Is weightloss possible from riding alone?

[F8th637]

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 !!!

Haa haa, a girl after my own heart, jayjay! The "I Brake for Food" jersey did cross my mind at one point as well. The BonBon Babes, I love it!

[Fujichants]

Hmmm...I am 24 (a period when losing weight should be quite easy) and I am STRUGGLING. I have been running, doing strength training, and cycling since January, and i've lost 8 lbs. Although I am happy with the weight loss, other people I know would lose 20 lbs or more doing all that exercise and eating healthy.

I actually broke down in tears during my longest ride on Sunday because my BF made a joke about me being a fatty. I knew he was only joking around, but all the frustrations with losing weight just came up and I got upset.

[jayjay]

Hmmm...I am 24 (a period when losing weight should be quite easy) and I am STRUGGLING. I have been running, doing strength training, and cycling since January, and i've lost 8 lbs. Although I am happy with the weight loss, other people I know would lose 20 lbs or more doing all that exercise and eating healthy.

Fuji~ I was 24 when I started distance cycling and it changed everything! I had previously struggled, but the riding just gravitated me into athleticism. It likely will be that way for you to.

I can't help but wonder if I am in denial about how many calories I'm taking in. For now, just being aware of what I am eating, and veering away from empty food, no matter how much I crave it, and choose something healthier, is my only approach in food arena~ for now. I know that when the miles start stacking on with the distance rides, that the pounds will have no choice but to melt off. So I am building my capacity to burn for now, tuning up my engine for future performance, while disregarding the actual weightloss at the present.

I actually broke down in tears during my longest ride on Sunday because my BF made a joke about me being a fatty. I knew he was only joking around, but all the frustrations with losing weight just came up and I got upset.

That was totally uncalled for, as you are actually doing something about it. Perhaps he is thinking he will motivate you, by poking you with jokes where you are vulnerable ~ but he will only learn his lesson the hard way, when you dump his a$$.

[indigoiis]

Fuji, if that avatar pic is of you then you are by no means a fatty.

And remember that when you are building muscle, you're not going to see weight loss. Or if you do, it will be very gradual. What you would see is reduction in measurement. Take a tape measure and measure yourself in the key spots and then do it again one month later. You WILL see a difference if you stay at this level of activity.

Just keep doing what you're doing. Be aware of what you are eating - feed to fuel - and exercize and try to relax and enjoy it. What fun is getting in shape when all it is is deprivation and disappointment? Better to enjoy life (especially while young and beautiful) and don't worry so much about a few pounds.

[bounceswoosh]

Fuji,

Wow. Someone, especially someone who is supposed to love for you and care about you, making a "fatty" joke is never okay. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I know how painful that is. And I agree -- looking at your pic, you are not fat! Not that that would be an excuse for saying something like that. There is no excuse.

Sometimes it's a dietary thing -- and I don't mean calories. I am not in any way saying this would work for anyone else -- but since I quit gluten (and soy and egg, to a slightly less strict extent), I have been shedding pounds and bulk. I lost six pounds right away, and since then I've been shedding maybe a pound every month. I know some of this is just from having fewer easily available snack/junk foods, but really, I don't feel like I'm holding back -- I eat lots of yummy food, more chocolate (dark) than ever, and ice cream. Not only am I losing fat and bulk -- I also feel more energetic than ever. I'm not tired all the time anymore. I have fewer breakouts on my face. Everything just seems to work better.

I'm *not* saying that gluten is the key for you or anyone. I'm wondering if there is some food or additive that doesn't work well with your system.

[Crankin]

I think you can lose *some* weight with just cycling, but realistically, food plays a huge part in weight loss/gain. It's not just the quantity, it's the quality of the food you eat, too.
I would say I love to eat, too and a big part of my social life revolves around going out to eat. And I like to cook. But, to most people, my diet is spartan. No junk food. Ever. No fast food. I eat dessert for special dinners, birthdays, fancier restaurants, etc. I always eat breakfast and 2 healthy snacks a day. Dinners a lot of nights are gourmet sandwiches, many from Cooking Light magazine recipes.
I do at a piece of dark chocolate almost every night and I do love my coffee and a glass of wine. But I drink it black. So, I guess what I am saying is that if you cut back just a little, you'll probably see a big improvement in the weight loss. I am almost 55 and I weight the same as I did in high school.

[BeeLady]

Just a thought...when I started cycling three years ago, I piled up on all the hydration drinks and powders, goo gels, etc. I finally realized how packed with calories these things are and now only take goo or hydration drinks if I am road riding for several hours at a time (like a group ride or something.)

If I'll be pedaling less than an hour, its water only for me now. Unless it gets 95 or above, I might add some powder to my water, but not the "recommended amount."

I also use www.fitday.com to see how many calories I actually burn during a ride.

However, my appetite does increase as my hours in the saddle increase. Since I'm OK with where my weight is, I'm watching it but not really getting into a battle with myself over it. One good thing about the heat, it does tend to suppress my appetite (til I cool off!)

[frnz]

I am almost 55 and I weight the same as I did in high school.

Props.

[Melalvai]

Who can relate?

I really like commuting by bike because it lets me get 40 minutes of exercise every single day for an expenditure of 10 minutes. Ten minutes is how much longer it takes me to ride than it would to drive, park and walk (round trip). Since I started bike commuting 2 1/2 years ago, I've made other more subtle lifestyle changes: I take the stairs out of habit. It no longer even occurs to me to use the elevator. I walk instead of ride whenever possible. I look for pretty routes instead of short cuts. I run errands around the building and campus as they come up, instead of saving them up to take care of all at once.

Does it take more time to run 3 errands when I could have done it in 1? Sure, but it takes less time than making some special effort to exercise.

I also added in nightly situps and pushups. I started with 1 (as soon as I was able after a hysterectomy) and worked my way up to 100 by adding about 5 a week. It took a few months. I don't do 100 every night, it varies around 40-60 depending on how regularly I've been doing them. (I can bike through stress, illness, and busy but I can't stick to nightly situps through any of those.)

Anyway, your real question was about weight loss, and I did lose a fair bit of weight, from 160 pounds to 135 now, most of it during the first year, who knows what that is in body fat because I know I gained a lot of muscle. I did not diet on purpose. I hate counting calories so I don't know if my intake was the same or less--I guess less because if I'm busy biking I don't have so much time to crave brownies and ice cream. (In fact today I did NOT have a bike ride, and we drove to Andy's for the buy-one-get-one-free...)

My guess is that regular daily riding increases muscle and metabolism and could allow you to lose weight without reducing calories, if you aren't too impatient and are willing to let it take months or years.

[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.

[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).

[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.

[MauiRockHopper]

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