hrs most of the time. And you should bike at least 30 miles to lose significant weight from a ride.

This also might work - try a Subway Sandwich diet of any 6" sub! Those subs are mostly 330 to 450 calories and if you pack them with good trimmings they should be healthy. Do this for lunch and dinner everyday, and just eat a 540 calorie breakfast of anything.

Really - I lost the most weight from my workouts when I biked between 79% to 83% MHR.

I did a 50 miler today and lost 5.5 lbs. That's close to 4% of my body weight (141 lbs before 135.5 after). Now granted it was all water weight as it was over 90 here today. It also might explain why I was zapped at the end of the ride....😉

EDIT: I just went back up stairs and jumped on the scale. Back up to 142....

L

Thank you to all of you who replied. much appreicated!