Advice for losing weight (or not gaining) while cycling

[Irulan]

Stats: age 51'
Height: 5'3
Weight today 125. I was up to 136. Right now I fluctuate between 122-125. Last time I had body fat checked it was about 22% down from 31%. I established all my calorie stuff when I set up the MyFitnessPal app. It worked great for me for establishing a slow but steady rate....YMMV of course.

[lovelygamer]

A funny that some of the recent posts mention evaluating diet. I've been logging a week and already I see the issue. Although my calories are in line, My diet is high in fats and carbs. I am going to work at reducing these- I'm sure that's what my issue is.

Also, reminded of my earlier years when I was seeing a nutritionist. She used to tell me you wouldnt believe how many things society touts that you need in your diet that are actually bad for you. She recommended I cut or nearly cut dairy out because of its propensity to make me gain weight. Her advice was make sure you have good vitamins instead.

I am a snacks person and I think, convienence foods too. I do have a CSA farm share so I eat lots of veggies. Not all a lost cause but I totally need to improve my diet ASAP. Thanks for all the book recommendations!

[lovelygamer]

Great for everything except substituting vitamins for dairy. Definitely reduce dairy with a lot of fat though. Skim milk versus whole while losing weight, etc.

Greek yogurt is the bomb for nutrients and a nice filling snack at nine pm.

I do love greek yogurt. Right now I use almond or soy milk. I need to quit eating ice cream.

[Munch]

So here's my deal.. I'm 5'4, 155lbs, and 22 years old. I've just started cycling I go at least 4 1/2 miles, but am steadily increasing my mileage. My goal is to get to 145 lbs. My basal metabolic rate is 1526 cals, while my calories estimated to maintain my weight is 2332. I got these calculations from a website, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post a link or the name of the site. Anyways, I chose my activity level as moderate active: 3-5 days a week, though I try to do something every day. I have been eating around 1500 calories a day for a few weeks, though sometimes going way overboard and have not seen any weight loss. Perhaps I haven't been tracking close enough. Is it possible my body is in starvation mode and I should up my calories to around 1800? That would leave me with a 500 cal deficit from the 2332 cals. I'm not going to experiment with the amount of calories until after my wedding (June 9) as I don't want this to backfire and me end up gaining weight and making my dress unecessarily tight! Just wanted to get some opinions.

[Reesha]

My experience is that when I first start cycling after a long winter off the bike or somesuch I actually gain numerical weight because I'm putting on muscle mass. Honestly, I'd track your measurements if you can. I suspect your using Livestrong.com... theres a place to enter those!

[Munch]

At Munch: I maintain 150ish at 1800 calories per day. If you are switching between 1500 and many more, that may explain why you are maintaining. You can post links, but a lot of formulas tend to overestimate the number of calories you need. Perhaps stay at 1500 until you get to the weight you want, and also work on slowly increasing muscle mass to raise your metabolism? That way, what you need to maintain will increase. (Very slowly, but it is possible). At your age, you should be able to do that. Works for us older folks too, just not as easy!

I think I will do that. I have been lax in making sure I stay at 1500, but I'm determined to lose a couple lbs before the wedding and after that the remaining 10lbs.

Thanks!

[malkin]

Whole eggs are a great dairy food. Only 75 calories each. They are a complete protein. And are supposed to lower LDL cholesterol. I eat maybe a dozen per week, most weeks, and my total cholesterol is 119.

I like eggs too, but the USDA has made some big changes, they aren't dairy.

[Irulan]

What's to freak out about? They've been moved to the protein category which makes perfect sense to me.

[Eden]

What's to freak out about? They've been moved to the protein category which makes perfect sense to me.

Indeed - wasn't it "meat, eggs & dairy" before anyway? I would say if it doesn't originate from a mammary it isn't dairy and chickens don't have tits....

[OakLeaf]

I always thought the inclusion of eggs in "dairy" came from the fact that they're kept in the dairy case, is all - and from back in the day when people understood that vegans were vegans, but there were also vegetarians who were not vegans but kept "non-dairy," which meant no eggs either.