# Losing Weight - Diet and Exercise Questions



## Plains_Pedaler (May 12, 2014)

Hey all, college student here with some questions. I'm wanting to lose a little (or maybe a lot) of weight, via diet and lots of biking. But I have some questions about it all.

First, a little about me: I'm 6' 220lbs. Now, erase the mental image of your typical 6' 220 pound guy. I played college football, and did a LOT of lifting, so I'm a fairly muscle-bound 220. Basically built like a linebacker (played QB though). I haven't been able to ride all summer due to me being in an area (with my internship) that literally has no trails within a 50 mile radius. It SUCKS. But I will be riding hard again come mid-August. I'm looking to lose about 20-30 pounds, and if it goes well, I may look at losing more, but I have a feeling once I get to the 190 pound area there wont be much fat left to lose. I typically eat healthy, but with a budget this summer, that hasn't gone as well as planned, but that WILL also get back on track come mid-August.

 
I've seen all the wonderful stories of folks on here losing 50+ pounds and feeling amazing, etc. But as a college student, I'm gonna be spending a lot of time in the classroom and in the books. I'm thinking I'll be able to ride anywhere from 10-20 miles a day, hopefully in less than 1.5 hours so I can still have plenty of time to study and attend classes each day. I'm thinking I will try out the paleo (sp?) diet, as I did something similar to it (self-created) and it lost 35 pounds in 2.5 months. My main question is this: Is 10-20 miles/1.5 hrs of riding and a healthy diet enough for me to lose a decent amount of weight? I use the MapMyRide app, and after a 10 mile loop, it tells me I've only burned like 600 calories, which doesn't seem like much to me. So I guess I'm just looking for advice. What diet have you guys followed to drop some pounds? And how long did you ride daily in order to do it? Sorry for the long post, and thanks for your help in advance!


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## Plains_Pedaler (May 12, 2014)

Sorry for the glitchy text. There seems to be something going on with the website that doesn't take in all of my key punches while typing. So I copied and pasted from word in some spots.


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## Nubster (May 15, 2009)

Paleo and 1000 miles of riding last summer = 80 pounds lost. I didn't count calories, just ate a fairly strict (85%) Paleo diet and rode as much as I could. I've gained some back since I've slipped on the diet but I also added some muscle mass over the winter which accounts for some of the weight. I'm starting to get my diet back in order and this time I'm going to count calories to see if that helps. I started last year at 320, got down to 238, and I'm at 260 right now. Goal weight is around 200. I'm 6'2".


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## Plains_Pedaler (May 12, 2014)

Awesome. That's pretty inspiring. How much did you ride daily? And is there like, a book or something for the paleo diet?


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## Nubster (May 15, 2009)

Because of work and family, I didn't ride daily. Usually 2-3 times per week 30-50 miles per ride.

As far as books...I really like The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet by Robb Wolf.

There's a lot of websites and youtube videos out there too. I don't get too crazy with it though. Lots of people try to do too much with Paleo recipes making Paleo versions of everything. IMO...that kinda defeats the purpose of the diet which should be more of a KISS diet. Just eat whole foods as much as you can and avoid the non-Paleo stuff. Like I said above...I was about 85% strict last year....trying to get back there now. You can still eat some stuff that's not Paleo and get great results which I think helps maintain the lifestyle. It's not so crazy strict that you can't go have a couple slices of Pizza once in a while...bowl of icecream, a couple beers, ect. Just don't do it too often but don't kill yourself trying to be Mr./Mrs. Paleo either.


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## Plains_Pedaler (May 12, 2014)

Gotcha. Thanks! I'll look into it some more!


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## Trail_Blazer (May 30, 2012)

Heart Rate Zone training is a highly effective way of trading fat for muscle. If your not doing any zone training already then look into making it part of your program.


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## Plains_Pedaler (May 12, 2014)

That's definitely not something I'm familiar with, Trail Blazer. How would I go about doing that? And what is it exactly? Lol


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## Nubster (May 15, 2009)

I'm sure there's better information out there...probably whole books written on different training methods...but here's a little overview....

Heart Rate Zone Training by Cycling | LIVESTRONG.COM


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