[Closed] Exercise affecting weight loss

1) exercise makes you hungrier - are you eating more?
2) It takes a lot of exercise to shed weight - not many calories burned per mile
3) you will be building muscle mass - try checking your weight measurement - that will probably continue to fall even tho you loose no weight

That to me doesn't sound to be anything like enough mileage to lose weight - if it was high intensity it'd not make much difference to weight loss anyway, if it was in the fat burning zone (i.e. lower intensity) it's not long enough to affect weight loss. I'd also say it's not really far enough to affect your muscle gain significantly. So maybe you've just reached your limit for 1800 calories a day and need to either drop that further or change how you ride.

If you want to change how you ride then you'll need to bump it up to several hour rides at lowish intensity.

Keep an eye on what and how much you're eating. If you're upping the training it's possible to eat too little as well as too much. Eating to little with a training load will prompt your body to hold on to stuff as it's in starvation mode.

Also, bare in mind that being on an exercise bike is going to be different in aerobic level to going for walks etc, thus you may just end up burning through your carb reserves, rather than low intensity fat burning.

Somebody who gave us a once-popular diet on here said "a six-pack is made in the kitchen, not the gym".

In my experience you get the greatest loss early on, with incremental gains thereafter as your body gets used to its 'new' regime.

I'd try cutting down the calories two or three times a week - I found this helped to continue the weight loss after the initial plateau.

Also, ignore weight. Try measuring fat loss (as a %).

Muscle weighs more than fat, therefore weight/BMI etc don't help. Most body builders would be classed as Clinically Obese using BMI!

Well, bit contrary to some the above I'd say 6-10 miles might be enough, if you're smashing it, intervals style.

Yeah... I thought the whole 'low intensity fat burning' thing had been debunked as the most effective method of weight loss?

e.g.

1 hour low intensity = 450 calories, 75% fat 25% carbs
1 hour high intensity = 900 calories, 50% fat, 50% carbs.

I've made the percentages up as I can't be bothered looking up accurate figures, point being that although you're burning a lower proportion of calories as fat during high intensity stuff, you're burning more calories overall, so the nett result is more fat burned.

I'd certainly go with the plateau theory, I've been hovering at the same weight for ages even though exercise gradually going up and calories staying much the same. I've given up trying to lose any more for now, will maybe go on a more savage cut nearer event time e.g. big calorie cuts on non-interval days.

Riding to work (quickly) 15miles round trip, then in lockdown doing 3 fake commutes a week plus a run I was maintaining weight after a period of weightloss. Since getting a dog the riding has taken a back seat in place of walking lots and my weight has dropped over the month I've had the dog on the same calorie intake (roughly).

Your body adapts, exercise doesn't quite work the way you think it does, your body may plateau then get back into it again. It's hard to say. If you lost 5 stone, how much more are you looking to lose?

you will be building muscle mass

I wish people would stop with this, it is hard to build muscle, even lifting heavy weights in a gym it takes months and years. It is much easier to lose fat than to gain muscle (and that is not a comment on how easy it is to lose fat, but on how much effort is required to build muscle).

If you lost 5 stone, how much more are you looking to lose?

Ideally i'm looking to lose another 25 pounds, I started at 337 (my heaviest and pretty much had eaten all the pies) - 237 is my ideal goal

One thing is you have lost 5 stone of body mass that needed metabolically maintaining, your calorie requirements are now less than when you started.

and the second thing how has lock down affected your normal activities, has there been a reduction again in the past few weeks?

If 237 is your ideal goal how tall/big a frame have you got? 1800cals for a tall/large guy also exercising is probably a fair deficit to maintain long term.

Might be worth working out your BMR and TDEE (plenty of websites with calculators) and taking a week or two of 'maintenance' eating and then working out a smaller deficit from that to carry on with for that last 25lb.

Well done on the 5 stone to date.

Muscle weighs more than fat, therefore weight/BMI etc don’t help. Most body builders would be classed as Clinically Obese using BMI!

BMI fails as an indicator if you're very elderly (it overestimates muscle mass) or if you're an elite rugby player / bodybuilder (it underestimates muscle mass). For the rest of us it's fine.

I guess simplistically, if the weight isn’t dropping you need to either up your exercise or lower your calorie intake.

For the former, you can keep the distance but you need to smash it. Easy to do on the exercise bike, you want to step off it covered in sweat with legs burning! Intervals or a ramp session can work well.

The latter is as mentioned above, as you’re carrying less weight then you need less calories.

Weight loss is IMO not a linear thing, it occurs in steps as your body tries it's best to maintain its weight. Agree that the same steady pace short-ish rides does not force the adaptation that is required for bigger weight loss. Keep at it but mix it up a bit.

Also try exercising fasted then eat a balanced protein rich meal after which should help keep the - high carb - hunger pangs to a minimum.

Keep up the good work and try not to get too dispirited.

In less scientific observations from when I used to manage a bunch of lads on a marquee crew over the summers.

