Training schedule

[DDH]

Do you girls eat before you ride or after in the mornings? I am always thinking I need to eat first and I don't get going soon enough before it gets so hot.
At least the rain has stopped here now, so I can ride without worrying about getting caught in storms.

I eat 3 pieces of pizza when we have it. of course that is a rareity, but still I was thinking that wasn't so bad. I guess I really need to wrap my mind around serving sizes and cutting them back more.
I am always thinking I am not eating that much, but maybe I am eating more than I should.

[SouthernBelle]

DDH,

1 piece of Little Ceasar's pepperoni pizza is 247 calories. Multiply that times 3. That's a significant portion of your calorie allotment for a day on a weight loss diet.

As to eating before a morning ride, I do. I have cereal & milk with fruit.

[DDH]

EWW I knew it was high in calories but didn't think about that much. Thank goodness I don't eat pizza very often. We may get a pizza once every other month or so.
Normally we have grilled or baked chicken, or grilled deer steak, or I fix something in the crock pot. I do not fry things except on rare occasions. We don't have bread with every meal or anything.
Usually it's cereal, or just a banana, for breaskfast, a lean cuisine or something light for lunch, and then dinner is something baked or grilled and a vegetable and like wild rice or maybe red potatoes, but usually some starch.
I don't snack usually at all unless it is close to that time of the month and then I have to watch myself. I ride my bike 3 to 4 times a week 15 miles and then try to do a longer ride on the weekends.
We have a charity ride coming up this weekend and we are riding the 26 miles route with some killer hills on it.
I use a heart rate monitor so I can be sure to get my heart rate up while exercising and believe me it gets up there.
Anyway, thanks for the tips girls.
I think I need to find a log somewhere that I can log my food and exercise together and see how things go.
It sounds like I am really going to just have to buckle down and start counting calories instead of just trying to watch what I eat.
It just always seemed like so much work and I thought I could just cut back and eat healthier but thats not working so on to step 2.

I'm determined that eventually I will get this right, one way or the other.

[SouthernBelle]

If you want to try calorie counting (I didn't):

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/Index.html

[Torrilin]

I have a scale. I'm trying to get into the habit of weighing what I eat to get a feel for what *my* idea of a portion is. I need to start writing it down so I have a food diary and I can track what I'm eating. Not fun, but I need to do it so I can see if there's a pattern to how I'm eating.

I find it's better to eat breakfast before I do anything. I'm a morning person, I'm prone to really terrible judgment if I bike while hungry, and I have a longstanding habit of "wake up, make breakfast". If you don't have your brain fall out your ears when hungry, biking before breakfast can be good.

[michelem]

Donna,

You may want to check out www.nutritiondata.com. You can even plug in a bunch of individual ingredients to find out the total calories in your own recipes. You can also find out approximately how many calories your burning with your exercise. I found this to be very eye-opening.

Anyway, the other thing you might want to look into is finding a dietician who is familiar with the non-diet approach and also familiar with other things that can contribute to weight management problems (such as pcos, metabolic syndrome, stress, etc.). Where in Texas are you located? If anywhere near Bedford, Round Rock, or Houston, let me know and I can give you some names.

Hang in there!

[makbike]

DDH, when was the last time you had your thyroid levels checked?

Last summer I pulled out my Weight Watchers books and calculators to help me drop some unwanted weight. I also increased my mileage each week by 10% or more. I had to seek assistance here for help with the activities points awarded through WW but things quickly fell into place and the weight slowly came off as the summer months progressed. By the time I returned to school in August I had dropped 12 pounds. My weight stayed stable through the school year. This summer I have dropped 10 more pounds due to my surgery and having to deal with the fallout of my relationship ending and riding a lot. What I have learned these past two years is portions are very important, not to avoid the foods I enjoy but to enjoy them in moderation and I have to ride at least 6 days a week to maintain my weight. So since June 2006 I have gone from wearing a size 14 pants to a size 8 and I'm back to what I weighed when I graduated from high school in 1980. I love the new me!

Don't give up hope, keep plugging away at this. Pat yourself on the back. You will find a program that will work for you.

[Bad JuJu]

Do you girls eat before you ride or after in the mornings? I am always thinking I need to eat first and I don't get going soon enough before it gets so hot.

A year or so ago, I read an article (in Bicycling mag maybe?) that said that if you're going to ride for 90 minutes or less, you can increase fat loss by riding first thing in the morning before eating. The writer also suggested that you might want to have a cup of coffee or two before riding--maybe the caffeine gives you a little more energy. And if you're going more than 90 minutes, you have to eat.

I don't remember the reasoning behind these ideas, and I sure don't know the science, but it's worth a try.

[RoadRaven]

Do you girls eat before you ride or after in the mornings? I am always thinking I need to eat first and I don't get going soon enough before it gets so hot.

I usually eat, but not much.
A little bit of food, pref high fibre food helps to get your metabolism going which assists in weight loss. Then you ride, and start using fat - energy - but because high fibre food is mostly energy and no fat and not yet digested, your body gets to work on your stored enrgy reserves (I keep my stored energy around my belly )
When I get to work, or get back home, I eat a sandwich, or some rice... but again, not too much - enough to replace some energy, but not enough to start storing it again!

I eat 3 pieces of pizza when we have it.

Sounds yummy but i couldn't eat that much pizza at once now, my tastes have changed and that much cheese in a sitting would be too rich for me.