[Closed] Oldie i know, but no weight loss despite lots of exercise....

Weight loss is all down to calories in and calories out so either you're eating more calories than you think or burning less than you think. Sounds like you're also double counting the calories burned if you're including everything you're doing in a day.

I'm in the losing weight/getting fitter process and started out at a similar weight to you - and my target calories to eat each day is about 1750 (targeting losing about 1lb per week). I'll eat more than that if I do exercise but only log calories burning from runs or cycle rides and even then wouldn't include all of those calories in what I target that day.

Sadly no advice, but I will be watching this thread with interest.

I do similar mileage (20 miles each way 5 days a week plus occasional saturdays) and have been stuck at just under 13 stone for a year.

The best results I've had previously is sacking off the riding almost completely and just doing short intense gym sessions 3 days a week, with HIIT cardio the other 2 and a ride at the weekend. Along with restricting calories massively.

Doing this I got down to 11 1/2 stone, but I like to ride my bike so I'm going to have to live with it I think. I'm trying to clean up my diet too which will help, I eat too much crap at the moment.

First up, why that weight? Most people (and I understand you may be an exception here) when it's broken down don't care about weight, they want to look a certain way. If that is you, throw away the scales, take a pic of you in your undies and use that as a start point for improvement.

There is a view that cardio work is not as good for weight loss as more strength based work. You long, steady efforts may well be fine for getting bike fit but not great for weight loss. Clearly you're putting the miles in so why not swap some bike efforts for strength or HIIT based sessions. Weighted squats until failure are good, leg presses, anything that uses and abuses the biggest muscle groups in your body, they use calories to repair, the bigger the muscle damage, the bigger the repair job. If you want to keep it bike based, 20 or 30 minute HIIT sessions (I do them on a turbo but you can do them on the road) are quite good. But whatever it is, do it hard and do it until it hurts/you throw up/you can't move any more.

Also look at your diet. Not from a calories perspective but from what is providing them. Try eating little and often, smaller meals every 3 hours as opposed to big ones every 6 or 7. Try cutting out carbs after 5pm and generally cleaning up the diet, so no processed food, more wholegrains, that kind of thing.

If i restrict diet any more, then my legs simply die on me on the ride home,

Have you tried reducing your carb intake?

Sounds counter intuitive I know but it worked for me.

Secret eating. 😉

if you are fit and healthy, and most of all, active, and looking at the riding you do, you must be, well why worry about losing the weight.

just ride, enjoy and repeat.

ps, and 17 stone isnt all that big realy

carb free diet for two weeks. Boom

[s]Weight loss is all down to calories in and calories out so either[/s] you're eating more calories than you think or burning less than you think. Sounds like you're also double counting the calories burned if you're including everything you're doing in a day.

Moved over to a fitness band to try and capture my full day, exercise and the rest as one and it's probably more accurate than adding exercise to a fixed amount. Food matches my activity in general and my weight is stable, vary one way or the other and a couple of kg's come and go. I'd need to cut a lot out or really up the exercise to make a bigger difference. Also look at the intensity if your doing most at Base then it may not be doing enough.

if you want to lose fat, you should be looking to eat a high fat, high protein diet. look at eating good oils and fats, good quality meat, and lots of fresh veg.

Ditch the processed carbs - bread, pasta and the obvious refined sugars - cakes, biscuits, sweets etc. You could ditch rice, oats and legumes too, but I wouldn't recommend it, the dip in energy would be massive, until your body adjusted.

I spent a lot of time looking at the primal / ketosis way of doing things, but decided it wasn't for me, but have adapted that to use the things that make most sense - lifting heavy weights, eating well, cut carbs, increased healthy fats...

he best results I've had previously is sacking off the riding almost completely and just doing short intense gym sessions 3 days a week, with HIIT cardio the other 2 and a ride at the weekend. Along with restricting calories massively.

