Consume less calories than you burn (Using a calorie counter such as MyFitnessPal is the best way I have ever found to measure this).

I’ve found MFP very good for taking a long hard look at how much I stuffed in my face and reigning it in. You have to be pretty disciplined and record absolutely everything (I don’t bother with tea/coffee/water) , but on individual meals you don’t have to be particularly accurate to the last cal IMO, just honest with yourself. my goal is 1750cal per day, but I keep within 2500cal and loose weight. Gone from 77kgs to 73kgs in 4 months, without doing hardly any exercise, just staying within 2500cals per day.

Cut out saturated fat and ALL sugar, eat lots of veg. Simples!

Calorie deficit, it’s that easy, work out your bmr and start from there

Calorie control. Keep a record as its very easy to go off track, snacks can be scanned.
Hydration.
Couple of annoying things your body does. As you cut back your metabolism slows so you burn less. The more you move, the more your body demands food. And you body will fight to keep some fat.
I’m not so sure about fasting rides anymore after doing them for forty years. Probably best to look after yourself well on all your rides. Been to a few lectures recently that dispel the performance value of it. You’ll loose weight though, not necessarily where you want though.
Good old fashioned twists, turns, stretches etc help shape up the old love handles.

Eat less
Move more

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Stand up straight and do some core work. You won’t lose any fat but you’ll look like you have.

Otherwise I think the calorie control thing is going to be your best bet. loads of apps out there that let you count calories in and calories out. Maybe try one and see where you can make improvements. I wouldn’t kick bread out, but consider buying better quality wholemeal (from an actual bakery, not sliced stuff).

Is GI still in fashion. Think about what you are eating. Refined sugars boost your blood sugar levels but then you crash shortly after. I found muesli and Greek yoghurt for breakfast means I can cut out a morning snack. If I do get hungry things like oatcakes and cottage cheese. You need calories so within reason don’t see there being hungry just eat properly when you do eat and count calories.

It isn’t easy…

I’m quiet partial to the stronglifts app for weights and myfitnesspal for watching what’s going in your gob…,

My strategy is keep it simple …an ride loads. 🙂

I’ve also done weekly photos to track my changes re body composition…

you’ve got to eat a certain amount of calories though and maintain a sensible deficit and king is not kidding yourself on what your eating…

The cup of coffee in the morning and go for a ride before breakfast that I suggested earlier seems the simplest to me.

I’ve done it a few times to lose weight for a long event, and the weight drops off. I do not watch what I eat, calory count or avoid sugar – I can’t be arsed with faff – call it singlespeed mentality or KISS.

I eat what I like and don’t try to restrict quantities, but I find that while using this technique I don’t find the fatty/sugary foods so appealing.

Which reminds me, I better get back into it. I need to lose some lard before July.

Tim Noakes is doing some interesting work on diet. Debunking many of the myths around what we should be eating.

Right, I’ve joined a gym with the intention of getting trimmed and into shape reasonably quickly.

Sod that, cancel while you can and just get out on your bike more. if you don’t night ride at least once a week, buy lights and get out there.

There is nothing wrong with the gym as such. If you spend an hour fiddling with your phone etc and walking between pieces of kit and talking to people it may not have the desired affect in much the same way as somebody going out for a very slow easy ride.
I use the gym a couple of times a week for a routine of core work that takes around 30 minutes and is quite intense. A calf injury meant I couldn’t run for a week so I did 3 sessions on the X trainer. 45 mins as hard as possible.

It depends on what you do when you are there.

Joe Friel: the fat burning myth

Joe Friel: becoming a better fat burner

OP, if you want to burn fat weights aren’t the way to go IMO. You want bike/run/cross trainer. For the weights I would focus on light/medium weights and more reps as you want to keep your heart rate elevated for as long as possible (min 20-30 mins)

On diet you have the right easy steps, ie no bread/booze, if you can cut out pasta/rice/potatoes too that will help a lot. Try and drink only water.

Spammer! Slimming pills… Post reported.

Move around under your own steam as much as possible.
Eat fruit, veg, rice and potatoes, wholefoods etc.
Drink loads of water.
Don’t eat processed bilge of any sort especially meat and diary.

The recommended low intensity stuff is interesting. I do loads during the winter but still put on a few kilos. Come time to race and the move to more high intensity work the weight falls off rapidly and back to race weight. But then I also tend to watch what I eat more when racing. Not something I worry about or want to change, just seems to be the pattern for me.