Fed up with being porky!

johnmatthewflanagan

I have been cycling on and off for years, both road and offroad and enjoy a bit of mountaineering every now and again. I can't seem to drop below 14.5 stone very easily. I need help.

I can commute 13 miles each way most days of the week, and I have time at the weekend for a day in the hills walking, and an afternoon blasting around a trail centre.

Does anyone have a suggestion of some sort of routine I could use or a training plan to get me fitter and thinner quickly, based on what I can do?

My diet isn't too bad (apart from the odd pint and toast with real butter).

ColinJ

johnmatthewflanagan wrote:

My diet isn't too bad (apart from the odd pint and toast with real butter).

If I did what you are doing I'd have to start eating more to maintain my weight!

Could you list everything that you'd eat and drink in a typical week so we can see if your diet is really as good as you think it is?

jocksyboy

Either eat less calorific value each day (measured reduction) or increase your metabolism by doing harder workouts. or preferably both....

newtez2

14.5 stone doesn't sound to heavy!
need more details like age, height, body frame! how much training or exercise you are doing right now,
I could give you a plan to stick to for a few months,

Warwickshire Whizzer

jocksyboy wrote:

Either eat less calorific value each day (measured reduction) or increase your metabolism by doing harder workouts. or preferably both....

+1

I thought my diet was pretty good, then I actually made an attempt to track the calories I was consuming (used The daily plate and the app for iPhone) and was surprised at how quickly I rack them up. I know it's not completely accurate, but if nothing else it raises awareness of exactly what you are eating each day. I've dropped 12lbs to date this year by getting as close to my target intake as possible. And I still make room for toast with real butter and marmite at the weekend.

vorsprung

I commute 15 miles each day. At xmas I was over 84kg (13stone 4 lb) at the moment I am 81.3kg ( 12stone 11 lb)

Initially I stopped any snacking, chocolate at lunchtime, bottle of wine at the weekend and various other self control related items

Most days I was having porridge for breakfast, sandwich for lunch and a meat-and-two-veg kind of dinner at night.

That kept the weight loss going steadily over January and most of Feb. When the weight loss from this stopped, I stepped up the effort a bit

Now I am having an egg white omlette for breakfast and much smaller lunch, typically a tin of tuna+yoghurt+fruit. Same meat-and-two-veg dinner. Weight loss has picked up again

The other advice is good, make a diary of everything you eat see what you can alter.

Anita Beans book on Sports Nutrition has some good pointers in it on how to maintain fitness while dieting. But basically it's what everyone says, less calories in for the same exercise

amaferanga

2 x 13 mile commutes each day should burn over 1000 calories. So if you're not losing weight then you must be eating a lot to sustain your weight.

Sounds to me like you just need to get a handle on what you're eating and eat better and/or less.

Bozman

+1 For eating less or eating the "right" food.
As the mileage goes up my appetite goes through the roof, if i stop cycling for a period of time i lose my appetite completely. My body is craving fuel, i just have to make sure the right fuel goes in or up the mileage.
If i stuck to that i'd be cycling 1000 miles a week at the moment.

celbianchi

newtez2 wrote:

14.5 stone doesn't sound to heavy!
need more details like age, height, body frame! how much training or exercise you are doing right now,
I could give you a plan to stick to for a few months,

Are you serious?
unless the o/p is about 6'3 and muscular I reckon it sounds pretty heavy to me.

keef66

+ several. Keep a brutally honest food diary for 3 or 4 days. Weigh and measure things if unsure. Tot up the calories, you'll be amazed.

I'm now on 1500 a day when I don't ride, and I've lost 10 lbs since christmas!

cajun_cyclist

I don't have my weight under control but probably in a manageable way.

Things like Running inviscerate calories, however there are some yoga positions good for losing weight, probably Pilates too.

I can tell, if I don't eat sugar for a few days, I look trimmer definitely, I've cut way down on sugar. Sometimes if you read about the bad things some foods do, it is easier to cut down.

I"ve read sugar blues and there are others like that, here is the http://www.sugarshockblog.com/ Sugar Shock blog. Things like this might be of help.

mattshrops

get yourself on one of the internet calorie counting sites, it can seem like a right faff to start with but it soon becomes a habit . theyre free , and it should teach you a bit about food and nutrition, etc. (for example a small piece of pork pie -no big deal? could easy be 500-600 calories). if you pick a site where you can log your exercise as well you can see what your burning as well as eating.- livestrong worked for me.(3 stone lost)
the most important thing is to do it seriously IF you really want to lose it-good luck

mrushton

As above. Bread is a killer subject to how much you eat as are carbs. Maybe more protein/fruit/fresh veg and no snacking. Some people actually things like snack foods don't count :roll:

a_n_t

myfitnesspal scared me to death yesterday [first time I've used it].

target was 2030 calories, manged to consume over 2600!!

don't think I could manage on 1500!

walsht1105

cajun_cyclist wrote:

I don't have my weight under control but probably in a manageable way.

Things like Running inviscerate calories, however there are some yoga positions good for losing weight, probably Pilates too.