[url= https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=sprinting+improves+insulin+resistance&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigoeCu6_zOAhXBBsAKHdO4CxkQgQMIGjAA ]Lots of studies show[/url] this improves insulin resistance (insulin is the hormone responsible for fat storage)

1. Its all power to weight ratio
2. make small long term changes to diet, cut all alcohol, no fry, increase veg, balance protein and carb
3. Your doing the same mileage/effort each week. This isn't any training its junk miles.
4. Mix up training, include hill work, intervals, speed and vary distance and effort to increase power, turbo in winter

<I commute to work by bike, cycling between 36-56 miles a day monday to friday, and then often a 30 mile ride on either saturday or sunday>

Its just mileage little training, no structure no rest. You get fitter when your body recovers. Body is simply bored its adapted to your life style.

This is what always gets posted in MyFitnessPal when someone asks the same question:

[img] [/img]

Oh bottom line, managing weight is 99% what you put in your mouth and the amount. A good balanced diet with a structured training regime will work.

The 'quick fixs' are snake oil

Try HIIT, but not on the bike.

What's your percentage body fat? A lot of your weight could actually be muscle

@trickydisco - is that a good or bad thing? I'm out of the loop at the mo.

@trickydisco - is that a good or bad thing? I'm out of the loop at the mo.

its a very good thing

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/25-ways-to-improve-your-insulin-sensitivity/

The 'quick fixs' are snake oil

I'm very much just in the camp of eat what you enjoy, lifes too short to do all these silly things. At the end of the day burn more calories than you take in.

I would be doing different exercise to just cycling too. I think it becomes easy to get in to habits if you just do one form of exercise day in day out.

Take up running too or some other exercise that works the upper body, not just the legs.

I wouldn't get so caught up in the calorie counting - it has been proven time and time again that it is the best unit of measure available at the moment but does not consider things like nutrient density. 300cals of sugar is not the same as 300cals of meat / vegetables / nuts. I'd be really interested to see the daily macro splits My Fitness Pal is displaying.

Training wise think of your previous pre season rugby stuff. I'd look at a basic 5x5 program for a start with big movements that will increase your metabolic rate. The above is assuming you know your way around a squat or deadlift. Personally I would guess that you are under eating in regards to meat and veg, I aim for 250g of meat as a very rough rule of thumb three times per day and I do a LOT less cardio.

I have tried using apps like My Fitness Pal, which suggests an active man of my weight has a base calorie need a day of about 2900 calories, in addition my heart monitor suggests i burn about 2000 -2400 calories a day, so strictly the maths says i should be consuming over 5000 calories a day. I don't, I probably eat about 2500 - 2800 calories a day which should suggest their is a large deficit?

I think you and I may be in a similar boat - I'm, by every measure my Doctor cares to make, very fit - resting heart rate is mid-50's, bloody pressure is perfect, my recovery rate excellent (compared to average people like me, not athletes etc). but I'm over-weight, have been for a long time - 15-20 years probably - and I've tried [b][i]everything[/b][/i] reduced carbs, medication, lots of exorcize, pills etc etc etc - it's all snake oil, there are no short cuts, no magic tricks, there's a whole industry based around these smoke and mirrors bullshit tricks - but the science doesn't back it up.

IMHO Calories in v Calories out works - yes the acai berry, no carbs, avocado bothering pseudo scientists will tell you "calories don't tell you the whole picture" no, they don't but as a rule of thumb it's a perfectly good yard stick.

I'd be very sceptical of HRMs too, I wore a Fitbit HR for 3 months, oh what I wonderful time, 18st (as I was then) walk to the shops, bam - here's 300 extra calories, have a cake. After 12 months of following MyFitnessPal to the letter and losing a steady amount of weight each week I actually gained weight, even when half of the time the Fitbit app said I was under eating 3000Kcals a day! They're no better than those treadmills in the gym that say you're burning 100Kcals a hour plodding along .

Anyway since, I binned the Fitbit I've lost another 12Kgs in 5 months, a lower rate than 'magic diets' promise, but I'm happy with it - I'll be under 100Kgs soon.

I'm on 1830Kcals a day and with a bit of work to find things you like and avoiding foods that are too high in calories and don't keep you going for long (sweets and chocolate) - I allow 300-350 more for a decent riding day.

Thanks for all the above all.

To respond to some of the points, i don't actually care about what weight i am as a figure, i've spent all my life as a prop-forward so knew a modelling career was out. I'd like to lose the remaining stone for a few reasons, to be a better cyclist and because i bought two really expensive jerseys that currently are a bit "restrictive".

