Help - Loosing weight

[CulBaire]

For 8 months I didn't touch my trusty MTB or do any sort of riding after a really bad case of burn out fro going way to ahrd at a 24hr event... In the last 2 months I hoped back on the bike to start training up for endurance racing again. However the 8 to 10 months of sheer neglect I put on over 12kg's.


Thus far changing my eating habits for the better and training more has lost 7kg's of my body weight, and I have regained some of the muscle that I lost during inactivity. However over the last few weeks I have noticed that my body weight is no longer droping, it seems to be static at 89kg's This is nearly 9kg's above my goal weight.


I am still eating well... I have quiet a large calorie deficit; generally eat vegitables with dinner, have a small breakfast (toast or cerial), and a small lunch, salad roll- maybe the occasional snack duing the day usually a musilie bar or something.

Average riding day I will ride for 1.5 to 2hrs mid paced road ride- I do this 3x a week, I also go to the Gym once a week for weight training / intervals, run once or twice a week. And do a longer harder ride on Saturdays, usually 3 to 4hrs+.


I am just wondering were I am going wrong?... I am fairly solid build 5'10" at the moment 87kg's but I would like to get down to 80kg's as thats when I felt at my best... I have a felling I may be taking in too many Carbo's?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[LJ]

I'm no expert by any means, but I have always found my weight drops if I cut out the bread completely. Perhaps you could give this a try.

[monkey]

Just a couple of things,

don't get too stressed about amount of carbs, protien etc eaten. If you eat with a calorie deficit, you will lose weight regardless of composition of meals. Also, you are probably doing yourself an injustice by having a small breakfast. It is the first meal of the day, generally you have just woken up, so your metabolism is fairly slow. A larger breakfast fuels you up for training ahead AND stimulates your metabolism. Eat straight after training to aid recovery. Have a smaller dinner rather than breakfast, or alternatively, east 4-5 SMALLER meals a day, this keeps your metabolisim active and raised.

Generally, everyone finds that at some stage they reach a period where the weight loss tends to slow or stop, you will start to lose again if you are disciplined. Also, don't forget to take into account that if you really have had a long period of inactivity, you will have lost lean muscle mass, you will be re-gaining that lean muscle mass, losing body fat, but your weight will remain the same for a while.

Good luck.

[Tippster]

Suggestions:

breakfast - eat more!

musueli with milk
yoghurt
toast with butter and honey


Are you pacing yourself such as to re-build your base fitness?

More miles and at a lower intensity, while focussing on tempo and technique


Time and regular training with see you at your goal weight soon...

[TiBikeNut]

Here's the two things I noticed made the biggest difference for me.

Eat five (or more) smaller meals.... I noticed weight loss after I started doing this. Also I didnt go through the typical starved/full/starved cycle since I felt I was always eating (every 2 -3 hours) It drove my freinds and co-workrs up the wall.

The other thing I noticed REALLY helped was going on 90 min or longer low - medium intensity rides/runs on the weekends or whenever I coudl find the time.

I didnt really chnage anything in my deit except cutting down drastically on my visits to McDonalds Cutting down on starch didnt really seem doable for me since I needed it to go biking for 3 - 4 hours at a stretch.

Good luck

George

[nikh]

I know how you feel but I've managed to drop from 195 to 169lbs over the last 3/4months.

Just some tips I picked up from reading mens health mag. Go to sleep slightly hungry. You will burn fat rather than whats in your stomach. Big bonus, you don't even have to do anything!

I take large gulps of water apparently it triggers the brain into thinking your full quicker...

For breakfast before I ride to work I have a fat burning breakfast consisting of the following:

1 cup of oats, 1 cup of reduced milk, teaspoon of honey, some flak seed, almonds, ginger (i leave out the ginger personally) nuke for 2 mins and then add a tablespoon of low fat yoghurt to soften if up a tad. I prepare this the night before and let the milk soak into the oaks. Then all I have to do is nuke it and add the yoghurt in a sleepy haze. I try to eat this at least 30 mins before I exercise.

I usually have a protein bar mid morning or a handful of almonds or vice versa in the afternoon. For lunch its usually a chicken salad and for dinner I tend to go for lean ham, chicken or turkey with scrambled eggs. Pretty boring but it works.

If your not dropping weight it could be because your adding muscle? Or I believe your body might need a kick start again so eat something you crave and mix it up a little. A little bit of what you fancy won't harm!

[CulBaire]

Thanx for the help guys...

Tippster- Yes I am doing more low to mid intencity rides, Generally 50km's twice a week, and then a 100km ride on the weekend... I am also doing a bit of running, usually for 45min to an hour, twice a week on non ride days.

Since starting this I have noticed, not only are my distances growing, but the ride time is shortening too... I am getting faster, and I feel much better after these rides now. Also I feel much better generally.



Eating, squeezing in a helthy meal at Dinner is tough, as what the chef cooks, we eat... During the day however, I have started eating smaller protions more often, keeping it healthy.


All this seems to be working- I have now dropped to 86kg's and hopefully I can continue that down to 85kg and beyond.

[seriousconsult]

I have had great success.

Basically I exercise more and eat less.

I do not eat sugar or fat as much as I can avoid.

I eat very little unless I am going to the gym. Maybe 1000 calories a day mostly protein and some carbs.

On days I go to the gym (5 days a week), I exercise hard (1.5 hours at 90% of my max hr). To do this I eat a solid meal before going to the gym.

