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Another "why a...
 

[Closed] Another "why am I fat" thread...

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Err OK perhaps I should have added (but assumed it would be stating the obvious) the 1600 (or whatever) calories you should be on need to be a balanced diet and not 1600 calories from jelly babies (apologies I made the mistake of assuming common-sense existed in STW...).
And seriously Solo wtf are you going on about? You were talking about targeting fat burning DURING exercise that was your whole point, my point was you don't need to target burning fat DURING exercise in order to lose fat and that, given limited time to exercise, you would ultimately lose more weight (inc. fat) by including HIIT which DURING them isn't the optimal way to target fat stores however their overall effect is creating a larger calorie deficit so post-exercise your body uses more calories replenishing glycogen stores rather than laying down more fat and the secondary effect of raising the BMR causing your body to use more calories repairing itself than it would be doing had you just done steady-state stuff.


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 3:47 pm
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..my point was you don't need to target burning fat DURING exercise in order to lose fat and that, given limited time to exercise, you would ultimately lose more weight (inc. fat) by including HIIT which DURING them isn't the optimal way to target fat stores however their overall effect is creating a larger calorie deficit so post-exercise your body uses more calories replenishing glycogen stores rather than laying down more fat and the secondary effect of raising the BMR causing your body to use more calories repairing itself than it would be doing had you just done steady-state stuff.

Well this goes against everything i've done. I used to do loads of HIIT, circuit training, running, intervals on the bike but didn't really burn that much fat. When i changed my diet the fat fell off me

So i'd say it's not exercise that wholly burns fat it's your diet that turns you into a fat burning machine (also backed up by 2 fitness tests id 6 months apart - this gave my metabolic profile which showed prior to this diet i was rubbish at fat burning)


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 3:57 pm
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I am bearing down on you in number 3 - not really as ive done no recreational miles this week really other than a 10 miler on the TT bike to check function and position.


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 4:01 pm
 Solo
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Kryton.

I've mailed the info you asked for. Whatever you decide to do, good luck.
😀

EDIT:
[i]So i'd say it's not exercise that wholly burns fat it's your diet that turns you into a fat burning machine [/i]
This, [b]very much[/b]. Get off relying on so much carb in your diet and your body will switch to using B/F, for everything, BMR, exercise, the lot.


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 4:05 pm
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trail_rat - Member
I am bearing down on you in number 3 - not really as ive done no recreational miles this week really other than a 10 miler on the TT bike to check function and position.

Thats good to hear 😉

Seriously though good luck - this mileage is unsual for me as normally work gets in the way, I'm working (coughs) flexibly though bit to get the miles in before BORS. You may find our roles are reversed as we get near the end of the month, plus I'll revert to MTB rides to get the bike / skills ready for BORS..... 😐

Solo - many thanks - I replied.


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 4:12 pm
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@trickydisco - but were you creating a calorie deficit? If you were fuelling those sessions with fast carbs then you're not creating a deficit.
Sure, above and beyond a balanced diet, there are specific ways of manipulating fat usage (e.g. ketosis) but they aren't vital in order to start losing fat and are of marginal benefit if you aren't creating a calorie deficit in the first place


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 4:14 pm
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@trickydisco - but were you creating a calorie deficit? If you were fuelling those sessions with fast carbs then you're not creating a deficit.

haven't a clue never have counted calories. but i do know I thought i was eating healthy.. lots of pasta, veg, wholemeal bread. Like i said i did a fitness test in the December and it came out at my base rate (125bpm) 42% of energy was coming from fats. Post diet (and a bit of training) this changed to 84%


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 4:17 pm
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what is BORS ?

i have how ever separated my commuting miles into the commuting challenge - they are an entirely different set of miles 😉 so you may not see our positions turn round. this weekends eaten by taking the mrs to the womans road race at garelochhead and then im doing a sprint tri on sunday.


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 4:18 pm
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If you were fuelling those sessions with fast carbs then you're not creating a deficit.

When I was fuelling with carbs to the recommended levels, 1g/kg body weight/h then there was still a calorie deficit. You can't eat enough carbs to replace all the energy you burn.

The point is that eating the carbs produces insulin which prevents the use of fat for fuel. If you don't eat the carbs straight away then you'll be burning much more fat when you are riding. This has knock on effects beyond the burning of fat during the exercise - it trains your fat burning metabolic pathways. So you will use more fat all the time, and be better able to burn fat generally through the day.