I can tell, if I don't eat sugar for a few days, I look trimmer definitely, I've cut way down on sugar. Sometimes if you read about the bad things some foods do, it is easier to cut down.

I"ve read sugar blues and there are others like that, here is the http://www.sugarshockblog.com/ Sugar Shock blog. Things like this might be of help.

If you don't eat sugar for a few days you look trimmer? how does that work? Fruit is made up of lots of sugar - try eating a diet of just fruit, eat 2000calories of fruit a day and you will get fatter? doubt it.

If you by 'sugar' you mean donuts,cakes,biscuits,sweets etc then yea don't eat that. But sugar from fruit is your friend

Read lots of nutrionists saying eat as much fruit and veg as you like - it doesn't matter how much! eat it til you are full

cajun_cyclist

"If you don't eat sugar for a few days you look trimmer? how does that work? Fruit is made up of lots of sugar - try eating a diet of just fruit, eat 2000calories of fruit a day and you will get fatter? doubt it.

If you by 'sugar' you mean donuts,cakes,biscuits,sweets etc then yea don't eat that. But sugar from fruit is your friend

Read lots of nutrionists saying eat as much fruit and veg as you like - it doesn't matter how much! eat it til you are full.- Walsht1105"

To an extent I agree with this but on the other hand, some diets do in fact, tell you to limit fruit intake and in general fruit juice is known as containing a good amount of sugar and thought of as not to consume along with dried fruit.

So, yes, I basically meant white processed sugar, If I can abstain from that, it will make a big difference.

styxd

Just dont eat to much. I dont know how many calories per day I eat, but 2000 is probably a good place to start if your doing a bit of cycling.

I only eat decent food, dont bother with stuff that has no nutritional value so I never eat with easy snacks. Breakfast I usually have dried fruit and nuts.

soup, salad, fruit for lunch.

tea plenty of veg, lentils, soup, fruit, fish etc.

Its not difficult really, you could probably eat loads of that stuff and not put on weight, and at least you know its good for you.

pianoman

Its not difficult really, you could probably eat loads of that stuff and not put on weight, and at least you know its good for you.

That blows out the water the thoughts of many couch potatoes - "you do so much exercise you can eat what you like". Well NO you can't.

Maybe you need more than a sedentary person but if anything, your demand for nutrient dense food and the importance of avoiding junk and sugar increases. Some of the worst club rides I've ever done have been after taking in a big sugary snack at the cafe stop - I swear blind it's because it's all too easy to get careless with food intake/subsequent insulin response when enjoying oneself riding, and if you just sit there at the cafe for a while before heading off again you're a dead man riding.

Buckled_Rims

I was approaching 14 stone a few years ago (I'm 5'8"), now I'm 11st7lb.

The first thing is alcohol definitely is a no-no for me. I like a Guinness and single malt so it's been torture until I got used to not drinking. Secondly, small portions of everything. Chocolate and cakes no problems so long as I don't have the whole lot.

A TV show a few months ago showed a fairly fattish woman who despite eating healthily couldn't understand why she wasn't losing weight - we soon knew why, her bowls of cereal were HUGE.

It's surprising how your body adapts to eating less after a few weeks. Again, I echo those who say, if you eat too much you wont lose weight.

It's far easier to not have a curry of 500 cals, then having to eat the curry and cycling hard for an hour to burn it off!

nwallace

celbianchi wrote:

newtez2 wrote:

14.5 stone doesn't sound to heavy!
need more details like age, height, body frame! how much training or exercise you are doing right now,
I could give you a plan to stick to for a few months,

Are you serious?
unless the o/p is about 6'3 and muscular I reckon it sounds pretty heavy to me.

6', small build (based on wrist measurement) and at similar weight and my belly is bigger than full term pregnant women I've seen wandering about the hospital.

Buckled_Rims wrote:

The first thing is alcohol definitely is a no-no for me.

Noticed no difference when I stopped, but since I pretty much replaced it with Colas it's obvious why. (Oh and a cola hangover is horrendous)

Buckled_Rims wrote:

we soon knew why, her bowls of cereal were HUGE.

Measued out the detailed portions of stuff a few times and realised the only way I was going to know how much I was having for breakfast was by only having Weetabix, the amount of cornflakes was about 1/4 of what I would pour.

milese

I went from 13.5 stone to 11.6 stone last winter.

My advice - commute on an empty stomach and eat breakfast at work. Serves 3 purposes, you dont feel sick on the way to work so can work harder, you eat later so get hungry again closer to lunch and apparently it helps burn fat.

If you're doing this amount of exercise there is no getting away from eating. I wouldn't make yourself hungry and skip meals etc, in fact for me I kept eating the same quantity. The key is skipping anything with saturated fat. That means no cake, biscuits, fatty red meat, processed 'oven in 20 mins food', chocolate, cream based sauces, cheese, butter, fried stuff.

Use light margarine, red top milk, olive oil, low fat versions of everything etc, add massive portions of veg to every meal, and always make sure you have some fruit to hand.

Doesn't need to be too much of a chore, just requires a bit of self control and forward planning.