We used to all weigh in at the beginning of season and then every month or so until end of season. Most would drop a lot of weight in the first couple of months and then gain a little towards the end, but without an increase in waist size. All this while doubling their initial food and alcohol consumption.
Biggest change was a lad starting at 18 stone, getting down to 10 and finishing at 12.

Basically, they're is only so low you can healthily go and exercise will build muscle which is heavier after burning the excess weight off.

Weight loss is 95% diet 5% exercise. Look at reducing your sugar intake (carbs) even more. Also consider intermittent fasting. A daily 18:6 eating plan is easily doable especially during the working week.

If you are still eating 1800 calories, and you aren't losing weight. You are eating more than 1800 calories.

As for cycling, work it about about 50-70 calories per mile.

Make sure you are eating the right amount of protein so your body can get stronger.eat within one hr of a session.it might be food milk or a shake.you need to do proper riding for an overall body workout.you should get stronger.if you can afford it get a winter bike and put up with the bad conditions.much better for your upper body.you could also try eating smaller amounts of food more often to change how your body reacts to food.cook it in bulk and store it in containers.if you eat with your family cut the portions by as much as half at dinner and eat protein rich snacks such as nuts etc between meals.

First off - amazing work on losing the weight you have done already.

I think that 1800/cals a day at ~260lbs is actually pretty low, even for weight loss. If you're not accounting for the active calories used from cycling your body could be just underfuelled and will go into starvation mode.

I lost weight from 90kg down to 75kg on 1800/day (5'11") and only had to go under 1800/day to drop weight under 75kg.

It may well be that you need to eat more to lose weight! If you can get a wee fitness tracker that does heart rate (e.g. a Mi band - about £25) then you should be able to get a rough idea of how many calories you are using from cycling, so just balance that out. If your net intake is 1800/day you'll keep losing weight.
The cycling will be improving your fitness however, so stick with it. Hopefully it is also fun!

guess simplistically, if the weight isn’t dropping you need to either up your exercise or lower your calorie intake.

This. If you don’t eat you will loose weight.

It’s hard not to to want to eat though.

Overtraining on too little food is not good and can damage metabolism and bone density as well as more.op should make sure they are eating enough although I understand he may still be eating too much at present so reduction shouldn't be a problem.

It's time to reduce your calorie intake then. Loosing weight at the end of the day is about maintaining a calorie deficit. Exercising is good because it keeps you healthy, but I think its wrong to see it as a "calorie" burning tool, especially with how easy it is to eat it back.

Well done fella, that’s a great result so far. I think you may need to revisit your food diary and figure out if you are really only on 1800 calories per day. I’ve recently been looking honestly at what I eat using the free version of My Fitness Pal. Wasn’t until I started putting every little thing in that I truly saw what I was eating. From your starting point, even reducing to 2200 would give a good result. Now you’ve lost all the weight, it won’t. I’m 98kg and my calorie target is 2000 to give a steady modest weight loss.
I’d also say, to give yourself a few months of plateau. Keep your food and exercise steady and give your body time to get used to the new normal. You probably took years to creep up and it will take at least the same to drop.
Most of all don’t stress, you’ve done great. Treat your cycling as fun and not exercise.

Yeah… I thought the whole ‘low intensity fat burning’ thing had been debunked as the most effective method of weight loss?

It has, but it's still remarkably effective for some people, especially in the early stages of trying to lose weight. Essentially a transition in lifestyle to eating less/better and moving more. As others have alluded to above, as you get closer to goal weight, things get harder and intensity has to go up. As with most things these days, it's easy to over-science it, and especially given that fitness trackers (mostly) grossly overestimate calorie burn, end up not getting to where you want.

My calorie has always been around 1800 calories a day.

I think that 1800/cals a day at ~260lbs is actually pretty low, even for weight loss. If you’re not accounting for the active calories used from cycling your body could be just underfuelled and will go into starvation mode.

I think this, your diet/calorie intake is now too low for the amount of exercise you are doing and your body is grabbing everything. If you're using MFP it does give too low/starvation warnings.

Try a few hundred more calories for a week and see if it makes a difference IMO

Good effort Darth, I have found the 'easy' bit is losing the weight, the hard part is keeping it off? Easy being relative as you probably know, it is HARD to lose weight.
I set off at 76kg in 2016, and am currently 63kg, with a lowest weight of 61.2kg at 165cm. All being helped by MFP free version. Personally my weight fluctuates +/-1.5kg and at Xmas and Birthday/Holidays i can easily stick 3kg+ on when just eating and drinking and not riding so much.
I have averaged 4k miles a year for the last three years and at quite a high intensity at times.
Without the intensity or mileage the weight can sneak back on.
It might be worth trying MFP as it will give you an idea of what calories it 'thinks' you should be consuming, and if you can check what you're burning via Strava or whatever fitness app you might be using, top up to stay neutral or a little less for a deficit?
Either way, keep it up and good luck.