With regards to the commuting being junk miles, i am aware of this, my trouble is i live in rural Norfolk and decided last year to get rid of my car as i can actually cycle to work as quick as it is to drive (due to the bottle necks in rural A47 here) and having been made redundant a third time in five years, it made economic sense.

i do try to mix up the commute as much as possible, some days if tired i will try to ride in Zone 2 whole way, and i won't fuel the ride, some days top end Zone 3 the whole way, other days i will ride mostly in Zone 2, but will attack each climb (not many here in Norfolk!) or sprint between lights so heart is at top end Zone 4/5 for a good 20 minutes of the ride in all.

With regards to goals, next year i would really like to do London- Edinburgh- London and maybe the Trans Continental, so the commute has really upped my base fitness, but most of all has given me a mental toughness, forcing myself up at 5am each day in whatever the weather.

Diet wise, i think that i eat a lot, but 90% of it is pretty good, breakfast is usually either porridge or two slices of wholemeal toast with peanut butter. if i rode 9 miles in to work, nothing when i get there, if i rode 28 miles in at a decent lick, then a Rego Recovery shake (as i know i'll be riding 28 miles home again). Mid-morning, 2 pieces of fruit. Lunch is usually left over pasta/curry from evening meals), afternoon an hour before i rode home i have a homemade flapjack, then home to a homemade curry/ pasta or similar in which i put a lot of veg and the rice or pasta is always brown rice or wholewheat pasta. No energy products or drinks used.

Physically i know i will never be a small person, i've thighs bigger than Hoy, it is more about wanting to get up that next hill a bit faster or just generally feeling better.

Weight loss is all down to calories in and calories out

Yes and no. It's actually down to what your body does with what you eat, and what your body does when you do exercise. Those things vary a lot.

Fat cells produce a hormone that inhibits the creation of fat (lipogenesis). What that means is that when you lose fat, that hormone decreases so lipogenesis goes up. Which is why we tend towards a steady state. In general different people respond to hormones differently so some people hold on to fat differently.

If you don't eat enough, some people will readily lose fat, and some will just slow down to maintain their fat stocks. In my experience you can become much more efficient at sub-threshold intensities though which is great for endurance.

Sometimes eating more can enable weight loss - if it enables you to train/ride more and expend more calories. In terms of weight loss, you want your body to be LESS efficient so it uses more energy to do what you do with it.

Reading your diet, you might benefit from a low GI/iDave style diet, at least in the short term - nothing to lose from trying it.

My issue is simply that i am a "unit", a bit of a barn door, i spent nearly 20 years playing rugby as a prop-forward and only bought a hardtail MTB originally as i looked at it and thought it wouldn't crumple under my 17 1/2 stone.

Love this ! Certainly your sense of humour is in fine settle. Great username too 🙂

Question 1 how much alcohol and specifically beer do you drink ? Beer is terrible for calories and weight going tothe gut, does with me. Now I spent a few years arguing this was not the case with my wife but when we started spending more time in France and hence drinking less beer (uk pub always a couple of pints, French bar either 1 beer or 1 glass of wine) I lost a bit of weight fairly quickly. Mate who got super fit at 50+ drinks much less and focuses on vodka/gin and tonic, one glass of wine with a dinner out or a rare beer at a rugby match

Question 2 (as above) portion control. Its one of my weaknesses, everything I have a lage portion, weighed my cereal the other day (healthy grains, no sugar, semi-skimmed milk) and it was close to 3 times the box recommended portion and 1000 calories. Pasta a weakness too, I'll eat two bowl fulls - my seconds are same size as firsts 🙁 I don't eat too badly I just eat too much.

To loose weight you have to eat less / better and move more. You are already moving a lot so increasing that should not be your focus (you seem to be managing and monitoring that very well). So diet, try portion control, less carbs (pasta, rice, spuds) and (hard for me) cut down the drinking - how about 1 night a week or even go dry for a month an see what diference that makes.

On portion control etc I find buying less helps. Ditch the trolley and shop with a basket and you suddenly find a healthier option.

Having re-read your last post.

