My goal is to burn at least 1000 calories..

[OakLeaf]

According to my Garmin, which seems pretty accurate, it takes me about a 16-17 mile run or three hours of moderately intense cycling to burn 1000 calories. Are you talking about ALL your calories over BMR, or just your workouts??

[Susan]

What Marni said.

From my personal weight-loss experience and without being an expert of any kind, I don't find it helpful to view exercise as a way to burn x amount of calories. Exercise helps with weightloss for various reasons, but a reasonable calorie defizit for weight loss is better achieved by nutrition. Personally, I would consider a 1000 calorie deficit far too high and would aim for some hundred calories deficit (10-15% of your total metabolic rate).


Edit - you asked about diet: I try to eat a balanced diet of natural or "real" food, with a focus on eating enough protein, 3-4 meals a day, organic if possible. But I am thinking about giving Paleo a shot. If only I wouldn't love my oatmeal-breakfast and yoghurt so much

[Crankin]

You need to think about what is sustainable over a long period of time. While it is tempting to use large amounts of exercise as a way to control/lose weight, I can guarantee that eventually, as Marni said, you will burn out and in the end, perhaps not achieve your goal. All the things people have posted are good strategies.
I might look at portion control and when you are eating, in addition to everything else mentioned. But, I think the most important thing is to remember that when our quest to lose weight becomes like a job, it's not healthy.
When I had to lose 25 pounds, it took me close to a year. But, 30+ years later, it's still gone.

[shootingstar]

How much weight are you trying to lose? Or maybe it's not really weight, but more clohing size. After all, muscle weighs more than fat.

I just would like to add that when I was unemployed, I was cycling over 2 hrs. daily. Yes. So I was cycling 45 km. daily most of the time. It included a couple of reasonable hill ascent --8-10% grade.
This type of increased cycling was over 8 consecutive months...which means not including winter since I did cycle but 50% less daily. Then there were 1-2 days I increased to 60 kms. per day.

My diet didn't really change. I think I might have lost 3-4 lbs. It swung back and forth, but then I only weighed myself a few times per month. I wasn't aiming to lose weight. Just had some time and needed to keep motivated while job searching.

You have very high expectations of self @ burning 1000 calories daily plus your regular work at OT.

[solobiker]

Thanks for all of your comments. I don't think I have too much more to lose. I am 5' 6" and weigh about 140. It would be nice to lose about 5 more pounds. I eat pretty clean...no junk food/processed food with the exception of energy bars of some sort on the weekends while backcountry skiing. I have pretty good endurance...can ski tour for many hrs without needing to rest. I am very goal driven. I guess I was just giving myself something to shoot for just so my training/exercise more of a purpose behind it... I would gladly take any other suggestions.


I do wear a HR monitor which I know is not completly accurate but it does give me a rough idea.

Thanks again!!

[Irulan]

Thanks for all of your comments. I don't think I have too much more to lose. I am 5' 6" and weigh about 140. It would be nice to lose about 5 more pounds. I eat pretty clean...no junk food/processed food with the exception of energy bars of some sort on the weekends while backcountry skiing. I have pretty good endurance...can ski tour for many hrs without needing to rest. I am very goal driven. I guess I was just giving myself something to shoot for just so my training/exercise more of a purpose behind it... I would gladly take any other suggestions.


I do wear a HR monitor which I know is not completly accurate but it does give me a rough idea.

Thanks again!!

I'd look at the food piece of things. I recently went from 130 to 121, from 30% body fat to 21%. The main thing I did was nutrition tracking and ramped up my cardio. My goal was to lean out so I was pushing a little less me around skiing and biking. The food tracking thing was huge. I was thinking "sure I eat pretty healthy" but to be concrete about portion size and calories was rather enlightening. Also what I learned about the relationship between base calorie needs, and what you can earn through exercise, was also enlightening.

The main tool I used was a smart phone app, MyFitnessPal. Now I know a lot of folks dis these apps as approximate at best, but it sure worked for me. I used my age, starting weight and desired weight to set the parameters for the nutrition guidelines it used. The database is huge, the bar code scanner is great, and even adding the scratch stuff I make at home ( I do this a lot!!) wasn't much of an issue. I followed the calorie guidelines pretty much to the t and was even able to follow my intake of protien carb and fats and make adjustments when needed. It was a very educational process and I'm really glad I did it. Plus leaning out like I did - can't complain about that.

