Fit but fat?!

Miss Pootle

Hi,

I've been cycling regularly for a few years now but recently I feel like I am fighting a constant battle with my weight. A few (6/7) years ago I was young, free and single and weighed 8 stone 4 (I am 5 foot 4.5), but I didn't cycle regularly and I probably didn't pay too much attention to my fitness. Now I am 9 stone 9/10, I cycle nearly every day and recently completed my first century (I felt like I was being constantly overtaken for the first ten miles but it was okay after that). I really want to slim down for cosmetic reasons (in some way I don't feel like my body looks like it should look for my lifestyle) and to go faster up hills, but I have terrible food cravings that I never used to get when I was younger. I can't resist crisps, nuts, cheese, meat and wine! :oops: Is it all in my mind? My husband says I shouldn't try to get back to 8 stone 4 as I won't have the energy I have at the moment, but I don't seem to be able to shift even 10 pounds. I feel like a realistic weight for me would be within the range of 8 stone 7 to 9 stone. Would training before breakfast too help or do I just need to get a grip?!

P_Tucker

You are either willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be at your target weight, or you are not. Decide. Once you have, its easy.

Miss Pootle

Tough love, I like it!

GiantMike

You can be fat AND fit. But if you want to be thin and fit then that's easy too.

Eat less and stop drinking alcohol, and try to ride often and far.

Measure your waist, stomach, biceps and thighs and weight yourself every morning before breakfast. Keep a note of how these change over time for motivation.

A pre-breakfast cycle will help burn fat because you have less glycogen stored in your body so it has to burn more fat, but don't overdo it.

Finally, get your husband to nag you if you eat unhealthily and make him promise you a gift if you reach the target weight he sets for you.

Weight loss, like any achievement, requires motivation. Success breeds motivation; you just need to start succeeding and accept that you can't lose weight every day but yo can lose weight over time.

Good luck.

blackhands

I would not advise you to weigh yourself every day as weight can fluctuate due to changes in hydration status - how much water you are retaining. If you do however, don't get worried if you appear to have put a couple of pounds on overnight.

Ther is nothing wrong with what you are eating - in moderation. I would reduce alcohol consumption down to no more than a small glass every other day, cut out crisps and cheese (both have too much fat) and limit your nut consumption (not salted peanuts though!).

As for exercise, just do it at whatever time of day you want - go hard and long to burn most calories. Just because you have exercised hard don't use that as an excuse to eat more.

GiantMike

blackhands wrote:

I would not advise you to weigh yourself every day as weight can fluctuate due to changes in hydration status.

How will weighing yourself at random times on random days help? Does this sort out the hydration status issue?

If you weigh yourself every day you can get a trend rather than individual snapshots. For me, it's after my morning pee and before breakfast as this removes as many variables as possible. I vary by about 0.3 kg around an average figure, but it's the average figure that I use.

acidstrato

eat a little less / healthier

up the cycling pace and distance wise

you will lose weight

blackhands

GiantMike wrote:

blackhands wrote:

I would not advise you to weigh yourself every day as weight can fluctuate due to changes in hydration status.

How will weighing yourself at random times on random days help? Does this sort out the hydration status issue?

If you weigh yourself every day you can get a trend rather than individual snapshots. For me, it's after my morning pee and before breakfast as this removes as many variables as possible. I vary by about 0.3 kg around an average figure, but it's the average figure that I use.

Are you female? Different physiology.

Where did I say random times on random days? You ae farmore likely to spot a trend with say weekly weighing (altough there will still be some noise from hydration status) but the long term trend is more easily discernable.

As an extreme I've seen someones weight increase by over 4kg duing a week although the long term trend was downwards - this was due to water retention due to increased plasma glucose levels.

amaferanga

blackhands wrote:

Are you female? Different physiology.

Where did I say random times on random days? You ae farmore likely to spot a trend with say weekly weighing (altough there will still be some noise from hydration status) but the long term trend is more easily discernable.

As an extreme I've seen someones weight increase by over 4kg duing a week although the long term trend was downwards - this was due to water retention due to increased plasma glucose levels.

Eh? How would weighing yourself once a week be better than weighing yourself every day when it comes to spotting trends? You're not a mathematician are you....

blackhands

amaferanga wrote:

blackhands wrote:

Are you female? Different physiology.

