Worried about Winter weight

mattward1979

Bit frustrated with this...

I doubled my cycling from 50 to 100 miles a week, dropped my calorie intake to 2000 per day taking in mainly vegetables and high protein lean meats, dropped booze by at least half, and in 2 weeks put ON 2lb and not changed body dimensions.......

I feel a bit stronger, but my goal is weight loss for overall improvement on the saddle, and with winter looming if my body wont shift anything with this regime, when the excercise slows down im concerned about gaining lots over winter..

When I was on 60+ units of booze a week eating take away curries and not really doing a lot, my weight was stable!!

ps, I dont think its plausable that Ive gained 2lbs of muscle in 2 weeks

danowat

mattward1979 wrote:

Bit frustrated with this...

I doubled my cycling from 50 to 100 miles a week, dropped my calorie intake to 2000 per day taking in mainly vegetables and high protein lean meats, dropped booze by at least half, and in 2 weeks put ON 2lb and not changed body dimensions.......

I feel a bit stronger, but my goal is weight loss for overall improvement on the saddle, and with winter looming if my body wont shift anything with this regime, when the excercise slows down im concerned about gaining lots over winter..

When I was on 60+ units of booze a week eating take away curries and not really doing a lot, my weight was stable!!

ps, I dont think its plausable that Ive gained 2lbs of muscle in 2 weeks

How much weight have you lost?, how much do you weight?, do you NEED to lose weight?, are you 100% sure your calorie intake is correct?, are you doing all your cycling at the same intensity?, how old are you?, do you know your BMR, i.e. do you know how much you should be eating to support your exertion rates?, its possible you aren't eating enough.

Even if you've halved your booze intake, booze is pretty packed with calories, so are you factoring that into your 2000cals a day?.

Its probably a blip, and I wouldn't worry about it, if you are concerned about gaining weight over the winter, up your training, there is no reason why you have to reduce your training over winter

Steve_F

Maybe your body works back to front and you need to drink more and eat more takeaways!!

Anytime I switch that dramatically the first week is always the biggest change. Might just be a strange week while your body gets used to it. Try keeping a food diary to make sure you are eating as little as you think.

Stick with it.

tlw1

as above - stick with it!

acebobby

Stick to a plan for about 8 weeks before worrying about results, I have found that calories can sneak in and add up so a food and drink diary is essential! Work out your calories over a week so rather than 2000 a day your target is 14000 per week which in my opinion if your drinking any alcohol you will probably be on the side of malnurished and your body will fight to hold onto any fat you have. you need to be putting 14000 good nutritious calories into your body!
Remember 3500 calories is the deficit you need to lose a pound of fat, they say that 2 lbs per week is healthy but thats a massive 7000 calorie deficit you need to find that between training and diet!
My opinion, do an 8 week plan, keep a diary, stay off the booze for the 8 weeks, then check your results! Then write yourself another 8 week plan!

Edit
I just noticed you drank 60+ units of alcohol per week, assuming you have halfed it to 30, thats still to much, your body needs to detox. drink only water for the next 8 weeks!

Chip \'oyler

You need to keep a check on your body fat percentage. As you're exercising more it's likely you've put on muscle mass which weighs more than fat.

Power to weight ratio is the key to faster cycling.

acebobby

Chip \'oyler wrote:

You need to keep a check on your body fat percentage. As you're exercising more it's likely you've put on muscle mass which weighs more than fat.

Power to weight ratio is the key to faster cycling.

Its funny how people say that but believe it or not a pound of muscle weights exactly the same as a pound of fat.

mattward1979

thanks for the tips!

Ill definitely be sticking with the routine, mainly because 20 miles a day 4 days a week is my commute.

Btw, when I said 60 units plus take aways, that was reference to my most unhealthy period a few years ago when I was managing a pub, but even then my weight was stable.

Over the 2 years ive been cycling I've lost half a stone and improved fitness so I'm down to 16 stone now.
Was just hoping this new increase In exercise would take this to the next level

danowat

acebobby wrote:

Chip \'oyler wrote:

You need to keep a check on your body fat percentage. As you're exercising more it's likely you've put on muscle mass which weighs more than fat.

Power to weight ratio is the key to faster cycling.

Its funny how people say that but believe it or not a pound of muscle weights exactly the same as a pound of fat.

Pound for pound it does, but the reality is that muscle is denser, therefore, for a given volume, muscle weights more than fat.

In my experiance, the best way to shift fat is to up the intensity of your rides.

acebobby

mattward1979 wrote:

thanks for the tips!

Over the 2 years ive been cycling I've lost half a stone and improved fitness so I'm down to 16 stone now.
Was just hoping this new increase In exercise would take this to the next level

It will Matt, unfortunately its just going to take longer than 2 weeks, I know how you feel though, big lifestyle change and weighing yourself all the time, think of it this way though, how long did it take to put the weight on? You are actively reversing that procedure so stick with it!

acebobby

danowat wrote:

acebobby wrote:

Chip \'oyler wrote:

You need to keep a check on your body fat percentage. As you're exercising more it's likely you've put on muscle mass which weighs more than fat.

Power to weight ratio is the key to faster cycling.

Its funny how people say that but believe it or not a pound of muscle weights exactly the same as a pound of fat.

Pound for pound it does, but the reality is that muscle is denser, therefore, for a given volume, muscle weights more than fat.

