Help, can't stop losing weight!

iPete

A horrible problem to have I know Seriously, everyone is telling me I'm looking thin, even the guy I purchased some new wheels off last week!!

It's 10am, I've had a large bowl of granola, full fat milk, a coffee and now I'm having a tea, 3 digestive biscuits and a mars bar. Not sure what else I can do, can't physically eat enough, does anyone keep recovery/protein/weight gain shakes in the office?

Went from 66kg to 78kg through weight training a year ago but that stopped and I've plummeted back down to 69kg. Maybe its perfectly normal and should help with hills n all but meh, not a fan of the look.

rick_chasey

iPete wrote:

Went from 66kg to 78kg through weight training a year ago but that stopped and I've plummeted back down to 69kg. Maybe its perfectly normal and should help with hills n all but meh, not a fan of the look.

You know the answer...

iPete

Rick Chasey wrote:

iPete wrote:

Went from 66kg to 78kg through weight training a year ago but that stopped and I've plummeted back down to 69kg. Maybe its perfectly normal and should help with hills n all but meh, not a fan of the look.

You know the answer...

If I started weight training again, on top of what I do now, I'd need 5-6 thousand+ colories a day :shock:

cjcp

Pastries.

Git.

singleton

The human body reacts to the work it needs to do. If it needs to be strong to lift heavy weights, it build bigger muscles to compensate, if it needs to do lots of lower intensity activity like running or cycling, it reduces the muscles to the required size for efficiency.

Of course, different body types and builds can make it harder to do direct comparisons between people.

rick_chasey

iPete wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

iPete wrote:

Went from 66kg to 78kg through weight training a year ago but that stopped and I've plummeted back down to 69kg. Maybe its perfectly normal and should help with hills n all but meh, not a fan of the look.

You know the answer...

If I started weight training again, on top of what I do now, I'd need 5-6 thousand+ colories a day :shock:

Result.

--

Ultimately cycling's going cause some atrophy in your upper body unless you work those muscles - especially if they're already on the big side.

iPete

Dang, you are right, I expected to lose some mass on the arms and chest but not look so thin around the face. Have grown bit of a beard to hide it!

Do miss the gym, have to get back on it when I can.. until then its pasty o clock!

cyclingprop

Have some of mine?

rick_chasey

iPete wrote:

Dang, you are right, I expected to lose some mass on the arms and chest but not look so thin around the face. Have grown bit of a beard to hide it!

Do miss the gym, have to get back on it when I can.. until then its pasty o clock!

The hollowed-cheek look for the face is a good look anyway if it's a healthy thin, which presumably it is.

rjsterry

iPete wrote:

A horrible problem to have I know Seriously, everyone is telling me I'm looking thin, even the guy I purchased some new wheels off last week!!

It's 10am, I've had a large bowl of granola, full fat milk, a coffee and now I'm having a tea, 3 digestive biscuits and a mars bar. Not sure what else I can do, can't physically eat enough, does anyone keep recovery/protein/weight gain shakes in the office?

Went from 66kg to 78kg through weight training a year ago but that stopped and I've plummeted back down to 69kg. Maybe its perfectly normal and should help with hills n all but meh, not a fan of the look.

So for breakfast you had a large bowl of cereal a cup of tea and 3 biscuits and you wonder why you are losing weight when you do 40+ miles a day? Really? I eat more than that to maintain a lower body weight. That's on about 25% fewer miles than you, too. It sounds like you are just returning to your natural weight.

dhope

Protein shake first thing in the day with milk, before cycling in. Coffee when I get to work then full bowl of porridge with milk at 8.30am. Snack throughout the morning. 'Healthy' ready meal & chocolate at lunch, graze a bit in the afternoon and then protein shake again if I'm going to the gym before cycling home. Then a large dinner.

That seems to keep me at around 75Kgs (5'10") with not much fat on me at all.

Maybe eat more and do more weights

notsoblue

Ok, first off, stop cycling. Also, ditch the running. Then take up a nice sedentary hobby like computer gaming. I recommend Battlefield 3 or Starcraft II. You can fund the purchase of your gaming rig by ebaying your bike, and the garmin (you won't be needing that anyway).

Plan a good 5-6 hour gaming sesh each day after you get home. Don't bother cooking, just order dominoes every night. Make sure you always have icecream in your freezer. These foods are both pretty convenient for eating while you're climbing the starcraft ladder or owning n00bs on BF3.

You'll be putting on weight in no time!

roger_merriman

Rick Chasey wrote:

Ultimately cycling's going cause some atrophy in your upper body unless you work those muscles - especially if they're already on the big side.

Road cycling yes, trail MTBing and/or well anything that gets you out of the saddle will keep or even build upper body.

rick_chasey

roger merriman wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Ultimately cycling's going cause some atrophy in your upper body unless you work those muscles - especially if they're already on the big side.

trail MTBing and/or well anything that gets you out of the saddle will keep or even build upper body.

That's not cycling.

It's biking innit?

:twisted:

iPete

Think we are onto something, perhaps my breaky and snacks simply aren't enough. Think come Monday I'll get myself a weeks supply of fruit + an array of treats and see if H&B are doing any offers on shakes. Then maybe eat more than a banana before setting off.

Do like to keep the bike in a big gear, get out the saddle and give myself a workout from the lights.

nsb, fantastic idea but I bet I wouldn't actually put much on!!

edit: huzza, half price! http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/ ... 564&cid=47

notsoblue

iPete wrote:

nsb, fantastic idea but I bet I wouldn't actually put much on!!

