'Middle aged spread', I can identify with that! You're quite right: the only solution is to consume less calories than you burn. I put on a heck of a lot of weight while I was in China, and after I left decided to do something about it. I tried the Shangri-la diet for a few months. Over the same period I was doing quite a lot of capoeira and taijiquan, and lost almost 10kg. I can't say how much of the weight loss was due to the diet versus the exercise, but I was pretty disciplined and stuck to the rules, and it definitely reduced my appetite a lot. I never felt short of energy, either, or noticed any other side-effects. Since then, I fell off the diet and have been exercising less, so a lot of the weight has come back. I've been thinking that I should go back on the diet... Cycling's pretty good for calorie burning, I think, but you might need to do more than half an hour at a stretch. I'm not an expert, though; I'm sure there are plenty of fitness geeks here who can give better advice ;-)