How am I still 16st?

245

Comments

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,242
    pastryboy wrote:
    Cycling really isn't that fantastic for weight loss I'm afraid. If you want to lose weight take up jogging.

    That's not necessarily true. The thing is with cycling, it's very easy to take it easy and still get somewhere. You can freewheel at the slightest downhill and pedal gently on the flats. Obviously if you run, you pretty much have to go at a fairly intense pace or yuo're just walking! Personally I burn loads of calories through cycling but then I pretty much go at hell for leather pace on every ride. I NEVER take it easy.

    I think many people buy bikes to cycle to work at an average speed of 10mph and assume they will be able to eat cakes all day and the weight will still fall of like a bride's nightie. Not saying that this is DDD but many people do fall into this category......

    Indeed. Faster cyclists use more calories (since they're going faster!).
  • clarkey cat
    clarkey cat Posts: 3,641
    I am 6 foot 2 and have been 93.5 kilos for the last 5 years. In that time I have ran the marathon, done 5 half marathons, commuted nearly every day by bike, done weights, aerobics, spinning, boxercise and the most it shifts is a pound or two either side.

    But I eat like a filthy gout-ridden Lord!

    In fact Im off to St John tonight for some pig's head.
  • pastryboy
    pastryboy Posts: 1,385
    Don't get me wrong, cycling is great exercise but it's just not in the same league as running- I say that at someone who had done a lot of both - cycling shifted some fat but nothing like a solid 60 minute run.
  • asprilla
    asprilla Posts: 8,440
    pastryboy wrote:
    Cycling really isn't that fantastic for weight loss I'm afraid. If you want to lose weight take up jogging.

    That's not necessarily true. The thing is with cycling, it's very easy to take it easy and still get somewhere. You can freewheel at the slightest downhill and pedal gently on the flats. Obviously if you run, you pretty much have to go at a fairly intense pace or yuo're just walking! Personally I burn loads of calories through cycling but then I pretty much go at hell for leather pace on every ride. I NEVER take it easy.

    I think many people buy bikes to cycle to work at an average speed of 10mph and assume they will be able to eat cakes all day and the weight will still fall of like a bride's nightie. Not saying that this is DDD but many people do fall into this category......

    Indeed. Faster cyclists use more calories (since they're going faster!).

    Possibly not the best way to loose weight though. You want to keep your HR to around 75% max in order to efficiently burn the most calories.
    Mud - Genesis Vapour CCX
    Race - Fuji Norcom Straight
    Sun - Cervelo R3
    Winter / Commute - Dolan ADX
  • pastryboy
    pastryboy Posts: 1,385
    AidanR wrote:
    coconut oil

    Probably the best energy food there is.
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    pastryboy wrote:
    Don't get me wrong, cycling is great exercise but it's just not in the same league as running- I say that at someone who had done a lot of both - cycling shifted some fat but nothing like a solid 60 minute run.

    I do both too, have run 10ks and half marathons all over the place and run with a running club. Also run to and from work sometimes (6 miles each way). Runnnig is great for a quick bit of cardio and calorie burning but I also ride with a cycle club. You can get the same effect from cycling you just have to go further, faster and for longer than you would running. Not sure what the exact ration of time and miles is in runnung vs cycling but I've been on tough club rides which have left me more destroyed than a half marathon run....
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • clarkey cat
    clarkey cat Posts: 3,641
    is that true Asprilla - I thought it was the higher the better its just that you can sustain 75% for longer and so, in the long run, more likely to burn more.
  • sampras38
    sampras38 Posts: 1,917
    pastryboy wrote:
    Cycling really isn't that fantastic for weight loss I'm afraid. If you want to lose weight take up jogging.

    That's not necessarily true. The thing is with cycling, it's very easy to take it easy and still get somewhere. You can freewheel at the slightest downhill and pedal gently on the flats. Obviously if you run, you pretty much have to go at a fairly intense pace or yuo're just walking! Personally I burn loads of calories through cycling but then I pretty much go at hell for leather pace on every ride. I NEVER take it easy.

    I think many people buy bikes to cycle to work at an average speed of 10mph and assume they will be able to eat cakes all day and the weight will still fall of like a bride's nightie. Not saying that this is DDD but many people do fall into this category......

