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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
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    137

    lose weight fast on bike?

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    I've spoken to my physicians and they both agree that I need to shed se pounds rather quickly. My diet is alright (apart from the chocolates that I'll be cutting out... (sad, sad sigh...), as it's usuqlly salads with no dressing and fruits/veggies for snacks, but since I hurt my back, my weight has ballooned again from inactivity even though I wasn't eating all that terribly. I had an appointment scheduled to talk about my weight when a group of teen kids threw a rock at me and told me to "go back to the ocean with the other whales," so I've been put on a diet pill to help speed the process along. However, I'm wondering how BEST to bike to lose weight? I've googled it and interval training seems legit, but does anyone have any tried-and-true tips? I'd like to pick up Zumba as well, but idk how that will affect my back...

    Any advice would be great! Thanks in advance!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Uncanny Valley
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    14,498
    My experience is that the quickest way to weight loss is endurance.

    Years ago all the sites used to talk about a "weight loss" heart rate zone, until it was shown that at high exertional levels, even though you're also burning lots of glucose and glycogen, you're still burning more fat than you do at lower heart rates. Well, fine, but you can't sustain that for long enough to make a difference. In the real world, low heart rate and fat loss DO go together. The only way activity and weight loss go together for me is when my workouts last three hours or longer. Do you have any vacation time to take a bike tour? Can you at least do centuries on the weekends?
    Speed comes from what you put behind you. - Judi Ketteler

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    4,516
    I don't have any great advice, but wanted to offer gentle hugs. Mean people just suck - and I'm right there with you

    Can you swim? I know it's not what you asked, but I find there's only so much of one thing I can do. I'm getting ready to try to bump to 2x a day most days with biking being one workout and swimming the other. No matter what I do with my diet and exercise, I have not been able to make the scale budge despite very clean eating and exercising since my thyroid went off. SO frustrating.
    Most days in life don't stand out, But life's about those days that will...

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Western Canada-prairies, mountain & ocean
    Posts
    6,984
    I'm sorry to hear about your back injury.

    How's the diet change at home going? Were you able to prepare/get some daily healthy food choices when other family members want other stuff? That too, will be part of your long term (meaning for the rest of your life) road to a healthy journey that you want.

    Weight loss and keeping at a healthy, fit weight is a lifelong effort. It really is, Swan. For every slim/healthy woman that you see in your community who is over 40-50 yrs. old, she most definitely has had to do something quite conscious to be that way --regular exercise, activities that require her to move even though she may not think of it as much physical activity, mindful eating, etc. It doesn't just "happen". A woman's natural metabolism drops every decade..I think it's 2-5%. So she has to doing something to counteract that.

    You have found cycling as enjoyable which is wonderful because as you know cycling can be done without thinking all the time as "exercise". http://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/...vourite-sport/ (most TE members can identify with what I wrote.). It would be good to plan for a bike trip later. Meanwhile climb back on the bike and just ride. Every day if you can. Build it into your lifestyle...shopping, work, etc. Until it becomes like...breathing.
    Last edited by shootingstar; 02-23-2013 at 01:30 PM.
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
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    perpetual traveler
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    I hate jerks. Screw them.

    Anyway, for me the best thing is to bike for long slow distances. Partly for calorie burning but frankly, the most important thing is to keep busy and active so I become more fit and so I stay away from food.

    Do other things to keep yourself busy too. Like walking. Or doing anything where you ordinarily won't eat.

    The quickest way to weight loss is eating less and anything you can do to eat less will help.
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  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    137
    Thanks, everyone! We haven't a pool (nor a community pool), so I would need to drive 2hrs to get to the ocean to swim... Shame, because I really love swimming!
    I'll start biking every day after work if I can manage it for an hour or two each time, and go for longer rides on the weekends. Hopefully my hamstrings won't tighten up and pull on that plankar-whatever tendon again!

    Shootingstar, everyone at home still eats pizza and lots of carbs, candy, etc... but I've started bringing home healthy organic foods that no one else wants to touch. Thus my diet has omproved quite a bit aside from the guilty indulgence of a couple chocolates every day (I'll save them as 1/weekend now....)

