one of the key things to focus on when in wieght loss mode I have learned after five years and 125 pounds is that you have to eat a minimum of 500 calories a day less than you eat so in addition to the exercise you have to monitor your calorie intake and be able to break your exercise down into calorie expenditure. Then you have to look at your % body fat vs. lean muscle and work on getting the fat down and the lean muscle up. You do get stale as you repeat exercises which is why you should switch it up. Another method for cardion is to do intervals of very intense vs relatively easy. This not oonly increases you endurance ( yay for endurance and biking) but also increases your calorie burn as the heart revs up and cools down, an improves your overall results.

One thing I swear by which I have used for 3 years is a body bugg, (bodybugg.com) which is a small device I wear on my arm which monitors my real calorie expenditure by measureing my pulse, body temperature etc. As an added bonus, I can put my body weight and measurements in along with my weight loss goals on the data base. The food data base is huge and I track my food daily and the program calculates my calorie intake by total as well as breaking it down into micronutrients, fat, carbohydrates, protein and then calculates the difference between intake and expenditure. Yes the initial cost is a bit high, but it comes with access to a complete website of extras, exercises, preplanned menus, recipes, goals, and an hourly break down of calorie burn for the time I wear the bugg along with an estimate for off times. My trainer can sign in and check my results and discusss with me what is working food wise, training wise, riding wise.

You might want to check it out.

Marni