Where did I say random times on random days? You ae farmore likely to spot a trend with say weekly weighing (altough there will still be some noise from hydration status) but the long term trend is more easily discernable.

As an extreme I've seen someones weight increase by over 4kg duing a week although the long term trend was downwards - this was due to water retention due to increased plasma glucose levels.

Eh? How would weighing yourself once a week be better than weighing yourself every day when it comes to spotting trends? You're not a mathematician are you....

No, I'm a physiologist - although I have a Cert Maths. Did quite a lot of Stats during my PhD studies.

The point is that the data are less noisy with less frequent measures - on a daily basis womens weight tends to vary much more than mens.

Miss Pootle

The daily / weekly weighing question is interesting. I've had the experience of weighing daily and seeing my weight going up and down but actually a week later it's the same. With weekly weighing perhaps you can be more sure that it's a genuine loss / gain / stay the same, but you still need to taking into account hormonal fluctuations. Nonetheless, I would have thought that if I am genuinely losing weight it will show on the scales one way or the other.

It seems to be that my cravings are all in my head and I should just stop. I'm sure that a present from my husband will help with the motivation, but I'm not sure I can count on him for nagging when he himself is scoffing bread and cheese all evening after dinner! Any other tips on not giving in gratefully received. But I do appreciate the no nonsense advice I am getting here!

phreak

I've dropped around 5kg since Christmas. I'm 5'5" and was 61kg at Christmas and not massively fat, so it is possible.

I've found a couple of things have really helped. Firstly I've kept a food diary of what I've eaten combined with what I've burnt off. It's probably not accurate to the nearest kcal but it at least gives an idea of what's going in vs what's going out.

Secondly I've tried to eat a whole lot healthier. You can still eat a good amount but if you cut out the garbage like cakes, crisps and alcohol then you can easily lose weight. There are a number of good recipe books on Amazon for cyclists (and other endurance athletes) that give you some healthy (and tasty) recipes. I use that regularly for my evening meals, have a good breakfast of porridge/muesli and regular healthy snacks during the day (usually fruit or nuts). Add in plenty of water and bobs your uncle.

It takes a bit of discipline to say no when those around you are eating cakes and stuff, but if you really want to slim down then it is possible. I'm 2kg lighter now than when I was swimming competitively as a teenager, and my strength has increased so it's not muscle that's gone.

meanredspider

I can empathise - the more I cycle, the hungrier I am and the easier it is to convince myself that a bit of chocolate won't hurt. The weight drops off me when I have enforced breaks from cycling. It's my own fault though - just need more will power. So my advice would be to focus on what you eat rather than doing more miles. And do engage the support of your husband. My wife (unintentionally, I'm sure) sabotages my efforts by always having fab desserts in the fridge - tired, stressed & 30 mile hilly commute behind me, it's all too easy to say yes.

Miss Pootle

Thanks again for the useful tips. I think I can sum up the advice as follows:

- Stop drinking wine and eating crisps and cheese. I think it might be easiest just to stop completely for now, as one just leads to another... My regular diet isn't that bad, it's those weekend / evening snacks.
- Continue to eat muesli for breakfast.
- Drink more water.
- Ride more miles but don't reward myself with extra food if I don't actually need it.
- Keep a food diary (I do this already, but I don't do it every day...).
- Weigh myself regularly but recognise that there can be daily fluctuations.
- Enlist help of husband. Could be tricky, but he could do with losing a couple of stone too though, so he shouldn't moan about my healthy evening meals. Maybe he thinks if I lose weight I'll be looking for a younger, fitter model...

SteveR_100Milers

You need to GTFU!!

If you want to be slimmer eat less crap and ride harder. I have a similar lifestyle "issue" and it's all about portion size. Cut our carbs, take enough food on your ride to fuel you, you dont need to load up with carbs beforehand if you have spare body fat.

Good Luck!

amaferanga

blackhands wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

blackhands wrote:

Are you female? Different physiology.

Where did I say random times on random days? You ae farmore likely to spot a trend with say weekly weighing (altough there will still be some noise from hydration status) but the long term trend is more easily discernable.

As an extreme I've seen someones weight increase by over 4kg duing a week although the long term trend was downwards - this was due to water retention due to increased plasma glucose levels.

Eh? How would weighing yourself once a week be better than weighing yourself every day when it comes to spotting trends? You're not a mathematician are you....

