How do I lose weight on tour ?

[andrewc]

I'm currently 102Kg and far to much of that is gut & moobs 

I've got 4 weeks touring coming up soon,  approx 1000 miles from St Malo to Nice.  50-60 miles per day with camping kit, so nice steady exercise.

I rarely lose weight on tour, I do lose fat around the middle , but not as much as I'd like to.

My usual touring diet is a big bowl of porridge or muesli for breakfast , bread/cheese/ham at lunchtime and something based around pasta/rice/couscous of an evening, usually accompanied by some booze.

I'm planning on cutting down on the alcohol this trip (sob!) , but what should I be eating to give me enough energy for the days ride whilst helping me to lose weight ?

I'll be cooking for myself most of the time, eat meat, fish, dairy, love bread & pasta & don't like most green veg!

[Deano]

Ride it in a week with the same diet?

[hellymedic]

Attempting to lose weight on tour is a recipe for misery IME.
Having legs which refuse to budge takes all the fun out of cycle-touring. (As I found out en route to the Arctic Circle but staged a rapid recovery after downing my shortbread fingers.)

You can enjoy eating sensibly but not excessively and cut down on alcohol.

CAEK acts like rocket fuel for me and I would not have a holiday without some!

I have found losing weight much easier since I have been totally unable to cycle.

This might not be what you wish to read, sorry!

[L CC]

50-60 miles a day is enough for me to lose weight if I do it every day, whatever I eat. I do it in 3-4 hours a day, though.
To be honest, at 102kg what you do in the 4 weeks of holiday is irrelevant. It's what you do week in week out for months that will make the difference.

[D.A.L.E.]

Forget about losing weight until the day you get back. Then install MyFitnessPal on your phone. Brilliant app, its helped me lose almost 2 stone, despite not realising I had 2 stone to lose.

[T42]

50-60 miles a day is enough for me to lose weight if I do it every day, whatever I eat. I do it in 3-4 hours a day, though.
To be honest, at 102kg what you do in the 4 weeks of holiday is irrelevant. It's what you do week in week out for months that will make the difference.

+1.  Start now and cut down/out alcohol & sweet stuff, especially in the evening, and the weight will drop off.

Or you can do like I did and become diabetic.  Wonderful incentive.

[Lady Cavendish]

If I ate carb heavy for 50-60 miles a day I certainly wouldn't lose any weight either. I think I'd be similar to you Andrew in that I *may* lose a tiny but but not much on that.

The only tours where I ever lose any are where I eat normally as if I'm at home but doing 80+ miles a day.

Otherwise I accept that tours are a possibility for eating a bit of cake but accepting I'll come home the same weight. Or alternatively if I really want to lose some, then it's a chance to lose some, but it means forgoing the treats, and also the bowls of pasta/bread whatever.

Because it's a holiday, I usually use it as an opportunity for a couple of treats, and not think about losing weight until I come back. For my usual meals, at touring effort levels, I don't eat any differently to my normal life to be honest.

[LEE]

I've got 4 weeks touring coming up soon,  approx 1000 miles from St Malo to Nice.  50-60 miles per day with camping ki

Bastard!

OK, I'm over it now.

Andrew, your body is so comfortable riding 50 miles a day with camping gear I expect it will hardly notice the effort.

I think you're mad to ride the length of France without eating and drinking what you like... I think I'd rather stay at home.  I go cycle camping in France precisely to eat and drink the very best I can find.  Cycling is just a way to move my appetite to the next Cafe or Restaurant.

The miles will most likely keep it in check, or you may lose a little each day but save the actual diet for the UK.

[rafletcher]

As others have said, it's better to lose the weight when you're just living your normal life, rather than attempt to do a load whilst on holiday. I'm sure you know that, from your holiday diet, cutting out bread, butter, cheese and alcohol and substituting them with proteins and fruit/veg would see you losing weight, but at the probable expense of being able to cycle much!

Start when you return. Reduce intake of energy dense foods, maintain exercise.  See other threads passim, notably the extensive discussions around types of diets here  https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=88612.0

As I've mentioned before, I found the BBC info here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02ddsd9 helpful. YMMV of course. 

Finally - enjoy your tour, and good luck with the weight loss 

[andrewc]

50-60 miles a day is enough for me to lose weight if I do it every day, whatever I eat. I do it in 3-4 hours a day, though.
To be honest, at 102kg what you do in the 4 weeks of holiday is irrelevant. It's what you do week in week out for months that will make the difference.

