Finally I have found something that seems to be working. Over the last few months I have increased my training, partly due to my goals but also because I wanted to look good this summer. However even with this increased training the scales were not really moving to reflect the amount of effort that I was putting in. That was until now.

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A lot of people were surprised over the findings of the obesity study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2007. It alleged that being fat is a "socially contagious" disease.

The co-author of the study, Dr. Nicholas Christakis of the Harvard Medical School, explained that a person was 37 percent more likely to become obese if he or she had a fat spouse, 40 percent more likely to get hefty if he or she had overweight siblings, and 57 percent more likely to turn tubby if he or she had chubby friends. This is supposedly because we're likely to eat what our loved ones are eating - even if they're grabbing unhealthy grub.

Riding during Winter to loose weight

Loosing or maintaining weight during the winter months is something of a challenge. It’s especially difficult as the days are shorter and the weather is cooler. Here are some great tips explaining how your percentage body fat works and how to manage your diet  to keep you in control of your weight during winter. So you’ll be able to ride efficiently up hills and keep slim till summer arrives again. 

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Riding in the Moring is the best time of you want to loose weight

When is the best time of day to do your aerobic exercise? The answer is any time! The most important thing is that you just do it. Continuous cardiovascular cycling sustained for at least 30 minutes, will burn body fat no matter when you do it as long as you stay within your correct “fat burning zone”. However, if you want to get the maximum benefits possible from every minute you invest in your workouts, then you should consider getting up early and doing cardio before you eat your first meal - even if you're not a "morning person." Early morning cycling on an empty stomach has major advantages over exercising later in the day..

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The enjoyable way to burn fat is long slow rides

While you burn more calories when cycling at a higher intensity than a lower intensity for the same duration when it comes to intensity, "more" is not better for weight loss. This is because fat oxidation to energy needs falls off very quickly above about 80 percent and become very minimal at about 90 percent of your max heart rate. This means that at greater intensities, you are burning muscle glycogen not fat. The ideal fat burning zone is 60-80 percent of your max HR according to a recent study by Achten et al. Another thing to remember is that if you eat a high G.I. carbohydrate prior to or during your ride you may impair the fat oxidation process reducing the amount fat you will burn during that exercise. So for rides shorter than about two hours, skip the pre-ride energy bar, stick with water (or a electrolyte without a carbohydrate) in your bottle, and keep your intensity in the ideal fat-burning zone of 60-80 percent of your max HR. A low intensity program done in the fat burning zone is also ideal for those who cannot tolerate high intensity exercise. Therefore, those beginning a program, overweight people or individuals restricted due to medical problems will benefit from a low intensity program. But, if you are a seasoned cyclists able to work at a higher intensity do so, because you will burn more calories.

Sleeping for weightloss

The opposite would seem to make sense: If you stay up late, you burn more calories. Burn more calories, burn more fat. Right? Unfortunately, staying up late can set off a multi-pronged attack on your body composition. First, sleep is vital for recovery. If you don't get enough sleep, your body won't build as much muscle mass - no matter how much time you spend on the bike. Less muscle mass = less fat burning power. Next, if you are sleep-deprived, you increase levels of the stress hormone "cortisol." The connection between stress/cortisol and obesity is well established, but it gets worse. A recent study (Epel, Yale) shows that cortisol related fat storage tends to be around the vital organs - the worst possible place to store fat in your body. If that's not enough, lack of sleep is linked with glucose intolerance (diabetes), lower Growth Hormone levels, a weakened immune system, low energy, and more... “Emerging science and advances in technology now are allowing us to examine sleep at a level of detail never before possible. In addition to documenting the more obvious consequences of poor sleep, scientists are increasingly exploring what happens during sleep at the neurological and physiological level. And what they’re recognizing is that sleep provides more benefits than previously thought and is absolutely crucial to promoting health and bodily function. Why is sleep so important? Although we naturally think of sleep as a time of rest and recovery from the stresses of everyday life, research is revealing that sleep is a dynamic activity, during which many processes vital to health and well-being take place. New evidence shows that sleep is essential to helping maintain mood, memory, and cognitive performance. It also plays a pivotal role in the normal function of the endocrine and immune systems. In fact, studies show a growing link between sleep duration and a variety of serious health problems, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and depression.” Sleep-Wake Cycle: Its Physiology and Impact on Health (PDF Document). Get a full night's sleep (7 to 9 hours), but make sure your place of rest is peaceful and pitch dark. Your natural sleep hormone, melatonin, is suppressed when there is too much light.