The pain... the suffering!!

Secteur

FIrst ride for 7 weeks today (dont ask... combination of long holiday, then bad weather and finally complete loss of motivation).

4-5kg heavier than last ride also.

Today was painful, especially since I ride in a very hilly area.

Lungs burn, taste of blood!, wheezy, legs like lead...

How is it possible to lose so much fitness so fast?!!

I recall having 10 or so weeks off the bike earlier in the year following a broken scaphoid + having it screwed back together, and it took a good month to get back to anywhere near my previous form!

chrisaonabike

Don't beat yourself up. Smile because you're back on the bike, don't frown cos you've been off it.

elderone

I know how you feel,I missed a few weeks after an accident and its like starting over,but keep going and it will soon come back.enjoy.

tiredofwhiners

Seven weeks ago the weather was a lot better than it is now so you'd expect some drop in performance.

Mind you, its going some to put on 4kg in 7 weeks

Secteur

tiredofwhiners wrote:

Mind you, its going some to put on 4kg in 7 weeks

Tell me about it!

I'm a bit embarrassed about that actually! :oops:

I have spent most of the year dieting hard, and lost a fair bit of weight, but i've always been on the (slightly) bigger side, and if left unchecked, my weight seems to rapidly drift up to an equilibrium point! I just dont know how it happens so quickly! I am constantly fighting at my weight and I think I just went a bit mad on holiday and in the run up to Christmas! My preferred "fighting" weight is about 5-7kg below this "equilibrium" point, and I have to work hard to keep it there. If my attention wanders, the weight piles on rapidly!

Secteur

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Don't beat yourself up. Smile because you're back on the bike, don't frown cos you've been off it.

Thanks, that's actually a really good way to think about it! Despite the pain, all the old feelings of being on the bike came flooding back.

essjaydee

You've done the hardest bit, getting out for the first time

Good effort and it will get easier and the fitness will return. As 'Chrisonabike' said, don't beat yourself up

Enjoy and welcome back 8)

Bobbinogs

Good stuff, now get back out again! Leave your computer at home and just ride to enjoy it. When you have lost 2 kg, start using your computer again to help it push you along to lose the final 2 kg, fat boy

danlikesbikes

Secteur wrote:

FIrst ride for 7 weeks today (dont ask... combination of long holiday, then bad weather and finally complete loss of motivation).

4-5kg heavier than last ride also.

Today was painful, especially since I ride in a very hilly area.

Lungs burn, taste of blood!, wheezy, legs like lead...

How is it possible to lose so much fitness so fast?!!

I recall having 10 or so weeks off the bike earlier in the year following a broken scaphoid + having it screwed back together, and it took a good month to get back to anywhere near my previous form!

On the plus side your back on the bike & yes it that easy to loose fitness that fast, but on the plus side in 7 weeks time if your still riding you will have gained more.

whojanicanackerov

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Don't beat yourself up. Smile because you're back on the bike, don't frown cos you've been off it.

BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Mikey23

4 to 5 kg weight gain in seven weeks...some lifestyle changes might be worth considering

chrisaonabike

Mikey23 wrote:

4 to 5 kg weight gain in seven weeks...some lifestyle changes might be worth considering

It's about 1.5 pounds a week. A mere 750 extra calories a day, that would be incredibly easy to do - a bit of comfort eating and not much exercise.

For example, this evening, as well as normal food, I've been slobbing on the sofa, and had several slices of chorizo, about half a packet of Kettle Chips (Jalapeno flavour), a big handful of dry roasted peanuts, three KitKats (just the 2 finger ones), a chocolate biscuit, three choccies off the tree, two cans of Carlsberg, and four glasses of red wine. I'll stop now, in case you all think that I'm actually Soni, but that lot will come to a lot more than 750 calories.

My excuse is, it's Christmas, but if I let the discipline slip the rest of the year, it would be dead easy to do that several times a week.

I suspect in the OP's case, the 7 weeks in question has been a lifestyle change, and he doesn't need reminding !!!

MountainMonster

I sometimes get down periods too, and getting back on the bike it is amazing to see how much fitness was lost even in short amounts of time. Just get back on the bike and get yourself motivated again, but that is easier said than done sometimes.

ben@31

Well done for getting back on the bike.

Remember... Things will only get worse the longer you stay off the bike.

Keep going and you'll get fitter agin, you can do it. No reason why you can not.

