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Weight loss advice please


Bono67

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Hello peoples, hope you're all having a nice weekend!


I have a question about weight loss using an exercise bike. I bought an exercise bike a couple of weeks ago (a fold up one, really cool how small it is!). I've been riding it pretty much every night for about an hour. According to the computer thingy (who knows how accurate it is), I've been burning 500 calories, and going about 33km. But I haven't lost any weight. At all. Zip, zilch, nada.

I usually go on it either while the kids are finishing dinner, so right after I finished eating, cleaning up etc, or after the kids have gone to bed, so a couple of hours after dinner. Could that be why nothings happening? I mean, I didn't expect to lose a heap but after two weeks I expected to see something.


I'm not eating heaps of junk food. Biggest meal would probably be dinner, and I tend to skip breakfast and have a crusket later on in the morning. I've made an effort to stop snacking so much when I'm at home.


Help please!!

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Fruitmincepies

The evidence is starting to say that exercise isn’t particularly important to weight loss unfortunately. It’s excellent for your body and your mind though, so keep it up, but don’t rely on it for weight loss.

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PocketMacrophobia

I've found the same as PP.


Weight loss for me comes from eating well but fewer calories than I burn.


I find exercise is about motivation and making me feel better.


I think increased muscle can boost metabolism, but it takes quite a long time to take effect?

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Captain Tightpants

I found, for me, weight loss was all about what I put into my mouth, not the exercise. I have weeks where I don't do any exercise, but still lose weight because I watch what I eat.


When I started this new lifestyle, I calorie counted everything. And I mean everything. The online calculators said that I needed to eat 1500 cals a day to lose weight, so I aimed for between 1400 and 1500. Calorie counting made me conscious of portion sizes too. I used Samsung Health to track exercise and food.


6 months on, I have lost 11kg. I don't log my food anymore as I know how much I can eat in my daily routine.


It is early days for you, perhaps you are replacing fat with muscle while maintaining the same weight!

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Thanks for responding, although it's rather depressing to think I've been doing all this work for nothing. I have cut out alot, and doing the 15 8 diet which worked before. Just not this time.

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TMI but talk to me about what comes out the rear end? How regular? Is it of good form?


When I started losing weight (not on purpose, started eating better to get pregnant), what was coming out was "perfectly formed" as per the charts and tripled in volume. I had always been super regular (every day) but never so perfectly formed or voloumus.


It's literally energy out.


Adding that my mum had stomach issues and was put on a bland diet and she slowly worked her way up to better eating and because she sorted out her tummy issues she lost 5kg and has kept it off for 18 months. She actually says she eats slightly more now than before

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I still believe for me weight loss happens when I expend more kilojoules than I ingest. I lose weight when on holidays and eat and drink way more than usual but also do twice as much exercise.

We are all different.

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I still believe for me weight loss happens when I expend more kilojoules than I ingest. I lose weight when on holidays and eat and drink way more than usual but also do twice as much exercise.

We are all different.

 

I was about to say the exact same thing. Perhaps movement is more important when you're older?


We went away for a week recently. Ate and ate and ate, and walked and walked and walked and came back the same weight.


Staying eating the amount we had when we were away, and having the best of intentions (failed!) of moving a lot more, I put on 1.5 kg in less than two weeks. Had a big book I had to finish for book group, so spent quite a bit of time sitting.


Agree with pps, too, you may be putting on muscle, which can be replacing fat. Muscle burns more calories than fat, but it's not something that happens overnight on the scales.

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Purpleblaze

I’m not a trainer but I would suggest that riding a bike does not make you put on muscle. Burns calories yes, but to increase muscle mass you need to lift weights or use your body weight. Plus putting on muscle takes a long time.


Log food, drink and exercise for a week and do your sums. Know what your resting metabolic rate is, how much you need to lose weight and what your actually doing. Also try to mix it up, do some interval training on a bike. I believe some studies show short bursts of fast speeds is better than a consistent pace for a long time. Every bit helps though.


Also depends how much you have to lose. If it’s only a bit you have to be super strict as is so much harder than if you have lots to lose.


I reckon the 500 calories on your bike is generous. Trainers usually say weight lose (or no weight lose) is mostly attributed to eating - start there.

