How to cycle for weight loss

"Daniel Crispin" wrote:
I am wondering if there is an easy way to dose my efforts toward weight
loss.

Any trick that can tell me I am using the right effort for weight loss?

Ride lots.

If you're looking to lose a lot of weight in a short period of time, the
latest diet fad may be more effective than cycling. But if you're willing to
work at it, lose weight gradually, and keep it off (while improving your
overall fitness and energy level) cycling may be the ticket.

There's no magic formula, except that you must burn more calories than you
consume. Daily rides of 10-15 miles are good, but long weekend rides are
where you will really burn calories. Speed isn't the main thing. Yes, a
faster pace will burn more calories per hour, but riding the same distance
at a moderate pace (longer time in the saddle) is almost as good. Don't kill
yourself, but don't loaf either.

Combine a sensible diet (and smaller portions) with regular cycling and you
can't help but lose weight. After a long ride, you metabolism will stay high
for a couple of hours, helping you to burn calories.

Make cycling a life-long habit, not just something you're going to do for a
few months until you reach your target weight. The best way to do that is
make it fun, not something you have to endure. It may help to join a club or
ride informally with a few other people, especially on long rides.

Someone told me that if I cannot
speak without feeling a little out of breath that is the right zone... is
that true?

That sounds like anaerobic threshold training, and is an effective way to
achieve fitness. But for weight loss it's all about miles.

Also I have been trying to pedal faster. I used to pedal slow and hard
but
after reading some books I now understand it's a really bad way to do it.

Initially, a fast cadence won't feel natural. Try for at least 75-80 rpms.
Lower gears and a faster cadence may increase your heart rate, but will be
easier on your legs.

Last thing... what should I eat before and during training? I love pasta.
I know they contain a lot of calories
but that is the food I like. On the other hand they give lots of carbs so
that can't be bad while training right?

Pasta is good, just be mindful of what you put on it.

How about during training? I normal bring a Nutribar which is an meal
replacement designed for weight loss.

Definitely don't starve yourself while you're riding, but keep the calorie
equation in mind (before, during, and after the ride). Normal food is just
as good (or better) than energy bars. Energy bars can be more convenient.
See what works best for you.

Good luck,
Art Harris

"Daniel Crispin" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I am wondering if there is an easy way to dose my efforts toward weight
loss. I could buy
a HRM but I have already spent 600$ on my bike this month and would like
to
stop spending
for a while.

Any trick that can tell me I am using the right effort for weight loss?
Someone told me that if I cannot
speak without feeling a little out of breath that is the right zone... is
that true?

Also I am been trying to pedal faster. I used to pedal slow and hard but
after reading some books
I now understand it's a really bad way to do it. I have no idea what my
current cadence is since my
computer doesn't have that feature but I think I am at around 1.25 turn
per
second... that is of course
an approximate... it would mean 75 turns per minute which is close to what
is recommanded... I cannot
see myself pedaling faster, already feels like I am spinning way too fast

How do you guys do 100 turns
per minute? Must be a mental issue, the legs don't seems to mind but geez
at a 100 I am not sure I could
even keep my balance hehehe!

Last thing... what should I eat before and during training? I love pasta.
I know they contain a lot of calories
but that is the food I like. On the other hand they give lots of carbs so
that can't be bad while training right?
Should I eat something different the days I train?

How about during training? I normal bring a Nutribar which is an meal
replacement designed for weight loss.
I has a balance of carbs, fats and proteins. Should I use something with
more carbs?



Regarding cadence, I typically ride along at about 90 to 95 rpm and that's
common among lots of the racer-type folks I train with. Learning to do that
really transformed my cycling, shaving an hour off my time on some centuries
(over the course of a couple of seasons as I got the hang of the spin
thing).