I used to find it impossible to go without breakfast or to eat a late lunch - both things are easy now.


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 4:19 pm
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trail_rat - Member
what is BORS ?

i have how ever separated my commuting miles into the commuting challenge - they are an entirely different set of miles so you may not see our positions turn round. this weekends eaten by taking the mrs to the womans road race at garelochhead and then im doing a sprint tri on sunday.

lol cheating eh? Mine really are cycling sport - I don't commute by bike.

BORS - Bucks Off Road Sportive - 132k MTB on May 12. 😯


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 4:21 pm
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not at all - i seperated them out 😉


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 4:25 pm
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[i]Last year I average a 100k with a 18.2 mph average and was told on here that that wasn't fast[/i]

I wouldn't believe half the things you read on here 😉 Against some club racers I know, that'll put you off the back, against most of population, you'll be settling down on the sofa having washed your bike and put it away before they show up....


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 4:26 pm
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trail_rat - Member
not at all - i seperated them out

Ah - you did already! Apologies I misunderstood - bloody hell well done!

Please tell me you have a part time job and no kids... 😉


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 4:33 pm
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Crikey, that idiet would need discipline...


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 8:48 pm
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5:2?


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 8:52 pm
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Full time job, no kids and a mrs who rides bikes as much as i do helps.

Only things that get in my way are when i travel for work , diy and my land rover.


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 8:53 pm
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Tomorrow's breakfast was: 2 slices granary toast with butter, filter coffe with milk and sugar

Tomorrow's breakfast is now: Poached egg, parma ham and chorizo, black filter coffee.

🙄


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 9:15 pm
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Crikey, that idiet would need discipline...

It's not as bad as you first think. You soon lose the craving for sweet stuff. You just need to make sure you eat enough of the permitted stuff to be full.


 
Posted : 17/04/2013 9:40 pm
 Keva
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it's been known for decades if not a couple of centuries that sugar makes people fat. It's just so prevalent these days people generally have no idea how much of the stuff they're consuming... until they try and go without it.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 9:23 am
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So are we agreed then?
1) To lose weight, calories in must be less than calories out.
2) High intensity work may use more calories, build muscle, raise BMR and help you lose weight. But you might not lose weight if you wolf down the carbs afterwards.
3) Becoming a fat-burning mile-munching machine takes a different approach to just losing weight. It might take longer but it'll make you a better cyclist (lighter, more endurance, faster cruising speed) 4) If you do 2), it won't help with number 3).
5) Eat nice food, prepared by your own fair hand if possible.
As an aside, I remember reading somewhere that a young Sean Yates was told off by his team manager for being tubby. To lose weight, he cleared all the food out of his apartment in Italy and took up a training regime that consisted of massive long rides to the coast where he ate a pizza, then rode back home to a bare larder. Nutter.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 9:54 am
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It's pretty simple to lose weight. Eat less than you do now and move about more.

Or a more detailed version, either eat less or eat healthier food and do more of the right type of exercise, dependent upon your physicality.

Guaranteed results every time.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 9:59 am
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"3) Becoming a fat-burning mile-munching machine takes a different approach to just losing weight. It might take longer but it'll make you a better cyclist (lighter, more endurance, faster cruising speed) 4) If you do 2), it won't help with number 3)."

the thing about number 3 is the results last longer 😉 i havent done the type of milage im doing today in years yet an elephant never forgets.

how ever a friend did tell me when i started out - Be fit when your young and itll last a life time. he returned to cycling at 32 after dropping out the ratrace and went pro.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 10:02 am
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crispycross I think thats a good summary and is basically what I have taken from this thread and adjusted at the beginning of this week accordingly, as follows:

a) I've reduced my carb intake (could still do more aka idiet)
b) My midweek rides have basically become HIIT
c) My weekend ride is Z2, that will fluctuate to "fun MTB" when outside a training window for an event.
d) I'm eating clean (I was anyway).

Its been a very useful thread this, thanks everyone.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 10:03 am
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One thing to bear in mind is that exercise to get fit is not the same as exercise to lose weight, in the first case you don't want to run out of carbs (unless you're training for a marathon or similar, and you want to simulate hitting the wall).