Well, I'll let you into a bit of a secret; if you pair that ascetic lifestyle with about 4 weeks of gout its a winning formula!

rick_chasey

Does anyone really notice the difference when they use this protein stuff?

I know my mate did it for a while and the only thing he noted was he was guffing profusely. They were utterly brutal too.

meanredspider

Firstly to the point others have made, do you track your intake versus expenditure? MyFitnessPal or similar does a good job.

Next, have you talked to a doc about it? Worth talking as it's a sign of several diseases including diabetes

roger_merriman

iPete wrote:

Think we are onto something, perhaps my breaky and snacks simply aren't enough. Think come Monday I'll get myself a weeks supply of fruit + an array of treats and see if H&B are doing any offers on shakes. Then maybe eat more than a banana before setting off.

Do like to keep the bike in a big gear, get out the saddle and give myself a workout from the lights.

certinaly for myself on the MTB I tend to climb out of the saddle so can be fair old time, out of the saddle same goes for climbing hills with the SS.

iPete wrote:

nsb, fantastic idea but I bet I wouldn't actually put much on!!

edit: huzza, half price! http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/ ... 564&cid=47

clearly your burning more than you put in.

dhope

myprotein.co.uk
Should work out cheaper than H&B.
It's the Hurricane XS stuff I use.

Whether it makes any difference to muscle mass or the other claims I'm not sure, but it's a convenient way to get calories before gym and first thing in the morning when I can't face eating anything. If I don't then I'll feel hungry to the point of being light-headed.

optimisticbiker

Rick Chasey wrote:

Does anyone really notice the difference when they use this protein stuff?

I know my mate did it for a while and the only thing he noted was he was guffing profusely. They were utterly brutal too.

I used it for 6 months or so and can't say it had any effect, positive or negative . Hard to tell really - I've moved on to having a three egg omelette or scrambled in the morning after my porridge when I get into work... the same amount of protein (18g), about the same price, and a damn sight tastier.

iPete

It seemingly worked for me during my weight training days, time to try it again but first an unscheduled trip to tesco, hungry again...

suzyb

Since you have the opposite problem to fat people I'm going to give you the opposite generic advice given to them

Eat more, move less.

Headhuunter

Your body is probably just finding its ideal weight... Eating sh!t will not help, just because you eat pasties and biscuits, you will not necessarily end up with a fuller looking face, it's more likely to pile on around the belly. Men naturally get fat around their stomachs and upper backs, womane on the thighs and ass... As you get older your face will naturally get thinner anyway this is because you lose the collagen under the skin in the face the older you get - it's got nothing to do with fat.

I would keep eating a healthy diet, eat when you're hungry and if that ends up being 5000 calories or whatever then go with it. As long as you're still healthy and not ending up obese then your body will find its natural ideal weight. Eating cr@p is always eating cr@p whether or not you are fat or skinny, it's OK now and then but not as a route to build weight....

Headhuunter

OptimisticBiker wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Does anyone really notice the difference when they use this protein stuff?

I know my mate did it for a while and the only thing he noted was he was guffing profusely. They were utterly brutal too.

I used it for 6 months or so and can't say it had any effect, positive or negative . Hard to tell really - I've moved on to having a three egg omelette or scrambled in the morning after my porridge when I get into work... the same amount of protein (18g), about the same price, and a damn sight tastier.

If you're not doing the work then the muscle won't build. If you simply drink gallons of protein shake but don't do the exercise then the body may in fact convert the protein to fat to store so you'll basically be shooting yourself in the foot. If you want to get bigger, go to the gym and do some weights as well as take the protein shakes...

rick_chasey

Also, the (very) old pro-cycling adage: Lightest is fastest - remains true.

Headhuunter

iPete wrote:

Think we are onto something, perhaps my breaky and snacks simply aren't enough. Think come Monday I'll get myself a weeks supply of fruit + an array of treats and see if H&B are doing any offers on shakes. Then maybe eat more than a banana before setting off.

Do like to keep the bike in a big gear, get out the saddle and give myself a workout from the lights.

nsb, fantastic idea but I bet I wouldn't actually put much on!!

edit: huzza, half price! http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/ ... 564&cid=47

My Protein Impact Whey is easily the best and cheapest protein powder out there, forget H&B, more expensive even with the sale on

okgo

I had your issue, but seemed to have stopped at 80kg, down from a slightly chubby but muscular 95kg. Now now matter how many miles I do, I don't seem to dip below. Having said that I've not changed my diet, which at times is silly. However today I had two bits of toast for breakfast, then cycled in (18 mi) will have some pasta for lunch, then will cycle home, then will have a large portion of whatever the mrs cooks later, 2 meat two veg

But despite not going to the gym much at all over the last two months I don't seem to look that much different in the arms etc.

iPete

I think I see the issue now okgo, I need a mrs at home to do the cooking! The girl I've been seeing recons she can fatten me up, game on cos shes in for a shock!

okgo

haha, I could get fat very easily I reckon. But then I don't have the same issue as you with regards to eating. I could eat a pack of digestives in a morning, I have to limit myself a bit

Applespider

iPete wrote:

Think we are onto something, perhaps my breaky and snacks simply aren't enough. Think come Monday I'll get myself a weeks supply of fruit + an array of treats and see if H&B are doing any offers on shakes.

Bear in mind that fruit isn't all that calorie dense so although it's a snack, it's not doing all that much for you aside from temporarily spiking your blood sugar. Try buying some packets of mixed nuts and having a few handfuls of those. If you've got a fridge at work, take in some cheese or some mackerel/salmon pate and have a couple of oatcakes with it spread on. Boiled eggs are useful snacks too with lots of protein in them.