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Lakewood, Co
    Posts
    1,061
    If you haven't yet get a hold of the book "Practical Paleo" by Diane Sanfillippo. I'm sure there are others. I'm the 60+ slim/healthy woman in your community. Since being retired I quit paying attention to what I ate and started thinking a "few M & M's, cheese and crackers, corn chips were ok for me to eat. Years ago I bought into the low fat diet craze thinking it was good for me but I had to eat every 2-3 hours. I thought my diet was good, no fast food, fat or fried food, sodas, desserts and I don't eat out often. However, I'm developing a noticeable "muffin top".

    Several of my friends are on weight watchers but their diets didn't seem very healthy and I had seen mentions of Paleo diets. I started doing some research and became convinced to forgo the "snack" foods I was eating. I added more seasonal fresh fruits, eggs and vegetables. My SO buys the groceries and plans meat and potato meals so it's easy for me to suggest seasonings for the meats and forgo the store bought sauces and add delicious, and filling side dishes. I'm also not much of a meat eater but am enjoying the tastier meat recipes and eating more proteins instead of the bad carbs I was eating. Also, when I get hungry, I'm really hungry, not the shaky, irritable, I'm going to kill you if I don't eat now hungry.

    In 3 weeks I've lost 3 lbs (not intentional) and 2" off my waist and an inch off my hips. I'm sure this is more "water weight" than fat. Surprisingly, today my SO made a "healthy" soy burger for me for lunch and it was so salty I couldn't eat it. To think I used to add salt to the soy burgers because they seemed bland. I don't crave sugar or salt and actually enjoy the natural taste of food. I feel like I've gone back to the foods I was raised on when food wasn't so heavily sugared and salted that you couldn't actually taste the food.

    There is so much hidden salt and sugar in store bought food that you have to read labels carefully and don't believe the "healthy labeling". You will have to cook most things yourself but you'll be amazed how much better you'll feel with more energy and less hunger.

    Also, add some weight training.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    137
    Thanks Muireen! My average over the past 4mo is 1723 calories... which is 7cal over what I need to survive at my current BMI without everything malfunctioning. I am aware of the fast weight-loss causes (water weight and muscles) and that it often comes back if you cheat with a fast diet, but the initial kickstart is just that... a kickstart. On top of the pill/healthier meals, I'll be introducing long-term exercises/habits to sustain a healthier weight.

    Kathi, cool beans! I've heard of paleo diets but haben't paid much attention to it... I'l snoop around some, then! Thanks! And yes, I'm adding strength/resistence training. No point in losing weight if it all turns to flab!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    10,889
    Another vote for Practical Paleo (lots of good information and a large number of really good recipes) - and also for a food diary for a few weeks to get a good idea what you are actually eating. Sometimes we are eating more than we think...there are also so many hidden ingredients in processed foods that it is really hard to know WHAT we are actually eating.

    Weight training is important if your doctors allow it. It sounds to me like you will have to tread a fine balance between finding that sweet spot between activity level, fueling properly, and not tweaking your back...

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Lakewood, Co
    Posts
    1,061
    After reading the Practical Paleo and PamNY link to the NYT article on how companies hook people on junk food, and that includes processed foods you use to cook with, I'll not look at the food I eat so casually again. I haven't totally gotten away from wheat, can't figure how to carry packable lunches for the ski slopes without it and we're not buying grass fed beef, etc. I have discovered coconut oil, butter and almond oil and flour. I love coconut butter on sweet potatoes.

    If you search around on the web you can find lots of easy recipes. Here's where I started http://balancedbites.com/start-here I found out that cabbage (which we tend to only eat with corned beef in March) is in season now and I found 2 really tasty, simple recipes for it. I don't follow the menu plans in the book but pick and choose what meets my needs. I've never counted calories and I'm sure my size is due to heredity, as well as my past eating habits. Lately food just doesn't taste the same, not satisifying, so I've been eating more salty, sugary junk. I like the idea of eating what my grandmother recognized as food. When I was a kid convenience foods were just coming on the scene. I remember my mother and grandmother cooking with lard but then my mother started using Crisco in all her cooking. We went on to use all the other processed oil. Now all that stuff is becaming "bad" foods. We had sweet foods and desserts on Sunday but it wasn't as sweet as food is now. I love butter but for years have only eaten margarine and "processed" good for you stuff. I dislike margarine so much that I rarely use it anymore. My SO buys turkey bacon but that doesn't taste like real bacon because it's not. It's too sweet. Can't wait to get rid of it and have real bacon again. We grew all of our fruits and vegetables and my mother froze the extras for winter. I still can't get used to California strawberries and our neighbors think we're crazy because we eat the apples off our trees. They're not perfect, shiny and round like the ones in the store but they taste so good.