No, I'm a physiologist - although I have a Cert Maths. Did quite a lot of Stats during my PhD studies.

The point is that the data are less noisy with less frequent measures - on a daily basis womens weight tends to vary much more than mens.

Weighing yourself every day and then taking a weekly average would make much more sense than what you're suggesting. Not sure I agree with the weekly data being less noisy anyway as you said yourself that weekly weight can fluctuate a lot. The day-to-day variation should paint a clearer picture than you'd get from a weekly weigh-in.

AidanR

http://www.marksdailyapple.com//welcome ... ily-apple/

Works for me. Your mileage may vary.

kettrinboy

[img][/img]
This chart shows my daily weight measurements, taken at same time every day, over the last 5 months,you can see the overall trend upwards despite me riding 4-500 miles every month this year, looks like i,m gonna have to cut the stodge out of my diet soon or i.ll be a stone heavier by the end of the year.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Pokerface

If you only weigh yourself once a week, you still run the risk of daily fluctuations messing up your metrics.

If you happen to be underhydrated one week and overhydrated/constipated/full, etc the next week, it will look like you've actually gained a lot of weight and will mess with your head.

Weighing more regularly will help rule out these problems.

I weigh myself daily at the same time and take note of hydration and food factors to put the numbers into perspective. If the weight is down for a few days in a row - usually means it's an actual loss.

AidanR

The simple fact is that cycling is pretty sh*t for weight loss. People don't realise this because pro-cyclists are skinny as hell, but that's because they have to be to get up mountains. But in many ways that's besides the point - diet is the key.

80% is diet.
Stay well clear of "sports nutrition" which for the most part is an oxymoron. Yes, a burst of sugar may give you some temporary energy in a ride, but other than that it's just garbage.
What's worked for me is losing my fear of eating fat, and cutting down on the carbohydrates instead. You needn't be militant in this, but sportspeople are encouraged to "fuel" with carbs and for the majority it's simply bad advice. Low fat diets were pushed for their supposed heart-disease reducing benefits (though the evidence for this has always been disturbingly shaky - read anything by Gary Taubes). People then thought low-fat diets would be good for weight loss as fats are energy-dense. Sadly the human body isn't that simple and it turns out that carbs provide the least satiety per calorie (protein the most, fat in between) so they don't fill you up very well. So low-fat diets are actually fairly rubbish for weight loss.

20% is exercise.
The best combination I've found for good body composition (not simply losing weight, which is a different and frankly far easier thing) is to:

a) move around a lot (plenty of walking, long bike rides etc.)
b) short, sharp stuff (high intensity interval training like sprints, short hill repeats)
c) lift heavy things (gymnastics, plyometrics, proper weight lifting, i.e. big compound movements, not gun-polishing, etc.)

T.C.

This thing about cutting down on crap is crap, i eat healthy, plenty of fruit, no crisps, no chocolate, biscuits, rarley drink,i can't lose weight, ,seen a dietician, have now cut down on sugar, powerade, lucozade etc, i cycle approx 6-7 hours a week, i've now started to go to circuit training once aweek to see if the fat goes, as the experts now are telling me i train the same and in a rut.

ozzzyosborn206

if you add in 1 or 2 runs into you weekly routine the weight will fall off much quicker than just cycling, and as other have said eat less of the fatty foods, don't try to cut them out 100% otherwise you will get t a stage where you want to binge massively but if you restrict yourself to a certain 'treat' every other day or once a week you should find it easier to control the urges to binge

woody1545

I know its your choice but I reckon your BMi is about 23 which hardly qualifies you as fat!

The weight gain is probably due to your metabolism naturally slowing with age which happens in your mid twenties according to an episode of Red Dwarf I once watched.

AidanR

"When you're younger you can eat what you like, drink what you like, and still climb into your 26" waist trousers and zip them closed. Then you reach that age, 24-25, your muscles give up, they wave a little white flag, and without any warning at all you're suddenly a fat bastard"



@T.C.

The thing is, Powerade, Lucozade etc. is crap. Just because it's marketed at sportspeople doesn't make it any less so. We're all told we must "fuel" ourselves with carbohydrate, but for anything but an elite athlete (and even then - see Djokovic's new gluten-free and lower carb diet) it's inappropriate. Carbohydrates have their place, don't get me wrong, but we've been told that carbs are fine and fat is bad, so we eat a ton of carbs thinking they're innocuous. But they're not.

