# Trying to lose weight...what's your sample healthy diet?



## Mamba13 (Apr 30, 2014)

Ok. I ride mtn (11 miles, 1:26 mins) & road bikes ( 17 miles, 1:20 mins). That is my usual mileage but I'd like to add distance to lose more weight. I've lost some weight & inches but would like to lose more. So here's a sample of my diet but I'd like to hear yours so I can incorporate more healthy choices. I'm not afraid of carbs for breakfast & I'm not an extreme Paleo dieter. I believe everything in moderation. 

B: coffee, truvia, 3 Tbspns half & half 
Oikos vanilla Greek yogurt w granola on top or half of a Cliff bar. 
Recovery drink is abt 1 cup of choc milk. 

L: chicken breast deli meat & cheese sandwich on low calorie whole wheat bread, red grapes, hummus & low calorie chips & water. 

Pm Snack: here's when I'm really hungry & these snacks turn into small meals. Hummus & low cal chips, nuts, cashew clusters from Costco, almond butter on just abt anything. 

D: chicken breast or hamburger patty ( no bun), chipotle sweet potato fries, roasted assorted vegetables. 

Evening snack: red wine, 1 piece of dove milk chocolate, or popcorn. One or the other & not every night. 

Of course if I cheat it will be used on pizza or Mexican food. Haha. 
I try to cut out processed foods but it's really hard. What do u eat hummus with? Besides nuts what r some healthy snacks?

Thx in advance for any helpful remarks.


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## WA-CO (Nov 23, 2013)

Mamba,

Your diet doesn't seem that bad to me, but you need more fruit an veggies. Throw a salad or two into your weekly meal mix. Add some grilled chicken breast and a bit of cheese to it. Don't go crazy on the dressing. In fact, I pour the dressing into the cap, and give myself 3 capfuls. No more.

There is a chain of restaurants called Yum Bowl. Basically its stuff on rice. We've taken that to our own level and basically do rice, raw veggies, little meat/cheese and a tiny tiny bit of salad dressing. 

To that point, buy a rice cooker if you don't have one. Best damned kitchen appliance period. Buy a good one, from a Asian store, ours is a Sanyo. Cost like 120 bucks, but the damned thing is like 10 years old and it get's used 1-2 times a week, runs like a top. Brown rice or a wild rice with some chicken broth as the "water" is fantastic. Throw some chopped up mushrooms or a bit of onion in the mix or do the yum bowl like I described above. 

The processed foods can be tough, so just limit yourself to once a week, if you can. I can't resist Mexican food or Pizza either, but I try to at least do something fresh and local not from the freezer section.

Again, the fruit. That is a must in the cycling space. Eat anything you like. I probably eat at least 2 pieces of fruit a day. Every morning is a Muesli mix with a banana and a fist full of almonds or pecans. 

There is nothing wrong with the good old American sandwich. Find a local deli that wll make you up something fresh. Hold the mayo, but have them double the mustard. Cheese is OK, just don't have them add 10 slices. One or two is enough.

Didn't see anything about what you drink? If you're doing those sugary monster or redbull things, don't. Those are full of sugar and really really bad. I still drink a Coke once in a while, but recently started drinking San Pellegrino flavored water in the can. Its pretty damned good. 

I'm no puritan for Christ's sake. Just scarfed about 6 Newman's cookies an hour ago. Powered them down like I had 10,000 in the back room. Anyway, IF I do eat something I consider junk, I at least try to buy something that is make with something that resembles real ingredients. 

Do some reading on cycling and diet. You'll find some good advice. I started riding quite a bit in the 90s and decided I needed to take my food a bit more seriously. I still eat ice cream. Drink a beer every night, but again with all things in moderation, and you're fine.

As far as riding, you may need to get out and get in some bigger miles. Bigger miles means bigger calories burned. If you can get into shape where you can ride 5-8 hours (it's a challenge, let me tell you) you'll end up where you CANT eat enough food. Seriously. When it happens it will totally blow your mind. The key, is to keep riding and run a "mild" calorie deficit. Regardless the key is to just keep riding. Getting in better shape, you'll want (and can) ride more, it's a cycle but a good, healthy one. 

I suggested it in another post, but consider buying a body fat scale if you don't have one. I've had one for 15 years. They are not expensive, and worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY. Seriously, use it at your literal and figurative "gut" check. 

