[Suzanne 3FC]

There's no mystery in getting down to fighting weight. Follow our seven clues and drop those pounds for good.
Cycling is great exercise, but it doesn't make you immune to weight gain. Just ask Jan Ullrich, the German champ of the '97 Tour de France, who gained more than 15 pounds in the winter after his victory. But even though he was dubbed El Gordo by the Spanish press, Ullrich managed to get back in shape and finish a close second in '98.

Of course, losing weight is a lot easier if you ride regularly--you' re burning calories, keeping your metabolism high and staying motivated by doing something you enjoy. But one common desperation strategy- -an ultra-low-calorie crash diet--simply does not pay. It leaves you too weak and famished to ride and it plays games with your motivation. So if you are ready to get rid of excess flab, use this two-pronged approach: Eat smarter and rev up your exercise program. Here's the right way--and the wrong way--to do it.

Don't starve yourself. If you want to keep riding, you need the strength and stamina that only come from enough carbs and protein. And if you' re hungry all the time, you're much more likely to end up snacking on calorific or fatty foods.

Do eat foods that give you plenty of energy and make you feel full with fewer calories. Legumes, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, along with extra-lean meat, poultry and fish are among the most nutritious foods you can eat. They're also more likely to satisfy your hunger even when you eat less.

Don't follow a hardcore, preset plan. You may have friends who lost weight on an ultra-lowfat or high-protein, ultra-low-carb diet, but this doesn't mean it will work for you (or even for your friends on a long-term basis). There are two keys to weight loss: Use more calories than you consume, and do it in a way that you can maintain over time without going crazy. If you eat like most people (and you aren't doing high-intensity training), it won't hurt you to cut down on the fat and total calories--but don't eat so little that it makes you feel weak or miserable.

Do determine how many calories you're eating each day using a calorie- counting book that includes every kind of food and mentions brand names. (Try The Compete Book of Food Counts, by Corinne T. Netzer, Dell Books, $7.50 from bookstores.) A nutritional computer program makes this even easier--any one will do, but make sure it has a large food database. (Try DietPower, $50; 800/852-8446; CT.) If your weight is constant, cutting just 250 calories a day (by eating healthier foods and reducing portions) will translate to a loss of about two pounds per month. If you've been gaining weight, you'll have to cut down more.

Don't depend entirely on aerobic exercise if you want to lose weight. Ride hills and add periodic sprints to your outdoor and indoor workouts to tax your muscles as much as possible.

Do muscle-building exercises and occasional high-intensity workouts. Weightlifting will help increase your metabolism so you burn more calories even when you're not exercising. It also helps offset the tendency to lose muscle mass along with fat. And despite the popular notion that you'll burn more fat exercising at a lower intensity, the fact is that going hard burns more calories overall and is better for weight loss.

Don't skip meals in an attempt to save on calories. You need to keep blood sugar steady through the day to sustain energy levels without sudden cravings for high-fat or sugary snacks.

Do eat several small meals per day, or three balanced meals with nutritious snacks in between. This not only gives your body a constant supply of energy, it also helps reduce cravings for big lunches and dinners.

Don't change your eating plan without getting more exercise as well. A study of people who successfully lost weight and kept it off for several years found that nearly all of them increased activity levels while they reduced calories.

Do ride your bike an extra half-hour every day. Although the number of calories you burn is dependent on your metabolism and workout intensity, you can easily burn an extra 250 a day this way, resulting in a loss of two pounds a month--a nice, healthy rate of weight loss.

Don't set your goals too high. Trying to lose 20 pounds in a month isn't just difficult, it's unhealthy. (And trying to reach such a goal by suddenly quadrupling your weekly or monthly mileage is a quick route to injury.)

Do set fitness goals that have nothing to do with weight loss. When members of a New York health center trained to run a marathon, those who did it to improve performance lost weight, while those who did it only because they wanted to lose weight tended to drop out and keep the weight on. So try setting a goal that will take several months to reach--completing a century or charity ride, entering a race, or doing a long-distance trip. You'll do even better if you get friends to commit to the goal with you.

Don't keep telling yourself what a fat slob you are. Negative feelings about yourself and the way you look won't supply motivation for permanent weight loss--in fact, it could lead you to give up altogether so you don't have to deal with an issue you find hateful.

Do tell yourself that you deserve to be healthier and fitter. Once you've learned how enjoyable it is to eat right and ride more--whether it's because you have more energy and stamina, or because you've come to realize there's nothing better than a great ride on a beautiful day--you won't want to give it up.

Len Blanke writes on fitness, nutrition and weight loss for a variety of publications.

Len Blanke, The Case of the Missing Flab. Vol. 40, Bicycling, 01-01-1999, pp 48-49.