What makes you fat?

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vickster

Legendary Member
Everyone is different, that would be a relatively gentle ride, where 20+ is a hard ride for me. Evidence is just from the analysis from Strava, Trainer Road for my efforts
I’m a commuter / recreational cyclist not an athlete
 

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
Except it doesn’t seem to take BMR, nor age into account, let alone gender. So every individual of the same weight burns exactly the same calories. Seriously is that true?

Apparently on my flat ride of 20 miles today I burned 1500 calories. I should have had 3 more pastries. What a crock

The Fitbit / Strava which holds my age, gender, height and weights reckons 660 calories for the ride time/distance

It's not a great rule of thumb by my calculations - it reckons that I burn about the same number of calories for a fast hours ride, which doesn't seem right to me.

Based on a hard, reasonably lumpy 6 hour ride I burn around 5500ish calories, which works out around 55cal per mile (so on a par with what @ColinJ estimated for a similar ride). For a less strenuous but similarly profiled ride, I'd expect to burn around 35-40 cals per mile.
 

Shortandcrisp

Über Member
Exercise proved to be a magic bullet for me. Used to weigh 25st+ ten years ago. Started weightlifting everyday. Weight dropped off. As I became lighter and healthier, started to walk further, took up tennis and badminton and eventually got back into cycling. No dieting involved. Now 12st (have been for the last 6-7 years) and still eat whatever I like on 100+ miles a week of cycling and 6-7 hours of weightlifting and adhoc yoga.
 

Alan O

Über Member
Location
Liverpool
Potatoes don't make you fat. An excess of calories consumed over calories spent makes you fat. You can't blame the potatoes alone for their role in that excess. Or rice, or cakes, or beer. It's perfectly possible to have all of that lot and remain not-fat.
Indeed. I was surprised to learn recently that potatoes have only about half the calories of bread, and about 40% less than rice or pasta - and potatoes are more filling.
 

MikeG

Guru
Location
Suffolk
But, going back to the OP: I gave up alcohol over 10 years ago. My weight dropped by about 20kg over a couple of years then stabilised to where it's been ever since give or take the odd kilo now and then. So the culprit in my case was pretty clear.

It wasn't the alcohol which kept your weight high, specifically. It was the excess calories you consumed. If instead of alcohol you had cut out food of the equivalent calorific value, but had continued drinking, your weight would still have declined in the same way.
 

Alan O

Über Member
Location
Liverpool
[QUOTE 5404415, member: 9609"]i'm sure I have read that as fitness increases so can your general metabolism, and if that is correct then that would burn up more food. (yes, that is still energy being burnt but it is not miles on bike etc)[/QUOTE]
Yes, but that still leads to an equilibrium whereby the kcals you take in compared to the kcals you burn result in the appropriate change in body fat - and the essential energy equation remains unchanged.
 

mick1836

Über Member
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MikeG

Guru
Location
Suffolk
You got it those are the 4 enemies.

They are not enemies. They are an important part of a balanced diet. Have a balanced diet, balanced too with the amount of energy you burn up, and you won't need to put whole classes of food into Room 101. If you need to take 300 calories a day out of your diet to get back to energy in equalling energy out, it matters not a jot if those 300 calories are carbs, fats, or protein.
 
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