    2nd paragraph absolutely bang on. Cycling is good for weight loss, but too many cyclists think they need to eat way more than they actually do. I'm also constantly suprised by how many people (alot on here too) take the calories used on their bike computers as gospel, which is ridiculous.

    Suggestions

    1. Always eat breakfast
    2. 3 meals a day with additional healthy snacks in between
    3. Eat quality food
    4. Plenty of fluids/water throughout the day
    5. Don't overdo it when eating on the bike
    6. Limit fast food and alcohol

    The stricter you are, the better the results.
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    is that true Asprilla - I thought it was the higher the better its just that you can sustain 75% for longer and so, in the long run, more likely to burn more.

    When I say I never take it easy, I'm not going at 100% all the time! I just couldn't sustain that for long!
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • cee
    cee Posts: 4,553
    recently..i have been swayed by the musings of James Wilson of bikejames.com...

    he talks a lot about content from precision nutrition dot com...

    basically....calories in vs out doesn't work....

    its quality that counts...for instance...the body metabolises an orange differently than it does the same volume of fibre powder, vit c, fructose etc. the scientific stance of breaking things down into their component parts is the wrong approach, as an orange (for instance) is greater than the sum of its parts.

    check it out for a fresh approach....he talks a lot about the fact that food companies sponsor most of the nutrional research and we wonder why its difficult to get any consistent truths.

    I now eat a little every 3 hours, and inlcude some protein with every minimeal.and am noticing huge improvements....not lost much weight, but now my jeans fall down and i fell i have more energy...
    Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.

    H.G. Wells.
  • motopatter
    motopatter Posts: 179
    food poisoning helped me shift a bit of weight (really fast ) a few weeks back.

    Have only been commuting this year (only 9mile round trip) and weighed myself a few times and not seemed to loose much apart from the food poisoning couple of days -I remembered I'd been on the scales about a week earlier and shed 3kgs - mainly out of my poor arris hole :shock: > the day I was better I physically could not cycle :oops:

    You can get food poisoning quite easily if you try, but obviously not pleasant
    wave your willy here !!!! :)
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,052
    DonDaddyD wrote:
    You eat more than you admit and pedal less than you post.


    Same here really......

    Element of truth here. I'm going to get a note pad and write down exactly what I eat and when. I need to get my intake undercontrol.

    Thing is the doctors say I should be about 12st given my height. I don't think I would look healthy. 14st sure 13st would be ideal.

    How do you measure body fat?

    Also in MMA I'm in Clever Pun's weight class... just saying. :twisted:

    Try the freebie training peaks for measuring your intake and exercise, I did it for Jan this year - never doing that again :oops:
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    motopatter wrote:
    food poisoning helped me shift a bit of weight (really fast ) a few weeks back.

    Have only been commuting this year (only 9mile round trip) and weighed myself a few times and not seemed to loose much apart from the food poisoning couple of days -I remembered I'd been on the scales about a week earlier and shed 3kgs - mainly out of my poor arris hole :shock: > the day I was better I physically could not cycle :oops:

    You can get food poisoning quite easily if you try, but obviously not pleasant

    Or alternatively consider a tapeworm....
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,052
    Sketchley wrote:
    I don't think beer helps much.

    does not compute ??? doesn't hurt either even in VAST quantities look at me ... no wait!?! oh dear, I need a drink :?
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • asprilla
    asprilla Posts: 8,440
    is that true Asprilla - I thought it was the higher the better its just that you can sustain 75% for longer and so, in the long run, more likely to burn more.

    Exercising harder will burn more calories but there is always the question of where those calories come from and your body will change it's source as required.

    I might not be 100% but muscle can burn local stores of glycogen, fat or itself and it's the percentage breakdown of these that is altered by effort. If your effort is fairly active and sustainable then it might be 50% glycogen and 50% fat but if you push yourself to hard and too often then this % of fat drops and eventually the muscle will start breaking down muscle cells for energy because they are closer than the fat stores.
    Mud - Genesis Vapour CCX
    Race - Fuji Norcom Straight
    Sun - Cervelo R3
    Winter / Commute - Dolan ADX
  • Zingzang
    Zingzang Posts: 196
    Aguila wrote:
    Rolf F wrote:
    Metabolism probably. I weigh next to nothing. I spent most of last year eating probably twice what I ate before and my weight changed by approximately nothing. Even putting on muscle doesn't change my weight which seems like it ought to be impossible!

