Confused - Please Help

gb155

Last week I cycled a little over 100 miles and lost 4 lbs, This week I have already done 120 miles and I will finish on arounf 135 miles for the week, however the scales have not moved a single pound, now I have eaten the same this week as last week, gotten the same amouint of sleep etc and its not like I dont have the weight to lose ( I have another 5 stone to go at least if I base it on Gov guidelines) so why then in a week when I have cycled, further, faster and harder while eating the same have the scales not moved at all ?

Confused doesnt come close.

Gaz

attica

Perhaps (and I'm no expert) you're putting on muscle mass as you lose the fat.

My weight seems to fluctate very little at the moment but I can see that I'm definitely less flabby than I was three months ago

CiB

Could be worse. Mine goes up sometimes. No idea why. Hope that helps, although clearly it doesn't.

suzyb

Tell me about it :evil:

chuckcork

this week I'll clock up about 175 miles in commuting. I doubt I'll lose any weight at all, mostly because (I guess) I'm:

a) used to it, the easy bit of weight loss happened 2.5 years ago when I started proper commuting;
b) hungry as a result, so I eat.

rjsterry

Two thoughts: having lost 4lbs the previous week, you have been lugging around 4lbs less so - in theory - doing slightly less work + as Attica points out, you may well have put on some more muscle.

The second and more useful thought is that as well as keeping track of weight loss, you could keep an eye on a few key measurements. Your waist would be a good place to start, and a reduction in this is arguably more important than a drop in weight as it indicates that you are losing fat from around your main organs (where it's not really a good idea to store too much as I'm sure you know).

Rich158

Attica is probably right, I've put on 4 lbs this week despite riding the same possibly eating less. I'm pretty certain my waist has stayed the same, and have come to the conclusion it's muscle mass as at least one pair of jeans feeld slightly tighter in the thigh. I was amazed the effect was so noticeable in a week or so.

Another option is that you're not in the optimum fat burning zone and so the fat isn't coming off quite so easily. That could be a side effet of being slightly lighter and going slightly further. Have you upped your average speed at all?

Paulie W

I think we get caught up on the calories burnt > calories consumed = weight loss formula.

There are lots of things that complicate this equation. Levels of hydration can lead to significant shifts in weight; what and when you eat can have a dramatic impact (even if overall calorie intake is constant) particularly in relation to when you're exercising; there is a lot of literature out there about blood sugar level and its impact on weight loss in the short and long term - this is controlled by the when and what you eat.

What I'm saying in short is that it's not as confusing as it may first seem.

kelsen

That 4lb could easily be attributable to fluid loss, or how long since you ate your last meal. You're better off looking at weight loss in the long term.

Headhuunter

I weigh 80kg-ish but about 5 years ago I used to be about 73-75kg yet I was looking at photos from back then and my face is definitely a bit flabbier. I put the weight gain down to added muscle from the gym and cycling

Paulie W

Rich158 wrote:

Attica is probably right, I've put on 4 lbs this week despite riding the same possibly eating less. I'm pretty certain my waist has stayed the same, and have come to the conclusion it's muscle mass as at least one pair of jeans feeld slightly tighter in the thigh. I was amazed the effect was so noticeable in a week or so.

4lbs of muscle in a week while riding a bike and not eating that much!! :shock: OK....

andyb78

Firstly, good work on last week's weight loss.

Sometimes you get odd plateaus - you may possibly find an even more dramatic weight loss next week.

+1 for the fluid thing and need to look at measurements rather than weight... I got very dispondent when I got down to 12.5 stone a couple of years ago then couldn't shift any more, but when I started taking measurements instead of looking solely at weight on the advice of a friend, I saw a different picture - 1" off waist in a month, more on the thighs than I would like to mention.

Kieran_Burns

Just Google BMI bollocks and see what comes back

You need to have a series of indicators, not just weight to show whether you are losing fat (which let's face it, is what we're talking about here)

You should be taking accurate measurements of body dimensions as well as actual weight to see what is happening.

Alternately, you could've just killed the scales




(for the hard of humour I guarantee Gaz found that funny, even if you didn't :P )

Mike400

Im finding that - the scales havent moved much in the past couple of weeks but my clothes are still getting looser and people are still commenting on my weight loss at work etc

My legs are getting really big and toned looking too, which im not complaining about so I reckon im still burning fat just building muscle

Struggling to get the stomach less flabby at the minute - ive lost weight everywhere but the belly seems to be the hardest to shift

My arms have got quite weedy looking - more toned but skinny, anyone else find the same?

Kieran_Burns

Your stomach is your Camels hump (so to speak) it's the first place to gain fat and the last place to lose it. Which is unfortunate as it's the generally the one place we look at the most when thinking we're over-weight :?

As for your arms, you need to dome some upper body exercising - cycling is great for general fitness but you'll be unbalanced if ALL you do is cycle.

Headhuunter

Mike400 wrote:

Im finding that - the scales havent moved much in the past couple of weeks but my clothes are still getting looser and people are still commenting on my weight loss at work etc

My legs are getting really big and toned looking too, which im not complaining about so I reckon im still burning fat just building muscle

Struggling to get the stomach less flabby at the minute - ive lost weight everywhere but the belly seems to be the hardest to shift

My arms have got quite weedy looking - more toned but skinny, anyone else find the same?

I do regular upper body weights at the gym to try to gain some balance!

MonkeyMonster

So has anyone made the comment that fat weighs (has a mass of - for the pedants) of 4 times as much as same volume of fat...

So you can slim down and weigh more...

rjsterry

I think Rich158 is probably on to something with the zones point. SCR, in which, I believe, you participate, is pretty rubbish for burning fat as it tends to be a series of sprints (at least in London that's the case). Long but steady (dare I say pootling) rides are the thing for burning fat.

