DevilsFan1 Member

I biked 15.5 miles this morning at over 16mph and Strava told me I burned less than 500 calories. Strava is giving you inaccurate numbers for whatever reason.

5/1 - 25.02 miles 5/3 - 15.87 miles 5/6 - 32.3 miles 5/10 - 29.1 miles 5/11 - 23.9 miles 5/13 - 24.1 miles 5/17 - 16.9 miles 5/19 - 14.5 miles 5/21 - 15.5 miles

I guarantee OP didn't put on 30-60 lbs of weight from water retention. It's almost certainly fat to which birth control injections/pills contribute nothing. You're going off on a tangent that is completely irrelevent to the discussion. I've seen way too many people who confuse water weight with fat (for instance, those…

Weight is either fat, muscle, bone or other tissue. The easiest weight to lose is either fat or muscle. When you say weight can't be lost by a calorie deficit, what weight are you referring to?

No. The shots may precipitate a change in metabolism or a change in appetite. They do not contribute to weight gain or loss themselves though. Weight gain is stored energy. That energy must come from somewhere. A pill itself contains little to no stored energy? So where is the extra energy coming from? It's coming from the…

All the advice you've been given is good. One other thing: stay here and read this board. You will learn a great amount about healthy eating and healthy weight loss. You'll learn what is true (weight gain is the result of eating more calories than you expend) and what is false (birth control shots can cause you to gain…

5/1 - 25.02 miles 5/3 - 15.87 miles 5/6 - 32.3 miles 5/10 - 29.1 miles 5/11 - 23.9 miles 5/13 - 24.1 miles 5/17 - 16.9 miles 5/19 - 14.5 miles

5/1 - 25.02 miles 5/3 - 15.87 miles 5/6 - 32.3 miles 5/10 - 29.1 miles 5/11 - 23.9 miles 5/13 - 24.1 miles 5/17 - 16.9 miles

Wow! You look fantastic! You seriously look twenty years younger now. I'll bet your significant other is ecstatic. ;)

That is terrific! Thanks for being brave enough to post these as an encouragement to others!

Pretty sure I DIDN'T advocate it. I said it wasn't a good solution. The point was to eliminate the temptation to eat all of it. Putting it in a bag doesn't accomplish this.

If you refuse to count calories, then try the following. Fill your plate the way you normally would, but instead eat only half of what's there. Throw the rest away. Forget about starving children in India, just get rid of it before you can change your mind and eat the rest. Mind you, this will result in you getting hungry…

Nonsense. Proven by whom?

Do you mean you're only eating one meal a day and substituting shakes for your other meals? If so, that's not what they are intended for. Protein shakes are supplements. They are a way of meeting a macronutrient goal, specifically increasing protein while minimizing fat and carbohydrate intake. They are a great tool for…

It's quite shocking how much pseudoscience is tossed around with respect to weight loss, even among those who you would think are smarter than that. For example, I'm an engineer and work with other engineers who are quite intelligent. One of my friends subscribes to the idea that it doesn't matter how much fat and protein…

More specifically, muscle is more dense than fat.

If she's losing a pound a week, her calories are not too low. In fact, they are just about perfect for weight loss. More likely, she's not counting her calories accurately.

How intense is your cycling? Are you cycling at a sustained pace of 15mph for a full hour, because that's what it would take to hit 600 calories or so.

You're either comsuming more calories than you think or you are not expending as many calories as you think. All the other issues (thyroid, metabolism, etc) apply to a miniscule percentage of people yet many people insist that is their problem. It's easier to blame something out of your control for your weight than it is…

Look, no one is saying riding isn't strenous or that it isn't giving you a bit of a cardio workout. I'm sure it's better than sitting in a chair. What we're saying is that there is no way to accurately determine the amount of calories you are burning by riding. Do you weigh all of the food that you eat all the time? If…

These arguments get so tiresome. Everyone is different. The only reliable way to tell how many calories the exercise you are doing is consuming is to accurately track the calories you are putting into your body (weigh your food) and monitor your weight closely over a period of time to see what progress you are making. If…

Make sure you eat a bit before you exercise as well so that your body is properly fueled for the workout. Something high in carbohydrates with some protein is best. This will also help with the hunger pangs.

I've read this whole thread and honestly don't see what the point of the discussion was. OP is losing 1/2 pound a week. What she's doing is working right now. She has unrealistic expectations about her weight loss. In fact, she's 20% of her way to her goal in just a month. That means at her current pace, she will hit her…

5/1 - 25.02 miles 5/3 - 15.87 miles 5/6 - 32.3 miles 5/10 - 29.1 miles 5/11 - 23.9 miles 5/13 - 24.1 miles

Sweat is not a good indicator of calories burned. In fact, people who live in a warm climate and do the exact same exercise as someone in a cool climate burn fewer calories even though they sweat more profusely. I burn about 500 calories cycling at around 18 mph. You aren't burning 500 calories sitting on a horse. You are…

Get up early (before the sun comes up) and go for a long walk. Walking briskly is the best exercise for people who are just starting out. As it gets easier, increase the length of your walks. Trust me, you can get your heartrate up just by walking fast. Whatever you do, don't start out running full bore. That's a recipe…

I hate running. Because I hate running, I can't make myself do it on a consistent basis. I love cycling. I bike to and from work and thus can fit it into my schedule easily. Because of this, I do it on a consistent basis. My advice is to find what you love (running, swimming, cycling, olympic weightlifting, whatever) and…

If you've never exercised before I strongly suggest you avoid P90X and set your goals a bit lower. You really need to have a base of fitness established before you attempt a workout regimen like that. I've seen many people (some in my own family) who have gone from sitting on the couch to trying to do hardcore work like…

Be careful with MapMyRide. In my experience, it seems like MMR is extremely optimistic with regards to calories burned when cycling. It usually reports about twice the actual number. If you're eating back all these calories, you could be overeating and thus gaining weight you don't want to gain.

5/1 - 25.02 miles 5/3 - 15.87 miles 5/6 - 32.3 miles 5/10 - 29.1 miles 5/11 - 23.9 miles