    There are three things in life that are certain - death, taxes and the fact that my weight is a constant......

    This is definitely not true. If you look at studies of basal meabolic rate, people with obesity are consistently shown to have higher BMR than those who are normal or slim.

    Weight loss is actually a very simple matter: Less energy in than you expend and you will definitely lose weight, impossible for anything else to happen. This is simple thermodynamics, you cannot create energy out of nothing.

    Consume more energy than you expend and you will gain weight.

    Not sure what studies you've looked at, but there are clearly some you haven't.

    Certain people with abnormalities of the Hypothalamus are known to have significantly slower metabolisms than other people, and in the majority of cases people with such abnormalities are obese.

    You have clearly not heard of Prader-Willi syndrome.

    And you are not taking into account the influence of many types of medication on metabolism.
  • A long time ago I read that prior to puberty the number of fat cells in your body can change. After puberty it is fixed. The cells then can only get larger or smaller. There's a limit to how small they can go, and they have a "default" or "natural" size. All of which leads to the fact that your natural size is set by the shape you were in as a teenager.

    No idea whether that's right though.
    Swim. Bike. Run. Yeah. That's what I used to do.

    Bike 1
    Bike 2-A
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    Greg66 wrote:
    A long time ago I read that prior to puberty the number of fat cells in your body can change. After puberty it is fixed. The cells then can only get larger or smaller. There's a limit to how small they can go, and they have a "default" or "natural" size. All of which leads to the fact that your natural size is set by the shape you were in as a teenager.

    No idea whether that's right though.

    Hang on so you mean that, once a fat bloke, always a fat bloke? :shock:

    NOOOOOOOOOOO!

    Although, not strictly true; during my 'gap yah' I got down to about 72kg thanks to a nice healthy outdoorsy lifestyle not involving sitting in front of computers all day; these days I am lucky to get below 90kg, so it is definitely possible but requires discipline.
    - - - - - - - - - -
    On Strava.{/url}
  • AidanR
    AidanR Posts: 1,142
    I'm not a fan of the "eat small meals often" and "always eat breakfast" mantras. I used to be, but not any more. They're based on the idea that this controls your insulin levels better, but there's an increasing body of evidence that "intermittent fasting" is helpful, and not just because it might lead to fewer calories being consumed. Again, this is not something for everyone and is mixed in with the idea of a higher fat, lower carbohydrate diet as this leads to flatter insulin levels itself. If you try it on a high-sugar diet you'd probably crash and burn! Oh, and I'm not talking about nutty 40 day water fasts here, but something along the lines of eating a normal, sensible amount in a restricted eating window of 8 hours a day.
    Bike lover and part-time cyclist.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Aguila wrote:
    Weight loss is actually a very simple matter: Less energy in than you expend and you will definitely lose weight, impossible for anything else to happen. This is simple thermodynamics, you cannot create energy out of nothing.

    Consume more energy than you expend and you will gain weight.

    It can't be quite that simple - like I said, my weight doesn't vary. I've gone through phases of varied diet, exercise etc. I've toned up and then done little exercise in months. I've gone from not riding bikes at all to riding over 10,000 miles in one year. I've now got respectable cyclists thighs where once I had sticks!

    All sorts of variables - some of which will obviously compensate for others (eg riding loads and eating loads) but the point is that none of it has the slightest effect on my weight.

    If weight loss really were that simple, my weight would have had to fluctuate at least a little bit. It hasn't really changed in 25 years.
    Faster than a tent.......
  • mattsaw
    mattsaw Posts: 907
    I used to think exactly the same, I was around 16.1 for 3 years of commuting 25 miles daily. If figured that doing that amount of exercise I couldn't fail but to lose weight, but it never quite worked out that way.

    January this year I thought I would make a concerted effort, I'm 32, so it's either going to hapen now, or it's never going to.

