Is weightloss possible from riding alone?

[jayjay]

I've lost some weight from riding without really making significant adjustments to my diet but the scale hasn't budged in a while HOWEVER I am back to wearing older, smaller clothes so that has to account for something, right? Food and I have a torrid love affair. If I could find a jersey that said, "I ride to eat!" I'd be ALL OVER that one.

I'd buy that jersey too, and it would have a big slice of chocolate cream pie on it, with a steaming cup of espresso..... rather like a WayneThiebauld painting ! I can picture it " I brake for food " and the jersey sponsor pix can be all those lovely pastry, desert, & coffee companies like Hostess, Peet's Coffee, Ben & Jerry's Icecream, etc....

YUM! Lets get a team, and train together nationwide as The BonBon Babes !!!

[indigoiis]

Last year this time I weighed 140 lbs and intended to lose 15. I did that but at the same time started cycling more seriously. After I lost the 15 I ramped up my cycling to train for a century and by the time of the century I was 135. Over the winter I kept riding and eating about the same. Now I am 140 again, but my body is definitely different. My legs are muscular and my rear doesn't "seem" fat, although I am back to wearing 8/9 pants because the 5/6 pants that fit me at 130 stopped fitting over my upper legs, which are more muscular now. It seems like the newer fashion pants - the skinny pants - don't work on my bicycle legs at all.

But I am happy with the weight because I know a lot is muscle and it's really all about if you're happy with what is in the mirror. And I am. Plus I eat whatever I want. Let the scary-skinny girls wear the new fashions. I'll be voluptious and strong in my 8/9 bootleg jeans.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

Hi there...Bounces- what a crack up- I'm like that with bikes too..oohhh shiny!

Anyway, here is my weigh in (ho ho ho) on riding and losing.

I started out at 270 lbs. and lost 70 lbs riding a Specialized. It wasn't real easy but I wrote down everything I ate and tried to stay within specific calories (you can find calorie calculators or use a sports nutrition book to find out what you need to take in). But after riding for hours on end, I got so hungry I had to eat back some calories, so I would eat back about 1/3rd and that seemed to work.

I dropped another 30 lbs after getting my Ellsworth. BUT then I moved to the East coast from Tahoe for a while for work, and this winter, I put 20 lbs back on. How depressing. The only difference is I wasn't riding. I have about 40 lbs to go including the 20 lbs to get to the magic 155 lbs. I am supposed to be no bigger than 140 lbs but I'll see when I get there. I am pretty muscular and I can't imagine weighing less than that.

So I guess you really need to watch what you are eating. I wouldn't go splurging like mad if you rode a couple of hours, that and I stopped eating out but once a week (which I think has alot to do with gaining weight!) and eating packaged foods. Right now, just to change things, I snagged a Weight Watchers kit that has the calculator and books to do the Points deal. Yeah yeah, but you know what, it's so much easier than fiddling with all the calories and it's actually kind of fun. And more mindless. I'm losing about 2 lbs a week and I ride about 3 hours a week. I'm starting to commute back and forth to work (32 mi round trip got sidelined with a kidney infection) and when that starts it just will drop off. I think the key is doing something that is built in. I did that last year and it just dropped faster. Good luck!

[Crankin]

Not sure what the props comment was.

All I am saying is that you CAN do it. It may be slow, but the weight comes off. It takes a lot of self discipline. I know because I gained 25 lbs. when i got out of college. It took my dad telling me I looked like a fat pig to start exercising and eating right and I haven't stopped since then. It took me a year to lose the weight, but I think doing it slowly kept it off and gave me time to adjust to new habits.

[teawoman]

Not sure what the props comment was.

It's a compliment: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=props (see last).

[Tabby]

In my case, I thought I was doing OK on the foods, I was trying for more fruits/vegies/protein and cut back some not so great stuff, but I learned there are SO many hidden calories.

Out of curiosity I became anal about readinglabels and looking up calories in everything I ate and kept a detailed log of everything, not to chastise myself or feel bad about that pint of B&J, but to actually see where it all came from.

Then I started to cut back portion sizes and some of the periferal foods and I started to lose (45 lbs since Jan 2007). I record what I burn off so I know that my net calories average for a week needs to be 1400 to maintain my weight. So those 3 hard candies I suck on to stay away from the cookie jar are still 140 calories. The steak sauce was 50, but start adding "just a few" calories all day and all of a sudden I can be at an extra 200 calories ...that's a lot in my scheme of things. Even the power bars after a ride are a couple hundred calories.

