Building up the miles

[LemonJuice]

Hi everyone,

In a couple of weeks’ time I’ll finally be riding a bike.

I want to lose a couple of stone. I used to drink quite heavily so I have put on a bit of weight, well at least enough that I have noticed it. I’m not proud to say it, but I have what is known as a beer belly, but it is not MASSIVE. I am proud to state that I have cut dow completely drinking to the point I’m almost a teetotaller.

I don’t really eat much junk food. What types of food should I start eating to lose weight? I drink a few cups of coffee every day with no sugar, is this a problem?

I’m planning on going out on the bike at least five times a week. Is this going to be more beneficial?

Is aiming to lose three pounds a week reasonable and easy enough to achieve?

Thanks!

 

[stoatsngroats]

Well done for making the change!
I can’t remember what I ate, but cycling became my life, and I cycled everywhere I could. 10 miles was tough at first, hills too, but within a few months I could do 60-70 miles, and 5 hours of cycling.
My weight dropped 4 stone.
All the best to you.

 

[Ridgeway]

I've managed 7kgs during the lockdown so 8wks so almost 2lbs a week in old money. Avoid bread, pasta and potatoes and generally just reduce food intake and increase energy usage where ever possible. Tea and coffee and generally OK as long as there's no sugar involved.

I've tried where possible to swap biscuits/chocolate to fruit, increase vegetables and get funky with salads (loving a mixed salad with bacon and a boiled sliced egg for lunch).

It will probably take more effort in food prep and also more thinking about so start with your shopping list as you can only eat what's in your fridge/cupboard

For breakfast i'm a total Bircher muesli convert, making it up on a Sunday for 4-5 days worth that sits in the fridge.

Beyond that good luck !!!

 

[smokeysmoo]

I'm not a dietitian or weight loss expert, but the rule of thumb for a healthy and sustainable weight loss is generally quoted as 1-2lbs a week IIRC.

As for how long it will take there are too many variables for anyone to tell IMHO, but the above 1-2lbs a week is definitely achievable.

As far as frequency of exercise, remember that more doesn't always mean better, start low and slow and build up slowly to minimise risk of injury, and don't forget that rest days are just as important and shouldn't be missed.

I don't know if there's a cycling equivalent, but for getting back into running I use C25K, it builds you up gradually and really works if you stick with it and don't over do it, something similar for cycling would be a great idea if it exists.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Cycling is a actually a pretty energy efficient way to get around, you don't really burn a great deal of fat, or not unless you're doing big miles anyway. If you're limited for time I find brisk walking one hour per day is a better fat burner when I'm trying to lose weight.

If most of your weight went on through drinking then you should find that being almost teetotal naturally takes a lot of weight off you, are you finding that? You hint that your diet is okay, have you replaced the alcohol calories with something else? If not then you should start to see losses, and exercise will quicken that.

2 to 3 pounds a week is a good rate and pretty achievable.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I will be 14 weeks 9 hours 34 mins and 11 seconds from now

 

[sleuthey]

Hi everyone,

In a coupe of weeks’ time I’ll finally be riding a bike.

I want to lose a couple of stone. I used to drink quite heavily so I have put on a bit of weight, well at least enough that I have noticed it. I’m not proud to say it, but I have what is known as a beer belly, but it is not MASSIVE. I am proud to state that ihave cut down down completely drinking to the point I’m almost a teetotaller.

I don’t really eat much junk food. What types of food should I start eating to lose weight? I drink a few cups of coffee every day with no sugar, is this a problem?

I’m planning on going out on the bike at least five times a week. Is this going to be more beneficial?

Is aiming to lose three pounds a week reasonable and easy enough to achieve?

Thanks!

You will loose weight by creating a calorie deficit. So you can eat what you want but the higher calorie foods you will have to eat considerably less of. Read the label.

Coffee won’t make a difference IMO

5 rides per week will be more beneficial than none

IMO 3 is a crash diet. 2 lb per week would be better and for this you would need a defecit of 1000 calories per day

 

[LemonJuice]

Thank you for the replies so far.

I have generally speaking always been on the slim side and then I was made redundant from a job I had been doing for twenty years and for a few years I spent most of my time in pubs drinking heavily every day. About two years I had a wake up call when my wife told me she had seen a change in me and didn’t like what I was becoming so I gradually stopped drinking as much and now I can either take or leave drink. But, as it would happen to anyone, I have put on weight and I want to do something about it, ideally I want to have the physique of a road cyclist, is this achievable? I’m about 14 stone and I want to get back down to 12 stone. Sometimes my wife and I have a little drink on a Friday, is this okay? I can just burn it off the following day, right?