Ride as much as you can. I personally don't know a single person who sez, "Ya know, I'm just riding my bike too much."


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## TraxFactory (Sep 10, 1999)

Boost your metabolism by cross training with weight lifting and fueling throughout the day. More protein and wine, less carbs.


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## Nubster (May 15, 2009)

90% Paleo + cycling = 80 pounds lost last year. Working on the last 40 pounds now.


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## Flamingtaco (Mar 12, 2012)

Adding distance is #1. You can't get past the physics of laying down mileage.

Every ounce of weight that is lost goes out through the lungs. Much like hydration, we tend to underbreath. Pay attention to your breathing.

Proteins up, carbs down. The closer you run to the carbs you truly need, the faster the weight will come off. Dropping carbs drops calories without increasing hunger significantly. Have spare liquid carbs on you when testing your limits. One can bonk as hard as a poorly prepared enduro racer, and coasting home is no fun.

I shoot for 60% recommended carbs when trying to drop pounds quickly. There's a balancing act between losing weight and retaining strength that plays out and must be watched and adjusted for constantly.


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## dave54 (Jul 1, 2003)

Eat everything you normally do, just less of it.

The best exercise or activity to lose weight is push-aways at the dinner table.


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## theMeat (Jan 5, 2010)

True^
As for your diet I'd replace some nuts and grains with fruits and veggies.


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

ride more or workout more, or eat less, or both.

it doesn't really matter what you shove in yer neck, it is calories in - calories out.

Now if you want 'performance' then it does matter what you eat (garbage food vs quality power and muscle builders)
for long term power you need to carb load to a degree, to build muscle or short term sprint power more proteins

wake up and an immediate protein shake, and another directly before bedtime, is a good old standby to keep weight down yet build and maintain muscle


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## Mamba13 (Apr 30, 2014)

Thank you all for very helpful info!!!

Wa-co, why buy a rice cooker? Is the box rice that you cook on the stove worse for you than the larger bags of rice? Stove top vs rice cooker?


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## WA-CO (Nov 23, 2013)

First off, I don't subscribe to the no carbs philosophy. Some do. I place more credibility in calories in/calories out. But I'm lucky. I'm fit, and always have been.

So a rice cooker. Honestly, I didn't know until we started really making rice part of our diet. It's ease and consistency. Poor in rice, poor in liquid. Turn it on. Walk away. It's stupid simple. Again, buy a good one.

As a reference point, look anywhere that serves rice. Sushi, Teriyaki, Chinese. All use a rice cooker. There is a reason for it. Fast, simple, good.

Oh and instant rice "uncle ben's" is not rice. We use Lundberg organic rice. Stuff like this.


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## RideMX104 (Jun 11, 2008)

Im glad Im not asking this question cuz that was confusing! There are so many trains of thought on this topic, but the whole calorie in calorie out idea hasn't been sustainable for me as a long term solution. What has worked is simply cutting certain things like processed oils like vegetable oil, corn oil, 90% of the bread intake and increasing my carbs from vegetables and using coconut oil, olive oil (not heated) and supplementing with fish oil. This has been a lifestyle change that keeps me away from a lot of processed foods, fast food/restaurant food and that along with some other basic stuff has let me keep the extra 20 pounds off without feeling like a diet.


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## WA-CO (Nov 23, 2013)

RideMX104 said:


> This has been a lifestyle change that keeps me away from a lot of processed foods, fast food/restaurant food and that along with some other basic stuff has let me keep the extra 20 pounds off without feeling like a diet.


Bingo.


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## theMeat (Jan 5, 2010)

127.0.0.1 said:


> ride more or workout more, or eat less, or both.
> 
> it doesn't really matter what you shove in yer neck, it is calories in - calories out.
> 
> ...