I believe we just need to know at what point with net calories our body will lose, maintain, gain weight.

[extra-vert]

The hardest part about eating in this country is how sabotaged just about everything we eat is by corn. Whether our livestock was fed with it or it sweetens just about every processed piece of food we eat. So the challenge here would be to cycle as you will, eat as you will, but try to avoid the egregious yellow saboteur! TRY THAT CHALLENGE! One of my favorite dishes is a trout dish I make. Unfortunately, if it's farm raised, even it was fed a corn diet! But I could just about guarantee that you would drop and/or keep off the weight if you drop the HF CS - that's my guess, (I'm not a doctor or nutritionist, I just read a lot).

[MauiRockHopper]

Jay Jay, just found this old thread and wondered if you made any progress with the weight loss?

[indysteel]

I haven't lost a significant amount of weight from cycling, although like a number of other women here, my body shape and size has improved. As Oakleaf suggested, long distance cycling is great for burning calories. Unfortunately, it also provides a ready (and worthy) excuse to eat more. I'm FAMISHED almost all the time when my mileage is up. I don't miss many meals when I'm reading 150 to 200 miles a week.

I think it's possible to curtail caloric intake when you're riding a lot, but it takes a lot of discipline. You also have to be pretty careful to get enough calories, the right kind of calories, and at the right times of day to fuel high mileage. It's not easy. That heaping plate of pasta looks really good after a long ride.

I would encourage you to include some resistance training in your cycling routine. Cycling is great for your legs, but it doesn't do much to maintain or build muscle in your upper body or core. You might also keep a food diary to track what and when you're eating.

Good luck!

[Triskeliongirl]

I lost 35 pounds about 1.5 years ago (and have kept it off effortlessly with good diet/exercise habits). For me, what was key was:

1-Discovering that I undersecrete insulin and therefore need to eat a low carb diet to both normalize my blood sugars and body weight.

2-Get over the myth that we need to consume carbs and/or mass quantities in order to ride a bike.

I think that many women who gained weight when they started to cycle, also have problems with blood sugar control, especially if they also started eating more carbs as they upped their cycling intensity. In fact, that can even be the source of hunger many of you are commenting on is brought on by cycling. I would argue its not the cycling, its the hyperglycemic state some people enter if they consume too many carbs while riding.

I am not saying that carbs are not a good fuel source, in the right body of course they are. But if you have a body that is either hypoinsulinemic (like mine) or hyperinsulinemic/insulin resistant (a more common problem especially among heavier individuals), then carbs are not the best fuel source. Instead, I fuel my rides with protein (amino acid metabolism generates TCA cycle intermediates that can be used to generate ATP in muscle) and body fat.

As long as I eat the foods my body can process correctly, then my body weight really is regulated by the calories in/calories out equations.

I also noticed that when I was heavier and used to ride with other heavy women, most of them ate constantly on the bike. Now that I am lighter and can ride with light men, I notice they consume much less food on the bike. Yes, fuel on a ride is important, but the amounts and frequency is not as great as some people think, especially if the goal is to even partially utilize our fat stores as fuel when we ride.

So food is important, but folks that can't loose weight despite good diet and exercise habits, really need to explore whether there are underlying metabolic reasons that could be corrected by a modified diet.

[Aggie_Ama]

You also need to really look at what you are reading. Many articles are written about food consumption for racing which obviously can be more taxing on the energy reserves than a slower pace spin. I can maintain my weight loss cycling with good eating habits but I never lost weight cycling because I mostly ride at a leisurely pace. At least that is my thought behind it, I am losing weight right now but I cross train with running which for me was a missing part of the weight loss equation.

The latest issue of Bicycling Magazine does hav features on people who lost over 100 lbs cycling. It was an interesting read.

[indysteel]

I lost 35 pounds about 1.5 years ago (and have kept it off effortlessly with good diet/exercise habits). For me, what was key was:

1-Discovering that I undersecrete insulin and therefore need to eat a low carb diet to both normalize my blood sugars and body weight.

2-Get over the myth that we need to consume carbs and/or mass quantities in order to ride a bike.

