Full Time Work, Weight Loss & Diet Tips & Increasing Fitness

Cody

Hello everyone, just want to keep this brief. I bought a Carrera Fury mountain bike in 2011, started cycling to town and back almost everyday which is approximately 2 miles there and back consisting of up and straight roads but mainly cycling on pavements to avoid accidents, drinking plenty of water throughout and eating only one meal per day. That one meal consisted of anything like fish and chips or vegetarian food and steamed or roast chicken which I ate either in the early afternoon or in evenings around 5pm. In 10 weeks I went from 12stone to 10stone but was suffering dizzy spells at certain intervals during the day or sometimes would faint and not know what had happened minutes later. I was losing weight dramatically, I went from a 36" waist to a 32" with less than 8% body fat. I was consuming less than 600 calories per day. I was also cycling on the canal towpath from Saltaire, Shipley all the way to Leeds and would then catch train back home and then cycle through the woods to get home. I felt very weak after 2 months but when stopped cycling, I became a little ill but overtime I gained weight again. I eventually got rid of the bike in Feb 2013 as I started work in an office and bought a car. So 1 year on, I've bought a new mountain bike and realised that I do not have the amount of free time I had back then. I work 10-6pm 5 days a week except sat and sun which are my days off. Now my question is, how would I go about prioritising my cycling time and what is an ideal diet for me to be on. I only eat halal/kosher food or vegetarian food and how can I get the most out of my cycling time. I now weigh 80kgs which is 12 stone, but want to get down to 10 or 10 and half stone. I eat between 1 and 2 meals a day, mainly a salad sandwhich during office hours at 2pm and an evening meal at 7pm. I would like to lose the weight, as I've perhaps got more fat around the waist, stomach area than the rest of the body and I am 5ft9" tall. I would also like to go to the gym in the mornings or evenings after work and do a little workout.

Please advise, thanks.

diy

At 10-10 1/2 stone you will be approaching underweight if not be underweight.
you cannot sustain a diet of 600Kcal per day, every day. You need around 2500 as an adult male. doing 600kcal is fine 2 days a week, but not everyday.

I'm guessing the dizziness is caused by you Resting HR dropping due to the lack of food in your stomach. It may also be due to lack of glucose in your blood.

I'm not being funny by you should probably go to a doctor and talk about this.

Cody

diy wrote:

At 10-10 1/2 stone you will be approaching underweight if not be underweight.
you cannot sustain a diet of 600Kcal per day, every day. You need around 2500 as an adult male. doing 600kcal is fine 2 days a week, but not everyday.

I'm guessing the dizziness is caused by you Resting HR dropping due to the lack of food in your stomach. It may also be due to lack of glucose in your blood.

I'm not being funny by you should probably go to a doctor and talk about this.

Hi, thanks for the advice. Yeah doctor said I was losing weight too much too quick. But I said I was mostly or semi-vegetarian and cycling nearly every other day which explained one of the reasons why I was losing weight quick. After all isin't that a good thing because its mostly natural and organic food which in reality or in old times gone by, aids in extreme weight loss and is really healthy for the body? I can't consume 2500 calories per day, it's too much. When I was younger I use to play cricket and football all day and then I use to eat I ate lots of food. But now that I'm older my metabollism has slowed down due to office work and slight or moderate laziness. I'll explain the dizziness bit, when I use to stand up and stretch or yawn I would become dizzy but otherwise I was fine. I wasn't consuming enough sugar I don't think, maybe that is one reason why, but couldn't be too sure. Anyway, the doctor said, eat 6 small meals a day and that just doesn't make sense to me at all. I can't eat too much, I have a medical condition, a thyroid problem.

But yeah I'll have to see a doctor again or a health advisor and see what they got to say on the matter. I only eat 1 to 2 small meals a day and tea and coffee but I don't drink coke or stuff. I try to keep away form processed foods.

My brothers done a small course at uni on health and eating, he is at 10 stone and is 5ft6, but he trains all the time which explains why I guess.