While your message is sound, well intended and may help some, it can be taken the wrong way and without explaining the logic/details it could lead some to slower progress. 
Yes it's calories in vs out but it only takes a few moments to eat what it could take hours to burn off. Not enough or too much carbs and/or fats can lead to more storage for some, as well as performance and recovery issues. And more protein then you need is not a good thing for loosing niether. Not to mention sugar and many other things and their effects, so yeah it does matter what you eat.
The "old standby" is eat protein every 3 hours or so to help recovering muscles. Recovering muscles, or any muscle for that matter, speeds metab and burns calories even at rest. Casein protein before bed is best because it's slowly digested and absorbed, unless you're waking up in the middle of the night to eat. If you're not recovering then this isn't nearly as important.
Protein shakes can be helpful if/when your muscles need it. The best time is after a hard workout, the next best is when you wake. At these times you want faster absorbing protein and for that a whey shake is hard to beat. I personally think more then one a day is too much and would rather eat real foods, but either way if your muscles don't need it it's extra calories. I'd sooner enjoy those extra calories with a drink, dessert or treat. But it's funny how eating foods for long enough becomes what you crave. Like lower fat milk, water instead of sugary drink, ww bread instead or white, natural rice, grilled and less cooked instead or fried.
Adding a shake before and after bed can be helpful simply because you're adding more meals, which can help many by speeding metab, and lessens the chance your muscles can be consumed too, but real food still works


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## Nubster (May 15, 2009)

Look into intermittent fasting. It works...does for me at least.


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## jrastories (Aug 2, 2008)

Isn't intermittent fasting just a fancy term for sleeping?? Most of what I have read is that it is fasting for 12 hours (some say 16 hours I think). If you have dinner around 5 or 6 and a snack around 7 then go to bed wake up and have breakfast around 7 or 8 is that not intermittent fasting??? Please correct me if I am wrong or give me some other insite on this magical dieting fad.

It all comes to changing what you eat on a day to day basis and from spending the last 4 months in the fitness industry I have decided that the advice I have given on here before is pretty solid, I have already seen results, That is to upgrade food, small changes at a time. For a lot of people it is simply learning portion sizes. Take that serving of rice and half it. Trade the bread for an extra serving of veggies. Take a look at what 200 calories looks like


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## RIDESLOW (Dec 21, 2007)

Intemittant fasting works for me. I started skipping dinner a couple months back when i knew the following day would be a rest day. I hit a plateau and now i'm skippin breakfast,it's workin, and kinda neat listening to my stomach grumble.


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## Nubster (May 15, 2009)

jrastories said:


> Isn't intermittent fasting just a fancy term for sleeping?? Most of what I have read is that it is fasting for 12 hours (some say 16 hours I think). If you have dinner around 5 or 6 and a snack around 7 then go to bed wake up and have breakfast around 7 or 8 is that not intermittent fasting??? Please correct me if I am wrong or give me some other insite on this magical dieting fad.
> 
> It all comes to changing what you eat on a day to day basis and from spending the last 4 months in the fitness industry I have decided that the advice I have given on here before is pretty solid, I have already seen results, That is to upgrade food, small changes at a time. For a lot of people it is simply learning portion sizes. Take that serving of rice and half it. Trade the bread for an extra serving of veggies. Take a look at what 200 calories looks like


I guess if you sleep for 12-16 hours a day it is. But if that's the case, you have more issues than diet. You have medical condition or you are a loser that has nothing better to do than sleep all day.

Anyways, yeah, you don't eat for 12-16 hours then you consume your calories during the rest of the time that you are awake. There's a lot of science to it with regulating hormones and tapping into fat for energy. It works and is pretty easy to do with no downside other than those days you get pretty hungry before it's time to eat. You don't even have to do it everyday so if you have a day that you get hunger pains before first meal time...then just eat.

And it's not a fad. Take the fad stuff and shove it. Everyone that sees something suggested that's not what they do...oh...it's just a fad. That's a load of bullsh!t. Take a little time and look into it and maybe you'll learn something. If you can't be bothered then shove off. But don't call it a fad when you don't even know anything about it.


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## theMeat (Jan 5, 2010)

Inter Fast can be great, ok, or not good at all depending on condition, goals and genetics. i.e. ymmv
Herschel Walker is a good extreme example of it can work, even thou his own trainer says it goes against everything he's learned. For me it's effective until it all falls apart and then i have to play catch up. After much tweaking/experimenting if i do it for more then smidges here and there it doesn't work.


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## George H (Jul 5, 2014)

Hi,
Everyone has a personal calorie limit. Staying within yours can help you get to or maintain a healthy weight. Reaching a healthier weight is a balancing act. The secret is learning how to balance your "energy in" and "energy out" over the long run. "Energy in" is the calories from foods and beverages you have each day. "Energy out" is the calories you burn for basic body functions and physical activity. I also think that you should keep your calorie limit in mind when deciding what to eat and drink. For example, if your calorie limit is 1,800 calories per day, think about how those calories can be split up among meals, snacks, and beverages over the course of a day. In short, It doesn't have to be the same each day. If you eat a larger lunch, think about eating a smaller meal at dinner. What here I am trying to say is , a snack with 200 calories may be a better option than another with 500 calories. Use your daily calorie limit to help you decide which foods and drinks to choose. I hope these tips will help you.


