The following is the incoherent ramblings of a man who knows nothing about the topic. It is not intended to be anything more than a common sense look at a lighter side of life. Follow these practices at your own peril and seek the advise of a trained physician before doing any physical activity.
Just looking around the house I found four different diet books, The Atkins Diet, The South Beach Diet, Suzanne Somers Sexy Forever and The Mediterranean Prescription. I have read none of these books nor do I intend to. I was on the Mediterranean Diet for a while. I lost weight immediately if not sooner. Fish, chicken, leafy veggies, olive oil, no fruit, next to no grain (ugh), no dairy, and NO ALCOHOL. Notice the no sugar and carbs. I hated it. I don’t diet anymore, to hell with it. But it’s important to know that “NORMALLY, If we eat sugar and carbs and don’t need them for IMMEDIATE ENERGY, insulan signals the cells to store the glucose for future use.”* Cycling requires immediate energy, so ride your bike, what are you waiting for, do it now!
Let’s say that we ride 200 miles a week, average speed 16mph. According to my research 1 mile at 16 mph requires 50 calories of fuel (food). 200 miles / week at this pace would burn 10,000 calories /7 days =1430 calories / day. Simply put, normally, to loose weight you want to burn more fuel than you take on, (duh). It would be hard for me to survive on < 1500 calories / day. I’m glad I don’t need, check that, want to lose any weight. If I was concerned with my weight the first thing I would do would be to count my calories (I’m lying, I’m not ever going to count calories) and get an instrument like a Garmin 500 to measure calories burned. Let’s face it, 200 miles @ 16 mph up hill ain’t the same as 200 miles @ 16mph down hill. The Garmin 500 with the heart monitor will convert your heart rate to calories burned. “Ray does the Garmin add the calories from the sports bar and energy drink I consume while riding? What about if I stop at the pub on the way home for some joint lube, does the Garmin add those calories”? Hmm. good questions. I don’t know (smart ass). I wouldn’t recommend stopping at the pub on the way home though ,(yeah right). There is an app. for your phone called Lose It. It counts calories consumed and burned. While it doesn’t sound very scientific it probably gets you in the ball park. Simpler yet is to weigh yourself, you knew that ….right? I don’t have one but one of my kids has an EatSmart Precision Digital Bathroom Scale that displays fractions of a pound. Weigh yourself before the ride then after. Another indicator would be if your pants don’t fit anymore. That’s the indicator I use. My bathroom scale is still packed in a box from when I moved to Florida in 2008. It was probably a wedding present from my aunt Ida.
My weight fluctuates 5 pounds one way or the other. “How do you know that Ray, you just said you don’t weigh yourself ?” I was lying, but………..I’m not obsessed with it. “Why are you reading Suzanne Somers Sexy Forever Ray ?“ I need all the help I can get. So apparently my caloric intake and daily activities fluctuate. The only thing I track are the miles ridden on my bike. A fifty mile ride is about average for me. The pace is often exceeding 16mph, but what about the rest of the day? How many calories does it take to ……say ……..breath?
*Suzanne Somers Sexy Forever