Peanut Butter is terrible, ok as a treat perhaps but try and cut that out. How think are you putting it on, weigh it out,meg bread first then add peanut butter and reweigh. Digital scales are excellent.

Riding, you need to spend at least 20 mins [b]continually[/b] in the "aerobic" zone. If you can download some data and post it here folks can comment. Maybe you are not working that hard.

Good luck

I'd be really interested to see the daily macro splits My Fitness Pal is displaying.

yep, me too, I imagine 60 or 70 % carbs, from the average day above

Thanks again for all the advice.

I will admit portion control may not be the best, especially evening meal as often i am really hungry. I do make sure that i eat a lot of fruit/veg and that my protein intake is about 25-30% of intake.

As above, if you do eat large portions it can be a shock to find out how much you are actually consuming. As an aside, my 6 year old daughter is Type 1 diabetic and we have some great hi-tech scales that give a complete breakdown of the calories/carbs/protein/fats of a food you place on them.

Lunch is usually left over pasta/curry from evening meals).....then home to a homemade curry/ pasta or similar in which i put a lot of veg and the rice or pasta is always brown rice or wholewheat pasta.

I'm reading between the lines here. You say you often have leftovers for lunch, how much are are you making for your dinner? Portion control, especially on carbs might be helpful. Weigh pasta and measure rice with a cup or similar, don't just guess.
My wife is Type 1 diabetic and hence we weigh/measure all carbs. We have 100g dry pasta or 1/2 cup measure of rice per person.

EDIT: Had left this unposted for a while, hence the overlap on content!

I had a similar problem to you – hovering at around 69kg (down from 76kg) and couldn't shift any more despite some pretty intense spinning sessions at the gym (full hour in peak heart rate).

I changed my regime to alternate between (or add to) the spin sessions and HIIT and within weeks I was dropping weight consistently and now am down to around 65kg.

This is what always gets posted in MyFitnessPal when someone asks the same question:

devil's advocate: a bunch of obsessive-compulsives regurgitating their dogma on command, both to reinforce their own group delusion & ensnare new acolytes. Exactly what you'd get at a religious cult meeting I'd imagine

On MyFitnessPal it's more a response to various questions about why their cult fitness programme or diet (Keto/Atkins etc.) isn't working.

With a scientific background it seems logical to me that weight loss gain is down to how much fuel you take in compared to how much you expend. Ok, it's not 100% the answer (and there is a big difference between weight loss and fitness) but I suspect it's the answer 99.9% of the time i.e. most people are eating more calories than they think they are, while burning less calories than they think.

Anyway in my case the combination or tracking what calories I take in and increasing my level of exercise is having a positive impact - certainly more so when I tried to rely on just increasing my exercise level.

Make your ride into work fasted.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/nutrition/article/izn20150818-All-Cycling-Fasted-Morning-Rides-0

I did that on Sunday - huge Thai meal on Saturday night with too much beer & wine.

Did a 38 mile road ride on Sunday morning with no food as I felt guilty about eating so much. Absolutely died on my arse at about 20 miles.

😆

😳

With a scientific background it seems logical to me that weight loss gain is down to how much fuel you take in compared to how much you expend.

It only seems logical until you start really reading up on what happens to what you eat, and what happens when you exercise.

I suspect it's the answer 99.9% of the time

Maybe for the general population, but for already fit cyclists who are too heavy, that breaks down as bodies have adapted to lots of things.

Maybe for the general population, but for already fit cyclists who are too heavy, that breaks down as bodies have adapted to lots of things.

Or in other words they're not burning as many calories as they think or that their devices are reporting...

Lots of people think they're an exception - until they work out how many calories they've been eating, east less - then start losing weight.

Lunch is usually left over pasta/curry from evening meals).....then home to a homemade curry/ pasta or similar in which i put a lot of veg and the rice or pasta is always brown rice or wholewheat pasta.

Less rice and pasta, much less. Veg curry is delicious without any rice. FWiW a microwave chicken curry has the roughly same number of calories as a microwave pilau tice. Have a look at the box. Quite illuminating.

More curry / pasta for lunch 😐

There you go OP, that!s your plan A - less of that

Or in other words they're not burning as many calories as they think or that their devices are reporting...

Lots of people think they're an exception - until they work out how many calories they've been eating, east less - then start losing weight.