+1.  Start now and cut down/out alcohol & sweet stuff, especially in the evening, and the weight will drop off.

Or you can do like I did and become diabetic.  Wonderful incentive.

Yes, that's a definite worry 

Lunchtime sandwiches from Pret have already been replaced by fruit & cheese,  I'm trying to exercise some portion control of an evening & avoid snacks & wine (exemption made for YACF camping trips!)

15 years ago I was approx 85Kg,  but at that time I was riding to a martial arts club, doing 3 hours on the mat & then riding back home, so I got into the habit of eating huge meals late at night.   These days all I want to do after work is slob out , I've not been for an evening ride this year  and renewing the gym/pool membership has been on the todo list since January

I don't intend to turn the trip into calorie counting purgatory,  but I think the evening bottle of wine will have to be sacrificed.

[Canardly]

Meditteraneans types  tend to be skinny and drink wine......

[rafletcher]

Meditteraneans types  tend to be skinny and drink wine......

Maybe when they were all peasants working on the land / at sea. Less so now.

[hellymedic]

To be honest, at 102kg what you do in the 4 weeks of holiday is irrelevant. It's what you do week in week out for months that will make the difference.

I think this is true at any weight!

[mrcharly-YHT]

Meditteraneans types  tend to be skinny and drink wine......

I went to school with quite a few italians. In their teens the girls all had Sophia-loren-like figures, hair and faces. The boys were skinny and good at sport.
When they hit mid-twenties they all put on about 150lb each.

I think it is what you eat and how much.

[Kim]

I find it hard not to lose weight when doing that amount of riding.  No so much from the exercise so much as from not eating as much as I tend to when sedentary.  Cycling destroys my appetite, so my touring strategy is to force myself to eat as much digestion-friendly food as I can bear first thing (forumites will be shocked to hear that I'm not a morning person), nibble inconsequential snacks to keep me going through the day, and have a proper meal in the evening a couple of hours after I've stopped riding and the hunger kicks in.  I'm generally asleep before the urge to snack appears.  This appears to be sustainable as long as I ride at a fat-burning touring pace - so if there are significant Bastard Hills and/or headwinds, carbs are required (I got this wrong on my Welsh tour last summer and ran out of legs).

I do of course have it easy calorie-wise in that I don't do booze.

So maybe it's a case of eat less carbs and slow down a bit?  Maybe up the protein - without resorting to the full Teethgrinder sausage diet.

But I think fboab speaks the truth...

[T42]

Something I have found is that I can't lose weight just by wanting to. I'll not stick to any kind of diet that way.  I actually have to build up an aversion for the things that put weight on.  I can sometimes do this by imagining how I'll feel after eating them - e.g. we have a shelf in the fridge that's half-full of creamy, sugary desserts for the Inlaw Paw and they look absolutely wonderful, but it takes all of 30 seconds to eat one and thereafter there's nothing left but the knowledge that I've just upped my blood glucose by 50% or whatever. Contemplating that for a few seconds is enough.  Back in the 80s I managed to build up an aversion for pubs that way.  Of course they were all full of smoke back then so it was easier.

Cultivating a virtuous feeling can work as well, although the wages-of-sin approach works better.

[hellymedic]

A four week tour is enviably long and should be enjoyed for what it is.
It's only a thirteenth of a year, in which you need healthy habits.

You will need some energy-dense foods to fuel your travels but you shouldn't need to spend all day eating, as some people on cruises do.

Eat modest portions regularly.
Don't forget fresh fruit & veg, though these may best be eaten at cafés and restaurants.

[velosam]

50-60 miles a day is enough for me to lose weight if I do it every day, whatever I eat. I do it in 3-4 hours a day, though.
To be honest, at 102kg what you do in the 4 weeks of holiday is irrelevant. It's what you do week in week out for months that will make the difference.

+1.  Start now and cut down/out alcohol & sweet stuff, especially in the evening, and the weight will drop off.

Or you can do like I did and become diabetic.  Wonderful incentive.

