I must be cursed :/ (1 Viewer)

[DeathStar1]

I take a self imposed vacation down the shore for a month. The goal was to ride 8 miles a day on the bike, and curb the eating habits, hoping I'd lose some weight.

The 8 mile a day goal was met every day of the month except two, due to high winds and storms(One day a hurricane must have blown through, heh). Sometimes, I even rode twelve miles a day. For those that know the JErsey Shore area by Point Pleasant, I usually rode the bike from Lavalette Water Tower, all the way down to Ilsand Point Beach(where there's a gated toll road).

We didn't get a scale to keep me motivated, but I'm finally back home today. First thing I do, get on the scale, and, a bit of a surprise,I'm still at the same weight.

I just don't get it. I feel thinner. Xtra large shirts fit better than they used to 2 months ago. I feel better, and I even think I look a tad bit thinner, but the scale dosn't say so...

Maby I'm doomed to be 220-230 in size, heh.

 

[Andrew W]

Well, a couple of observations, take what you like and ignore the rest...
First, 8 miles on a bike is not really very far and probably isn't going to burn a lot of calories. It will depend on your speed to some degree, but 10 miles at 12mph will only burn about 350 calories. You need to go faster or farther to really start to do some good.
See this bicycle calculator for more precise calculations.
You could have converted some fat to muscle which is denser, but don't count on it....

 

[John Miles]

That's an interesting calculator page, but it seems to be pretty badly broken. The hotter the temperature, the fewer calories it reports.

 

[JoshF]

You also didn't mention how you did on the better eating side of things.

 

[DeathStar1]

>You also didn't mention how you did on the better eating side of things. >
Well, 5 glasses of cold water evey day instead of 2/mixed with Sodas. Breakfast(The most important meal of the day ), every day instead of 3-4 days a week.
McDonalds once every 8 days instead of every 3 days. Depending on how I felt, I'd either skip lunch, or dinner, and just eat a small bagel or something to tyde me over. Everytime I ate a meal, I'd do an 8 mile bike ride just to work it off...
Most of the rides where done in 90 degree days, and probably about 6 mph, depending on the wind.

 

[JoshF]

Neil:

Sounds like a good base for a healthier lifestyle. However, you're still taking in lots of calories - breakfast foods, McDonalds, bagels - all high calorie foods.

You just have to get into the zone, give up the fast food, and stick with it. A month of change isn't going to make you fit. As they say on "Abs of Steel," Consistency Is Key.

 

[Jonathan Smith]

That's an interesting calculator page, but it seems to be pretty badly broken. The hotter the temperature, the fewer calories it reports

I don't think that means it's broken. Your body has to maintain it's temperature, and that requires energy as long as the outside temperature is cooler than 98.6 deg F.

 

[Rob Tenniswood]

It's also possible that you lost the fat and put on muscle in stead. With that kind of work-out every day, and protein that you had in your system would have definitely helped put on some muscle.

 

[Kenneth]

I don't think that means it's broken. Your body has to maintain it's temperature, and that requires energy as long as the outside temperature is cooler than 98.6 deg F.

That sounds right to me. We did some heat transfer problems in college using human body examples (we treated the body as a cylinder) and the body will definitely shed more heat to the environment when it is cooler. The amount of heat you lose to the environment is proportional to the delta between you and the environment. When it is hot your delta is not as great (although you can certainly shed alot of moisture to the environment if it is not too humid). When it is cool your delta is large and you will shed alot more heat in the range that program was indicating (3x to 4x). Even a little wind will increase the heat exchange even more.

Kenneth

 

[Todd Hochard]

The hotter the temperature, the fewer calories it reports.

That seems right, for the reasons mentioned above. Remember, you're not necessarily working harder when you're sweating your butt off- it just FEELS that way.
Neil- rather than using just the scale, why not start taking measurements- chest, waist, legs, etc. you may lose inches without losing weight, particularly if you are putting on any significant muscle mass.
A month vacation- I haven't had one of those EVER.
Todd

 

[DeathStar1]

>A month vacation- I haven't had one of those EVER.>
One of the good things about having an internet buisness. You only work when you have new customers to sign up. Even that takes less than 10 minutes. After that, all you do is collect checks and pay bills . Also, as I stated earlier, you don't need to travel, so you can pretty much do whatever you want .

 

[Bruce Chang]

Get hyperthyroidism like me! Lost 25 pounds in 1 month!

 

[DeathStar1]

>hyperthyroidism>

If I knew what this was, maby I'd be able to look into it, heh.