[Becky]

The database is huge, the bar code scanner is great, and even adding the scratch stuff I make at home ( I do this a lot!!) wasn't much of an issue. I followed the calorie guidelines pretty much to the t and was even able to follow my intake of protien carb and fats and make adjustments when needed. It was a very educational process and I'm really glad I did it. Plus leaning out like I did - can't complain about that.

Irulan, any suggestions for speeding up the entry of "from scratch" meals? I've downloaded MyFitnessPal, but find myself losing patience with entering recipes. Otherwise, its great!

[solobiker]

I'd look at the food piece of things. I recently went from 130 to 121, from 30% body fat to 21%. The main thing I did was nutrition tracking and ramped up my cardio. My goal was to lean out so I was pushing a little less me around skiing and biking. The food tracking thing was huge. I was thinking "sure I eat pretty healthy" but to be concrete about portion size and calories was rather enlightening. Also what I learned about the relationship between base calorie needs, and what you can earn through exercise, was also enlightening.

The main tool I used was a smart phone app, MyFitnessPal. Now I know a lot of folks dis these apps as approximate at best, but it sure worked for me. I used my age, starting weight and desired weight to set the parameters for the nutrition guidelines it used. The database is huge, the bar code scanner is great, and even adding the scratch stuff I make at home ( I do this a lot!!) wasn't much of an issue. I followed the calorie guidelines pretty much to the t and was even able to follow my intake of protien carb and fats and make adjustments when needed. It was a very educational process and I'm really glad I did it. Plus leaning out like I did - can't complain about that.

Thanks!! This is pretty much what I have been doing since December of 2010 and is what I think helped me to lose those pesky 20#. I, like you stated above, want to see if I can drop just a few more to make mtn biking a little more easy on some of the more challenging hills out here :-)

I do appreciate all of the comments and the thought has crossed my mind many times that I may be over doing it or my body might getused to that kind of expenditure.

I guess I just need a goal/plan to focus on so I just picked those numbers as they are conrete vs..I am going to ride my spin bike with a training dvd.

My diet is pretty clean...mainly lean meat, fruit and veggies....although today I cheated as it is my B-day so I had some awesome lasagna.

[westtexas]

But I am thinking about giving Paleo a shot. If only I wouldn't love my oatmeal-breakfast and yoghurt so much

Do it. Follow the 80/20 rule - 80% of the time you're good, 20% you're not. So cheat on your breakfast if you have to. Once a week I go out with the girls and have some kind of ridiculous wheat and sugar laden dessert. I regret it for a day afterwards (especially since I'm celiac), but at the time... so delicious.

I will say I haven't lost a pound on Paleo. But I'm a full pant size smaller (probably actually two sizes, since I was like a 4.5 and now my 2s are too loose) and everything I own fits better.

[OakLeaf]

If only I wouldn't love my oatmeal-breakfast and yoghurt so much

You know, I thought breakfast was going to be hard, and it probably would be if I cut out all the processed foods, but as far as eliminating grain, it turned out to be easy. I just have everything I used to add to make my cereal nutritious and palatable, but skip the cereal. Fruit, nuts, chia seeds, raw sprouted protein powder and milk analogue, and I barely even notice not putting in a couple of flakes.

[indysteel]

I think one other thing to consider is that effect that intense or high-volume exercise has on your appetite. When I had the time and energy to ride 5k+ miles a year (on top of yoga and some resistance training), I was hungry all the time. Plus, I had to eat a fair amount to even sustain that level of activity. I find it far easier to lose a few pounds with more moderate exercise as it seems easier--at least to me--to maintain a modest calorie deficit.

[Susan]

You know, I thought breakfast was going to be hard, and it probably would be if I cut out all the processed foods, but as far as eliminating grain, it turned out to be easy. I just have everything I used to add to make my cereal nutritious and palatable, but skip the cereal. Fruit, nuts, chia seeds, raw sprouted protein powder and milk analogue, and I barely even notice not putting in a couple of flakes.

Thanks Westtexas and OakLeaf for your input. I'm thinking about Paleo not from a weight-loss, but more from a health-perspective (doesn't mean that a few less pounds would hurt me all too much ). I'm hypothyroid and from what I've read eliminating Gluten or even all grains could be helpful.
But as I already eat very health-conscious, it would be quite a commitment for me further limiting my food options by cutting out grains, certain vegetables, milk... and, depending on how far you want to go, even nuts and seeds.

Sorry for the thread-hijack - maybe I should better start a Paleo-yes/no thread?

[jessmarimba]

I'd also worry about what happens when you STOP burning 1000+ calories a day. You'd really, really have to be conscientious with food and diet to taper down from that or it can be really easy to rebound right back up to that weight.