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I definitely put on muscle cycling (I cannot do weights at all). If you are cycling and adding muscle, this is a good thing, as muscle requires many, many more calories to sustain itself than fat does.

33km an hour is very fast ( at least on a normal bike). Can you increase the resistance on the bike so that you have to work harder to get to 33km? Also, I never trust the readouts as to how many calories I have burned. I automatically halve the number.

Please do not feel like the cycling is for nothing. As the others have said, it's time to look more closely to diet to lose weight.

ps through experimentation, i learned that I need to do 80 min or more a day of exercise before exercising helps me to lose weight.

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Exercise is never for nothing. It's for strength and health and fitness, not weight loss.

Why do people believe that weight loss is mostly about exercise? I reckon two reasons:

1. the narrative is that fat people are fat becuase they're lazy - they deserve it - so by this logic it makes sense that if you're not lazy, you'll be skinny

2. food companies want you to think that it's something other than their products making you fat - so nutri grain is "iron man food" rather than "bowl of diabetes with milk" and they encourage the cultural narrative that you can "earn" junk food and alcohol by working out first.


Realistically if you want to lose a lot of weight you need to eat a lot less food. It's shit but it's true. And the set point our bodies keep returning to is usually not the one we want. One approach doesn't fit everyone, and some people are just naturally thinner.

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PocketMacrophobia

Another option is to get a fitness tracker or smart watch. You can usually put in height, weight, and fat percentage (if you know that). You get a good idea of calorie usage. With mine I can pre set types of exercise and it will use heartrate to calculate calorie usage.

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I’m not a trainer but I would suggest that riding a bike does not make you put on muscle. Burns calories yes, but to increase muscle mass you need to lift weights or use your body weight. Plus putting on muscle takes a long time.


Log food, drink and exercise for a week and do your sums. Know what your resting metabolic rate is, how much you need to lose weight and what your actually doing. Also try to mix it up, do some interval training on a bike. I believe some studies show short bursts of fast speeds is better than a consistent pace for a long time. Every bit helps though.


Also depends how much you have to lose. If it’s only a bit you have to be super strict as is so much harder than if you have lots to lose.


I reckon the 500 calories on your bike is generous. Trainers usually say weight lose (or no weight lose) is mostly attributed to eating - start there.

 

Cycling definitely builds up your leg muscles - but yeah not a huge amount in just two weeks.

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Exercise is never for nothing. It's for strength and health and fitness, not weight loss.

Why do people believe that weight loss is mostly about exercise? I reckon two reasons:

1. the narrative is that fat people are fat becuase they're lazy - they deserve it - so by this logic it makes sense that if you're not lazy, you'll be skinny

2. food companies want you to think that it's something other than their products making you fat - so nutri grain is "iron man food" rather than "bowl of diabetes with milk" and they encourage the cultural narrative that you can "earn" junk food and alcohol by working out first.


Realistically if you want to lose a lot of weight you need to eat a lot less food. It's shit but it's true. And the set point our bodies keep returning to is usually not the one we want. One approach doesn't fit everyone, and some people are just naturally thinner.

 

I am not sure too many people feel that losing weight is about exercise only, I have never implied this and to be honest I have never seen anyone use exercise only to lose weight although maybe I just don't know those who do.

Some of us need to find a balance to either lose weight or maintain it. What I am saying is that even if I eat well and not exercise I will gain weight or not lose it. I increase my activity and I lose it so the suggestion it has no part in weight loss I do not think is correct.


efs

Obviously different stages of life require different methods of weight loss.

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I reckon a lot of people turn to exercise only to lose weight because their diet just isn't that bad. Most overweight people I know eat quite well. The OP said she doesn't eat breakfast, etc. It's actually really hard to find things to trim out of most overweight people's diets because they're already trying.

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I reckon a lot of people turn to exercise only to lose weight because their diet just isn't that bad. Most overweight people I know eat quite well. The OP said she doesn't eat breakfast, etc. It's actually really hard to find things to trim out of most overweight people's diets because they're already trying.

I agree with this because I have a good diet, I can't trim much more off what I eat or I would be miserable. If I eat normally which generally works out to be less than 2000 cals a day and notch up 2.500 + cals on my Fit Bit in exercise I can lose a kg or so a week, if I sit on my bum my 1800 to 2000 cals will see me gaining it back. It becomes a very fine balance as you get older.