I went from pudgy 25% fat to muscular and lean 6% fat in about 1 year. I am also much faster on the bike or running, which feels great.

So my recommendation is to eat a lot less and exercise a lot more.

[Tippster]

I have had great success.

Basically I exercise more and eat less.

I do not eat sugar or fat as much as I can avoid.

I eat very little unless I am going to the gym. Maybe 1000 calories a day mostly protein and some carbs.

On days I go to the gym (5 days a week), I exercise hard (1.5 hours at 90% of my max hr). To do this I eat a solid meal before going to the gym.

I went from pudgy 25% fat to muscular and lean 6% fat in about 1 year. I am also much faster on the bike or running, which feels great.

So my recommendation is to eat a lot less and exercise a lot more.

1,000 a day!?!?!?

I thought the recommended intake was 2,000 for a woman and 2,500 for a man. If you give your body a deficit of calories on a huge scale, won't your body go scavenge energy from vital things like your muscles as well as fat stores?

doesn't sound sensible IMO... its your body...

[tcr]

On days I go to the gym (5 days a week), I exercise hard (1.5 hours at 90% of my max hr). To do this I eat a solid meal before going to the gym.

Wow 1.5 hours at 90%, 5 times a week??!? that is hardcore stuff don't you do any easy exercise??

Also I correct me if I'm wrong but for a proper recovery from exercise shouldn't you be having your meal after exercise??

[Tippster]

On days I go to the gym (5 days a week), I exercise hard (1.5 hours at 90% of my max hr). To do this I eat a solid meal before going to the gym.

Wow 1.5 hours at 90%, 5 times a week??!? that is hardcore stuff don't you do any easy exercise??

Also I correct me if I'm wrong but for a proper recovery from exercise shouldn't you be having your meal after exercise??

The literature I'd read recommend eating carb's within 30 minutes of exercise to build back your stocks of gylcogen in your muscles and aid recovery. You may not feel like eating as exercise will supress your appitite, but it is recommended by experts.

[Bruiser]

They are very hard sessions. I hope you do recovery work in the days folllowing them.

If you find you're putting on muscle, rest assured that the more muscle you have the more fat your body burns. You shouldn't to worried about your aggregate weight, but about the composition of your weight.

Drop 10kg of fat and add 5kg of muscle and you'd be a mean looking cyclist, though 5kg over weight on your current goals. You need to be aware of where the muscle is of course.

Focus on the training and not the weight issue. Your body will return its new correct weight without you making any effort if you maintain the training.

Eating after excercise is the usual protcol. You body uses energy to digest the food, energy you could be using during your 90% workout.

[swiftyer]

I have had great success.

Basically I exercise more and eat less.

I do not eat sugar or fat as much as I can avoid.

I eat very little unless I am going to the gym. Maybe 1000 calories a day mostly protein and some carbs.

On days I go to the gym (5 days a week), I exercise hard (1.5 hours at 90% of my max hr). To do this I eat a solid meal before going to the gym.

I went from pudgy 25% fat to muscular and lean 6% fat in about 1 year. I am also much faster on the bike or running, which feels great.

So my recommendation is to eat a lot less and exercise a lot more.

That account is quite unbelievable. Eating only 1000 calories would send a message to your body saying that you are in a "famine period" and everything you eat would begin to be stored as fat. Also, you cannot be "muscular" with such a diet because you need alot more calories(carbs and fats!) to build ANY muscle whatsoever. You may have lost all that weight from your regimen but I would not suggest such a diet to anyone or anyTHING for that matter. It just not that easy(well I'd think its hard. Christ, I eat around 3000 calories a day to stay lean.). I'd speculate that you aren't exactly the healthiest dieter at the moment.

The one thing I can see that I would agree with is your general statement.
Eating less and exercise will definitely help lose weight. HOWEVER, your deficit should be a number of calories below your basal metabolic rate AFTER you have already accounted for any caloric "burn" throughout the day.

Also, from what tippster said, for the average active grown male, it is reccomended that a minimum of 2300-2500 is consumed while women consume anywhere from 2000-2300.

You should consume carbs to sustain energy throughout the workout and I also use a postworkout shake that is composed of whey protein(fast-acting protein) and high Gi carbs. the carbs spike insulin which helps drive the protein straight to your torn muscle fibres and encourage growth and recovery. A preworkout meal is not neccessary unless you are training seriously.

PS. my nutrition guideline that I posted above mainly focuses on nutrition for weight training however I have consulted several experts and it has been verified that such guidelines can also be used towards cardiovascular activity(just don't eat before it unless you want cramps.)

[kman]

There is plenty of good advice posted in this thread and it sounds like you are doing the right things. I have only two things to add:

Ultimately to lose weight, energy expenditure needs to be greater than energy taken in. Remeber this simple theory.

Don't be afraid to vary your training a little - keep up the running in your training or even substitute it for different riding or racing.
I know it is completely irrelevant with your goal for endurance riding, but track season is about to start just as an example for a roadie or MTBer...

[seriousconsult]

What I said earlier was a bit dramatic, but it has worked miracles.

Now,I want to drop below 6%, I plan to add some LSD style workouts on one of my two non-exercise days. I guess that means I will have to eat more on that day. I have also concidered two workouts a day.

Currently, I eat less than some of the women at work for lunch, but it feels so good to put the hammer down on hills and see many men drop off the back!