Best way to lose weight?

mjyule

I went from just over 18stone to 14 stone in a year.

I didn't stick to any set routine. I did what I could with regards to exercise and tried to eat less - when I did go on a binge I didn't beat myself up about it.

For exercise my advise would be to vary your intensity - 3 *30 milers a week will get boring really quick. My belief based on reading and my experience was that "hamster cardio" (copyright Mike Mahler ) is great for recovery but to really blast fat and get fit, you want some Intervals or circuits.

I tried to do at least 30 minutes each day - before breakfast. Alternating "cardio"one day then resistance circuits the next - trying to do 5 workouts a week. When I started it was plain steady state on a Turbo and bodyweight circuits - then I moved to Tabata intervals on the Turbo and Kettlebell training or pressups /pull ups for strength. I logged everything and used a HRM that gave a calorie burned figure (not exact I know) but I aimed for 500cals per workout.

Diet wise I initially used protein shakes in the morning (post workout) and had a light breakfast of Bergen bread toasted with peanut butter and some raisins. Lunch was a tin of tuna/peppers/carrotsand tomatoes. Dinner was a "normal" dinner.

After I reached my target weight I started to read up about the Zone diet and have switched to a nut/seed oats breakfast / sandwich for lunch and a normal dinner.

A good tip is to use smaller plates for everything. Eat lots of raw veg - carrot / pepper / even mushrooms. I found that by upping protein AND good fat my cravings for poor carbs (bread etc) dropped away.

A final tip is -use a scale and a tape - once a week. Some advocate ignoring the scales - but if you see a drop of even 1lb a week it really can give you a mental boost that you're going the right way. Using the tape can show that even though you may have lost only 2lbs in a week you're waist has dropped and you're thighs etc are getting bigger. You want your lena body mass to stay constant (or increase)as it burns fuel even at rest. If you twiddle away at 100rpm for an hour a day and starve yourself after all you'll do is lose muscle and lose interest vvery quickly - worst case you'll also get injured.

Best of luck - it's cliche but you're the only one that can do it - it takes time but it's not hard.

Final tip - reward yourself for reaching targets .......carbon /titanium etc at every stone dropped

Mark

LittleB0b

Weight loss above about 4lbs a week will be muscle loss. Best to be in the region of 2-2.5 lbs a week.
Also after a ride or exercise don't eat within 30-40 minutes after the end as any carbs eaten will be stored as fat.

Actually, DO eat within 20 minutes after exercise as that is when you replenish your glycogen stores - it's known as the window of opportunity, and will fuel your next ride/workout

+1 on advice to eat carbs in the first 20mins after exercising, I was told exactly that by a sports nutritiononist (sp)

There seems to be quite a dispute about this brewing.

I'm probably going on the do eat side BUT when people say eat carbs, they are often forgeting to say how much - So yeah coming in and eating a massive bowl of pasta might not be ideal - after all it still counts in your daily calories.

It's been a while since i read this so i might be off the mark - but i recall the recommened carb intake after exercise was about that you get in a pot of low fat youghut - so yeah it's taking on carbs - but it's not an excuse to plow down a massive meal.

neiltb

themightyw wrote:

Can anyone explain this a little more? I've set myself a modest weight loss target (half a stone over a month) as it's crept up over the last couple of years. Just by reducing portion sizes and cutting out snacking I've been losing about a pound every day or two. Am still exercising regularly - so can't see why this would be muscle loss rather than dead weight?

losing lots of weight at the start of a diet can be normal, by changing your eating patterns (from fat bloater to fruit and veg) can drastically reduce salt intake. Reduction in salt intake will, for a week or two, reduce the bodies need to retain water to keep salt concentration in the blood at the correct levels. lower salt = less water = less weight

holybinch

I also advocated grazing earlier on:

Aim to eat every 3 hours at most
2h is even better

Breakfast (porridge & smoothie) at 7-8
Snack at 10ish (nuts/fruits, no more than a fistful)
Lunch (carbs and proteins) at 12-1
Snack at 3-4
Dinner at 7 (veg, mainly)

Reason is simple, after a few hours, your blood sugar level starts to drop, and your body goes into starvation mode, which means that as soon as you'll eat something, it will try to store it as fat.
This is why not eating is a pretty bad diet strategy (not to mention the effect on your health)

NWLondoner

I have not rode for over 10 days and have lost 3 kilos :?: