Cycling, weight and Snow White

[Thomk]

It's obvious. Start to cycle and you will gravitate down, if you're a bit chubby to begin with, to your ideal weight. It was one of the reasons I decided to do it. At 13st 12lb and 6 ft I knew I was carrying a bit of excess pork and could do with shedding about a stone, especially since my bike is a bit on the heavy side and my lungs have yet to accept the new regime. So I calculated my weekly expected weight loss, projected forward with the help of the ridiculously useful MS Excel, and waited for the pounds to drop off. And waited and waited and am still waiting...

I weighed myself today, after about 4 weeks of cycling approx 36 miles a week, and according to my traitorous scales am currently 13st 12lb. No matter how often I send the hunter into the forest with orders to sort out Snow White the mirror still tells me she is alive and fairer than me.

Truth is, probably, at 40 something I'm going to have to get my body to accept that this is more than a passing fad. The hunter is sparing Snow White in a way that Henry wished that his his 4 errant Knights had spared Thomas Becket. Early days.

 

[Licramite]

well I tackled it to ways, - aiming to loose a stone to get to a fighting weight I got an indoor cycle machine so independent of the weather I get two one hour sessions a week come what may.
hopefully this will sustain me through the winter ready for next year - I do find you only have to give it a break even for a week or two, your back to square one.

keep at it, the more you do the easier it gets.

 

[defy-one]

exercise is only 1/2 the equation. what are you drinking and eating?
i started off at 15st 4lbs and over the summer quickly dropped to 13st 4lbs.... got rather smug, started drinking a bit and with winter coming did less riding/running.... guess what happened next? .... put on 3lbs and am back into less alchohol and more exercise

 

[snorri]

The people who claim that cycling keeps them slim are probably not the type to put on weight anyway. I was like that until my mid thirties, then quite suddenly with no change in diet or exercise that I was aware of, the weight started to go on.
I doubt if a month of cycling 36miles per week would make any difference to weight without dietary changes.

 

[mattobrien]

A good start with the mileage. Keep at it and avoid the pies. You'll get there in no time. Enjoy.

 

[grolyat]

I've done between 5,000 and 11,000 miles every year for a decade. I struggle to stay below eighteen stones.

 

[black'n'yellow]

cycle for fitness - diet to lose weight

 

[grolyat]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ That's true.

 

[cyberknight]

40 is not an obstacle
I started cycling to get fit again at 40 and now approaching 45 i have lost 1 .5 stone and am faster than i was in my twenties.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

The equation is simple put less in and take more out, you need to combine the exercise with sensible eating, also the cycling could put muscle on so you might not lose weight but you could get a change in shape instead.

 

[Hip Priest]

My fitness has improved a lot since taking up cycling, but I've not lost any weight. I eat too much. Simple as that!

 

[betty swollocks]

Weight is not an accurate way to assess your progress, because with your new regime it's likely that you'll be putting on lean mass (muscle), which weighs more than fat and shedding fat at the same time.
Much more accurate is a reading of your body fat percentage.
Does your waistband feel looser?
It's conceivable and possible that you'll actually get heavier and slimmer.

Try and get some rides in which really tax you physically: say an hour's worth of sustainable discomfort. These will increase tour metabolic rate (the rate at which you burn calories) at the time and for some time after too.
But, as others have said, diet is the key.
And remember to drink plenty of water.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I can do hundreds of km's in a month and not lose an ounce if I don't, scrupulously, watch my calorie intake.
Muscle is denser than fat so you can weigh the same but look in better shape.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Weight is not an accurate way to assess your progress,

Yeah really. Nobody has ever stood on a set of scales.

because with your new regime it's likely that you'll be putting on lean mass (muscle), which weighs more than fat and shedding fat at the same time.

Are you sure about that?

Much more accurate is a reading of your body fat percentage.

Not really. The only way to accurately gauge BF% is to die,have it cut out and weighed. Daily changes inc hydration levels can and do skew BF% readings.

Try and get some rides in which really tax you physically: say an hour's worth of sustainable discomfort. These will increase tour metabolic rate (the rate at which you burn calories) at the time and for some time after too.
But, as others have said, diet is the key.
And remember to drink plenty of water.

You redeemed yourself.

 

[MrGrumpy]

6ft and nearly 14stone............. Geez I better get cycling alot more! In fact think I will go on the scales of truth and see where I am not weighed myself in yonks.