SandySwimmer

I started biking again a week ago after the summer away. I have a Trek 1000c that I bought this past year. I am loving getting back to it, and loving how I feel after a ride, but biking is making me very aware of the extra 20 pounds I still have on my frame. I lost 30 pounds a few years ago (and have kept it off), but this last 20 pounds has stayed. Biking is giving me the motivation I've needed to get back to watching my intake.

18 weeks from Saturday (August 27th) is New Year's Eve. My resolution is to have these 20 pounds gone by New Year's Eve.

My goal is to lose one pound a week while maintaining high energy levels. I am planning on doing this by watching my portions, eating whole foods (non-processed), and biking, biking, biking - 6 days a week. Right now, I have a 17 mile loop I bike on TTHSat and a 4 mile loop on MWF. Once a month, I will add about 6 miles to my TTHSat rides.

I'm hoping to train for a sprint triathlon in the spring, but I want to focus on shedding the excess storage and building up a nice base of miles on the bike (500 - 1000) before training begins.

I'm planning on checking in once a week - every Saturday - to update my progress and count down until New Year's.

Please join me. It would be great to have company on the way down.
Sandy

SandySwimmer

It has been a good first week. I'm amazed at how much better I feel after just a week. I logged over 70 miles on my bike. The hilly long rides 3 days a week are becoming more fun. I wear a heart rate monitor and it doesn't beep the entire uphill anymore. It still beeps, but it waits until I am almost at the top of each hill . . . lots of hills. And, they are actually fun. The first ride, I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but now I know the downhill follows soon. Sooo much fun.

I try to go for a 30 minute swim before my long-rides. It has been working out perfectly so far. The swim gives my body a chance to warm up and wake up.

Generally, I am avoiding the scale, but to give myself a reference, I am weighing in on Saturdays. 149.5 today. I have actually gone down 2.5 pounds in a week. I know it won't continue at that rate and that my body is just experiencing the initial shock of the extra activity, but I'll take it.

Food Discoveries:
Pre-ride: 10 oz of Soy Silk (light soy milk), 1 oz. of protein powder (Naturade brand), 2 tbsp. ground flaxseeds, and a banana make the perfect pre-ride smoothie.

Post-ride: Hashbrowns (a grated potato baked in the oven) eaten with hot salsa make the perfect post-ride, pre-shower meal.

Eating small meals has been helping with the energy. . . for example, two hours after the hashbrowns, I have a cup of lentils with ricotta cheese . . . two hours after that, I have half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich . . . two hours later a salad . . . two hours later dried fruit and nuts.

An apple right before I go to sleep takes any edge off.

This next week's plan:
Sunday is completely off.
Keep my long rides at 17 miles, but try to go earlier
Add strength training on Wednesdays and Fridays this next week to prevent injury.

Ride well,
Sandy

SSP

Losing one lb per week is a very good goal...fast enough that you'll get positive feedback, but slow enough that you're not starving or risking your health.

70 miles on the bike will certainly help too. Using the rule of thumb of 40 calories per mile, that's 2800 calories you burned from cycling this week.

However, you'll still need to be careful with your food choices and portion sizes. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "I ride 150 miles per week but can't lose 1 lb!". It's really easy to subvert a good exercise program with a few poor food choices, and exercise tends to increase one's appetite too. Also, try not to "reward" yourself with food every time you exercise.

Anyway, it sounds like you're on the right path...just be patient and persistent and hopefully you'll achieve your goals.

SandySwimmer

Thanks for the rule of thumb (40 cal. per biking mile). That's good to know. I used to meet a lot of runners who ran serious miles at a time (18 for instance), but never lost weight because they would come home from a run and eat an entire pizza.

This morning the spinning class was full, so I took an unexpected bike ride around my loop (that I usually do on TTHSat). Over the weekend, to celebrate my first week of healthy dieting and riding, I bought a reflective vest, a halogen front light, and blinking back lights for my bike. So glad I did. This was my first morning to bike in the dark. About 20 minutes into my ride, I had the chance ot watch the sun come up over the hill I huff and puff up. Really beautiful and quiet.

I ate an apple before I left. My stomach started some serious growling before the ride was over. It felt good though. I remember that from the first 30 pounds. My trick used to be to let my stomach growl at least twice a day. When it would happen, I would make some green tea, let it steep, drink it and then eat. I think my own little tea ceremony gave me the pause before meals, so I wasn't as inclined to inhale food. (I am often inclined to inhale food especially after exercise).

