Help needed. 22 stone

MTB-Dave

Right im not going to waffle on, ive let things slip from been 14.6 stone and a regular monthly rider of red routes at Dalby forest. however things have slipped, depression etc and eaten my way to 22 stone no riding. I need to change this and get rid of the excess and get healthier again.

Currently riding when I can with the boys but started small with 2 miles and god its been tough going considering what i used to do a just three years ago. Id like to put more miles in.

Is there any advice on food intake, breakfasts, lunch and dinner?

Any advice to my weight loss journey, is appreciated and please share as i need some form of gun powder up the rear.

Its been easy to site around and eat.

cheers

.blitz

The best way is to take it easy

If you've started riding again a fair bit of weight will go pretty quickly (weeks). You'll be feeling better and the temptation is to start ramping it up but although you'll be lighter and your cardio will have improved, your muscles, tendons and bones will still be (relatively) weak and this is when injuries occur so resist the temptation to do anything intense. The muscles and tendons take months to develop in a balanced way and bones ever longer.

Food wise you don't have to live like a monk but try and eat healthy stuff more than junk food. Green stuff e.g vegetables you can eat as much of these as you want. Try butter beans and chick peas they're not for everyone but you can eat loads. Avoid anything processed or claiming to be low-fat it usually means high-sugar

The aim is to shift the visceral fat that has built up inside the body. When this is reduced will the surface fat fade away

Stick at it and good luck

schlepcycling

Join Slimming World it's brilliant.

keef66

Not on the same scale as you, but I've found that weight loss is more easily achieved by diet than exercise. Both is obviously better still.
I've tried eating healthily and reducing daily calorie intake, but I just cannot do it 24/7. I get bored, have low moods, and if food's available I invariably crack and eat too much of the wrong things. My relationship with food is complex, unhealthy, and I'm taken to binge eating at times.

What I found worked for me was intermittent fasting, popularised as the 5:2 diet. Mondays and Thursdays I eat nothing till my evening meal, then it's just egg or beans on toast, chunky soup or fish and veg. The idea being to eat / drink just 600 calories on fasting days. The other 5 days you can eat / drink more or less what you like.

I thought I'd find it really hard but I manage it easily, partly because I'm at work and not surrounded by food, and partly because I know that I can eat normally again the next day. I also find I can exercise normally on fasting days, which is a testament to how efficient the body's energy storage / utilisation systems are.

I'm a shortarse at 5'6" and by my late 50s my weight had crept up to 11st 4lbs. Intermittent fasting and riding my bike 2-3 times a week I dropped 18 pounds in 3 months without feeling it was hard work. I now eat like this permanently because I'm persuaded by the other potential health benefits in terms of increased insulin sensitivity, improved blood lipid profile etc

fenix

+1 for the 5 - 2 diet.

You'll never shift weight thru exercise alone.

Combination of cutting down, portion control and keeping active so you're not actually in the biscuit barrel all the time.

Good luck !

step83

Diet wise I cant advise, but the depression side I get. Being bipolar 2 I splat from high to low an low usually involves food. You have your own coping strategies for that so use those an get some positives going.

Saying that, drink more water, it helps boost metabolism, keep your mind busy if you get bored you can end up boredom eating.

I would suggest though a chat with your doctor, generally they are really positive when you say you want to do stuff like this.

Last bit, stretches they should help you stay injury free.

Thigh_burn

For me it was crucial that I lost fat - not necessarily weight - in a sustainable way. I wanted to do something that I'd stick to.

The main thing has been reducing the amount of food I eat and being very focused on the type of food I eat. I've massively prioritized protein, then fats, then carbs. I've found the app myfitnesspal to be enormously helpful. It allows you to carefully track what you eat and what the make up is of macros (proteins, fats, carbs) etc.

In terms of exercise, I've been doing a lot of strength and body movement training. I've only come to (road) cycling quite recently. Weights, particularly kettlebells, remain my primary form of exercise, but I've noticed further weight loss with cycling.

StinkinHippy

Think everybody has you covered nutrition-wise, so thought I'd just chip in with some of my own personal experience.

After living in America for a couple years I moved back to the uk a full 3 stone heavier than when I left. Was a mixture of depression over circumstances and the freedom to eat massive bloody meals without looking out of place.

When I got back I struggled losing weight by just cutting down portions and doing a small amount of exercise. Then I did what you did, got back in the saddle.

