# Cycling makes me gain weight



## bikersteve (Mar 25, 2004)

I know that most people here cycle to lose weight, but I'm different. I've noticed that when I start ramping up the cycling (>=100 miles/wk), I put on 3-4 pounds so that I go from ~195 to 199/200. This has happened for the past two seasons. The extra weight is not fat - I have very little - it probably is muscle, but I wanted to hear if anyone else has this sort of experience. Its surprising to me because I'd expect losses in weight and not gains.


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## Hooben (Aug 22, 2004)

If you weigh 200 lbs. then you must be about 6feet 4 inches. If not then it's fat. Make sure that you are reaching your aerobic heart rate. If you are riding at a slow cadence, then there is no way you will loose weight. In order to do that, you must "spin" or ride at a higher cadence. There is a way to ride, where you wont loose any weight and not feel any different. Try to pick it up a notch... stay out of your big ring and use your bigger chainrings in the back.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

No, eating more calories than you burn causes you to gain weight. Whether fat or muscle you're not going to gain weight unless you're eating excess calories (excepting changes in weight due to hydration levels). In all probability the increased cycling is stimulating your appetite and you're eating more.


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## bas (Jul 30, 2004)

Probably double downing on Accelerade before/during/after his cycling. Way too many calories.




Dwayne Barry said:


> No, eating more calories than you burn causes you to gain weight. Whether fat or muscle you're not going to gain weight unless you're eating excess calories (excepting changes in weight due to hydration levels). In all probability the increased cycling is stimulating your appetite and you're eating more.


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## TurboTurtle (Feb 4, 2004)

Hooben said:


> If you weigh 200 lbs. then you must be about 6feet 4 inches. If not then it's fat. Make sure that you are reaching your aerobic heart rate. If you are riding at a slow cadence, then there is no way you will loose weight. In order to do that, you must "spin" or ride at a higher cadence. There is a way to ride, where you wont loose any weight and not feel any different. Try to pick it up a notch... stay out of your big ring and use your bigger chainrings in the back.


The body could care less whether you spin or push. It's calories burned. - TF


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## Guest (May 1, 2005)

Dwayne Barry said:


> No, eating more calories than you burn causes you to gain weight. Whether fat or muscle you're not going to gain weight unless you're eating excess calories (excepting changes in weight due to hydration levels). In all probability the increased cycling is stimulating your appetite and you're eating more.


This makes the most sense of all the posts. I know that after a long endurance ride I can't stop eating. The trick is to make sure you're eating the right foods. Lots of water, veggies, fruit, and protein rich foods like fish and chicken are usually best. Unfortunately my body craves sugar and carb rich foods and I give in way too quickly. The trick to loose weight is to do longer rides. Force your body to go beyond the carbs and tap into the fat stores. That won't happen until you've been on the bike for at least 1 to 1 1/2 hours.


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## TurboTurtle (Feb 4, 2004)

gnauss said:


> Force your body to go beyond the carbs and tap into the fat stores. That won't happen until you've been on the bike for at least 1 to 1 1/2 hours.


What? Can you give me a source for this? - TF


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## bikersteve (Mar 25, 2004)

No, it's not fat. If it is, I seriously don't know where my body puts it. I've spent a lot of time in the weight room, that's why I weigh so much (I'm 6'0). I look more like a football player than a true cyclist.

But that doesn't mean that I don't know how to get an aerobic workout. I always reach my aerobic max at some point in each of my rides, although not the same amount of time. I lift 1 or 2 times a week, have maybe 1 rest day and then the rest of the week I'm either on the bike or swimming, or maybe playing basketball.

I eat well and rarely ever eat real sugary or junk foods like chocolate. I refuse to eat pizza and cheesey foods. I do eat more during the riding season because I'm more hungry, and because I'll bonk if I don't. But the food I eat is high protein, high carbs, lots of fruits and veggies, etc. I've honestly yet to meet someone who eats better than I do.

Maybe my leg muscles develop more with the added stress from cycling, I don't know.


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## Squint (Jan 22, 2004)

Guess what? You can get fat on a healthy diet and lose fat on an unhealthy diet. The quantity, not quality, is what matters. A gain of a few pounds can be a layer of fat stealthily distributed over your body. You won't notice it.


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## BaadDawg (Mar 27, 2003)

I have been doing hard spinning classes and road biking 6 days a week for a year and a half. Duration is anywhere from an hour to 4 hours and have not lost one pound. Probably gained maybe 5. I am not slim, but in the best shape of my life (I have always been active).

I know that if I wanted to lose weight I would have to start calorie counting. I too eat the right foods, but all the aerobic workouts give me a hunger that I find hard to resist. I drink plenty of water, but I do find that I seem to crave carbs and some sugar.

