Ok...what Gives With The Weight?

[trekchic]

I lost about 40# on the Atkins' diet last Summer. I had to add carbs back into my diet to stay on the bike for extended periods of time. I am brand, spanking new at this cycling thing...so this might seem like a stupid question...

I have to watch what I eat now! I am gaining weight in all the wrong places. I try to ride my bike on the trainer about 4 times a week at 60-85% mhr for 45-60 minutes. I am trying to build up base miles and endurance so I can ride competitively in the Spring. Why am I gaining weight now?

I guess I need to change the types of carbs I am eating. I will admit that I eat way too many sweets again! I need to cut that out. What else?

Kim in TN

[jobob]

...or, Atkins is Eville !!!!

I had a friend who lost about 30 lbs on Atkins several years ago. Once she reached her goal weight, she started eating normally again - and rapidly gained back about 40 pounds. I know of several others who also gained back a large portion of what they lost when they stopped following the Atkins plan. I honestly don't know anyone who lost weight on Atkins who didn't gain most of the weight back, if not more.

Here are a couple of quotes from an article you can find at http://www.healthday.com/view.cfm?id=517110 which really rang true to me:

"What happens when you reduce carbohydrate intake is that your appetite is greatly suppressed. So as long as your carbohydrate intake is extremely low, you're not as hungry, and you end up eating fewer calories and losing weight," Evans says.

"The big problem with Atkins is once you decide that you've lost enough weight and want to eat bagels and bread and pasta again, suddenly you're hungry again and start eating a lot more food. The rate of recidivism of Atkins is extraordinarily high," he adds.

If you want to go back on a structured diet, I highly recommend Weight Watchers. It advocates a much more normal, balanced, healthy, sustainable way of eating. I lost over 25 lbs on Weight Watchers a year and a half ago; I've been off the program over a year now and I've kept the weight off ... er, I 'fess up, I had gained back about 5 lbs, but all the biking I've done over the last couple of months took care of those

I don't mean to be lecturing ... I feel really bad for all those who worked so hard and lost so much weight on Atkins just to see it come back again. And it really galls me to see all these "Atkins-approved" foods popping up in restaurants and grocery stores.

But, back to your original question ... eat more fruits and veggies, go easy on the fat intake, and cut back on the sweets (I know, that's hard ) And try to eat whole grain breads and other carbs which are high in fiber, they're more filling.

Best of luck! - Jo.

[Dogmama]

Also, make sure you're drinking enough water. Sometimes dehydration masquerades as hunger.

I've also never known anybody who could keep up an Atkin's lifestyle. Where is the fiber & B vitamins? Fat doesn't just clog up arteries - it is a factor in breast & colon cancer.

Atkins people must be making a small fortune with the Atkin's approved everything. Ever had an Atkin's approved Subway wrap? It's small & greasy. Ugh.

[tikigrl]

If you're building muscle, you will gain weight. Muscle weighs more than fat. While you build your endurance (and consequently muscle), you still need to diet lightly to keep the fat off.

[grannydea]

Calories in, Calories out!

It is that simple really. I have found after too many years at the weight loss thing (age 48), that it all boils down to,
Calories in (what we eat) Calories out (what we burn up).
Try and write down everything you eat in a day including the stuff you drink,sodas, coffee(stuff put in it), sports drinks ect. and pay attention to serving sizes and the amount you eat. Weigh and measure everything. You would be surprised at how much a serving is compaired to what we eat.
I know it is a balance between carbs(complex if at all possable) protein and fats. And the water thing is big too we don't drink enough of it.
Hope this helps.
Just think spring will be here soon and we will be able to ride outside again and less likely to eat the stuff we shouldn't like too much dark chocolate. But then can one have too much dark chocolate?!?
Dea

[jobob]

grannydea wrote:

Try and write down everything you eat in a day including the stuff you drink,sodas, coffee(stuff put in it), sports drinks ect. and pay attention to serving sizes and the amount you eat. Weigh and measure everything. You would be surprised at how much a serving is compaired to what we eat.

That was the most effective part of Weight Watchers for me - I had to keep a journal of everything I ate each day. I belonged to WW Online (I didn't attend meetings). WW Online has a very nice online journal which helps calculate the point value of foods. Online journalling wasn't difficult and doing it for a few months really helped to ingrain good eating habits for me.

Dogmama is absolutely right- drink lots of water! At least 8 glasses a day. More if you're exercising, of course.