I have done a little bit of research online and many websites state that weight loss starts in the kitchen. So until I get the bike sorted I want to buy the right stuff. What stuff should I buy?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

More seriously.

About 1-2lb a week is sustainable. Hence my 14 weeks comment. But I’d focus more on developing good exercise habits and good eating habits so they become the norm. Having that extra pint shouldn’t lead to guilt. As long as your going the right direction everything is good.

If the weight isn’t shifting after a few weeks. I’d look at the amount I’m eating / drinking before exercise. For me I found just cutting alcohol back is the only change I need to do to lose weight sustainably.

Good luck.

 

[LemonJuice]

Cycling is a actually a pretty energy efficient way to get around, you don't really burn a great deal of fat, or not unless you're doing big miles anyway. If you're limited for time I find brisk walking one hour per day is a better fat burner when I'm trying to lose weight.

If most of your weight went on through drinking then you should find that being almost teetotal naturally takes a lot of weight off you, are you finding that? You hint that your diet is okay, have you replaced the alcohol calories with something else? If not then you should start to see losses, and exercise will quicken that.

2 to 3 pounds a week is a good rate and pretty achievable.

I normally eat fish, meat, pasta, rice and similar things. Maybe once in a blue moon I’ll order a takeaway on a weekend.

Yes, I did after I stopped drinking, but I still want to lose another couple of stone. I think at my heaviest I was about 16 stone.

 

[LemonJuice]

I’m taking my wife away in September, do you think by then I should be able to get rid of my beer belly?

I was talking to an old friend about losing weight earlier today and he told me that I should be able to notice a different after riding the bike for a month.

 

[ColinJ]

It is possible to lose serious amounts of weight very quickly, but it definitely isn't healthy to. I got very ill and lost several stone in just a few weeks but that was only partly due to fat loss. The rest was due to my body 'eating' my muscles! My formerly strong cyclist legs ended up looking like a weak man's arms. Trust me - you don't want that...

As suggested by others above, 1 to 2 lbs (or about 0.5 to 1.0 kg) loss a week is a sensible rate to aim for. That rate of loss would enable you to get most or all of your 2 stone off.

Another thing - the first half of the loss is the most important half. You will start to look and feel much better after losing just 7 or 8 lbs. One stone makes a BIG difference. Get that off first and do what you can after that without doing anything stupid to hit the target!

Good luck.

PS I kept most of the weight off post-illness (and got my muscles back). I gave up alcohol, which helped, but you may not fancy doing that...

 

[LemonJuice]

It is possible to lose serious amounts of weight very quickly, but it definitely isn't healthy to. I got very ill and lost several stone in just a few weeks but that was only partly due to fat loss. The rest was due to my body 'eating' my muscles! My formerly strong cyclist legs ended up looking like a weak man's arms. Trust me - you don't want that...

As suggested by others above, 1 to 2 lbs (or about 0.5 to 1.0 kg) loss a week is a sensible rate to aim for. That rate of loss would enable you to get most or all of your 2 stone off.

Another thing - the first half of the loss is the most important half. You will start to look and feel much better after losing just 7 or 8 lbs. One stone makes a BIG difference. Get that off first and do what you can after that without doing anything stupid to hit the target!

Good luck.

PS I kept most of the weight off post-illness (and got my muscles back). I gave up alcohol, which helped, but you may not fancy doing that...

Hey, thanks for your reply.

I don’t want to look ill, but I want to look lean/slim so when I look in the mirror I look straight up and down (skinny). What is annoying me is that my waist size hasn’t increased that much, but my belly sort of hangs over a pair of jeans. Of course I’m exaggerated the size of my beer belly because it’s in my head and I feel fat and I hate the fact my physical appearance has changed.

I have cut down drinking alcohol a lot, I used to drink 15+ pints at a pub and then quite often drink a bottle of whisky every night. These days I’m lucky if I drink four cans of lager.

I’ve never really been a big eater, I don’t eat junk food often.

 

[NotAsGoodAsMyBike]

I found that losing the first stone took a couple of months, not that I was tracking it minutely (don’t own A
any scales so just going by waistband on trousers and occasional weigh-in on a machine at Boots or the GP surgery). Second stone took longer, maybe another 6 months, but it wasn’t an aim of mine so I wasn’t chasing it.

Aside from cutting out most of the obvious junk in your diet (but don’t worry about having the occasional drink or pizza), what worked for me was controlling portion size. I do love an enormous plate of food! Sadly, it leads to weight gain.

 

[Mr Whyte]

I found that doing sit ups and Crunches did a good job of getting rid of my belly, so along with bike riding you should be fine and the weight should start to come down.