Some tips ... The spin starts from the hip. Think of the old style
locomotive where there was a big drive wheel connected to the smaller wheels
by beams of steel. That's a bit how you should envision your spin. Your
hip is where the power is that helps drive the pedals. And you need to
learn to drive the pedals in circles. Make sure you're not just mashing
down on the pedals each time a foot reaches the top. You should work to
develop a very smooth pedaling motion where you actually feel power to the
pedal almost the entire way around the pedal revolution.

Get a set of rollers. Learn to ride them (they're like learning to ride a
bike ... you'll have it down in just a few tries). The secret to staying up
on rollers is speed ... kind of a gyroscopic effect. They force you to
develop leg speed. Also, if your pedaling dynamics are bad, they really
cure that, too. You have to pedal smoothly and evenly or you'll be all over
the rollers (and maybe on the floor ... but that's not to scare you off ...
they really aren't hard to learn. Just be sure to set them up in a doorway
at first so you have something to grab if you do start to go down).

As for determining cadence, count your pedal revolutions (each time your
right foot reaches the bottom, for example) for 10 seconds and multiply by
six. Or count them for six seconds and multiply by 10. Or count them for
15 seconds and multiply by 4. Or count them for 20 seconds and ...

Bob C.

On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 01:50:11 GMT, "curt" wrote:

If you like pasta, it will be harder to lose, unless you don't eat that
much. Sorry, that is just the way it is. A high carb diet makes it harder
to lose, it is just the facts. It can certainly be done and is done all the
time, but you need to cut calories, unless you are going to ride very long
distances 4+ days a week. I suggest lower fat if you are going high carb.
If you want to lose faster, then bag the pasta and eat chicken, fish, etc.

JMHO,
Curt

Just one quibble on the 'if you like pasta it will be harder to lose'. I'm
in complete agreement, but it seems that -some- ppl don't actually have
'carb addiction', and it is really (so say those ppl) a matter of eating
less, moving more and having the will power, or determination to continue
on plan.

OTOH, if you find you eat 'comfort food', and this food is typically pasta,
bread, potatoes, then you -might- be a carb addict. If so, low carb, or
eliminating the cravings should help.

My feeling is when I'm in the right place in my low carb diet, I don't have
any 'cravings' for food. Going through the 'induction phase' was crucial
for my success.

But if you don't have cravings, then any diet will probably work.

-B

-Badger
"World's most dangerous City Bike Path Rider"

On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 00:53:49 GMT, AMG wrote:

If you push on the bike, rather than just cruising, you might burn 500
calories / hr. But it would still take about seven hours of pedaling to
burn off one pound of fat, assuming no change in diet. This is why you
have to watch it in the kitchen, too, since it is not too difficult to add
back a few hundred calories a day with the pasta, energy bars, etc., etc.
It doesn't take much, unfortunately...

Interesting calculation, since many beginner/intermediate bikes seem to
ride about 7 hours a week.

OK, that's over-simplified, but if it translates into a pound loss of fat
per week, that's pretty good.

I lose about 2-2.5 lbs per week during the 'optimal phase' of my dieting,
and then level off to about 1-1.5 lb per week on diet alone.

If you're recomposing and adding muscle to your legs, a wild ass guess, it
seems to me, would show a 2lb loss per week, with maybe 1/4lb per week gain
of muscle, maybe. So a 6-8lb loss of body weight per month, with, hopefully
most of the loss being fat, plus a net gain of 1 lb of muscle per month (if
you're biking hard and are a beginner), gives a final weight flux of minus
5-7lbs per month. This is what I'm seeing. (Note that it's almost
impossible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, but it can happen
for beginners.)

As you get closer to goal, naturally, you'll have sticking points and the
rate of fat loss and muscle gain will slow.

Again, just wild ass guessing, off the top of my head, here. ;-p

-B

-Badger
"World's most dangerous City Bike Path Rider"

Marlene Blanshay wrote:
snip
As for intensity, like hills etc, I think once you build endurance, that
comes easier. Also as you lose weight, climbing is easier. So get those
miles and go for a couple of really long rides a week and you'll not only
lose the weight, you'll keep it off. And when your metabolism is working
faster, you won't gain too much during the winter, unless you totally stuff
your face and do nothing but watch tv for four months.

