pletcgm

I am posting here from work.

And yes, my friends have already seen a huge change in me. I have lost 70 pounds from bicycle riding. I hear a lot of time the word WOW when some see me that I haven't seen in a long time. It is absolutely the most awesome sport!!!

bikeCOLORADO

Use the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) principle and this is the simplest of formulas - PERIOD.

Burn more calories that you consume.

No need to go crazy with charts, plans, shemes, diets, etc!
Find a few easy to use resources to:
- Estimate and keep track of (log) how many calories you're consuming.
- Estimate and keep track of (log) how many calories you're burning.

Burn about 500 calories MORE than you consume on a weekly basis.

KISS it! Just ESTIMATE...if you get too detailed and go crazy with weighing every bit of food you eat and trying to zero in on every 10th of a calorie that you burn, you just won't stick with it. AND the riding becomes a chore and loses it's fun factor.

pletcgm

You are soooo right! I tried to diet years ago and I got frustrated because I kept up with calorie count.

My last diet, I guestimated my intake and have done great. I cut out all of the bad foods and started riding all the time. I have lost 70 pounds. My waist size has dropped from a 42 to a 34. I dropped from 238 to 168, well I have gained this previous week 8 pounds due to steroid injections for the bicycle injury with a car. I plan on getting those off fast!

flyefisher

I started doing long miles (30-50) slowly... As soon as I got used to the high mileage, I started increasing speed..

Shootin' Mickey

Hello ~ we (me and my husband - we are no spring chicken anymore) just starting riding recently to get out of the house and excerise at the same time. I've been having such a great time. I agree with one of the posts prior; you will notice things along the ride that you didn't realize that you have never taken the time to look at while driving in a car. For me and my husband, I find it is nice to ride, visit with each other and just be away from the kids and spending time together while also noticing that we are feeling better, having more energy and having a sense of accomplishment. The more we ride, the farther we try the next time. Believe me, when we started, we barely made it down the street and back and now I feel like I can't get enough!

Homebrew01

Generally, if a post is SEVEN YEARS OLD, we don't resurrect it without a good reason.

1xoutlaw

Drink this: WATER
Dont drink : soda & juices

Eat a regular sized portion and chew many times before swallowing

Stay away from sweets and junkfood

No microwave dinners, no chinese or italian take outs, just make a plain sandwich with some deli meat with no mayo for lunches

Ride at least 100 miles per week with a decent amount of energy needed..

after doing this you will see results in 2 months for sure!

the hardest part is following through with the diet, you will be sucked in and tempted to eat whatever others are eating but you just have to resist the temptation and say no and if you think your hungry? DRINK A TALL GLASS OF WATER!

Sylv

Necrophiliac

Pat

As others have said drink water. If you stop urinating or your urine is strongly colored and smelly, you need to drink more. On long, hot rides, sodium loss can be a problem. Gatoraide and all of the sports drinks don't have enough sodium to help. But you probably will not suffer hyponatriumia.

As to weight loss, the closer you get to being lean, the harder it is. There are several reasons. The human body loves to hoarde fat. I think it is for that famine that we are not going to get. Another thing, your body absolutely positively has to have carbohydrates. The nervous system burns only carbohydrates and consumes about 500 calories per day. If you get in fewer carbs than that on a daily basis, you body will burn protein (muscle) to produce carbohydrates. That is a bad thing.

Usually, you will get in enough fat to be OK. But people get into such weird diets these days that who knows? There might be a strange diet out there that will cause problems. The same thing with protein. Most diets give you plenty but then again, I bet that there are some that do not.

A good discipline to go by is to get a little book on the grams of carbohydrates, proteins, fats (both saturated and unsaturated) & calories in the things you eat. You need enough carbohydrates and proteins in your diet. If you ride really far and pretty hard, you will need to replace your storage carbohydrates (glycogen). You can pretty much get rid of saturated fat safely. You should also lean towards complex carbohydrates.

Another thing is no matter how much you exercise, you can eat enough to gain weight. I went on a 2 week tour in the rockies. It had long mileage (over 70 per day) and a fair bit of climbing, also we were setting up camp and tearing it down every day which gave even more exercise. Some people gained weight. They not only ate the 3 substantial meals provided per day, they also went into town in the afternoon and had a second lunch consisting of the biggest cheese burger possible, a mountain of fries, a big drink and the biggest sundae possible. I just ate the 3 meals per day and was careful to avoid fats. In 2 weeks, most people gained weight. I lost 10 lbs without effort. The thing is weight loss is simple it is calories burned - calories consumed/3500 = lbs of fat lost.