Also, Subway is great (with the exception of the atkins approved wrap, that sounds simply gross ). A six-inch turkey sub on a whole wheat roll, with extra lettuce and tomatoes and a bit of onion, and mustard ONLY (no mayo, no oil, no cheeze) is only about 5-6 points and is a filling and satisfying meal. [What are points, you may ask? At my weight I would shoot for about 22 points per day - points being a function of total calories, grams of fat, and grams of dietary fiber per serving, all which you can find from the food label or the nutrional info provided by many restaurants. All other things being equal, higher fiber works out to lower points, higher fat works out to higher points. WW has a nifty little slide-rule contraption I used to estimate points, but after a while I could pretty much figure them out im my head - and I still do, force of habit, LOL] Sometimes I'd combine the Subway sub with a bowl of Progresso soup, many of the chicken/turkey w. veg noodle varieties only have about 1-2 points per serving - a bit high on the salt but I don't tend to use salt much anyway. The only trick with Subway is you really have to keep on them to make it your way - the folks behind the counter are conditioned to smear on the mayo and oil and cheeze so I find I have to stop them as they reach out for the o-ffending ingredient. Hubby and I still often have Subways for dinner (w/o mayo, oil, cheese) when we don't feel like cooking.

And when I have a craving for a sweet and chewy snack, I really like Special K bars. They're about 90 cals, not much fat - they work out to about 2 points each.

Many veggies have 0 points (exept for the starchy vegs like corn and potatoes, but even those are minimal, if you lay off the butter, LOL). Fruits generally have 1-2 pts per serving. Salsas are great condiments and marinaades, and many of them are practically 0 points per serving.

WW really got my husband and I to eat more fresh vegetables, something we still do to this day. It really changed our eating habbits for the better. BTW, hubby lost about 50 lbs from a combination of "modified" WW (he didn't belong to WW and he didn't journal his food intake, but he basically ate what I did) and lots of biking. I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of him

- Jo.

[TwoTiredGal]

Well I have to chime in since Atkins has worked for me. The key here, in my opinion, is that it really is a lifestyle and that doesn't mean I lose the weight and then go back to my old eating habits. My old eating habits is how I gained the weight in the first place so what makes me think that won't happen again. It's the same with Weight Watchers, Long Beach, and all those million others out there. If you don't stick with it and go back to how you ate before, you will be how you were before. I do know that the AMA and American Heart Association endorse the Atkins plan... but I also know that doesn't mean a whole lot to many people.

For me, Atkins was such a simple solution because it really just meant cutting out the sugars and caffeine (easier said than done for this Big Gulp a day drinker of Coke!) while eating more of the better types of carbs like veggies and eating as much meat as I did before anyway. Remember it's not a low or no carb diet, it's a "controlled" carb plan in which you control the types of carbs that you consume and make sure that the ratio of carbs to protein is the best for your individual metabolism.

I didn't have a ton of weight to lose but the reason I went on Atkins originally was the side effect of better concentration after eating. In other words, no after lunch coma feeling because of the decreased amount of sugar in my diet. And that has been the difference for me. It is SOOOO nice to eat and then be ready to go without all that yawning and desire to nap feeling. That's a huge thing for me since I've spent the past 7 months studying for a two-day exam and completing my dissertation. I have needed as clear a brain as I could get. One effect that I didn't expect was the change in the effects of my workouts. Because I was decreasing my fat percentage (still a healthy 18-20%) my muscles "seemed" to be building up easier and nicer. Anyway...

This is all just *my* perspective and I am totally not a scientist or anything like that. I also have never advocated anyone going on Atkins if they thought it was dangerous or unhealthy. But I have advocated reading about any diet plan if there is an interest rather than taking people's, including my, word for it. I just wanted to respond to some of the comments made since it has worked so well for me for over a year now.

~TTG

[Adventure Girl]

Originally posted by grannydea
Calories in, Calories out! It is that simple really.

I totally agree. In 1992 I lost over 50 pounds. (At just under 5-feet tall, 50 pounds is a LOT!!) I know people will hate hearing this, but it was really easy to lose the weight. I consumed fewer calories and I burned more! But it has been a commitment to keep it off for 12 years.

Eating a certain way and not exercising made me obese. Eating the way I do now and my active lifestyle has kept the weight off.

When I hear of people trying to lose weight with drugs or some kind of miracle or unhealthy, unbalanced program, I just cringe. Even if their weight loss is successful, they almost all put the weight back on (and more!!) when the go "off" the program. You can't go on a program and expect long-term results if you return to poor choices when the program ends.

The key is eating a well-balanced diet and keeping active... and doing it for the rest of your life. It's all common sense. As Dea said, "Calories in, Calories out!"

[jobob]

"For me, Atkins was such a simple solution because it really just meant cutting out the sugars and caffeine "

You call that simple, girlfriend? Coffee was and still is one thing I simply cannot do without [insert all the bad things about coffee discussed here and elsewhere, yeah yeah....].

Congratulations on your success with Atkins, and thanks for providing us with a balanced perspective.