But seriously 2500 calories, that takes me about 1 week to burn.

Any further help or advice would be appreciated, thanks.

diy

I'd go with the doctors advice. 1-2lb per week is a safe guide to weight loss, but at 600kcal per day you are almost certainly consuming muscle as well as fat, screwing up your blood sugar and metabolism. Your doctor is not an idiot you need the calories, if you find it hard to consume them then you need smaller more frequent meals as he suggested.

Antm81

As above 600 calories a day will not sustain you, even doing very little. Loosing consciousness is the body shutting down to protect vital areas such as the brain because it does not have enough fuel.

I have a job that at times can be physically strenuous so receive medical training which is where this comes from, seen many people pass out because they aren't consuming enough calories to sustain them. By the way at times I get provided 5000 calories a day worth of food so I can function properly.

Cody

Yeah but I don't have time to burn off 2500 calories a day, I sit in office from 11am till 6pm 5 days a week, except on Fridays, I work till 5pm. You must have a big belly for 5000 calories, are you overweight no?

My weekly diet is pretty much this,

Morning: banana, cup of yorkshire tea with honey or 1 sugar, 1 litre of water throughout the day, salad sandwich at lunch and a small evening meal after work, coffee/tea. Repeat each day.

When I was having dizzy spells, I use to wake up in mornings, and stretch but then I would faint and regain consciousness after 60 seconds or so. Consider me having an eating disorder in some ways, I wouldn't eat more than 600 calories a day or touch much meat or chicken. I would go cycling in the morning at 10am and finish around 3-4pm, not cycling all that time but with regular breaks in between. I would come home and eat my meal around the time I finished cycling. I'm quite religious aswell so I don't believe in overeating, I believe that the body must be kept pure and lean and moderation in consumption of food and not in excess is the key. I believe that hundreds of years ago, our ancestors, and I'm talking about working class not middle or elite, they use to eat little and exercised more, their form of workout was walking long distances which aided in weight loss, and they ate natural wholesome foods which allowed them to grow tall in height and have a healthy metabollism. They ate less meat, not that it was scarce, it was a luxury, but science has now proven that meat or meat when consumed every other day hardens the heart and causes depression in some cases, especially factory farmed stuff. But religion revealed this many years ago and scientists are finding out now.

But anyway back to bike talk, how can I go about losing some weight by cycling mostly outside and inside the gym, mostly outside, if not 2 stone, maybe 1 or 1 and a half stone, so if I wanted to go down from 12 to 11 or 10 and a half that would help and be able to maintain it so when I don't go for cycling sessions for a couple of weeks I don't end up putting some weight back on again. Ideally I would like to lose it steadily over a period of 3-4 months.What do I need to do to eat right, is it true that you have to eat more to lose more weight, or can you just lose weight eating between 600-1200 calories a day and doing about 30-40 mins exercise 2-3 times a week?

Please remember I only eat halal/kosher food. So anything which you advise me to eat must be lawful for my consumption whilst training or not. I don't drink alcahol, never have and don't think I ever will. I like drinking water, ground coffee and fruit juice. I like soups and salmon fish, most kind of vegetables and, goats milk.

Please advise, thanks.

diy

Eat what your body needs. Be careful that you maintain your muscle mass. You seem to be good at fasting, so maybe have some big eat days and normal eat days. Try not to lose too much per week it makes you look like a prune if nothing else. As a veggie think about protein maybe take some shakes before after the gym.

At the gym.. Do spin sessions (most classes will have some HIIT work and power intervals), maybe some rowing and high rep lower weight all over body training - not big weights with low reps. Make sure you stretch and release properly cycling shortens all the muscles if you don't.

When you ride just enjoy yourself. Take advice from proper people who can see you and help you. Most gyms will offer free help and guidance.