Got to agree with this. Got a friend who pretty much proves it.
He's a fit/regular cyclist, has done LEJOG etc.
If he doesn't log what he eats he ends up at 90kg, as soon as he starts writing it all down it starts dropping back towards a more normal 75kg.

Regardless of adaptions your body may or may not have made, you cant magic energy from no-where. If you put in less than you take out it has to come from a reduction in body mass.

In reply to the above. I am very conscious of devices confirming calories burnt, according to my Garmin after 28 mile ride home, often it will say i've burnt about 1800 calories! I have a Polar HR monitor watch which gives a calorie count and also logs my fatigue, this will often give a much lower figure, on average about 900 - 1150 calories for the 90 minute, 28 mile ride home.

I appreciate that portion control may be better, but adding it all up and using My Fitness Pal purely to log food/ calories consumed I am still in deficit each day according to the gizmos by about 1200 calories a day, whilst i presume this may well be an overestimation and these devices aren't hugely accurate, i must have a deficit each day.

It seems to be getting over this plateau where my body just seems to have adapted to the daily workload.

Are you sure of the calories you're logging as eating? It's very easy to underestimate portion size etc. and therefore underestimate how many calories you're taking in.

I'm very sceptical about the calories my Garmin says I consume when cycling - for example a 1 hour 15/16 mile ride records the same calories as when I run for an hour (which is about 10K for me) but from the way I feed during and after the exercise there is no way I'm working as hard during the bike ride as I am during the run.

Regardless of adaptions your body may or may not have made, you cant magic energy from no-where.

No but you can use what you have differently.

With a scientific background it seems logical to me that weight loss gain is down to how much fuel you take in compared to how much you expend.

i saw the Guy Martin programme, i still think he makes me laugh more than any comedian on TV these days, i love his enthusiasm for life and his "projects".

Now if i only i could get an engine refit....

[i]scud - Member
It seems to be getting over this plateau where my body just seems to have adapted to the daily workload.
[/i]

So you're claiming to currently be at, or around energy "[i]balance[/i]". That your weight is stable on your current diet and exercise volume, yes? That being the case, along with you expressing a desire to lose body fat. Then something may have to change, no? The amount of energy one derives from body fat can be influenced by diet and the type of exercise they do.

Ime, nudging the body towards getting more or most of it's energy from fat is what I've heard described as becoming "[i]fat adapted[/i]".
If the goal is to reduce body fat, I'd suggest considering what it may take to enhance the body's ability to derive more of it's daily caloric energy expenditure, from fat, rather than carbohydrates.
To become fat adapted.

It will never be absolute, ie, burn one OR the other, however, altering the amount of energy used, to be derived principally from fat, is an adaptation a lot of people are looking into.

OP,

First thing is to realise that you are very fit and healthy, even if you're heavier than you feel you should be. Lots of top-level rugby players are pretty bulky even though exceptionally fit.

But if you really do want to lose weight: 2 things that worked well for me are (1) running, which probably doesn't suit your situation (cos your commute is too far) and (2) 5:2 diet, or rather, just having an occasional day of really low calories. You'd have to adjust this a bit to cope with the cycling, but there's no harm in feeling a bit hungry occasionally so long as you don't completely bonk on the commute.

FWIW a fairly common (but very old school) trick we used to use in the 80s and 90s before Nutritionist was even a job title, let alone a billion dollar scam/industry was to just half the pasta/rice/potatoes with each meal for 2 or 3 weeks. Could usually shift 3 or 4 kilos in that time, if you left everything else the same. Was good for shifting that last bit of weight before the race season kicks off. I know a lot of people who've done this successfully. Especially if they are the type of person who bulks up a bit during the winter (bad weather, less miles, no racing, few parties)

I appreciate that portion control may be better, but adding it all up and using My Fitness Pal purely to log food/ calories consumed I am still in deficit each day according to the gizmos by about 1200 calories a day, whilst i presume this may well be an overestimation and these devices aren't hugely accurate, i must have a deficit each day.