    So far I'm a stone and a half down, 4 notches on my belt and my shorts are starting to fall down around my hips.

    I think cycling isn't the best exercise for losing weight. Great for stamina, it it's not often you're working at an aerobic level. I've cur right back on my calories, museli for breakfast, 400 calories of protein, veg and a little carbs for lunch and then a normal tea. I would guess I'm taking in around 1500 calories per day.

    Some tips

    - I think its easy to kid yourself how much ou actually eat, cut back significantly if you want to lose weight
    - Get a garmin or something else with a training partner, it will massivly increase your work rate
    - Give it time, I've noticed lots of peaks and troughs in my weight loss, sometimes it looks as if I have lost weight when I haven't and visa versa, it can be disheartening, but the only way you'll do it is to stick at it.
    - It took years to put the weight on, it isn't going to come off in 6 months
    Bianchi C2C - Ritte Bosberg - Cervelo R3
    Strava
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,052
    @DDD how many times a week do you eat out or take away?

    How late is your main meal?
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • AidanR
    AidanR Posts: 1,142
    Cycling, particularly longer commutes, is good for the kind of low level aerobic exercise where a relatively high percentage of calories burned are from fat. But that's only part of the story - you need to be shocking your body out of it's comfort zone with some high intensity stuff as well. This is best done in short (around 1 minute) intervals, once or maybe twice a week.

    But all that said, 80% of it is diet.
    Bike lover and part-time cyclist.
  • sketchley
    sketchley Posts: 4,238
    Asprilla wrote:
    Possibly not the best way to loose weight though. You want to keep your HR to around 75% max in order to efficiently burn the most calories.

    Does not compute! If your heart rate is higher you are using more energy therefore burning more calories. I might accept you are burning less fat at higher HR but not less calories.
    --
    Chris

    Genesis Equilibrium - FCN 3/4/5
  • AidanR
    AidanR Posts: 1,142
    It does compute if you take a wider view. If you believe burn more calories (but no more from fat) then you will be hungrier and tend to eat more to compensate. So the higher the percentage you burn from fat the better!
    Bike lover and part-time cyclist.
  • Wallace1492
    Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
    My experience - I was 13 to 14 st before I started commuting seriously, but realtively active. Last year I upped the milage and was doing 700 - 800 miles per month, peaked at 1000 in August. By the middle of September I was down to 11st 5. Back to 12 now, but want this to come down to 11.

    I think the increased exercise, together with, reasonably healthy eating is the way forward. If you do that amount of miles, you do not feel like drinking as much and do want to eat healthy so as to be ready for the next long session.

    It is just a case of being disciplined, and doing it. It will not happen by itself or if you only "commute" - i.e. jst to work and back. (taking a commute of 10 miles each way will help but not be as beneficial as you thik it may be)

    Also it is good to mix the exercise, I do a lot of Mountain Biking too, and this also helps, but I do circuits class and play badmington, this I feel is great too. Your body gets used to cycling on the normal commute, so surprise it now and then by doubling or trebling the distance, this will help immensely. Throw in an occassional run and maybe a different sport - swim, squash, football. Your body will then shed a bit more weigh... oh and do watch like a hawk what you eat!!
    "Encyclopaedia is a fetish for very small bicycles"
  • DonDaddyD wrote:
    OK I've always been a bit on the heavy side.

    I was about 15st from about 16yrs old until my mid 20s where I seemingly put on a stone. So my weight has always been consistent.

    To put this into DDD language:

    You need a big hammer to knock in a long nail...

    :lol:
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,052
    Wallace1492 do you find MTBing builds upper body muscle?
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • sampras38
    sampras38 Posts: 1,917
    All these theories and the bottom line is the guy is eating too much.

    ;)
  • Wallace1492
    Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
    itboffin wrote:
    Wallace1492 do you find MTBing builds upper body muscle?

    To a degree, have certainly put on upper body muscle in last year, but is that because of road biking or MTBing or circuits... certainly think all 3. Doing hard MTB climbs certainly gives you an upper body work out, you do a lot more upper body movement, with manuals, bunny hops and throwing the bike about more than you do on the road, so it all helps.
    "Encyclopaedia is a fetish for very small bicycles"