I'm not gonna say it was easy, I struggled to get past a few miles to start, but stuck at it on the local canal paths and started making real progress on my stamina and covered 15 miles 5-6 days a week, mostly before my real day started. I didn't really cut down on portions any more than I already had been, but dropped 4 stone in less than a year. Felt great and my cardio fitness was coming on in leaps and bounds.

Now I'm sure people are screaming at the computer telling me it was a stupid way to do it.. It was.. When I stopped cycling for a while, I put 3 of those stone back on without even realising it.

I've recently started again (last August) and have been trying to work on my diet as much as I have been working on the getting out and riding. It's slower progress, but I can take a few weeks off the bike and I don't suddenly regain the last few weeks weight loss.

That's what you should be aiming for, you want a steady weight loss that you can maintain even if you have to let your activity levels drop for a little bit.

Most of all though, make sure you're enjoying the workout you are getting.. Much much easier to motivate yourself that way

I'm currently back up to knocking out 25 (fairly flat) miles without feeling too much pain after and loving every minute of my rides. Slowly adding more climbs into my routes now to really push myself and get ready for proper trail centres.

Best of luck pal

chrisdouglas

Thigh_burn wrote:

I've found the app myfitnesspal to be enormously helpful. It allows you to carefully track what you eat and what the make up is of macros (proteins, fats, carbs) etc.

I have to agree with this for a good way to track your diet and visually see what you're eating. It can go a long way to helping you to lose weight, being able to plan meals on you're phone/tablet or whatever is really helpful you can add your favourite recipes and bulk import them into your daily diary which is really useful!! I've honestly found my best weight loss has come about whilst using this app.

I usually eat most of my food in the morning/dinner time, then I'll have something a bit smaller come tea time, usually (I prefer) something light on the stomach and not too bloating, simply because anything too heavy in the evening makes it difficult for me to sleep. Also make sure you're drinking mostly water. Other than the occasional bottle of pop every couple of weeks I pretty much exclusively drink water.

But I think the key thing like most of the guys have said above, is don't kill yourself over your diet, but simply try to focus on cleaner foods rather than processed and junk food. Easier to say that than do it but it really is that simple.

MTB-Dave

Thank you, I will have to look into the 5:2 diet, im sure i can easily do this, comfort eating has played a large role for me which I just couldn't snap out of, which I am not see-ing I need to snap out of it.

Been out tonight riding with my eldest and my hands and feet are little sore, fingers felt tingly on the way back and feet hmm they ache like hell. I aint going to rush and try and ramp it up, I know im physically not ready for that.

Ive got myfitnesspal and Strava to keep a track of what im doing. I need to keep at it and watch what i put in my mouth.

StinkinHippy

Tingly fingers may be a symptom of 'death gripping' your bars. You should be aiming to barely hold them for the most part.

Aching feet.. What pedals are you using? Maybe investing in a bigger platform pedal would alleviate this.

step83

as said could be too much grip, or too much weight forward can try a roll back on the bars or if the stem allows flip it to raise it up.

Aching feet as said could be the pedals or overly flexy shoes

chrisdouglas

Yeah my first instinct was gonna to be shoes. If your riding rough (ish) trails in running shoes/regular trainers you may benefit from some stiffer soled shoes for riding.

SickSnail

Good luck fella.

Just remember that controlling the calories whilst increasing the exercise WILL lead to weight loss, provided you don't go to extremes. It's physics, it's the law, Google "calorie deficit". Never doubt it, even when you have a healthy week and wonder why the hell you've actually put weight on (it happens). Keep at it. If you fail, e.g. you succumb to a pizza, like I have done a few times in the last 6 months, it does not signal the end of your diet. It's called a blowout, most of us have them occasionally. Simply knock a couple of hundred calories off your intake the next couple of days and increase the exercise a little to make up for it.

Take pictures of yourself now from all angles when you're in your underpants. Better still a video. It might not look pretty, but nothing beats being able to see how well you've done a few months down the line.

If you want to join a gym, do it, don't be shy about the fact you're 22 stone, there's a guy at my gym who was that big and I got talking to him, silly bugger only went at night when it was dead to avoid being seen. Hasn't half done well, saw him a couple of weeks ago and wasn't sure it was him, looks so much better for it.

MTB-Dave

StinkinHippy wrote:

Tingly fingers may be a symptom of 'death gripping' your bars. You should be aiming to barely hold them for the most part.