"can't" and "quitter" is not in our vocabulary. The best quote I ever saw was BE ALL YOU CAN BE. Well my friend you can be slimmer and fitter.

As for the food you eat, look at the food as minutes on a treadmill. For example, just one Burger King Original Double Whopper W/ Cheese burger is 97 minutes on a treadmill ! (source http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/fastfood.htm).

As for bad weather and lack of daylight. I know how you feel, but go indoors to a gym and use a treadmill, exercise bike, cross trainer, swimming pool rather than do nothing at all.

fish156

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Mikey23 wrote:

4 to 5 kg weight gain in seven weeks...some lifestyle changes might be worth considering

It's about 1.5 pounds a week. A mere 750 extra calories a day, that would be incredibly easy to do - a bit of comfort eating and not much exercise.
...

But it's 750 calories every day for 7 weeks. That's more than "a bit of comfort eating".

Bobbinogs idea of leaving the computer at home sounds a good one. If you really can't be without it, put it in your pocket - it'll still record your mileage.

Mikey23

I suppose I'm I little fortunate in that I have a skinny body and a high metabolism. I'm over 60 now but weigh the same as I did when I was 18. I do overeat and over indulge more than I should but it doesn't seem to make much difference. So it's easy to look down on those who put on weight every time they smell a chocolate. Yes, I need to get out in a moment on my bike having had a whole host of wet weather gear for Christmas. But it's so much nicer to sit here on the settee and chat to you guys ...

ShutUpLegs

Thought I'd logged into Mumsnet again

ben@31

ShutUpLegs wrote:

Thought I'd logged into Mumsnet again

Is there any hot chicks on there ?

Raffles

My thread outlines something similar in that I was off the bike for 4 weeks and was shocked at how my fitness had dropped :shock: My 1st ride back was a club 40 miles on xmas eve, second was a club 45 on boxing day, im out saturday morning on a club 50 and will be out mon morning on another club 50.

Thankfully its coming back to me and another 3 rides and I should be right up there again. Have to agree the weight the OP put on in such a short time is pretty drastic.

Silly Old Hector

First run for 5 weeks on Boxing Day - did I not fall off on a stretch of ice :roll:

Now nursing a dodgy shoulder - can't put a jumper or jacket on.

Lucky I finished my run and the bike was relatively unharmed

diy

you can get those extra kg off in 4-6 weeks if you pick 2 days a week and eat no more than 600kcal on those days. Do what you like the other days. You'll start seeing the weight come off in the 2 or 3rd week and you'll be down to fighting weight in no time at all.

Its very hard to lose weight through exercise alone.

nawty

diy wrote:

Its very hard to lose weight through exercise alone.

I disagree, I lost nearly 4 stone in three months through running. No other changes to my lifestyle whatsoever.

However, I sound a bit like the OP, if I don't exercise then a put on weight fairly quickly but then that's the reason I exercise - so I can eat and (more importantly) drink what I like!

chrisaonabike

fish156 wrote:

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Mikey23 wrote:

4 to 5 kg weight gain in seven weeks...some lifestyle changes might be worth considering

It's about 1.5 pounds a week. A mere 750 extra calories a day, that would be incredibly easy to do - a bit of comfort eating and not much exercise.
...

But it's 750 calories every day for 7 weeks. That's more than "a bit of comfort eating".

Not really. A couple of 175ml glasses of wine is about 4.5 units these days, that's at least 250 calories straight away just from the alcohol. One of those would slip down nicely at the end of the day if work is a nightmare, and another one with dinner would seem like nothing.

A chocolate biscuit (about 80) and a bit of bread and jam (another 120) is 450. Even a small latte from Starbucks is 200 calories.

So that's 650 a day without even trying. Add to that (or some variant of that) the calories you're not burning if you suddenly stop exercising, a 750 calorie per day surplus would be p1ss easy to achieve.

DavidJB

Doesn't cycling always hurt?

cyberknight

Not going near the scales for a month !
Been off the bike for over a week what with the weather, stomach bug and now a case of the sniffles .
I always put on weight on holidays as i have a physical job along with 100 miles a week just for commuting along with maybe a couple of long rides a month .

ben@31

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Not really. A couple of 175ml glasses of wine is about 4.5 units these days, that's at least 250 calories straight away just from the alcohol. One of those would slip down nicely at the end of the day if work is a nightmare, and another one with dinner would seem like nothing.

