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Chewing the Fat

armmewitharmony

Maximum Pace
Mar 10, 2014
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I've gone chunkers and gone through the process of getting lean four times now.

The first three times it was relatively easy (once in childhood, once in university, and once in my thirties) - basically run around the block a few times and the blubber melts away. First the veins in your arms come back, then the legs, then you see veins in your stomach. The fourth time? Not so nice. Age? Probably a major factor. Years I spent battling, finally realizing I had to monitor my diet.

Not shitty vegan or veggie stuff, just cut out the chocolate, beer and chips and eat a lot of chicken tenderloins and veggies in the day and steak, nuts and tofu at night. And I like chicken and steak thank God so that wasn't so bad. Seriously, it's what worked for me, different stuff works for different people - there's more details of course I'll be glad to tell you all about it if you like.

Each time I promise myself "Never again do I let fatty boy out of the cage" and each time a couple years or whatever go by and when you're not looking, there he fucking is again! For those guys who've never experienced it this is literally what it's like.

It's terrifying to think it could happen yet again - I know it's not a popular topic (even though personally I think people shouldn't be so sensitive about weight - like get it out in the open and conquer it you know?) but anyways my strategy this time is to keep talking about it to keep it at the forefront of my mind at least.

I'd love to hear about how you've controlled / reduced / plan to control etc your body fat %. I hope that by sharing what we've experience and what we know we can help each other keep things on lockdown / get things under control.
 
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I've gone through the process of gaining about 5kg over the winter, and losing them over the spring and summer for 3 years in a row now. Basically just oscillating between 63 and 68 kg (175 cm height). So maybe not as big shifts as you're experiencing, but I did notice it becomes harder to shed weight with age, or at least it feels so subjectively this year...
 
I've lost 20 kg since January with keto.

20kg! That's four kgs a month - very disciplined.

If you don't mind me asking, how are you feeling "psych - wise" now?

Also, from what weigh did you start?

And, is Keto a real thing? (I spent hours and hours watching YouTube health guru's go on and on about it but in the end I wasn't convinced...) LOL well 20 kg's kind of answers my question but I'd still like to hear your thoughts!
 
I've gone through the process of gaining about 5kg over the winter, and losing them over the spring and summer for 3 years in a row now. Basically just oscillating between 63 and 68 kg (175 cm height). So maybe not as big shifts as you're experiencing, but I did notice it becomes harder to shed weight with age, or at least it feels so subjectively this year...


That seems like a decent range for weight - do you know what your body fat % is?

What is your waist measurement?
 
That seems like a decent range for weight - do you know what your body fat % is?

What is your waist measurement?
No idea about body fat %. The cheapo home digital scale usually gives me 15-16% but it's nothing I believe in or pay much attention to. Just had a medical check-up today, the annual one, and waist is 83 cm. I'm now at 66kg, and believe I've had it down to 79cm when I was the lightest in 2016...
 
No idea about body fat %. The cheapo home digital scale usually gives me 15-16% but it's nothing I believe in or pay much attention to. Just had a medical check-up today, the annual one, and waist is 83 cm. I'm now at 66kg, and believe I've had it down to 79cm when I was the lightest in 2016...


That's good!

What's the root of the 5 kg yo-yo?

How do you keep it from climbing higher?
 
What's the root of the 5 kg yo-yo?
Different reasons. Mostly less activity than when it's warmer. This year I've taken Alpine mountaineering, and with lugging heavy equipment and eating a lot (altitude does that to you) I gained that bit more. Last year spending 20 days in Europe did it - need I say more ;)

How do you keep it from climbing higher?
Don't know really, nothing conscious anyway. I suppose I don't eat THAT much and still stay reasonably active, just a tad less. What about you? How big oscillations do you have, and what do you think is behind it?
 
Different reasons. Mostly less activity than when it's warmer. This year I've taken Alpine mountaineering, and with lugging heavy equipment and eating a lot (altitude does that to you) I gained that bit more. Last year spending 20 days in Europe did it - need I say more ;)


Don't know really, nothing conscious anyway. I suppose I don't eat THAT much and still stay reasonably active, just a tad less. What about you? How big oscillations do you have, and what do you think is behind it?

In my case it's not bouncing around from year to year, I'm talking over the course of my life I've gone chunckers 4 times so as an adult that meant up to 80 or 85kg's maybe max, down to 65 and holding for a few years, then finding myself up around 80 again.

80kg's on my frame is definitely chunkers. 75 is seriously stocky. IMHO 75 is way to heavy for cycling whatever your height the target should be at least sub 70 - 72kg. Others may disagree.

The last few years I battled 73 to 75kg's - weight wouldn't budge from there no matter how hard I tried - I was getting stronger from all the training but I was also too heavy to ride like I wanted to.

Edit: what was behind it? - lifestyle! Nothing reflects a persons lifestyle more clearly than their weight / body composition for the most part (of course there are exceptions but exceptions should not be the focus in this case)
 
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20kg! That's four kgs a month - very disciplined.

If you don't mind me asking, how are you feeling "psych - wise" now?

Also, from what weigh did you start?

And, is Keto a real thing? (I spent hours and hours watching YouTube health guru's go on and on about it but in the end I wasn't convinced...) LOL well 20 kg's kind of answers my question but I'd still like to hear your thoughts!

Too much. I still need to lose about 18 kg.

Yes, keto is real. I've started IF (fancy word for skipping meals) since I've started to stall a bit (too many carbs too often). That seems to have jump-started my diet.