May we all keep that weight off, one way or another!

- Jo.

[snapdragen]

I have to agree with Jo, Weight Watcher's is probably one of the best ways to lose weight, and learn how to eat sensibly. All the low carb, no carb, sugar buster, etc - well, I just don't think anything that tells you a food is "bad", is a good diet. As far as I'm concerned, there is no bad food, you just need to learn moderation.

Now I have a funny story - My friend is a big follower of the glycemic index diet - only eats low glycemic foods etc. We go out to lunch, he gets a veggie taco (whole wheat tortilla). He pushes the carrots aside - "They have too much sugar". After lunch what does he do -- devours dessert, a peach cobbler, with raspberry sauce and real whipped cream! As he is shoveling the whipped cream into his face he's saying "What is this, it's sure good!" I almost fell of my chair, I was laughing so hard.

[grannydea]

Caffeine!!

Here is something for all you coffee drinkers out there to read. You will like what they say.
"Coffee: The new health Food?"

http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/80/96454.htm

Have a cup and enjoy.
Dea

[jobob]

ah, Dea, bless you, m'dear !

warning... thread drift ahead...
I've been reading with awe and fascination people's accounts of Paris-Brest-Paris (aka PBP), that incredible superhuman effort that otherwise normal(?) people undertake every 4 years, the most recent one which was held this past summer. It's a ride that begins on the outskirts of Paris, goes to the coastal town of Brest, and back again. That's 1200 kilometers/ 750 miles, and riders must complete it in under 90 hours!
Along with numb hands, stiff necks, horrible saddle sores and other assorted maladies associated with spending entirely way too much time on a bicycle, participants must contend with sleep depravation. One common part of the training leading up to this event involves going without caffeine for about 3 months prior, so that coffee/espresso stops during the ride are that much more effective.
Having to go without my French Roast for 3 months is what has convinced me that ultra-distance randonneuring is simply not for moi (yeah, right )


- Jo.

[jobob]

There are some ladies on this list who have lost some serious weight! trekchic 40 pounds, Adventure Girl 50 pounds - way to go!

Which gets me wondering,
for those among us who have managed to shed some pounds ...

Did you deliberatly take up biking as a part of your weight loss program?

or, Did you take up biking after you lost weight, taking advantage of your new-found energy (not to mention looking better in spandex ), and/or as a way to keep those lost pounds off?

or, none of the above?

For me, it was #1, somewhat.
I started biking some when I was on WW. If I recall correctly, a half-hour of biking gave me a one-point exercise credit, i.e. I could eat an extra points' worth of food for every half-hour that I biked - however, I think I allowed only 2 points credit max.

My more recent uh, obsession(?) with biking really doesn't have as much to do with maintaining my weight loss as it does with flat-out enjoying the ride. Though I can't complain with the fact that I can get away with 'cheating' foodwise a bit more nowadays - gotta keep up the energy, ya know

- Jo.

[grannydea]

Jo,
I started riding after making a promise to myself that I would never again go over 200 lbs. Had a mountian bike in the pump house that was just collecting dust and spider webs, so took it out cleaned it up and started riding. I fell in love with riding and have been peddling ever since. (3 years this Feb 15) And although I have not lost more than 20 lbs, I have not gone over the 200 mark in the past 3 years and can maintain the weight I am now fairly easy with riding. Would like to get another 10 off and keep it off, and I am working on that at present time. I now have 2 bikes, one old mountian bike and one newer road bike. I mostly ride on the road as MTBing is not what I am confortable doing. Althought I have been know to ride part way up the mountian and do some day plan on making the 17 mile treck up to the lake. But just not confortable MTBing, and admire those of you who are MTB ladys.
Riding is part of me now and I will always ride as long as this body will let me.
Dea

[TwoTiredGal]

I have lost about 40 pounds and I've always biked. When I was younger I did road riding and then started mountain biking when I moved to Colorado for college. So I didn't take up biking to lose weight. I gained my weight after I hurt my back mtn biking on a rigid frame. After that, I couldn't even road ride short distances let alone mtn bike. I was barely able to walk for a few months. Like missliz, I got depressed and just kept eating as I had when I had been active all the time. Not a good thing! While my back was still healing, I went out and laid down a big chunk of change on a full-suspension bike so that the moment I felt better, I would be able to ride. After many months, my back did get better so I got to ride again but the first season I didn't really lose any weight and really didn't realize how much I needed to lose. Then, as happens so often, I saw *the* picture! The picture that made me realize how much bigger I was. So I changed my eating habits to the Atkins program, added more regular running and lifting to my routine, and continued to bike. So, to answer your question, I didn't add biking to lose weight but just changed my diet and now when I bike I realize how much easier it is getting up those mountains without the extra weight.