In my experiance, the best way to shift fat is to up the intensity of your rides.

pound for pound it does not! And the idea of losing weight is reducing volume, not replacing your fat with muscle, Not bad if you maintain a 36" waist but happy in the knowledge that its pure muscle lol

danowat

acebobby wrote:

danowat wrote:

acebobby wrote:

Chip \'oyler wrote:

You need to keep a check on your body fat percentage. As you're exercising more it's likely you've put on muscle mass which weighs more than fat.

Power to weight ratio is the key to faster cycling.

Its funny how people say that but believe it or not a pound of muscle weights exactly the same as a pound of fat.

Pound for pound it does, but the reality is that muscle is denser, therefore, for a given volume, muscle weights more than fat.

In my experiance, the best way to shift fat is to up the intensity of your rides.

pound for pound it does not! And the idea of losing weight is reducing volume, not replacing your fat with muscle, Not bad if you maintain a 36" waist but happy in the knowledge that its pure muscle lol

So you are contraditicting your reply to Chip?

acebobby

danowat wrote:

acebobby wrote:

danowat wrote:

acebobby wrote:

Chip \'oyler wrote:

You need to keep a check on your body fat percentage. As you're exercising more it's likely you've put on muscle mass which weighs more than fat.

Power to weight ratio is the key to faster cycling.

Its funny how people say that but believe it or not a pound of muscle weights exactly the same as a pound of fat.

Pound for pound it does, but the reality is that muscle is denser, therefore, for a given volume, muscle weights more than fat.

In my experiance, the best way to shift fat is to up the intensity of your rides.

pound for pound it does not! And the idea of losing weight is reducing volume, not replacing your fat with muscle, Not bad if you maintain a 36" waist but happy in the knowledge that its pure muscle lol

So you are contraditicting your reply to Chip?

Nope I am still happy in the knowledge that pound of muscle weights exactly the same as a pound of fat.

I see what I typed, misunderstanding sorry, But volume is what changes as you know and of course strength, fitness and endurance!

Chip \'oyler

acebobby wrote:

danowat wrote:

acebobby wrote:

danowat wrote:

acebobby wrote:

Chip \'oyler wrote:

You need to keep a check on your body fat percentage. As you're exercising more it's likely you've put on muscle mass which weighs more than fat.

Power to weight ratio is the key to faster cycling.

Its funny how people say that but believe it or not a pound of muscle weights exactly the same as a pound of fat.

Pound for pound it does, but the reality is that muscle is denser, therefore, for a given volume, muscle weights more than fat.

In my experiance, the best way to shift fat is to up the intensity of your rides.

pound for pound it does not! And the idea of losing weight is reducing volume, not replacing your fat with muscle, Not bad if you maintain a 36" waist but happy in the knowledge that its pure muscle lol

So you are contraditicting your reply to Chip?

Nope I am still happy in the knowledge that pound of muscle weights exactly the same as a pound of fat.

I see what I typed, misunderstanding sorry, But volume is what changes as you know and of course strength, fitness and endurance!

Yes your right. Like a ton of feathers and a ton of rocks analagy.

BUT a pound of muscle will push the pedals far better than a pound of fat.

And what I was trying to say was that the OP hadn't noticed a drop in weight - I suggested that what might have happened is that the fat he'd burnt through the extra cycling was probably offset by the weight of the muscle he would have developed through his training.

So there

chunkytfg

From all the bickering above I think what can be concluded is that as well as monitoring your weight you should also be monitoring your size. Take measurements of your chest, belly, waist, thighs and biceps.

On the weeks you dont lose weight you may drop a bit of 'size' which wold reinforce the theory that fat is being replaced with muscle which pound for pound weighs the same but takes up less 'space'

Ben6899

Matt,

I wouldn't bother weighing if I were you but if you do then make sure, for example, it's: every Friday morning, bollock naked and after your first slash of the day. Remove any unwanted variables.

But in my experience (I've lost weight in the past after putting it on through a rough patch) the best way to tell how you're doing is by how your clothes fit. Not necessarily that they're too big, but they'll feel different and meet your body at different places.

bigmat

Go running - far better for losing weight than cycling in my experience. Much as I hate it, I will soon start a programme of winter running to ensure that my weight is in check for the New Year. Need to start soon as I've put on a few lbs lately!

Dave-M

Try getting down to 1600-1700 cals a day.

Breakfast: 3 shreadded wheat

Lunch: ham salad sandwhich, low fat crsips, go ahead bar, banana

Dinner: Chicken and rice and veg with home made sauce

I've already lost over 2 stone before reaching a plateau, then changed to this and I've lost another stone.

I still drink 4 cans a night fri, sat, sun.....saying that, this maybe the reason I have a flabby belly, but lean elsewhere!

Steve_F

I've tried switching to a much healthier diet and after reading it a few places I've tried to cut out carbs after 2pm. Seems to be a much better diet than anything like the Atkins and it has worked ok for the three days I've been doing it!

rogerthecat

I would recommend using a HRM,

See Here

I lost 4 stone over an eight month period, also watching Calorie in Calorie out method.
.

Renagade

For a 16st guy who's exercising, 2000kcal is likely to be too low if anything.

2500kcal is the rda for an 'average' 70-80kg male, working in an office environment - so compare yourself to that and what can you see?

Obviously you want to reduce your intake a little under your maintenence intake, but I think 2000kcal (and certainly anything under that) is actually too low.

Combine that with the rest of the help / info in this thread and I'm sure you'll do fine!