I think that many women who gained weight when they started to cycle, also have problems with blood sugar control, especially if they also started eating more carbs as they upped their cycling intensity. In fact, that can even be the source of hunger many of you are commenting on is brought on by cycling. I would argue its not the cycling, its the hyperglycemic state some people enter if they consume too many carbs while riding.

I am not saying that carbs are not a good fuel source, in the right body of course they are. But if you have a body that is either hypoinsulinemic (like mine) or hyperinsulinemic/insulin resistant (a more common problem especially among heavier individuals), then carbs are not the best fuel source. Instead, I fuel my rides with protein (amino acid metabolism generates TCA cycle intermediates that can be used to generate ATP in muscle) and body fat.

As long as I eat the foods my body can process correctly, then my body weight really is regulated by the calories in/calories out equations.

I also noticed that when I was heavier and used to ride with other heavy women, most of them ate constantly on the bike. Now that I am lighter and can ride with light men, I notice they consume much less food on the bike. Yes, fuel on a ride is important, but the amounts and frequency is not as great as some people think, especially if the goal is to even partially utilize our fat stores as fuel when we ride.

So food is important, but folks that can't loose weight despite good diet and exercise habits, really need to explore whether there are underlying metabolic reasons that could be corrected by a modified diet.

Interesting information. Thank you for sharing.

I would agree that a lot of people overeat during rides and/or use a sports drink of some kind when water will do. As a general rule, I eat far less than what is often recommended and have never bonked. Rather, my hunger usually manifests itself 24-48 hours following a heavy weekend of riding. I think I could stave off the worst of that hunger by making sure that I eat several small, well-balanced meals during that period. Still, I think some of my perceived hunger is purely psychological in that I feel justified in eating more because I'm riding. Finally, I would note that dehydration can manifest itself as hunger so it's important to stay well hydrated.

I would further note, in sharing my personal experience, that I didn't need to lose/gain any weight when I started riding and I've never actually dieted while cycling. I will freely admit that I could eat far less and still have enough fuel to ride as much as I do. The hardest time for me is when the weather starts to change such that I can't ride as much or at all. Significantly decreasing my caloric intake to account for that is difficult, and I ususually pack on a couple of extra pounds as a result. It doesn't help that it usually coincides with the holidays.

[OakLeaf]

I would agree that a lot of people...use a sports drink of some kind when water will do....my hunger usually manifests itself 24-48 hours following a heavy weekend of riding.

Unsurprisingly, the cheapest sports drinks are the ones made with HFCS, so those are the ones that casual athletes and ride organizers tend to use. Most people DO need to replace electrolytes and plain water WON'T do for the duration of a ride. Yes, things like Nuun and Emergen-C are available, but they're expensive and available only at specialty stores.

I was just remarking how the sole advantage of the holiday grease/salt/sugar binge is that I haven't needed to intentionally add salt to my beverages...

And it may not be true for everyone, but if I'm ravenous a day or two after an intense ride, I'm depleted in many different ways, and it's not healthy - not least because I'm not up to continuing my regular workouts on those days. If I replenish glycogen and a bit of protein immediately after a ride - within the window of an hour or two when I really have to FORCE myself to eat - then I don't overeat because I'm not hungry at all, in fact the idea of food is nauseating; and I don't experience the ravenousness that kicks in once my body realizes it's depleted, because I don't allow it to become severely depleted.

[Veronica]

Jay Jay, just found this old thread and wondered if you made any progress with the weight loss?

JayJay hasn't been on the board since 9/14/08. It may be a while before you get an answer from her.

Veronica

[Miranda]

JayJay hasn't been on the board since 9/14/08. It may be a while before you get an answer from her.

Veronica

snork...

V... I thought that too as I was very intensely reading this thread and about to reply earlier. I think this lady (OP) got her answer basically and isn't coming back atm. HOWEVER... the continuance of conversation on the topic in general is quite interesting.

Oh, btw... my short answer is: "NO".

You can't just keep eating the frig clean, or MORE cuz you're working calories off riding, and lose weight. It's a package deal.

Now, one comment made by some spin instructors at my gym is that going anaerobic (vs aerobic) will make you crave more food/feel straved etc. to potentially over-eat.

In general, I think anaerobic gets more of a bad rap then it deserves. It does have it's place. But, I think there's some truth to it. Also, sometimes the sensation of thirst (or dehydration) can be easily confused with hunger...

That's an old school diet tip. Try drinking water first etc. and then re-evaluate. Proper hydration can be a challenge for many riders/exercisers.