I am content with being is great shape and a bit overweight (maybe 10 pounds). The thought of dieting and continuing with the hard workouts seems like it would be torture.


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## spox (May 10, 2002)

It may be because of bulky upper body, and quite small amount of riding. Legs get stressed for carrying so much weight up the hills. So they get bigger. If you are hoping for a better cycling performance, then focus on weight training for about 12 weeks in a year 2-3 times/ week and skip it totally after that (except abs and lower back without weights) same with swimming except when weight training. Double or triple your riding time. Shortly said, get rid of football players lifestyle and your muscle mass will get better for cycling. Smaller chassis for same engine>faster. Lean muscle or not it's at least 25-30 pounds too much. 

But then again, it depends.


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## Guest (May 2, 2005)

TurboTurtle said:


> What? Can you give me a source for this? - TF


I actually read about this in one of those extra books they give you when you subscribe to Bicycling Magazine. They had one of the old Motorola/7 eleven guys, I think it was Davis Phinney, talking about how you train your body to tap into your fat stores instead of only using carbs for energy. Apparently your body runs through the carbs pretty quickly but the fat stores offer longer more sustained energy.


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## Spunout (Aug 12, 2002)

TurboTurtle said:


> What? Can you give me a source for this? - TF


Jeukendrup, Asker Ph.D, High Performance Cycling.

Why do you want to lose weight? Are you fat? Muscular (are you lifting?)?

Eat on the bike 300Cal after 1.5 hours and every hour thereafter. This will stop the binge eating when you get home.


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## Guest (May 2, 2005)

Spunout said:


> Jeukendrup, Asker Ph.D, High Performance Cycling.
> 
> Why do you want to lose weight? Are you fat? Muscular (are you lifting?)?
> 
> Eat on the bike 300Cal after 1.5 hours and every hour thereafter. This will stop the binge eating when you get home.


This time of year...yes I am trying to shed a few pounds of winter weight. I'm 6'2", 180lbs. Not fat but would like to get down to about 175. I usually eat on the bike for any ride over 30 miles. Usually an energy bar and/or gel periodically. I'm not saying that binging is really all that bad. Part of the reason I ride the way I do is so that I can eat whatever I want


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## bimini (Jul 2, 2003)

*I have a hard time dropping weight during the season*

If you are doing a lot of intensity riding the body will be screaming for fuel after these rides. 

At best, I can hold my weight during the season.

What works best for me is to diet during the off season and/or early stages of training and get my weight down a little below where I want to be at. Then I'll pick up a couple of pounds as the season progresses. 

Don't think you can eat whatever you want just because you are riding a lot and/or riding hard. You still need to watch what you eat to keep on the low end of the weight scale (at least I do)



gnauss said:


> This time of year...yes I am trying to shed a few pounds of winter weight. I'm 6'2", 180lbs. Not fat but would like to get down to about 175. I usually eat on the bike for any ride over 30 miles. Usually an energy bar and/or gel periodically. I'm not saying that binging is really all that bad. Part of the reason I ride the way I do is so that I can eat whatever I want


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## Guest (May 2, 2005)

I actually did just that this off season. I went low carb and actually came in weighing almost 10lbs less than at the same point last year. I do love pizza and burgers so I'm not willing to give them up. I'm 34 and the best I can hope for is being the best recreational rider in my county. Plus when the ******* driving the pickup takes me out I'll be dissappointed that I gave up eating the foods I love for so long.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

gnauss said:


> Force your body to go beyond the carbs and tap into the fat stores. That won't happen until you've been on the bike for at least 1 to 1 1/2 hours.


This is simply not true.

BUT, the longer you exercise the MORE (in terms of percentage) of the energy required at a given power output will come from adipose tissue rather than fat circulating in your blood from your last meal or from intramuscular fat.

It's also my understanding that this can be influenced by diet as well, in that, getting up in the morning and riding will burn more fat from adipose tissue than if you have eaten recently. Or in general, the longer it's been since you've eaten the greater the percentage of calories burned will come from adipose fat because your body is basically starting to go into "starvation" mode so it is mobilizing your energy stores to provide calories.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

bikersteve said:


> Maybe my leg muscles develop more with the added stress from cycling, I don't know.


Perhaps but nonetheless, you can't defy the laws of physics and energetics! If you're gaining weight because you're adding either muscle mass or fat mass, you must be eating excess calories to provide the energy to build that tissue, resulting in an increase in mass and weight.