Kieran_Burns

MM - you might want to strategically edit your post

For the pedants: Muscle is 4 times denser than fat

Simonb256

Lol, contrary to popular belief it's not as simple as "if food in is less than exercise out, you'll loose weight".

There are lots of things to factor.

Firstly BMR, secondly what you are eating (carbs,protein,fat etc), muscle increase is possible but not that rapidly consideirng it didnt last week etc etc.

Weight is always easier to loose the first few weeks then loss per week slowly decreases.

I've been stuck at 14stone for over a year now and thats mainly as I dont eat/drink enough and what I do eat isnt that great for me.

*awaits torrent of people saying I'm wrong etc*

Oddjob62

Rich158 wrote:

have come to the conclusion it's muscle mass

You wish Rich

Rich158

Paulie W wrote:

Rich158 wrote:

Attica is probably right, I've put on 4 lbs this week despite riding the same possibly eating less. I'm pretty certain my waist has stayed the same, and have come to the conclusion it's muscle mass as at least one pair of jeans feeld slightly tighter in the thigh. I was amazed the effect was so noticeable in a week or so.

4lbs of muscle in a week while riding a bike and not eating that much!! :shock: OK....

Lol, just re-read that post!!! maybe not

My weight does fluctuate over the course of a week or so, I genrally bounce around the 150-155 lb mark, but I have noticed a definate trend upwards with an increase in mileage. The trend has continued as I've increased the effort and started racing. As my waist has stayed pretty much static I can only put this down to increased muscle mass. I say this because I've noticed some of my jeans are fealing a lot tighter arround the thighs than usual. The weight increase could also be down to increased fluid intake and better hydration generally as well.

gb155

Looking back at my weight loss charts it seem I have a big week of losing (4-6lbs) then the following week always seems to be 1 or 2 lbs at max, is this normal ?

Thanks again all

gb155

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Just Google BMI bollocks and see what comes back

You need to have a series of indicators, not just weight to show whether you are losing fat (which let's face it, is what we're talking about here)

You should be taking accurate measurements of body dimensions as well as actual weight to see what is happening.

Alternately, you could've just killed the scales




(for the hard of humour I guarantee Gaz found that funny, even if you didn't :P )

Is the correct answer, KB is THE man !!!!!! (Well half man, half hood I believe

Kieran_Burns

All Dark Lord I'll have you know.




I hated my teddy bear

Buckled_Rims

It's no good weighting yourself after you've trained as you've probably lost loads of water by sweating. You can only really know if you're losing weight by a monthly count. Weekly weights will vary.

You have to be very precise when weighting, for example, empty your bowels and bladder before, weight in the mornings and (of course) naked.

If you've lost 4lbs of fat in 1 week, it's probably wrong, sorry. Your body doesn't work like that. To get a full complete picture you need to get a full fat count at some sports clinics. I could lose 6lbs in weight next week, but it wont be all fat (I wish i could).

PBo

MonkeyMonster wrote:

So has anyone made the comment that fat weighs (has a mass of - for the pedants) of 4 times as much as same volume of fat...

So you can slim down and weigh more...

but if we are being pedantic, you didn't express a unit - only a relationship. therefore this is just as true for weight as mass..... :P

I'm overlooking that you compared fat with fat, as I know you meant muscle/fat

wyadvd

i do around 150 miles a week. Im 75 kilos and everyone has been looking sideways at me since i started cycling and telling me i look like ive lost weight. Fact is ive put on 2 or 3 kilos. My torso looks even skinnier, but my legs have aquired two tennis balls just above the knees and my upper legs appear to have gained six inches in girth. I have a six pack where once was the beginnings of what some people affectionately call ' relaxed muscle' (beer gut). I never thought my body could transform so quickly. I eat like an absolute horse now btw.

Buckled_Rims

If we keep the calculations simple. Anyone argue against this (keep in simple, please).

It takes 3500 calories to burn 1lb of fat, therefore the original poster lost 4lbs so 4x3500 = 14,000 calories required to burn 4lbs.

If I cycle (at 15mph with 75kg body) I burn approx 600 calories per hour. So, for me to burn 4lb of fat off I must have cycled for 23.3 hours (350miles). (and this includes no food intake during that period).

rjsterry

wyadvd wrote:

i do around 150 miles a week. Im 75 kilos and everyone has been looking sideways at me since i started cycling and telling me i look like ive lost weight. Fact is ive put on 2 or 3 kilos. My torso looks even skinnier, but my legs have aquired two tennis balls just above the knees and my upper legs appear to have gained six inches in girth. I have a six pack where once was the beginnings of what some people affectionately call ' relaxed muscle' (beer gut). I never thought my body could transform so quickly. I eat like an absolute horse now btw.

Sounds very familiar.

rolf_f

rjsterry wrote:

wyadvd wrote:

i do around 150 miles a week. Im 75 kilos and everyone has been looking sideways at me since i started cycling and telling me i look like ive lost weight. Fact is ive put on 2 or 3 kilos. My torso looks even skinnier, but my legs have aquired two tennis balls just above the knees and my upper legs appear to have gained six inches in girth. I have a six pack where once was the beginnings of what some people affectionately call ' relaxed muscle' (beer gut). I never thought my body could transform so quickly. I eat like an absolute horse now btw.

Sounds very familiar.

+1 ish. Except my weight hasn't changed. There are 3 things in life that are certain - death, taxes and the constancy of my body weight. Dunno what is happening to all the food I eat but I come in from work, spend the evening stuffing my face and still weigh less than 10 stone.