So what this means is that your gimzos and/or calorie counting are not correct. As an example, how does My Fitness Pal work for a home cooked pasta dish? Do you input the weight of pasta you have consumed? It can't be accurate unless you do

i've thighs bigger than Hoy,

which is muscle, which hammering the bike more will only grow.

muscle does not weigh more than fat. but muscle occupies less volume than fat for the same weight.

i'm in a similar scenario i guess.. i've weighed around the same for a good 10 years. i ride to be able to ride more, faster, longer and that's happening. so i'm good. i'm reasonably short (5'7) and stocky. (I also used to play a little bit of rugby in my teens, hooker and scrum half).

Weren't the calorie counters on all these devices found to be massively (25-30% out) inaccurate as they are missing several absolutely key pieces of data needed to calculate an accurate figure?

I don't even know if any of my HRMs have calorie counters, wouldn't use them if they did.......

Plus there's calories and calories, as we should all know by now 🙂

It isn't all about calories in calories out... low carb and any other "diet" where do your 2900 calories a day come from? Are they from processed foods? Sugar? What are the macro ratios you hit each day? Have you used my fitness pal abd measured the food you eat? Do you constantly snack through three day or give yourself good breaks between meals?

I know it's a lot of questions but it's all relevant.

Do you input the weight of pasta you have consumed?

Yes you can do that.

Weren't the calorie counters on all these devices found to be massively (25-30% out) inaccurate as they are missing several absolutely key pieces of data needed to calculate an accurate figure?

It doesn't really matter how accurate the values are as long as they are precise. What is needed is a repeatable method to compare calories on a day to day basis, it doesn't really matter what the absolute calorific value of the food is.

I thought for cycling the best estimate for calorie burn = power x hours x 4
If you don't have a power meter, using Strava's estimated power is probably still more accurate than any HRM derived value.

I was 19 stone (6ft 4") at one point. Rode every second day. Bike fit I was. I restricted my carbs due to other health issues and boom now down to below 16 st. It was hell at first. Then over time it slowly got easier. I think my body is getting the energy I need from fats etc. I have reduced my carbs down to a quarter of what they were. It makes a massive difference on the bike to lose weight. I never eat white rice, pasta or bread. My carbs come from veg maybe 1 slice of proper whole grain brown bread and lentils and pulses etc. I lived on low fat white rice and pasta type dishes for years and for me it was contributing to damaging my health. I feel leaner now than I ever was and like you just need to loose that little bit around my middle. My body is all for hanging on to that bit! Nothing with added sugar in either!

it would be nice to one day don my lycra and not feel like i have to hold my breath in as i walk into work

I assumed this was no longer possible once you're over 40, without getting dysentery

I assumed this was no longer possible once you're over 40, without getting dysentery

As above are you actually weighing the pasta/ rice / etc (not sure if that dry or cooked weight) ? As I said fhe side of fhe packet for my breakfast say 360 calories a portion but I eat a portion of closer to 1000.

As many have said cut down the carbs, imho no need for any rice/pasta/bread (harder) for lunch. You will feel hungry as your body is used to you eating it but just eat the veg sauce, with a spoon if needed.

FYI another way I found worked for me was to excersize a bit before lunch and drink plenty of water as that reduced my appetite.

It doesn't really matter how accurate the values are as long as they are precise.

This sentence contradicts itself

When it comes to pasta/ rice/ cous cous etc, at first i didn't weigh them, but as above i have scales for my daughter (being T1) that give a very accurate break down of the calories/ carbs/ protein/ fat in a food stuff, they need to be accurate as i have giving her insulin at mealtimes based upon the grams of carbs within a food stuff.

I very rarely eat takeaway food, none delivers to my rural village, and all meals are homemade by me, so as curries which would be a lot of veg and brown rice, pasta again with wholemeal pasta, stir- frys etc.

As my daughters diet for her T1 means we try to restrict refined carbs, then my diet has got a lot better too.

i have tried the 5:2 diet for a while, found that i was just tired and towards the end of the commuting week, had nothing left in the tank.

I even tried Huel ( https://huel.com/) as a mate gave it to me as he couldn't stomach it, so that i could exactly count calories for at least breakfast and lunch, knocked that on the head pretty quick as it is grim!!

Thanks all again for the advice, essentially i think i need to being as strict as i can with calories, make sure those calories come from the right foods (which i largely do), perhaps reduce them over time until i know that i can no longer fuel the commuting and cancel my Beerbods.co.uk subscription!!