Also, I use a digital postal scale ($20) to weigh my food and then I log it into fitday.com. This is a free website that keeps track of calories from food and activities, as well as shows you the % of carbs, protein, and fat. I'm hoping to reduce my fat to under 30% of my diet.

Endorphins before sunrise are a very good thing,
Sandy
149.5 . . . 18 weeks and 20 pounds to go!

KeithA

Just noticed this thread, Sandy.

I'd love to join you. I've lost about 30 pounds already and this week started my one pound a week goal, down from 11/2 to 2 pounds a week.

Right now, I'm at 179 pounds, so at one pound a week, I'll aim for 161. I'm planning on losing a couple of pounds for a few of the weeks, so that I can fully enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

Keep on bringing back this thread. I'll post my progress as well.

Anyone else?

kuan

You talking to me?

konageezer

Oh, all right, count me in. Damn! Giving in to peer pressure again.

I'm at 245, and I shudder to think of the shame spiral that will ensue if I can't keep up with you skinny folks. I'll post my progress here. Good thing lemon meringue pie season is over.

BuckyYuen

Okay, me too... I need to lose about 20 by New Year's. Today's a good start for me - commuted to work! I know I exercise enough, just need to watch what I eat... On Saturday, I'll weigh in again (last Sat was 155).

Patellapedler

Sandy, Your plan seems great and inspiring. You seem to have it under control. I like the tea ceremony idea. Good luck to you and reaching your goal.


I'd like to join in cause I'd like to lose about 10-15lbs, but I don't know I would visit this thread often enough to contribute anything to it. Thanks for getting me motivated to do it myself though, that is a GREAT goal. For me, at least 10lbs by Thanksgiven would make me happy and then to lose the last wanted 5 by Christmas/New Years.

SandySwimmer

Welcome! It's great to have company and encouragement. We can do this. Slow and steady. We will be so healthy by New Year's when the rest of the country will be just starting to focus on health, so we can ride the wave at that point.

One benefit of adding the biking most days . . . as a formerly light bordering on insomniac sleeper . . . it now takes me a minute and a half to fall asleep (it used to take me almost two hours). And, it's a deep sleep. Last night I slept 9 hours and woke up feeling rested and healthy. I'm usually lucky if I get 6 hours.

It could also be that I have cut out eating at night, with the exception of my before bed apple. A few weeks ago, I flipped through a book at the bookstore called "Potatoes not Prozac". It said a potato or an apple before bed, but three hours after the last meal, evens out seratonan levels in the body . . . which makes the body happy. I figure it can't hurt to try since high energy is one of my main goals. On the up-side, it definitely takes care of any before-bed hunger.

My food discoveries:
Del Monte Lite 4 oz. fruit cups (mixed fruit and diced peaches). I have one of each of these each day. These are convenient. I don't usually have sugar, but these make me feel like I've had a treat.
Dannon Light 'n Fit Smoothie (7 oz). Also convenient. One of these gives a nice little calcium boost and it helps me between meals.

Observations:
I was at a grocery store yesterday and I signaled with my left arm when I turned the cart. I didn't notice, but the woman behind me did. She said, 'you must be a cyclist, my husband does that when I take him out in public.'

Also, sample ladies at grocery stores are evil (I know they are just doing their jobs and they are probably perfectly nice people). Yesterday, it was a Sun Chips lady. She must have seen the desire in my face because she kept popping up around the aisles pushing the chips at me asking me if I wanted a sample. She actually said, 'one wouldn't hurt. Just try them, you know you want to.' I started seeing her as a drug pusher at a playground which helped my resolve. When I made it to my car Sun-Chips-free I found myself pumping my arm saying 'yes' . . . like Lance Armstrong at the end of a race. Small victories.

Good fuel the day before makes for the best rides,
Sandy

Walkafire

WTG Sandy...

I would be careful of Bananas... lots of people think they are healthy foods for ya, and they might be, but for a DIET, they are more then you think. Nuts and Cheese are another to watch.

I have lost a ton since New Years (2005)
I had tried other diets to try to lose the weight...
I finally tried one I never thought I would Try....WeightWatchers.
Cripes paying someone to weigh in keeps ya honest for sure.
First 3 months, I followed the WW Diet plan pretty well, I even allowed for Beer at the end of EVERY DAY! I lost about 30 lbs at that point.
I gave up the booze in early March and started commuting to work in June.
Now I reached my goal ... lost over 90 lbs.
The thing I like about WW is you can eat what ever you want, just not as much as you use too.
Hell, I sound like a frickin commercial.