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## Guest (May 2, 2005)

Dwayne Barry said:


> This is simply not true.
> 
> BUT, the longer you exercise the MORE (in terms of percentage) of the energy required at a given power output will come from adipose tissue rather than fat circulating in your blood from your last meal or from intramuscular fat.
> 
> It's also my understanding that this can be influenced by diet as well, in that, getting up in the morning and riding will burn more fat from adipose tissue than if you have eaten recently. Or in general, the longer it's been since you've eaten the greater the percentage of calories burned will come from adipose fat because your body is basically starting to go into "starvation" mode so it is mobilizing your energy stores to provide calories.


Thanks for clearing that up for us Doc.


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## rule (Dec 2, 2004)

The smartest thing that I ever did was to buy Chris Carmichael's fitness nutrition book and figure out how to eat right and still get the kind of cycling results that I was wanting. It answered a lot of my questions.


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## jgsjr (May 21, 2004)

I am about the same size as you are and I have noticed that every Monday I weigh more than I did on Friday usually by about 5lbs. I ride about 200-250 miles a week heaviest riding on the weekends 100- 150 miles. On club rides and rallies I average 19-20mph. I also keep a food diary of everything I eat and drink. Calories in is less than or equal calories burned since by wednesday I back to my regular weight I figure it must be water. Body fat (electroinc and tape) does not show an increase.


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## bikersteve (Mar 25, 2004)

jgsjr said:


> I am about the same size as you are and I have noticed that every Monday I weigh more than I did on Friday usually by about 5lbs. I ride about 200-250 miles a week heaviest riding on the weekends 100- 150 miles. On club rides and rallies I average 19-20mph. I also keep a food diary of everything I eat and drink. Calories in is less than or equal calories burned since by wednesday I back to my regular weight I figure it must be water. Body fat (electroinc and tape) does not show an increase.


That's interesting. I haven't been weighing myself daily, more like weekly, so it could be something similar to what's happening to you. I'm not sure where your body would store the extra water because usually, it does a good job of making you go to the bathroom if you drink too much. Otherwise the blood pressure would significantly increase.

I was also thinking that it could be a combination of both fat and muscle. I'd have to burn more energy than a person of lesser weight to go any distance, and I just might need a little extra fat to keep me from using all my glycogen stores without anything to replace them. And I'm sure that the hills that I actually enjoy climbing, and just riding in general has added to my leg muscle mass. 

I'm not trying to get rid of the upper body weight just now because I'm not serious about racing, yet. The weight training will have to stop if I ever decide to race. For now though, it's useful as deterrent for drivers thinking about messing around with me while I'm riding.


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## cityeast (Sep 16, 2004)

BaadDawg said:


> I have been doing hard spinning classes and road biking 6 days a week for a year and a half. Duration is anywhere from an hour to 4 hours and have not lost one pound. Probably gained maybe 5. I am not slim, but in the best shape of my life (I have always been active).
> 
> I know that if I wanted to lose weight I would have to start calorie counting. I too eat the right foods, but all the aerobic workouts give me a hunger that I find hard to resist. I drink plenty of water, but I do find that I seem to crave carbs and some sugar.
> 
> I am content with being is great shape and a bit overweight (maybe 10 pounds). The thought of dieting and continuing with the hard workouts seems like it would be torture.


If you want to lose weight but are already very fit and active, you are actually at a big disadvantage to someone that is unfit. it means your body has adapted and become very efficient, and you have to really go the extra (less calories/more exercise) to see a significant result. 

Over new year I went from 93kg to 84kg in about 8 weeks, doing 30-60min med-hi intensity rowing (indoor) per day, cutting out sugar-added foods and avoiding big meals in the evening. Now I am eating a bit more I am staying stable. I would like to drop another 4-5, but thats going to be hard work.


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## Hardy Cyclamens (Mar 21, 2005)

HOLD ON ! ! ! 

I think you're all missing the vital clue here. This guy lifts and gains weight. I did a weight training class one semester in college. That meant hanging out in the gym five days a week, in the weight room and in the circuit room right next to the weight room. As I was doing all this weight work, I was also riding a MTB some 25 miles round trip to and from school, on some significant terrain. 

I tried like crazy to 'bulk up" -- I wanted a larger upper body, and worked hard to develop muscle mass in the upper body. My body won't develop muscle mass. 

Body builders have a specific type of muscle tissue which builds mass or bulk. If you have it, you get bigger when you work out. If you don't have it, you get fit, but don't gain weight. 

Football players gain weight when they work out. It's part of the muscle physiology. 

If this guy's riding, lifting and gaining weight, I can guarantee you that it's not fat. He's eating healthy, getting extremely fit and adding muscle mass. If he wants to race bikes, he'd be well served to try track events -- IF he has the fast twitch muscle that allows the sprinting. 