12 stone is a healthy weight for you.

kajjal

You need to speak to a specialist about your nutrition. Focusing on weight loss and eating 600 - 1200 calories a day is not good for anyone's health unless it is due to medical advice. Being a vegetarian is making it harder for you with such a low calorie intake. If you don't eat enough of a good varied diet your cycling performance will suffer noticeably. I would forget about fat / weight loss and focus on eating a good healthy diet.

Antm81

At 6 foot 3 and 13st 4 I'm far from overweight. I burn what I consume, 600 calories is barely enough to sit on the sofa and not move all day.

BloggingFit

It's not about how little or much you eat as much as the type of food you eat. Your issue is two fold. Your blood insulin levels will be spiking up and down like a yoyo hence your dizzy spells and anything you do eat will just be stored as fat during to your body being in starvation mode as it will simply want to build fat reserves for self preservation. You'll be potentially losing weight but still increasing your bodyfat %.

Your breakfast sucks. Eat some protein and healthy carbs and fats. Wholefoods over processed and you'll be surprised how much you can consume without putting on bad weight. Eat little and often as this will increase metabolism. Two meals a day doesn't cut it. Eat plenty of veg, greens, thin skinned fruit.

You need to eat!

Antm81

His other thread about buying the boardman looks like he consumes far more than 600 calories

Cody

Antm81 wrote:

His other thread about buying the boardman looks like he consumes far more than 600 calories

Oh shutup you tart. If you read the thread properly, I use to consume 600 or less which was 2-3 year ago. Now I consume perhaps about 800-1000 a day. My salad sandwhich with cheese is roughly about 450-500 cals and evening meal is about 400 cals or sometimes I won't have an evening meal. Then coffee with sugar is about 90-110 cals.

Cody

Yeah thank you all for the advice. I still think I want to lose weight, or lose fat more than anything else. I haven't been cycling at all today. Just been stuck inside most of the day posting stuff on Gumtree and eBay. Took me half a day at least 4 hours. Poses a real challenge sometimes.

I've had 3 light meals today, small breakfast, salad sandwich and an evening meal. That's probs about 1500 cals, and I AM STUFFED. lol

My brother tells me a lot of the ttime my body will store one meal a day as fat if I don't train or do regular training. I guess eating little with no exercise to me seems enough but if I want to do more, I should perhaps eat more. But then losing weight takes forever like that. Might just take a little longer to see results I guess.

But I will speak to a specialist and get some advice. I'll have to just be honest with them and tell them I can't eat more than 2 meals a day because I just don't have the stomach for it and that I want to get strong through regular exercise.

I've tried eating large meals at work, but then whilst at work, I just fall asleep. I hate doing that, and its mainly food like fish buttys with mushy peas, very fattening.

But yeah I understand I should start a good diet first and then focus on weight loss, seems like the right way to go.

Can anyone recommend any shakes, good flavoured ones to drink before cycling or during or after? I like strawberry and vanilla or banana, their the 3 main ones.

BloggingFit

Best thing you can do is to start a food diary. Write down every thing you eat and drink through the day for a week with tines you consumed. It will help you see the reality of what you really eat and any specialist you involve.

Rykard

myfitness pal could help with the food diary

Cody

Yh I tried a food diary, but never showed it to a specialist. It was pretty much what I wrote above on what I eat a week. Anyway I got out on my bike today and rode for about 20 minutes. I was knackered, pedalling takes so much out of a person especially at 12 stones.

I've also put on my rucksack on ebay which I used for cycling 3 year ago, someone's bid on it at £75, very happy.
Its called a karrimor sf predator 45 patrol in olive green, I thought it was cool to wear but use to attract so much attention from the public. I put it on this morning and within 1 hour got a bid on it. Some guy from. Lithuania bought it, probs a chav or a yobbo. I made good money on ebay this week, just over £100 so I can buy some new shirts now hehe

I'll put a food diary together and make appointment with a gp or health advisor and see what they got to say on the matter. I'm quite disappointed really, I went for a bike ride today but didn't feel as fun as it was couple of year ago. Maybe ill get in to it slowly but surely. Takes time like they all say, step by step.