It doesn't really matter how accurate the values are as long as they are precise.

This sentence contradicts itself

It does to the layman but to the scientist accuracy and precision are very different things.

Something can be precise without being accurate.

Accuracy is about how near you are to the real actual value.
Precision is about how repeatable it is so as long as it always says that 100g of rice is 400 calories and 100g of potatoes is 300 calories (numbers made up) then it is being precise. It might not be accurate as 100g of rice might actually be 250 calories and 100g of potatoes mights be 175 calories.

not sure if I actually explained that very well - someone else may do a better job!!

according to my Garmin after 28 mile ride home, often it will say i've burnt about 1800 calories!

muscle does not weigh more than fat. but muscle occupies less volume than fat for the same weight.

By that logic doesn't every material weigh the same ❓

i have tried the 5:2 diet for a while, found that i was just tired and towards the end of the commuting week, had nothing left in the tank

That's because you're adjusted to use muscle glycogen stores.. need to readjust to use fat. In other words keep at it for a month

i have tried the 5:2 diet for a while, found that i was just tired and towards the end of the commuting week, had nothing left in the tank
That's because you're adjusted to use muscle glycogen stores.. need to readjust to use fat. In other words keep at it for a month

Will give this a more prolonged try, what sort of calorie intake did you try to cut back to on the to days? Recommended is about 500 cals?

Garmin and apps are only a algorithm. An educated guess. Personally I don't put much faith in them and find counting up the stuff I eat tedious. We all metabolise the food differently and are different fitness and activity levels. Too many variables to be accurate.

What dosent lie is the scales.

I found small changes long term worked, are easy to control and don't impact on my training. Training hard requires more food. But it has to be training not junk miles. This is where I think most people make the mistake. Remember your body will adapt and function on less as you get fitter.

I haven't read all your replies scud but have you also tried fasting exercise. I often do it on the ride or run to work, was a bit difficult for a week or so but now it's easy. I didn't need to lose weight, in fact if mine starts to drop below 53kg I make a point of eating a bit more, I did it to see if it made me less likely to bonk on longer rides if I didn't eat much and to see if I could then carry on until that passed. It seems to work for me. My diet is virtually often vegan and always vegetarian so tends to have a good amount of carbs but not anything very refined as those things just don't appeal to me.

It does to the layman but to the scientist accuracy and precision are very different things.

Something can be precise without being accurate.

I did think some smart arse would be along to explain 🙂 I understand.

It doesn't really matter how accurate the values are as long as they are precise. What is needed is a repeatable method to compare calories on a day to day basis, it doesn't really matter what the absolute calorific value of the food is.

Comparing one precise but inaccurate system to itself is fine. However to compare the results from two systems (e.g. My Fitness Pal for calorie intake and say Strava for work done) they both need have the same accuracy and precision, no?

E.g. if My Fitness Pal is precisely under-estimating and Strava is precisely over-estimating, yet you believe both systems are accurate then you're going to wonder why you've got a discrepancy. So both systems need to be accurate and precise to draw any worthwhile meaning from the result

Do you input the weight of pasta you have consumed?

Yes you can do that.

So, does the OP do that?

canopy

muscle does not weigh more than fat. but muscle occupies less volume than fat for the same weight.

And that... Ladies and Gentlemen is the sort of cutting edge, well thought out 'science' you'll find coming out of most Health and Fitness 'experts' (sorry to pick on you Canopy).

When I decided I wanted to do something about it, I first spoke to my GP and an NHS Dietician, they gave me very boring, common sense, 'obvious' advice, not very sexy. Then I spoke to 'experts' who told me that was all wrong and you can make huge gains for almost no effort by buying this, and buying at - pay someone £30 an hour to tell you how to jog on a treadmill or £130 to give you a cut and paste 'bespoke' diet to follow etc etc - all very sexy stuff - but it's all smoke and mirrors.

If you want to lose weight follow the Billy Connolly plan - "eat less, move more" but you need to be honest about how much less you need to eat or how much more you need to move. Once you've got that cracked you can then refine the process to make sure you're getting the right stuff and more importantly you're getting enough food - if you're on 1700cals a day or something, you're not going to waste 250 of those on a Mars bar, when you know you can have a plate of veggies for the same amount.