Do what ever works for ya and stick with it! =)


*edit...just noticed you posted about the same time as me... =)

FXjohn

I'm sorry, but i highly doubt many people are overweight because of eating too many bananas.

https://www.bananageorge.com/

Walkafire

NOT overweight... but trying to LOSE weight will slow things down. Just something I found out during my weight loss. If you plan right and PUT it in your diet...sure you can have all the frickin bananas ya want.

Hell I allowed to have 2-3 beers (lite) every night.... lost 30 lbs, then quit drinking, lost a lot more...

It's all on how you PLAN. Geeeeeeesh

SandySwimmer

I've actually read that about bananas (Pritikin etc.). Something about the sugar and what the body does with it make it so you aren't supposed to go crazy with them. Lots of Ornish recipes (Eat More, Weigh Less) use bananas as a sweetener and as a replacement for butters and oils. One discovery I made is it only takes 1/2 a banana for a full serving of fruit. That was a shock to find out. Plus, a banana has 100 calories, about the same as a half a cantaloupe. I love them for the potassium though . . . and so convenient.

By the way, Walkoffire, 90 pounds is incredible. Nice to hear stories like that.

Sandy

FXjohn

I say eat all the raw food, bananas apples etc when you're hungry, and doubt if it will have ANY effect!

(Geeeeesh)

LordOpie

I'm in! I've been losing about a pound a week for a couple months now. By NYE, I should easily be at my ideal weight

As for bananas, they're a good source of potassium. Remember, you NEED electrolyes, especially if you're exercising!

As for the weight I've already lost, I've noticed that I'm riding faster and easier. Hills are easier, I'm not fatigued on longer distances.

ADVICE: don't buy new clothes if you're losing weight... wait a bit

Walkafire

~~BINGO~~

Sandy you said it: Bananas ARE considered 2 servings of Fruit.

Portis

Go Sandy! Go Sandy! GOOOOOooooooooooooo!

Sounds like a great plan. However, remember that likely the world won't end on New Year's next year, at least i hope not. So devise a plan you can live with for the rest of your life. Don't adopt a diet and lifestyle that is too confining.

Leave room for fun and occasional "rule breaking." Cyling in addition to diet basically just gives you a buffer in which you will either a. lose more weight or b. be able to cheat on your diet more. The more you ride the more you can cheat, the less you ride--------------------> no room for cheating!

Remember that dieting is really simple. Don't eat more than you can get rid of! If you only ride for one hour you may burn as little as 300 calories. That is equal to a couple cans of regular soda. BUT (here is the important part) Do that 365 days per year and you have erased 730 can's of soda!

You see why making it a lifestyle is important. Compare each bike ride to the construction of Mount Rushmore. The ride is the hammer and your diet is the chisel. After dieting and exercising for 1 day you likely will have what still looks like a plain ol' rock. Do it for a couple of year's and you will have a masterpiece!

Thorco

Alright screw it, I'm in as well. I just got a bent last week and I love it. I'm 34 years old, married, 2 little ones and have become a bit inactive over the last few years. I'm 6'1" and weighed 275 lbs. last Saturday. While the biking will help on the exercise end I am really going to have to watch the calorie end. I love a cold beer or three every now and then (mostly now) and with 2 young kids it's hard to eat healthy every meal. But I'm up for it. I need to lose about 50 lbs. by new year. No problem, right. Good thread Sandy, Thanks.

af895

1lb a week is VERY doable! Watch the food intake, try not to eat within 3 hours of bedtime, ditch the soda-pop (it's liquid candy) unless it's diet, get *even a little* exercise to get the muscles working.

I'm in with you! I was 260lbs in May. I got a new bike around June 1st - I'm now at 242lb and dropping. My goal is drop another 40lbs by New Year's.

I hear they let you take your saddle and seat-post to spinning classes! I'm totally stoked about putting miles on the Brooks - without "going anywhere"...

Portis

I also have 2 little ones and i am 36 yrs old. I am 6'2" and 148 lbs, down from over 200 before diet and cycling. I have ridden 14,000 plus miles in the last two years. I have learned a couple things that might help you.

Beer

You don't have to give up beer. Chances are if you don't have the couple of beers you will end up substituting some food in it's place. I quit drinking beer last year. I used to come home and hammer anywhere from 3 to 8 beers depending on the day i had. I decided to quit the beer deal since it was one of my last remaining bad habits from college that i needed to get rid of.

Instead of coming home from work and grabbing a beer, now i usually have some form of a snack. So still i am taking in calories.