All I can say is that I think I made WAY more power on the trainer when I was carbo-loaded, but I'd rather lose weight than increase power at the moment...

When you're doing the diet properly you don't have carb cravings, and I would like to occasionally eat ramen, curry, fried rice, etc., but I do feel like I might be leaving performance on the table, since cycling isn't a pure endurance sport. But the food you get to eat is still perfectly tasty.
 
Too much. I still need to lose about 18 kg.

Yes, keto is real. I've started IF (fancy word for skipping meals) since I've started to stall a bit (too many carbs too often). That seems to have jump-started my diet.

All I can say is that I think I made WAY more power on the trainer when I was carbo-loaded, but I'd rather lose weight than increase power at the moment...

When you're doing the diet properly you don't have carb cravings, and I would like to occasionally eat ramen, curry, fried rice, etc., but I do feel like I might be leaving performance on the table, since cycling isn't a pure endurance sport. But the food you get to eat is still perfectly tasty.

Hey, if you've done 20 you can do another 18 - keep it up dude.

I used IF too - but I'm thinking the main way it helped me was to limit the amount of calories I took in and also helping me get used to the "hungry" feeling and learning how to ignore it.

I discovered you could do quite a bit with like no food in your stomach actually - but I don't think I'd like to make that a permanent part of my lifestyle - meaning I've stopped doing it basically but my weight has stablized for the time being.

Well, right now I'm also mostly trying to rehabilitate my broken neck LOL! (True) and mashed up face but I'll survive you know how it is lmao
 
I absolutely positively need to be well under 100 kg before July since I will be doing the Nasu Kogen Longride, which is 100 km of a TON of climbing. I am shooting for 85 kg. After that, I will have to see how much lean mass changes. As it stands I still have ~74 kg of lean mass at 180 cm. I will probably be done to 70 or so by the time I hit my goal.
 
Almost exactly 10 years ago I weighed 160 kg (@177 cm), had bariatric surgery and dropped to 69 kg a year later, but have steadily rebounded ever since, now weighing 95 kg, of which about 15 kg is excess skin and 68 kg lean muscle, the remainder being mostly body fat and bone. I resumed riding bicycles in 2011 (a mama-chari until 2015, Brompton since then, but a Trek hybrid since last autumn). I cycle about 10,000 km annually, all on the road. I would love to be chunkers at 85 kg (my target, too!)
My experience and regular testing over the past couple of decades has been that my weight is almost exclusively determined by what and when I eat. A diet high in protein and rich in vegetables and I drop weight easily, even now in my mid-60s. Unfortunately, for me cycling has had a negative effect in terms of weight loss, especially when I really started to ride (what I consider to be) long distances. I would reward myself with high calorie chocolates and sweets, so I have gained about 10 kg since I got into riding in spite of averaging about 30 km/day at full gas for much of that time.
But thanks to baribari for mentioning your weight! I'd love to get more and more involved in cycling, but I'm pretty intimidated by all the skinny buggers, especially when the 60-kilo-somethings are also worried about losing pounds!
 
Are you getting surgery for the skin? That would pretty much put you at your goal weight...lol

Go low-carb, moderate protein, high fat, and only eat carbs before and during rides that you feel you may bonk on.
 
I've got to eat different because of the surgery. I removed much of my insides, so my metabolic rate is about 1,600 calories a day. (I can eat that in about 5 minutes with enough chocolate on hand!). I need to get most of my calories through protein, but otherwise should follow your advice. I am a sucker for carbs and sugars, though.
Besides, I am getting older than I ever thought I would make. I am still a lecher, though, so I maintain my lifelong dream of parting this mortal coil while bonking. Having succumbed to the wiles of cycling, though, I'm not quite sure that means what it used to either....:)
 
I struggle to keep my weight down and whenever I go on a strict regime to reel it in it comes back and bites me harder the next time.
At the moment I eat what I like when I like. I'm gymming and swimming 3 to 4 times a week and keeping busy.
The weight is coming down quite a lot lately due to being so busy. I feel this is a healthy weight loss at the moment and not likely to be a rebounder.
I lost 6kgs last year... will be happy with that pace again...
 
I absolutely positively need to be well under 100 kg before July since I will be doing the Nasu Kogen Longride, which is 100 km of a TON of climbing. I am shooting for 85 kg. After that, I will have to see how much lean mass changes. As it stands I still have ~74 kg of lean mass at 180 cm. I will probably be done to 70 or so by the time I hit my goal.

Just keep chipping away at it! I want to avoid cliche but really keep your eye on that target and don't give up - I'm sure everyone here is behind you too.
 
I've got to eat different because of the surgery. I removed much of my insides, so my metabolic rate is about 1,600 calories a day. (I can eat that in about 5 minutes with enough chocolate on hand!). I need to get most of my calories through protein, but otherwise should follow your advice. I am a sucker for carbs and sugars, though.
Besides, I am getting older than I ever thought I would make. I am still a lecher, though, so I maintain my lifelong dream of parting this mortal coil while bonking. Having succumbed to the wiles of cycling, though, I'm not quite sure that means what it used to either....:)


I know what you mean about sugars and carbs, I really do.

I've gravitated back to some sweets (as controlled and in as much moderation as I can muster at this point) and managing to steer clear of bakery bread so far, for the most part.

But total abstinence can be its own hell as well as your probably very much aware...
 
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