OP - what about the beers/booze intake ? I think jambalaya mentioned it way up on first page. A few pints a week and I pop up a couple of pounds without changing what I eat.

Pretty much no beer now, albeit replaced with red wind and spirits !

Correct Dmorts

You can't compare the results from 2 different systems without doing a calibration between the 2.

Sorry if I missed this, but did you say how tall are you?

And do you have visible wobbly bits, or are you a granite-sculpted man mountain?

Can't comment on the all the diet stuff, apart from saying that's a hefty daily commute you are doing, and you'll need to be fuelled for it.

Taking a slightly different tack, you said you wanted more oomph and to "feel like a cyclist". I'd suggest focussing on training the things you want to improve, and how you use that commuting time. You mentioned spinning in Z2 for a rest, but I would consider Z2 as active base training, not an easy spin. Perhaps look at your current riding and make sure you are really clear about what is rest, base and intensity. Perhaps your lows need to be lower and your peaks could be higher?

I cant talk about the science of this but last year I was in much the same place.

I had been losing weight steadily though eating less and cycling more then suddenly it all stopped, my weight stayed exactly the same for weeks. I got obsessive, prepared everything from scratch weighing and logging everything, no change, I played with the macros, again no change.

I then changed my exercise routine; I bought a TRX and some weights and started to substitute some rides with weight sessions in the house. At this point I thought nothing was changing but I stuck with it. I then realized that my clothes were continuing to get looser, when I measured my arms and chest, which was the one thing I had not been obsessing about I realized I was shrinking without losing weight.

A couple of weeks after I started to lose weight again.

I have now continued to lose in this way for the past 6 months, it is slow but consistent.

I have no idea on the science, but my theory is that my body had effectively adapted to the cycling and become very efficient so I wasn't burning even close the stated calories on the Garmin. By doing something else I caused a change that re-started the loss.

I now mix it up as much as possible, Gym, tennis, the odd bit of running as well as the cycling. I only lose about a pound a week but I will get there in the end.

Good luck to you whatever methodology you use.

I then changed my exercise routine

Change has a huge effect. Problem is, you then get used to it, so you need to keep changing it!

There's no mention of your age which is a factor too. I'm in the same boat, 55 yrs old but probably fitter than 99% of people my age, but have edged up to nearly 16st. I'm 6' 4" which helps, but its the band of fat round my middle I find annoying and very difficult to shift.

I enjoy beer, wine, crisps and cakes, so I've only got myself to blame! I'm not going to go on a diet as I know I'll never stick to it, but I'm trying to find ways of getting back to a respectable 15.5lbs without changing too much and so far its not working! 😕

[i]molgrips - Member
Change has a huge effect. Problem is, you then get used to it, so you need to keep changing it!
[/i]

Rotating through a variety of preferred/interesting to you, sports/activities isn't a bad thing, if you have the time, especially if one takes into account, seasonality.

[i]Rockape63 - Member
There's no mention of your age which is a factor too. I'm in the same boat, 55 yrs old but probably fitter than 99% of people my age, but have edged up to nearly 16st. I'm 6' 4" which helps, but [b]its the band of fat round my middle[/b] I find annoying and very difficult to shift.[/i]

You describe the typical middle aged distribution of excess body fat in Men, it's genes baby!

[i]I enjoy beer, wine, crisps and cakes, so I've only got myself to blame! [b]I'm not going to go on a diet as I know I'll never stick to it[/b], but I'm trying to find ways of getting back to a respectable 15.5lbs without changing too much and so far its not working!
[/i]
Slight contradiction there. You appear to claim you could never stick to a diet, but you're already sticking to a diet which includes beer, wine, crisps and cakes. The result of which appears to result in that annoying spare tyre.
But you're sticking to your current diet, no?

Shame these threads always attract a certain type of smart arse.

OP just eat half the pasta/rice/bread etc you are doing now and cut down the beers too if you are having a few pints each week. One of the other posters suggested this already - half the carbs

IMO you will feel different / tired as your body is used to / at equilibrium at the moment.