But he'll never be a hill climber, or a svelt road cyclist. It's just not part of his physiology.


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## Spunout (Aug 12, 2002)

Right. If he wants to lose weight, stop lifting.


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## bikejr (Jul 30, 2004)

*...*



BaadDawg said:


> I am content with being is great shape and a bit overweight (maybe 10 pounds). The thought of dieting and continuing with the hard workouts seems like it would be torture.


 That's the way I look at it. I need to drop some weight mainly to climb better but it's just too hard when I'm riding a lot. An off season project for sure. And forget the low carb crap when trying to work out at a high intensity level, or doing longer endurance rides. 

Since I usually eat Power bars, goo etc on the bike I usually crave real food when done with a long ride like Spaghetti, Pizza and the like.


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## bikejr (Jul 30, 2004)

*Well....*



bimini said:


> Don't think you can eat whatever you want just because you are riding a lot and/or riding hard. You still need to watch what you eat to keep on the low end of the weight scale (at least I do)


 In my experience you can pretty much eat whatever you want, whenever you want if you are riding 250-300 miles a week...

Having said that, those days are gone, but when I was riding that much and working out 5x a week besides it didn't much matter what I ate or how much I ate. I kept my weight constant.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

Spunout said:


> Right. If he wants to lose weight, stop lifting.


Well, if that is the only thing in the equation that changes, he'll just lose muscle and add fat. You've got to consume less calories than you burn in order to lose mass (and weight), it's as simple as that. However you go about doing it (eating less, burning more, or a combination of the two).


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## bikersteve (Mar 25, 2004)

Dwayne Barry said:


> Well, if that is the only thing in the equation that changes, he'll just lose muscle and add fat. You've got to consume less calories than you burn in order to lose mass (and weight), it's as simple as that. However you go about doing it (eating less, burning more, or a combination of the two).


I think the idea is to replace the lifting days with cycling/aerobic activity days, which would definitely decrease some muscle mass if my diet stayed the same.


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## bighead (Feb 27, 2005)

*aerobic v. anerobic*

This is distantly related, and its been something I've been thinking about, because I also kayak (which is a pretty anerobic activity):

I've been biking around 100 miles per week this winter/spring, and scarcely lost any weight, though I feel healthier. Usually during kayaking season in the summer(soon, soon), I lose weight like crazy - I have heard that you consume more energy during anerobic activity than aerobic. Does anybody know if this is true?

Maybe you should try low-intensity rides - keep the heart rate down - if you're trying to lose weight. Or try kayaking  

The corrolary to this, maybe, is that as your conditioning improves and your aerobic threshold becomes higher, maybe you will start to burn more? (or do I have that backwards...)


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

Anaerobic vs. aerobic is really an artificial distinction, that doesn't truly exist. All your activities are aerobic. What most people mean by anaerobic is relatively "high-intensity" types of activity, and sure the higher the intensity the more calories you burn for a given amount of time.


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## Spunout (Aug 12, 2002)

bikersteve said:


> I think the idea is to replace the lifting days with cycling/aerobic activity days, which would definitely decrease some muscle mass if my diet stayed the same.


Exactly. Replace that time with cycling time. Energy outputs the same. Muscles atrophy where no longer needed. 

FWIW, I have a teammate who loves to pump iron. Got him out of that right away (lost 2 sizes in team kits). He loves to do power work, so now I get him to go do 1 minute sprints up a 10% grade.

If you want to be a cyclist, train by cycling.


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## rbart4506 (Aug 4, 2004)

I agree with that one...I'm by no means a racer, but love to ride...I have found in the past that after a long ride I was famished and hunting for anything to eat...Now I make sure I consume something after one hour of riding (if my stomach says so)... And then when I get home I down some Endurox R4 and I'm not craving as much crap....I can then calmly eat my dinner and go about my evening business...Last year was a case of constitent hunger and eating whatever I could find in the cupboard, which would usually be something high in sugar....

Rich


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## bighead (Feb 27, 2005)

*ur-obic*



Dwayne Barry said:


> Anaerobic vs. aerobic is really an artificial distinction, that doesn't truly exist. All your activities are aerobic. What most people mean by anaerobic is relatively "high-intensity" types of activity, and sure the higher the intensity the more calories you burn for a given amount of time.


Dwayne,

I think I had the terminology wrong, so I'll dumb it down (for my benefit):

In kayaking, you're never exerting yourself to the point where you are breathing hard(pre-aerobic?) , unlike biking. When biking, there (as I understand it) is a range where you are working efficiently at a sustainable level, and a range above that where you are building/pushing capacity.