But I'm ringing halfords up tomorrow unless someone on here can explain why my boardman bike has only 7 gears, I just hope they've set it up right. 5 gears on the right, 2 on the left.

Can someone recommend those shakes they were on about and the flavours I can get them in please thanks.

njee20

It's not your weight that's the problem, it's that you're not properly fuelled so your body will store more energy as fat in a bit to self preserve, rather than storing glycogen in your muscles.

Cody

Thanks everyone, really appreciate the advice. I know sometimes I can just waffle on and on but its good because it helps me get things out that I feel I need or want to say. My diets been pretty crap at moment. Salad sandwhiches during day at 2pm and soups and croissants and tea in evenings with the odd fish and chips on odd days after work or home made chicken fillet burgers. I'm putting a small belly on, but its really hard to get rid of. Haven't done any cycling yet as just come home from work tired at 6pm and it gets dark. Got a week off work though nex week on 22nd, hope to do lots during that week, but looks like I've got autumn flu coming on. flipping hell!

renyar

Much of medical things are first studied using animals. I learned from Purina, an eminent animal food supplier, that their special foods for swine add six tenths of a pound in body weight for each pound of food they eat. There must be a corollary for humans. It can also be shown that exercise is more about body conditioning than weight loss. Translated, this means that reduction of food intake is much more effective for pure weight loss than exercise. And yes, exercise is still important for your well being.

And whatever you eat is less critical than that it be well balanced for your bodies needs. Finding that out from a dietician or doctor is critically important.

And on hunger, I have personally experienced extended periods where the sensation of being hungry was none existent. The only way I knew I needed to eat was feeling dizzy. Be careful of that one.

Finally, any of the "Trick Diets" are modifying or messing with your bodies organs to trick your system. It is most often your liver but can be others. Some can even be critically dangerous. An example is the grapefruit diet where grapefruit juice is definitely a no-no for anyone who has had heart surgery. Ask a doctor and you will get confirmation of this and many other examples. Even gout pills modify the output of the liver to minimize "purine" being output from the liver. All pills you take do modifications to your bodily functions via your organs.

There is much more to be said on the subject and I may someday write a book on the subject but for now, learn how your body works, lose a couple of pounds a week, eat only when you are hungry, not because it tastes good, weigh EVERY DAY as soon as you are out of bed and bathroom. If your weight is up, back off of intake a little, if it is down, you will be encouraged to keep going.

I maintain my weight at 165# plus or minus 2 pounds, 5'10" tall, 33 inch waist. It has become a way of life for me. Hope this helps. Everything I have said is verifiable. Check these things out. No fad diets for me.
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homers_double

Cody wrote:

I was knackered, pedalling takes so much out of a person especially at 12 stones.

What a load of crap, I'm 15st and can ride 100+ miles...

Fuel yourself properly and man up, porridge is good for you as it's slow release. You being a shit cyclist is karmas way of saying that the cows don't need to be murdered in the way you condone.

pushingnatural

"Eat food, mostly plants, not too much of it" - Michael Pollan.

Follow that and you can't go far wrong.

orbdemon

Cody wrote:

Yeah but I don't have time to burn off 2500 calories a day, I sit in office from 11am till 6pm 5 days a week, except on Fridays, I work till 5pm. You must have a big belly for 5000 calories, are you overweight no?

The point is that the average male will burn 2500 calories per day just through living - that is without additional exercise. It does of course vary from individual to individual, but not by a huge amount.

Would echo the comments about keeping a food diary and sharing it with the doctor or specialist.

robertpb

Something doesn't add up here Cody because a 12 stone man laying in bed reading not talking, as that consumes calories will burn just over 1,800 calories per day.

My breakfast is about 1,000 calories, oats nuts and seeds. I consume about 2,500-3,000 calories per day.

I'm 64 years old, 5'5'', and weigh 9stone 8lbs.Go figure!