Aching feet.. What pedals are you using? Maybe investing in a bigger platform pedal would alleviate this.

Yeah now you say that i have noticed i am holding on for my life lol. don't know why, i still feel confident just obviously carry a lot of excess now.

Pedal wise I have the Atomlab GI pedals, fairly large pedal Id say but i am comparing to stock which where tiny.

MTB-Dave

SickSnail wrote:

Good luck fella.

Just remember that controlling the calories whilst increasing the exercise WILL lead to weight loss, provided you don't go to extremes. It's physics, it's the law, Google "calorie deficit". Never doubt it, even when you have a healthy week and wonder why the hell you've actually put weight on (it happens). Keep at it. If you fail, e.g. you succumb to a pizza, like I have done a few times in the last 6 months, it does not signal the end of your diet. It's called a blowout, most of us have them occasionally. Simply knock a couple of hundred calories off your intake the next couple of days and increase the exercise a little to make up for it.

Take pictures of yourself now from all angles when you're in your underpants. Better still a video. It might not look pretty, but nothing beats being able to see how well you've done a few months down the line.

If you want to join a gym, do it, don't be shy about the fact you're 22 stone, there's a guy at my gym who was that big and I got talking to him, silly bugger only went at night when it was dead to avoid being seen. Hasn't half done well, saw him a couple of weeks ago and wasn't sure it was him, looks so much better for it.

Thank you, Id rather do it slowly, to keep it off once its off, I don't mind the gym but as you said there it has hit the nail on the head. Thank you for the advice appreciate that

bigmitch41

+1 for Myfitnesspal.com and Strava. Keep up the riding and eat sensibly, as you log your meals (log everything) you should start to learn whats good and whats bad for you.

Good luck mate!

keef66

"saw him a couple of weeks ago and wasn't sure it was him, looks so much better for it"

I did the same with a neighbour I see occasionally while walking the dog. He's a copper in his 30s and had built up to quite an unhealthy BMI. Started seeing him out running, then a few weeks later bumped into him and thought he looked familiar but wasn't sure it was him. He'd lost 5 stone through a combination of diet and exercise. Seems there was a skinny bloke in there all the time just waiting to get out!

Marty7787

Hi, first post on here.

I was in a very similar situation, I started my weight loss in September 15, I was 18 stone, currently 14. I would say that weight loss is 90% diet. Exercise does help but no where close to the extent that the industry promotes.

I started walking, just started with 1 mile every night. Quickly built up the mileage, then I started running, I lasted about 300 meters and that was it. Again slowly built up the mileage, went from barely being able to run 300 meters to 5km, that was within probably a month or so., I still very much struggle with my running I know I can do it but something in my mind tells me to stop until I hit a certain spot on my run and once I've passed that something happens (couldn't tell you what) and I just relax into it and I can go for miles and miles after.

Bought a bike on the cycle 2 work scheme, 30km is now considered a small ride for me now. It's amazing how quick fitness builds up.


Find out what you weigh in lbs, Use a BMR (basal metabolic rate) calculator (determines how many calories you burn just being alive).

Now you calculate that by your lifestyle
- Sedentary = BMR x 1.2
- Lightly active = BMR x 1.375
- Moderate = BMR x 1.55
- Active = BMR x 1.725
- Very active = BMR x 1.9

For me it's this. 1998 (BMR) x 1.725 = 3446.55 calories, as long as I eat less then those calories a day I continue to lose weight.

3500 calories = 1lb of fat, so if you want 1lbs weight loss a week, then you just eat 500 calories less then the figure you got in the equation above.

Food - Keep a diary
Porridge, poached eggs is great for breakfast, lunch is salad with lean meat. Dinner is usually turkey or chicken with rice and veg. Once a week I have a take away. You don't need to go crazy to start with just eat a calorie deficit.

Limit fruit intake and go crazy with veg.

Just skimmed over a few things but if you want more details just ask.

Doing this worked for me and continues to work.

The Rookie

Some inspiration
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/recre ... hbearer--0
Gary was posting on here when he first set out on his weight loss programme, unfortunately his blog page has been deleted now.

keef66

The Rookie wrote:

Some inspiration
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/recre ... hbearer--0
Gary was posting on here when he first set out on his weight loss programme, unfortunately his blog page has been deleted now.

The link from the BC website takes you to his blog, but sadly his health has deteriorated in many ways so he's no longer cycling He believes being massively overweight caught up with him in the end.
Still an inspirational effort though.