I had a doctor tell me I must eat too much before I had both my knees replaced but I explained that I was in too much pain to move. She apologised after my knee replacements when I lost 15 kgs just because I could walk.

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I reckon a lot of people turn to exercise only to lose weight because their diet just isn't that bad. Most overweight people I know eat quite well. The OP said she doesn't eat breakfast, etc. It's actually really hard to find things to trim out of most overweight people's diets because they're already trying.

I agree with this because I have a good diet, I can't trim much more off what I eat or I would be miserable. If I eat normally which generally works out to be less than 2000 cals a day and notch up 2.500 + cals on my Fit Bit in exercise I can lose a kg or so a week, if I sit on my bum my 1800 to 2000 cals will see me gaining it back. It becomes a very fine balance as you get older.

I had a doctor tell me I must eat too much before I had both my knees replaced but I explained that I was in too much pain to move. She apologised after my knee replacements when I lost 15 kgs just because I could walk.

 

Wow! 15 kg is pretty significant. God some doctors don't have a fucking clue do they. And it's so inconsistent - I'm fat, in fact according to the BMI I'm obese; but no doctor has ever suggested I lose weight.

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nom_de_plume

[mention]Lurker[/mention] BMI is not accurate for many populations. I have a BMI of 28, however my body fat percentage is 25% which is within the normal range, and my skeletal muscle mass is 36kg, which is high for a female. I lift 4-5 days per week and train/play at the top state tier of my chosen sport 2-3 days per week. I'm a size 10-12 and I reckon most people would say I look normal, fit or healthy, but according to BMI I am overweight.


OP - I would start logging your food and drink intake. It's likely you're underestimating what you're actually eating. You can either use a pen/paper or an app like My Fitness Pal (there are tonnes, but this is my favourite). Once you start weighting and tracking things you'll have a better understanding of where you're at.


You can gain muscle from bike riding, but it's unlikely that's what's occurred after only two weeks. The amount of calories you burn is dependent on things like the speed and intensity you cycle, and your basal metabolic rate. 500 calories in an hour isn't out of the ordinary, but it's likely slightly less on a stationary bike.

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Others have given you some great advice, and I'm no expert, but here's my two cents worth. I have gradually lost about 45 kilo's....still more to go, probably another 20kg so yeah I was a BIG girl....my weight loss is 100% about food/drinks. I didnt really eat that bad, but I ate WAY too much. I have dropped things like soft drink and piles of bread. But I also increased my exercise/activity because it makes me feel a lot better. Have you tried interval training on your bike, or adding in some rounds of push ups/squats/hand weights/planks etc etc

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Thanks for your advice everyone, I really do appreciate it. I used to log my food but stopped after a while, maybe I should start up again. I really don't eat that much though, I've been trying to cut out comfort eating, as that is what most of it is. I'll turn up the resistance on the bike, which I had started to do.

See what happens I guess.

Thanks

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Literally Nobody

Im hearing you op. Since January 1st I’ve been watching what i eat, no mindless snacking, no sugar, no bread or softdrink etc and have been doing 1 hour of PT twice a week and Im only 2kgs down. feels so depressing tbh.

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Cycling definitely puts on muscle. My husband's legs were very different when he was bike riding 30k per day commuting. At one point I joined him and came home by 8am. Some time later I looked down at my legs and thought I had a bruise .... nope it was a shadow from a newly obvious muscle that clearly hadn't been worked at the gym or through running.

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I lost a lot of weight a few years ago and I found this quiz was a good starting point at assessing my diet.

Prior to taking the quiz, I thought I had a healthy diet because I've always eaten a lot of fruit and veg. However it was eyeopening to see how my diet wasn't anywhere near as good as I thought it was. I made changes based on their recommendations and it really did help.


https://www.totalwellbeingdiet.com/au/health-tools/quizzes/healthy-diet-score/


Unfortunately I've put a lot of weight back on because junk food has crept back into my diet, and my exercise dropped off - thanks COVID.


In terms of cycling for weight loss. I go on 30 km bike rides (at a leisurely pace) but depending on the route there can be a decent amount of hills / inclines. I definitely think it does assist in weight loss and muscle gain. To get the same effect on an exercise bike, you would need to increase the resistance.

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