But cutting the crap from your diet is almost certainly a good thing, whatever your motives for riding may be.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 10:08 am
 loum
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Kryton57 - Member
Tomorrow's breakfast was: 2 slices granary toast with butter, filter coffe with milk and sugar

Tomorrow's breakfast is now: Poached egg, parma ham and chorizo, black filter coffee.

If you're going to give it a go, then that might not be filling enough. Could add some bulk with some refried beans, peas or green beans. maybe a tomato, courgette or pepper too.
Just starting it too, and IMO, it's about filling up on veg.
Once you get over the perception of them not really being "breakfasty", then adding a bowl of microwaved caulli and broccoli can bulk out any meal to be more filling without resorting to bread.
The point is, if you're not full then you're going to snack on something easy by mid morning. 🙂


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 10:18 am
 loum
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crispycross - Member
So are we agreed then?
1) To lose weight, calories in must be less than calories out.

No. Not at all.
It can work if other conditions are suitable, but it's not a "must". And it's a shit mantra for losing weight. Counting and measuring anything is going to increase awareness of what you're eating. So it can work. But as a unit, they're a poor measurement. It's popular in the industry because it's easy to sell.
The so called "calorie content " of food bares no relationship to how your body absorbs and processes it. Try drinking a pint of "calorie rich" diesel and watch the immediate weight loss as your body "empties".

Quality of food is more important than numbers of "calories". Like your no.5 :

5) Eat nice food, prepared by your own fair hand if possible.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 10:28 am
 Solo
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[i]Its been a very useful thread this[/i]

Agreed, let us know how you get along.
😀

[i]The point is, if you're not full then you're going to snack on something easy by mid morning.[/i]
Yes, satiety is a watch word. You'll be better fed and hunger free for longer on a breakfast of meat, eggs, etc. Than you would be on milk, sugar and grains.
[b]ime[/b].
🙂

EDIT:
[i]The so called "calorie content " of food bares no relationship to how your body absorbs and processes it. Try drinking a pint of "calorie rich" diesel and watch the immediate weight loss as your body "empties".[/i]
I've had this very same thought, but its been a good thread so far.
Imo, theres no need to hassle the calorie counters, esp if it works for them.
🙂


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 10:31 am
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My favourite easy keto/almost idiet friendly breakfast is flax porridge with cream and raspberries. 1 egg whisked, 30-40g of ground flax, some water to help mix it and your choice of flavourings/sweeteners. I like some cinnamon and a bit of vanilla protein powder. Mix it up and microwave for 2 minutes, stirring halfway. Tasty and it usually fills me up til lunchtime. Plus it contains a load of fibre. I'll definitely stick to having this for breakfast even if/when I go back to a "normal" diet.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 10:48 am
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a) I've reduced my carb intake (could still do more aka idiet)

Important point - carbs are not bad, fast release carbs are bad - unless you've just finished exercising.

iDiet is not low carb, it's slow carb. You can (in theory) eat as many carbs as you like. However, I found that really eating til I was full meant eating huge portions of beany chilli, or a small portion and a single biscuit or tea with one sugar. If you experience this, Google for information on leptin. If not, ignore it 🙂

The so called "calorie content " of food bares no relationship to how your body absorbs and processes it.

Quite - it's been known for decades that whilst meat contains plenty of calories, the energy required to digest it is more than the calories you get from it. Likewise cabbage and other things. The other day I had roast pork, broccoli and cabbage. Several hundred calories, but the energy value to my body was probably negative. And since I'd been biking that day I was sodding starving after eating it, despite having taken some time to plough through it 🙂

Another advantage to iDiet is that because you're filling up on nutritious beans and veg, you eat far more nutrients than if you bulked up on pasta or spuds. You find yourself nomming down some incredibly healthy meals.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 11:21 am
 Solo
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Molgrips.

I've seen your comments before on Leptin and they confuse me.

Could you elaborate on how you link Leptin, a hormone produced by adipose tissue. To eating a biscuit.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 11:28 am
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If I understand correctly, leptin is also produced by the stomach lining when it comes into contact with carbohydrate.

Incidentally, reading about this and grehlin.. holy cow, it's very intricate.. seems that your grown hormones are also affected by these hormones which are affected by what you eat.. wow..


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 11:34 am
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More info

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=127293643&page=1

This helps explain the 'days off' concept. It's not quite the same role for leptin as I was thinking of though.. hmm.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 11:37 am
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Quite - it's been known for decades that whilst meat contains plenty of calories, the energy required to digest it is more than the calories you get from it. Likewise cabbage and other things. The other day I had roast pork, broccoli and cabbage. Several hundred calories, but the energy value to my body was probably negative.