A chocolate biscuit (about 80) and a bit of bread and jam (another 120) is 450. Even a small latte from Starbucks is 200 calories.

So that's 650 a day without even trying. Add to that (or some variant of that) the calories you're not burning if you suddenly stop exercising, a 750 calorie per day surplus would be p1ss easy to achieve.

Don't forget thats 650 calories from snacking on top of all the calories from breakfast, lunch and dinner! 650 cals is about 32% of the RDA for somebody not active.

chrisaonabike

nawty wrote:

I disagree, I lost nearly 4 stone in three months through running. No other changes to my lifestyle whatsoever.

Hmm. 4 stone is 56 lb. You said 'nearly' so let's say 50 lb. 3 months is 13 weeks, so that's 3.8 lb lost per week. A pound of fat is 3500 calories, so 3.8 lb is 13,300 calories.

Running a mile typically burns off 100 calories for an average weight guy, let's be generous and call it 150 calories per mile for someone a lot heavier.

So you could burn off 3.8 pounds of fat per week by running about 90 miles a week without changing your eating habits. In other words, almost a half marathon every day.

So it's possible - did you really run that much? If not, you must have cut down on the food as well as doing the exercise.

chrisaonabike

ben@31 wrote:

Don't forget thats 650 calories from snacking on top of all the calories from breakfast, lunch and dinner! 650 cals is about 32% of the RDA for somebody not active.

Yes, I'm talking about calorie surplus here, ie over and above what was being consumed before the period on question. It's the surplus that causes weight increase, assuming a steady state (weight constant, so calories in equals calories out) before the period in question.

nawty

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

nawty wrote:

I disagree, I lost nearly 4 stone in three months through running. No other changes to my lifestyle whatsoever.

Hmm. 4 stone is 56 lb. You said 'nearly' so let's say 50 lb. 3 months is 13 weeks, so that's 3.8 lb lost per week. A pound of fat is 3500 calories, so 3.8 lb is 13,300 calories.

Running a mile typically burns off 100 calories for an average weight guy, let's be generous and call it 150 calories per mile for someone a lot heavier.

So you could burn off 3.8 pounds of fat per week by running about 90 miles a week without changing your eating habits. In other words, almost a half marathon every day.

So it's possible - did you really run that much? If not, you must have cut down on the food as well as doing the exercise.

Hmm, when you put it like that it sounds daft so let me think...

Sadly I don't have the records from my Garmin (FR50) which I bought when I started running which I THINK was around May/June 2008 and I was nearly 15st. By my birthday at the end of August I was about 12st and then by the time I did the Great South (October) was 11st.

So not quite as dramatic as I first remembered but I do seem to recall that I lost the majority of it very quickly (far more than would be considered healthy) which probably lead to my original statement. I was eating properly too, in fact I seem to recall I ate more than usual as I was permanently hungry!

Now I'm more normally around 11.5 to 12st except for when I'm training for a race (the term is relative, as I'm pretty slow) which is due to a bit more fat and a bit more muscle (now that there's a gym at work). However, it's really easy to drop weight, all I have to do is go running and it seems to fall off.

God knows what will happen it I try the Dryathlon this Jan - alcohol is the only thing that stops me fading away

Secteur

I am deeply ashamed to admit that over the last 6-8 weeks, I have been eating some 5000+ calories per day! Hence the drastic weight gain. When I was on holiday in the US, I bet there were many days when I ate nearer 10,000 calories / day!!

When I am being good (most of the year!), I eat 2000 cal / day and have 2 stavation days a week, and the weight drops off. When I am happy (as happy as I ever can be) with my weight, then I will eat around 2500-3000 cal / day all thru the week, with one day where I may indulge (4000 cal max). I just need to get back into that.

As I said above, i've always been on the bigger side - weight piles on and is very hard to come off.

I admit, I need to get out of my bad habits urgently, and change my lifestyle back to my old healthy lifestyle!

FlacVest

Technically, the amount of fat cells you have is going to dictate your weight loss and how easily you can keep it off or gain it back.

It isn't about just burning calories; you need to constantly push your body to burn those calories so your body will adapt to doing so. Which is why cycling (or going to the gym) 1 or 2 times a week doesn't do much in terms of a long term goal in a short period of time.

Also why some people who exercise ALL of the time still have a lot of "fat", or just can't seem to lose pounds. A fat cell is always a fat cell, and if, genetically, you have a lot of those, then you're just going to have to make do.