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## Emeritus (Apr 7, 2014)

Biked or ran every other day and followed Eat for Life plan = 50 lbs off so far.

This is the important thing - I biked/ran like crazy and never lost significant weight. It is all about changing the eating. With Eat for Life you can pretty much eat all the fruits and veggies you want, eat more beans and nuts than you probably were, but cut back on meat and almost eliminate sugar and carbs. Works like a charm and I haven't hit a plateau or significant hunger/craving issue yet.


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## WA-CO (Nov 23, 2013)

*Eat good food, and try to track your calories...*

I've posted something similar on another thread, but not only will a serious evaluation/interrogation of WHAT you eat help as others have clearly noted, but an effort to calorie track can give you some data to help verify/validate your individual findings, once you get farther down this road. Again, I'm pretty fit, but was gaining a little weight, and decided it wasn't coming off as quickly as I wanted. So, I got all OCD on it.

First, built a simple spreadsheet, and tracked the quantity and calories for EVERYTHING I ate. If I ate out, I tracked on my phone.

Second, in different worksheet I tracked everything I did for exercise, based upon what it was, the overall duration, and intensity.

Third, I used what is called your basal metabolic rate or your "stay alive" calorie burn. Mine ended up being about 2250 cal a day.

Lastly, I weighed myself (with a body fat %) EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I did this tracking for about 10-12 weeks.

At about 4 weeks, I took it into the weight loss mode. On the days where I exceeded my calories expended was greater than my calories in, I allowed myself to put back 1/2 of my deficit. So, it looked like this:

Basal Rate -2250
3 hours cycling -1800
Total Burned = -4100
Total Calories In +3185
Net difference = -915

So I ate another 400 ish in calories as a "treat" for resulting delta. Obviously I could just try to hold with the xxx difference but I found doing so too many days in a row, and I would bust into the kitchen and just destroy the fridge.

Ultimately, it took me 10 weeks to eliminate the 15lbs, but I did and was ready for race season. I stayed on the scale everyday to check myself and what I learned.

I'm no dietician, or nutritionist, and everybody's got a different goal/perspective, but maybe doing something similar to what I did will help. I'm super data driven and pretty analytical about stuff, so I needed to dig in and really understand my food choices, eating habits, and understand how my body acted in the whole food in/calories burned equation.


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## KevinGT (Dec 25, 2012)

Emeritus said:


> This is the important thing - I biked/ran like crazy and never lost significant weight. It is all about changing the eating.


I couldn't agree more.

In feb of 2012, I was 5' 6" tall and weighed 236 lbs. Today I'm at about 165. Of the 71 lbs lost, 60 of it came with zero exercise. All I did was reduce calorie intake. At about 175 lbs, I started mountain biking and over a year dropped to 158.

Then it got interesting. At 158, which was about 6 months ago, I cranked up my cycling mileage a bunch and stopped monitoring calories. I continued to eat healthy (nothing fried, no desserts,no candy, no chocolate, very little alcohol) but stopped monitoring my calories. I've gained 7 pounds despite riding longer and faster than I ever have.

It's all about calorie intake.


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## WA-CO (Nov 23, 2013)

KevinGT said:


> I've gained 7 pounds despite riding longer and faster than I ever have.
> 
> It's all about calorie intake.


Nice work, now you done got yerself extramusclehead.


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## dave54 (Jul 1, 2003)

theMeat said:


> True^
> As for your diet I'd replace some nuts and grains with fruits and veggies.


Nuts are a healthy alternative to chips and other junk snacks if you crave something salty and crunchy. Unfortunately, nuts are also loaded with calories. Dry roasted unsalted are somewhat better, but blah tasting to me.

FYI -- you see a lot internet talk about Brazil nuts being high in selenium, which is believed good for men's prostate health. A single Brazil nut contains about 1.5 times the DRI for selenium. So you really do not need to go overboard for Brazil nuts. Good thing, too, as they are pricey by themselves.


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