Winter is training time for the Iditarod Impossible.
http://www.ultimateiditarod.com/Iditarod/update4.htm
http://www.icebike.org
http://www.bikewinter.org

Look for breads and pastas made with whole grain. Check health food
stores.

curt wrote:

Bicycling is a great way to lose weight! I think most important is to ride
long and steady to lose. I don't use a HR monitor, so I can't help you
there, but there is an effective HR for weight loss, but it is different for
everyone and we would need to know more information about you.

If you like pasta, it will be harder to lose, unless you don't eat that
much. Sorry, that is just the way it is. A high carb diet makes it harder
to lose, it is just the facts. It can certainly be done and is done all the
time, but you need to cut calories, unless you are going to ride very long
distances 4+ days a week. I suggest lower fat if you are going high carb.
If you want to lose faster, then bag the pasta and eat chicken, fish, etc.

JMHO,
Curt
snip

On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 16:53:09 -0500, Mike Schwab
wrote:

Look for breads and pastas made with whole grain. Check health food
stores.

Why? It's still going to spike your insulin. Tch; even the LC people tout
this, but it's still bread.

-Badger
"World's most dangerous City Bike Path Rider"

Sorry, wrong link.
Organizer's site http://www.alaskaultrasport.com/
Photo gallery
http://www.justridingalong.com/racin...to_gallery.php
Story http://www.justridingalong.com/racing/iditabike2004.php
CNN news story http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/14/offbeat.iditarod.ap/

Mike Schwab wrote:

Marlene Blanshay wrote:
snip
As for intensity, like hills etc, I think once you build endurance, that
comes easier. Also as you lose weight, climbing is easier. So get those
miles and go for a couple of really long rides a week and you'll not only
lose the weight, you'll keep it off. And when your metabolism is working
faster, you won't gain too much during the winter, unless you totally stuff
your face and do nothing but watch tv for four months.

Winter is training time for the Iditarod Impossible.
http://www.ultimateiditarod.com/Iditarod/update4.htm
http://www.icebike.org
http://www.bikewinter.org

With the whole grain bread / pasta, the sugar is consumed with the fiber
and is absorbed slower.
With the white bread, the sugar is absorbed very quickly.
This difference wass measured by having testing persons eating a
quantity of food then testing their blood surar.

This is from Dr. Arthur Agaston's book South Beach diet.

http://www.southbeachdiet.com/
http://www.glycemicindex.com/

Badger_South wrote:

On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 16:53:09 -0500, Mike Schwab
wrote:

Look for breads and pastas made with whole grain. Check health food
stores.

Why? It's still going to spike your insulin. Tch; even the LC people tout
this, but it's still bread.

-Badger
"World's most dangerous City Bike Path Rider"

Before you go and cite some 'South Beach diet' or something, "Whole grain"
bread -still- spikes insulin, and in some people, just as strongly as white
bread.

If I were to start eating whole grain pasta and bread, I'd quickly
re-acquire my 'carb addiction'. So to suggest this to those on LC is
specious at best and purposefully misleading at worst.



On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 18:02:30 -0500, Mike Schwab
wrote:

With the whole grain bread / pasta, the sugar is consumed with the fiber
and is absorbed slower.
With the white bread, the sugar is absorbed very quickly.
This difference wass measured by having testing persons eating a
quantity of food then testing their blood surar.

This is from Dr. Arthur Agaston's book South Beach diet.

http://www.southbeachdiet.com/
http://www.glycemicindex.com/

Badger_South wrote:

On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 16:53:09 -0500, Mike Schwab
wrote:

Look for breads and pastas made with whole grain. Check health food
stores.

Why? It's still going to spike your insulin. Tch; even the LC people tout
this, but it's still bread.

-Badger
"World's most dangerous City Bike Path Rider"


-Badger
"World's most dangerous City Bike Path Rider"