    Sorry about the rant but I felt the need to share all this.
    Last edited by Kathi; 02-23-2013 at 06:36 PM.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    137
    Catrin: ooh, I know it. Sometimes those nutrition labels are so vague.... I'll do my best to find that balance It definitely involves NOT bending, though... :x

    Muirenn, I've done so many medical tests... diabetes, thyroid issues, medicinal side-effect symptoms checks, etc.... Nothing ever comes up. I simply have a very slow metabolism and the genes to store fat from eating anything, so I need to constantly move... something I haven't been able to do for a while..

    Kathi: we grow our own garden with pears, peaches, plums, apples, oranges, persimmins, cabbage, snap peas, lettuce, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, squash, and potatoes.... and then there is our chicken coop.... each crop yields, thankfully, except for our strawberry patch which keeps dying (bummer, because I love strawberries). When I wanted to start eating healthier, my grandmother - who never started eating processed foods and firmly stuck to what she could raise herself - helped me start my own garden SoI think doing Paleo is as I've been doing for some time now. I'm excited!

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    On my bike
    Posts
    2,505
    Another +1 for avoiding foods your grandmother wouldn't recognize. When I eat energy bars, e.g., Lunas, I actually gain weight no matter what I'm doing or what my diet is like.

    As for exercise, mixing it up is good, especially since you only have 1-2 hours during the week. Interval training is tough but has been shown to be an effective fat burner along with preserving muscle mass. I would add in a couple of interval days during the week. So - maybe a couple of days weight training, a couple of days of intervals & use your weekends for your LSD rides (Long Slow Duration.) Take one day off a week for physical/mental/spiritual health.
    To train a dog, you must be more interesting than dirt.

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  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    I also have issues figuring out lunches for outdoor winter activity, or even packed lunch for long rides that don't include bread. I've made peace with using Ezekial bread and almond butter, but I can't see packing a salad or even meats, with no cooling.
    I feel the same way about Luna Bars, but despite the fact I have cut way down on eating them, I still crave them during a ride.

    Swan, just a question, but are you taking any anti-depressants or mood stabilizers? There's a huge correlation with weight gain, and it's really hard to lose that weight, too. Most doctors minimize this, but I had some clients a couple of years ago that got involved with a study at Mass General, where they were looking at this issue. From what I've read and discussed with other clinicians, it seems as if some of these medications really do slow your metabolism.
    Last edited by Crankin; 02-24-2013 at 04:04 AM.
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  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    perpetual traveler
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    1,267
    Swan, I think the most important thing is to experiment and see what works for you. What works for some of use may not be right for you.

    If you are losing weight it is important to try to maintain muscle mass and the best way to do that is with strength training. The research is pretty solid that strength training will help when losing weight. Keep up with the aerobic exercise for fitness and as others have said, mix it up a bit.

    As far as what to eat many people have strong feelings on what is the best type of diet. My conclusion, barring more research, is the same as Ben Goldacre's, a physician and science writer, who wrote in Bad Science: "The most important take-home message with diet and health is that anyone who ever expresses anything with certainty is basically wrong, because the evidence for cause and effect in this area is almost always weak and circumstantial."
    Trek Madone 4.7 WSD
    Cannondale Quick4
    1969 Schwinn Collegiate, original owner
    Terry Classic


    Richard Feynman: “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Uncanny Valley
    Posts
    14,498
    Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
    just a question, but are you taking any anti-depressants or mood stabilizers? There's a huge correlation with weight gain, and it's really hard to lose that weight, too. Most doctors minimize this, but I had some clients a couple of years ago that got involved with a study at Mass General, where they were looking at this issue. From what I've read and discussed with other clinicians, it seems as if some of these medications really do slow your metabolism.
    Oh yes ... I was on a tricyclic antidepressant for a while years ago. I was younger then and hadn't yet lived years of stable weight, so I didn't associate the weight gain with the drug. But when I switched to another drug, I lost 20 lbs (and 10 points on both sides of my blood pressure) in about three months, without making ANY other changes.
    Speed comes from what you put behind you. - Judi Ketteler

 

 

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