Err there is NO scientific research that's held up to peer review that supports the negative calorie food thing. Ofc some foods do take more calories to digest than others but that's a long way from negative calories. Is it possible that certain types of food might just be negative calorie? Maybe but it's virtually impossible to prove due to the complexity involve in researching it and trying to create an experiment that rules out other factors. If they do exist then they're likely to be the high-water content foods with very few calories and little nutritional value (onions are often cited for example), broccoli and meat I would be highly sceptical of fitting in that category.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 12:05 pm
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Did loads of reading last night on t'web trying to understand primarily where Molly and Solo where coming from prompted by Solo's interesting comment about the study of starved rats dying but remaining fat. Seems that there's loads of studies showing why cal in cal out doesnt always work for some people, not only that, I owe you both an apology

I'm sorry

some interesting and eye opening stuff! Much more reading to do


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 12:22 pm
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Interesting FW, I had not done my own research on that.

Nickc - yep, there's a hell of a lot to it 🙂 No need to apologise, scepticism is good in this area due to the amount of bollocks about.

As I understand it - there are loads of hormones involved, and different levels produced by the same stimuli in all of us. And different sensitivities to those levels, based on genetics and lifestyle so far. Being fat is just one consequence a whole host of different things going on, it's just the most visible. However different things are going on in different people.

We all know people who eat loads and stay skinny without exercising, but we're reluctant to believe that the opposite is possible - that people can fat without stuffing their faces constantly. We're also quite open to the idea that some people are much better sprinters, and others are better distance athletes. I used to live with a guy who was 6'3 and looked like a renaissance statue of a god with his shirt off, despite loafing around, doing little exercise and eating and drinking tons of shite all the time.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 12:32 pm
 Solo
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[i]No need to apologise, scepticism is good in this area due to the amount of bollocks about.[/i]
[b]Plus 1.[/b]
🙂


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 1:32 pm
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I used to live with a guy who was 6'3 and looked like a renaissance statue of a god with his shirt off, despite loafing around, doing little exercise and eating and drinking tons of shite all the time.

I didn't realise we had met before. [Cough]. Or not. 😀

And amidst all of this the vital ingredient for making it all work is the mental commitment to it. It is still quite easy to read all this debate and think it's all positive and interesting but until you commit to doing something about it that's all it will be. He says, taking a long hard look at himself!


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 1:49 pm
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Committing to a dinner of a massive rib eye steak with brocolli, cabbage and mushrooms is very easy. As I just proved to myself 🙂


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 1:54 pm
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taking the mrs to the womans road race at garelochhead
trailrat, who is your mrs? i'm racing that one too 🙂

Not read all this thread but other things to consider are kettlebells/body weight core work (ie press ups, planks etc)- they definately help me shift fat/become leaner.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 2:32 pm
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Not read all this thread but other things to consider are kettlebells/body weight core work (ie press ups, planks etc)- they definately help me shift fat/become leaner.

I think I wrote somewhere in the first page or too, when I was lean 3 years ago, co-incidentally I was working out with 'bells 2 x per week and riding once per week.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 2:34 pm
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I've had to cut back on them now i'm racing so much and my body shape has changed as changed - I'm still the same weight, just not as "ripped".

Also, why are you doing Z2 rides or you still in base?


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 2:40 pm
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You always need base, I think. Don't forget that the principle of base in the winter and speed in the summer applies to people with a packed racing season like yourself DG... for general riders and loafers like me it's a case of base when you have time 🙂


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 8:10 pm
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Dgoab were you up racing the deeside womans only apr a couple weeks back ?

If so shes the one whos crank broke off about 2 miles in 🙂


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 8:49 pm
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dirtygirlonabike - Member
Also, why are you doing Z2 rides or you still in base?

Mental r&r.


 
Posted : 18/04/2013 9:23 pm
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Dgoab were you up racing the deeside womans only apr a couple weeks back ? If so shes the one whos crank broke off about 2 miles in

Yes i was - i was in the scratch group 😯 Horrible racing in such cold conditions, my legs literally didn't work for the whole race! Good field for tomorrow, its going to be an aggressive race i think. Racing down past Manchester on Sunday too. 8)


 
Posted : 19/04/2013 9:47 am
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