Weight loss guide/food list

My latest blood work had my cholesterol down at 152. On a similar note, my trigycerides were about 530 and after following that NIH diet, are down to 74. :bang:

I try to keep my intake of complex carbs a little on the higher side because of my exercise levels. I also try to limit my simple carbs during meals and snacks. The only simple ones I try to injest are during rides and those are from sports drinks and gels.

 

What was your eating like when you had high cholesterol levels?

Has there been a change in your stress level?

 

Let me put my eating habits like this ... If someone didn't bring food to my door in a box, I would go hungry.

I know how to cook, I enjoy it, and I knew what was healthy, but I didn't like to cook for myself ... so a lot of pizza and processed fast foods.

I was not really stressed 8-[ to begin with, I'm a 26 year military veteran that handles stressful situations by thinking slowly and acting quickly.

 

My guess is the excess carbs in the pizza and processed food was the problem not saturated fat.

Here is some good reading.
http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CAE78.htm

 

thanks for the link to the calorie counter - I'm trying to lose about 23 lbs - I think I'm eating healthy but never really look at the calories. I've been running 3x a week & biking 2-3x a week. Just recently bought a polar heart rate monitor as well.
Thanks!

 

Interesting article ... lots of different theories and the associated studies to support those theories. I know what's worked for me and following a sensible diet without those processed foods and excess fat has been it.

 

Calorie limiting only works for couch potatoes. It does not work for people who are active. You will feel like crap and not lose weight. Eat less per meal, but eat 6 meals. That keeps your metabolism high throughout the day. Then throw in resistance training in addition to your cardio. Muscle burns fat even while you are sleeping. Cardio only burns it during the exercise. Up your protein intake. Cut out soda.

 

The guide you posted WILL help with weight loss, for certain. However, it does seem to be tailored toward weightlifting/muscle gain.

It's really pretty simple. It all comes down to expending more calories than you're taking in. Everything else is just icing on the cake (is that a bad analogy to use for dieting?! HAHA!)

In other words, the little tips and tricks (5 or 6 small meals, no carbs past 6pm, etc) will help you along if your calorie intake is in line, but if you're using all those tips and tricks but not paying attention to calories - you will NOT lose weight. Period.

Building muscle mass will help you burn calories, but most cyclists don't want to get "big". For weight training, focus on sets of 10-12 reps, moderate weight. I would encourage cross training too. Keep your cardio up; that's gonna be the big calorie burner. If you can get 5 hours of good cardio a week, plus keeping your calories in check, you'll be slimming down in no time.

I don't train much anymore, but I'm certified through ACE. If you have any Q's I'll try my best to help.

Best of luck!

 

We aren't road bikers. Building some upper body strength will not hurt mountain bikers. If you have more muscles, you burn more calories. Cutting calories will make your body conserve calories and become more efficient. YOu want your body INEFFICIENT at storing energy because you eat constantly during the day so that it expects a constant stream of calories coming. You keep your metabolism high instead of having spikes just at meals. That way even when you are sleeping, you are burning calories just to maintain those muscles.

Check this guy out.

http://www.johnstonefitness.com/php/pictures.php

 

Yeah, that's true, but usually mass comes with strength. I was 165 when I started racing MTB's. I'm 210 now, and when I was at the peak of my lifting I was 217 with 11% BF.

Needless to say, I felt faster and more agile when I was 165.

 

LOL, ok you are an extreme case. I wish I could gain that kind of serious weight.

I'm talking for these people wanting to lose weight, to basically maintain that weight but convert that fat all to muscle. Guaranteed they'd be faster and look leaner. No one here is going to gain weight from lifting if they are overweight and looking to lose the bad fat.