Diet

This doesn't have to be a bad word. There are all sorts of stupid diets out there and i really don't subscribe to any of them. I mainly listen to what the health experts say. They say that diets low in fat are good for you. So just about everything we buy is low fat. Look for it on the label at your supermarket.

Forget fast food. I haven't had it in 3 years. Never will again. Go to Subway, or something similar instead.

No fried foods.

No beef for me either.

Lastly, have some fun. Ride your bike a lot and eat some pizza and low fat icecream. I eat probably two gallons of ice cream per week. I usually eat pizza at least once per week. Also I eat a LOT of food! More than most people. Remember, that i am 6'2" and only 148 lbs.

Most people look at me and tell me i need to eat. I laugh and tell them that i probably eat twice as much in a day as they do. It's just that i eat the right things and burn tons of calories on the bike. Example: Friday i plan to ride 113 miles. I will burn around 4500 calories on that ride. I will likely consume 6000 or more calories that day, while riding and after i am done.

Granted, most of my rides aren't that long, but this is an example of how exercise let's you eat!

SandySwimmer

Welcome! Nice, healthy weight loss going on. Good to have you along.

No beef for me either, or cheese. Good food goes so much further in our bodies. I started adding an entire roasted eggplant to a cup of whole wheat pasta. It only adds about 60 calories, but the portion now is the same size as my head. When I'm done, I feel like I've eaten a lot.

I agree that treats are important along the way. I have been known to buy raspberries out of season. I love that . . . really good fruit out of season . . . best decadent treat I’ve found. I also try to give myself non-food related rewards. When I lost the first 30 pounds, I gave myself six months of tennis lessons . This weekend I’m buying a new pair of cycle shorts and the next week I have a deep-tissue massage scheduled. It has also been non $ related . . . like a drive to the beach.

This morning, I went for my ride after the sun came up, but I was still decked out in my reflective vest and my blinkers. At a stoplight a guy in the car next to me rolled down his window to say something to me. I was thinking, ‘oh, great,’ but he ended up saying, ‘you’re one of the first cyclists we could actually see.’ Just a little reminder that we are pretty invisible out there.

Also, a group of butterflies joined me on my downhill. I was going at least 20. They joined me for about 10 feet, right next to my shoulder and then turned away. It was a first for me, interesting . . . it was my first group ride.

I like the Mt. Rushmore analogy. So true that we can’t always see the changes that are happening.. It makes me think of one of my favorite sculptures by Michaelangelo . . . a beautiful muscular foot emerging out of a slab of marble. These last 20 pounds, for me, are the difference between being healthy and being sculpted (faster, athletic, lighter on the bike). I can't wait, I'm ready.

Every day, just a little closer,
Sandy

Thorco

Awesome, I'm gonna pick up a twelver on the way home then. j/k. I think if I can wait till the weekend on the beer, eat less more often and ride about 100 miles a week I will start to notice a significant improvement. Is there any low fat/low carb protein bars (homemade or not) out there? They seem to be an easy snack in between meals. I have been eating 1/2 of a Pria Powerbar Carb Select for my snack but I noticed that they have 8g fat (5 saturated) per serving. It's probably from the chocolate coating which I don't really care for (not a big fan of chocolate).

SandySwimmer

Ranger - impressive miles

Thorco - I've also been in search of the low fat power bar. I used to eat Balance Bars because I liked the distribution, but cut them out completely when I started to pay attention sugar. They seemed to be just one step better than a Snickers Bar. I also used to eat fig newtons because they were easy, but discovered I liked dried figs better. I'm also hoping to reach 100 miles a week. . . It looks like 85 this week, perhaps next week I will reach the magic number.

The trick seems to be consistency with exercise . . . and intake. This morning during my ride I thought, "I'm working too hard at this to be leveled by something like carrot cake." I'm enjoying the rides, but am even more committed to work harder at the push away (from the table).

Two little bike tires, will soon be one, and then there will be none (around the middle).
Sandy

rusty_2000

Go Sandy!!!
Just joined this forum, and one of the major reasons I got back into bike riding was weight loss/ increases fitness and energy. I have been going for 4 weeks and managed to drop 2Kg (4.4lb) - my aim has been 0.5Kg/ week - I'm already in with you guys!!

I wanted to enter my '40s at the same fighting weight as my '30s so I needed to drop almost 10Kg (22lb)

My approach has mainly been more care with what goes in (started working for a chocolate manufacturing company put ALOT of Kgs on!!) and uping the ante on output. Been increasing my weekly distance from an initial 100Km to now 200Km, with continued increases - I intend to commute, which is 28Km each way.

Will keep postnig with progress............