Sit down sometime and figure out how many miles you have to ride to burn a lb of fat. It is a bunch. Also if you ride that far, you are almost sure as shooting going to eat more so you need to add that additional consumption to your calculations.

Good luck. It is simple but not easy.

chasm54

Good luck yourself. You are responding to someone who has not posted here for over seven years.

Richard Cranium

The reason bicycling is an effective adjunct to weight loss programs is because it can be performed continuously for long periods of time with little risk of injury to joints. The key to weight loss is maintaining a variety of activities that don't involve eating.

jawnn

You really need to shrink your stomach. I tried to burn calories for years with no effect at all. I just got hungrier. And stimulants were the wrong thing to fuel the exercise with.

A weight loss clinic is the best idea, and insurance should pay for it.

https://commutercycling.blogspot.com/...d-cycling.html

Redmond Jenning

IMHO, biking alone is unlikely to lead to weight loss. I bike 20-40 miles a day and I'm still pudgy. Unless you're ultra hardcore about it, it just doesn't burn enough calories to make a real difference. You have to change your diet to lose weight.

What biking <i>will</i> do for you:
Save you gas and maintenance on your car.
Give you joy.
Strengthen your heart and lungs.
If you have good trails it can actually be faster to bike in cities than drive during rush hour.
Easier parking most of the time.
Cooler friends.
Reduce your environmental impact on your location and the planet.

chasm54

Good grief, why do you people find it impossible to read the thread? The original post is eight years old.

YokeyDokey

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YokeyDokey

oh hell, i didn't even look at the date, I feel like such a dork

nathan.johnson

That's a great way to greet a newbie. I bet s/he found this post from an Internet search, is unfamiliar with online forums, and was just trying to be helpful.

Welcome Redmond!

Don in Austin

Hey, it hardly any worse than the perpetual helmet or sidewalk cycling arguments!

Don in Austin

Redmond Jenning

This thread features prominently on Google searches for a topic that's still completely relevant. More so, since the author is now 28 and his metabolism is probably taking a hit.

Redmond Jenning

Thank you! I thought that forums that didn't want old threads continued generally closed the comments sections. Does Bike Forums have rules regarding old posts?

RayfromTX

No, no rules about old posts. Cycling has a wide range of people including more than it's fair share of rude people. I rode with a guy yesterday that is super self absorbed. He told me he doesn't do charity rides because if he's going to raise 10,000$ he's going to do it to buy a new bike because these rides aren't supposed to be about raising money anyway. He said he's been riding since 1978 and used to race and he's done everything there is to do on a bike and he rides everyday. Then he told me that yesterday was the second time since 1995 that he's ridden with someone else. The other time was with my other neighbor last week. He said when he rides it's about him. I figure when he does anything it's about him. Cycling gives people like that an activity that they can do that let's their total self obsession flag fly. Later they come on bike forum and slam unsuspecting posters to make themselves feel superior. Most cyclists are not like that.

In answer to the original question, I lost 60 pounds by logging my food on myfitnesspal which has an app for your smart phone. I counted calories and after I lost most of the weight, I started exercising including riding the bike. Calorie counting taught me what to eat to get through the day without being hungry. Just so happens, those are the same healthy foods we've always been told to eat. Lean meat, complex carbs, vegetables, fiber and very limited or no sweets will make you healthy in all kinds of ways. You will feel better, look better and on average live longer. Good luck to all that find this thread by whatever means.

CbadRider

Welcome to the forum, Redmond!

There aren't any official rules as far as resurrecting old threads. If it's someone who was asking for help with their bike in the initial post, chances are they've solved their problem if the thread is bumped 5 years later, so it will be closed. Threads like this that deal with timeless subjects such as weight loss will not be closed.

CbadRider
Forum Moderator

og8997889

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5kdad

Might check out this book, not very expensive:
https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Your-Way-...4918299&sr=1-1

bwrench

If you are getting dehydrated, you need to be drinking more liquids, preferably things that will replenish the minerals that you sweat out. You also need to be feeding your body the fuel that it needs to propel you and your bike. If you are pushing so hard that you are passing out, something is bad wrong.