I've changed to something called primal/paleo and it's worked wonders. I'm leaner now training 4 times a week than when I was training 11 times a week and eating a traditional "healthy" diet - lots of fruit, wholegrains etc. Check it out - a good place to start is here: http://www.marksdailyapple.com//welcome ... ily-apple/

lvquestpaddler

I've lost a stone and a half since Xmas, signed up for the Corrieyairack big motivation to keep at it but in all honesty it's been walking our collie in the hills at the back of our house six miles a day 4-5 days a week that's done the most work, not the infrequent cycling I've done since April. My diet is fairly sussed, the OH was talking up about losing weight at the same time but she can't be ar*ed walking the dog that distance or at a pace that gets her breathless(more an amble than a walk...), and every time she returns from visiting her mums and their combined ASDA visit the fridge is full of cheese, fat sauces, wine and all the other energy dense comfort foods I won't touch.
She hasn't lost any weight since Xmas. So the old mantra "eat less do more" surprisingly does work then....!
I kinda go by that 90/10 rule.....but consistent exercise carrying your own weight does help, I could go for a 30 mile bike and have only put in effort for 25% of it and convince myself I've done ever so well :roll:!!!

StillGoing

Don't confuse weight with size. Do you want to be smaller or lighter? I advocate the measuring of body parts to gauge whether you're getting smaller and weight just a consideration if you're trying to be smaller. If you're trying to be lighter then clearly weight is a more important factor.

I'm slightly overweight for my height but I'm showing an average of 12% body fat, which is within the norm for my age albeit at the lower end of the scale. I tried long distance riding for endurance at a moderate HR to promote fat burning but have now moved to an early morning commute each day at around 80% of maximum HR. At 12% body fat I figure I don't have great reserves of body fat to be burning off but rather need to taking the opposite tact of improving my lactate threshold, which in turn improves my anaerobic capabilities, speeds up my metabolism and makes me quicker. The pay off from that is hopefully someone that looks normal for their height and can get up hills a damn sight quicker than I can at the moment.

ut_och_cykla

Weight is a problem for me too.
Despite doing half a year of 10 hours a week on the bike and eating healthily & sensibly I didn't lose more than half a stone. Having said that I'm now inside the healthy BMI, my clothes fit me nicely etc. but i would like to lose more.

I think cuttning down on the naughties rather than stopping completely is a good idea - i.e one glass of on weekend evenings intstead of every evening. Weened myself off cheese completely - only bought cheese I didn't much like (!) and then none at all. etc.

I logged everything on Livestrong My plate and realised I was probably not eating enough on days I exercised, and slightly overeating on days I didn't.

Its also very easy to over estimate how much you burn and under estimate how much you consume. I guess the large majority of women don't burn near to 1000 kcal an hour cycling - more like 400-600 at best.

Aim for a gradual weight loss - e.g a stone at a pound a week or fortnight - you'll still be there in a few months. good luck

Miss Pootle

Maybe I should just be happy with a slower rate of loss. I was successful in losing about half a stone a few months ago, but only a few pounds very slowly and then I gave up and it went back on. And, like you say, maybe having one food treat and one drink treat a week when I am back to my fighting weight will keep me on track! Maybe I can also improve the quality of my treats rather than having vast quantities.

By the way, I did manage to enlist the help of my husband. He has said he won't cut me pieces of cheese when he is having some and will nag me if he sees me eating anything off the menu. I even floated the idea of a reward and he said that he'd buy me a new pair of sunglasses when I hit my goal weight.

kieranb

Miss Pootle wrote:

Hi,
I can't resist crisps, nuts, cheese, meat and wine! :oops: Is it all in my mind? My husband says I shouldn't try to get back to 8 stone 4 as I won't have the energy I have at the moment, but I don't seem to be able to shift even 10 pounds. !

I think you've answered your own question. Has your weight stabilised? Cut down the junk, start eating properly and I would think you should be ok, personally I wouldn't aim for one particular 'diet'. You have advocates for high protein diets and also for vegan diets, I guess the human body is pretty adaptable.

rick_chasey

Eat less if you're fat.

Don't eat less if you only think you're fat, but you're actually not.