Vast simplifications and artificial distinctions aside, has anybody else heard about this?


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Pretty complete misunderstanding*



bighead said:


> In kayaking, you're never exerting yourself to the point where you are breathing hard(pre-aerobic?) , unlike biking. When biking, there (as I understand it) is a range where you are working efficiently at a sustainable level, and a range above that where you are building/pushing capacity.


Aerobic means you're exercising at a sustainable rate, not building up metabolites (such as lactic acid). As long as you are fueled and hydrated, you can do this for a long time. Your breathing is steady, and becomes deeper as you go harder. There is no such thing as "pre-aerobic" exercise, as you are always consuming oxygen, even at rest - it's only a matter of how hard you are going and what fraction of power is generated from aerobic processes vs. anaerobic.

Anaerobic means you are going so hard as to be unsustainable. You are still doing aerobic work, but you are also calling on metabolic pathways that generate energy while using much less oxygen. In fact, most of your power is still coming from aerobic pathways, but due to the anearobic component, your breathing becomes very labored (panting) and you can't keep it up for long.

In kyaking, it is harder to tax your aerobic systems because you are mostly using the upper body, not the big muscles of the legs. However, you can overload specific muscles such that they are generating significant power anaerobically and therefore not sustainably. You won't be breathing as hard as you would if you engaged your big leg muscles, but your arm and chest muscles (for example) could still be going anaerobic as you tax them at an unsustainable level.


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## dagger (Jul 22, 2004)

*I guess it's too simple for some but....*

It's "calories in" versus "calories out" that determines weight gains/loss.


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## Bocephus Jones II (Oct 7, 2004)

Spunout said:


> Right. If he wants to lose weight, stop lifting.


But that is bad advice if you want to lose fat. Lifting weights creates more lean muscle which in turn requires more calories to fuel.


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## Bocephus Jones II (Oct 7, 2004)

Kerry Irons said:


> Anaerobic means you are going so hard as to be unsustainable. You are still doing aerobic work, but you are also calling on metabolic pathways that generate energy while using much less oxygen. In fact, most of your power is still coming from aerobic pathways, but due to the anearobic component, your breathing becomes very labored (panting) and you can't keep it up for long.


put another way...you hit your lactic threshold...the level of exertion at which the body shifts from aerobic to anaerobic is marked by such rapid lactate production that the body can't keep up with its removal, and lactate begins to accumulate in the blood interfering with energy production and muscular contractions thus causing fatigue.


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## bighead (Feb 27, 2005)

Kerry Irons said:


> Aerobic means you're exercising at a sustainable rate, not building up metabolites (such as lactic acid). As long as you are fueled and hydrated, you can do this for a long time. Your breathing is steady, and becomes deeper as you go harder. There is no such thing as "pre-aerobic" exercise, as you are always consuming oxygen, even at rest - it's only a matter of how hard you are going and what fraction of power is generated from aerobic processes vs. anaerobic.
> 
> Anaerobic means you are going so hard as to be unsustainable. You are still doing aerobic work, but you are also calling on metabolic pathways that generate energy while using much less oxygen. In fact, most of your power is still coming from aerobic pathways, but due to the anearobic component, your breathing becomes very labored (panting) and you can't keep it up for long.
> 
> In kyaking, it is harder to tax your aerobic systems because you are mostly using the upper body, not the big muscles of the legs. However, you can overload specific muscles such that they are generating significant power anaerobically and therefore not sustainably. You won't be breathing as hard as you would if you engaged your big leg muscles, but your arm and chest muscles (for example) could still be going anaerobic as you tax them at an unsustainable level.


WOW! You're really smart...


...you could back off the flame jets a bit because it makes you sound like an a**hole!


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## Angelracer (Dec 12, 2004)

> If you want to be a cyclist, train by cycling.



Very true, I lost 21 pounds by cycling only. I do about 250-300 miles on a good week, another majority of the weight loss is that I have been cutting carbs and eating better.


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## bighead (Feb 27, 2005)

*You're correct, but...*



dagger said:


> It's "calories in" versus "calories out" that determines weight gains/loss.


Do you really count your calories? Do you know how many calories you've burned today?

I think you're right in concept, but my point is that different activities burn energy at different rates. You're asking him to just reduce calories across the board...maybe he's doing the wrong activities and spending his time building muscle instead of burning (what? - I don't know - it doesn't sound like he has much body fat).

What about donating a liver? It'll cut down your beer intake in any case...


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## dagger (Jul 22, 2004)

*Yep...You can keep up with all the details*

I use Fitday.com

Helped me balance out what I was eating.


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