+1 on the diabetic, I am pre- diabetic so had to do something and have a fatty liver, which is another story

[T42]

Kudos for doing it.  My son was told that he was pre-diabetic about 5 years ago and prefers to believe that that diagnosis is an excuse to do nothing: after all, pre-diabetic isn't really diabetic.  Given his weight (vast) and his wife's cooking he's been diabetic for four of those years.  Diabetes has run in the male side of our family for at least the last three generations.

In the end I dislike the term pre-diabetic.  I'd much rather that doctors would say right out "you're developing diabetes and unless you do this and this and this you will get there in short order".

[Wowbagger]

50-60 miles a day is enough for me to lose weight if I do it every day, whatever I eat. I do it in 3-4 hours a day, though.
To be honest, at 102kg what you do in the 4 weeks of holiday is irrelevant. It's what you do week in week out for months that will make the difference.

+1.  Start now and cut down/out alcohol & sweet stuff, especially in the evening, and the weight will drop off.

Or you can do like I did and become diabetic.  Wonderful incentive.

Yes, that's a definite worry 

Lunchtime sandwiches from Pret have already been replaced by fruit & cheese,  I'm trying to exercise some portion control of an evening & avoid snacks & wine (exemption made for YACF camping trips!)

15 years ago I was approx 85Kg,  but at that time I was riding to a martial arts club, doing 3 hours on the mat & then riding back home, so I got into the habit of eating huge meals late at night.   These days all I want to do after work is slob out , I've not been for an evening ride this year  and renewing the gym/pool membership has been on the todo list since January

I don't intend to turn the trip into calorie counting purgatory,  but I think the evening bottle of wine will have to be sacrificed.

IO think you would be better advised just to enjoy your holiday and then try to lose weight when you get back, but then what do I know? 

Regarding the emboldened bit, that puts Kim in a completely new light.

Who is this woman?

[JBB]

Forget about losing weight until the day you get back. Then install MyFitnessPal on your phone. Brilliant app, its helped me lose almost 2 stone, despite not realising I had 2 stone to lose.

Working for me too, you can plan your meals as well as keep a diary!  As regards losing weight while you're away cutting down on booze will help but for me cutting down on refined sugar helps.

[D.A.L.E.]

Forget about losing weight until the day you get back. Then install MyFitnessPal on your phone. Brilliant app, its helped me lose almost 2 stone, despite not realising I had 2 stone to lose.

Working for me too, you can plan your meals as well as keep a diary!  As regards losing weight while you're away cutting down on booze will help but for me cutting down on refined sugar helps.

Really was sceptical about it - I used to hate keeping a food diary when I played decent level sport - but it's very, very good.

[mcshroom]

50-60 miles a day is enough for me to lose weight if I do it every day, whatever I eat. I do it in 3-4 hours a day, though.
To be honest, at 102kg what you do in the 4 weeks of holiday is irrelevant. It's what you do week in week out for months that will make the difference.

+1.  Start now and cut down/out alcohol & sweet stuff, especially in the evening, and the weight will drop off.

Or you can do like I did and become diabetic.  Wonderful incentive.

Yes, that's a definite worry 

Lunchtime sandwiches from Pret have already been replaced by fruit & cheese,  I'm trying to exercise some portion control of an evening & avoid snacks & wine (exemption made for YACF camping trips!)

15 years ago I was approx 85Kg,  but at that time I was riding to a martial arts club, doing 3 hours on the mat & then riding back home, so I got into the habit of eating huge meals late at night.   These days all I want to do after work is slob out , I've not been for an evening ride this year  and renewing the gym/pool membership has been on the todo list since January

I don't intend to turn the trip into calorie counting purgatory,  but I think the evening bottle of wine will have to be sacrificed.

IO think you would be better advised just to enjoy your holiday and then try to lose weight when you get back, but then what do I know? 

Regarding the emboldened bit, that puts Kim in a completely new light.

Who is this woman?

Kim

[Hedgebanger]

Course you don't lose wt. As you've pointed out your shape changes, so you lose fat but gain muscle. Muscle is heavier than fat. If you are riding 100 miles per day you can eat and drink what you want. You're touring for enjoyment not to lose weight. Enjoy!

[Ningishzidda]

On tour, riding along where you only need to breath in through the nose, you will be mobilising more fat than carbs.
Stay at average 10 mph ( or less ) and you won't need to eat much more than your Basal Metabolic Rate.

Stuffing one's face with high carb goodies to average <10 mph for seven hours is asking to pile on fat.