weight loss

Now I've bought my road bike, and I can ride it uphills without falling
off, I want to do some serious training. Not for competition, but to
lose sopme weight. I've tried dieting, and I realise that I will need to
eat properly is I put some miles in, but I want to try and rescue my
heart before it becomes too cloged up, and doing it byu food alone
hasn't worked for me in the past. Are there any online guides for this
sort of thing, or good books that people have tried. Any guidlines would
be helpful (like 'do I need a HRM?')

TiA
--
..paul

If at first you don't succeed...
Skydiving is probably not the sport for you.

paul wrote:
Now I've bought my road bike, and I can ride it uphills without
falling off, I want to do some serious training. Not for competition,
but to lose sopme weight. I've tried dieting, and I realise that I
will need to eat properly is I put some miles in, but I want to try
and rescue my heart before it becomes too cloged up, and doing it byu
food alone hasn't worked for me in the past. Are there any online
guides for this sort of thing, or good books that people have tried.
Any guidlines would be helpful (like 'do I need a HRM?')

Riding your bike a bit more and eating a bit less should do it. IME, it's
better to eat something different rather than less. All I've done to lose
weight steadily is buy stuff that's got less fat in it, rather than
specifically low fat, avoiding all the stuff that tastes like terror. And
avoided eating lots of biscuits / having lots of sugar in my tea. I just
look at whatever the fat is per / 100g and try and keep it low - stuff like
curry sauces often vary between 20% and 3 or 4%, which is a pretty big
difference.

paul wrote:

Now I've bought my road bike, and I can ride it uphills without falling
off, I want to do some serious training. Not for competition, but to
lose sopme weight. I've tried dieting, and I realise that I will need to
eat properly is I put some miles in, but I want to try and rescue my
heart before it becomes too cloged up, and doing it byu food alone
hasn't worked for me in the past. Are there any online guides for this
sort of thing, or good books that people have tried. Any guidlines would
be helpful (like 'do I need a HRM?')

TiA

I found a HRM an excellent investment, along with a copy of "The heart
rate monitor for Cyclists" (isbn 1-931382-04-2) by Sally Reed and Sally
Edwards. Comes with 30 day trial of software for use with appropriate
HRM (that can do download/programming to a PC). Gave me a structure to
work to, incentive to keep at it, and resulted in successfully cycling
58 miles in a day over hillier terrain than I'd done before, and
reaching home being tired but not on my last legs, despite it being the
most I'd ever cycled and definitely the hilliest 50 miles!

I'm fitter, MUCH faster (except up hills), and feel great :-)

The book is split into several chapters, and while there is some overlap
between them, one of them addresses cycling for weight management, which
is useful. Some excellent tips in the book, good info on how to avoid
overtraining (I nearly fell prey to this a couple of weeks ago I think
and wouldn't have realised).

Of course, the simple and cheap way is just to get out there and ride
ride and ride some more - but it depends if you're happy doing it like
that or not. Temptation is to eat more when cycling lots, my weight's
not moved downwards at all, but I AM slowly getting thinner, though the
muscles are getting bigger too, so I'm changing shape more than anything
LOL - and I just can't cycle for hours on end without a regular intake
of food.

Even if you don't lose weight, if you cycle regularly and spend plenty
of time in the aerobic side of things (ie, not all your time pushing so
hard your muscles are burning up!) your heart (and body) will get fitter
fast. That's where the HRM comes into it's own, I think - it allows you
to pace yourself a bit better, and keep a rough idea of if you're riding
hard enough but not too hard to get the beneficial effects.

--


Velvet

paul wrote:
Now I've bought my road bike, and I can ride it uphills without falling
off, I want to do some serious training. Not for competition, but to
lose sopme weight. I've tried dieting, and I realise that I will need to
eat properly is I put some miles in, but I want to try and rescue my
heart before it becomes too cloged up, and doing it byu food alone
hasn't worked for me in the past. Are there any online guides for this
sort of thing, or good books that people have tried. Any guidlines would
be helpful (like 'do I need a HRM?')

TiA

Ride a bit more, and eat a bit less each week. You will, after a few
weeks, reach a point where you are losing weight at a healthy rate (no
more than 1Kg a week). Then, as you approach the point you are getting
"lean" (ie, little spare lard) start increasing the eats a little each
week until your weight stabilises.

Don't target an absolute weight. Weight is a pretty poor metric really -
%age body fat is a better indicator, and you want as little as possible

Avoid sugar, saturated fat, hydrogenated fat and pretty much anything
that comes out of a factory or fast "food" joint; we humans work best
when powered by stuff that's been grown, not manufactured. Wine is ok as
long as it's red; beer has way too many superfluous calories/carbs. Eat
oily fish at least twice a week (Salmon, Tuna etc) and a handful of nuts
a day (Almonds, Hazels, Cashews - and even Peanuts if you are not "Low
Carbing"). Fruit (esp berries) is/are excellent, and of course Veggies -
but then you knew that already, I bet!

Drink LOTS of water (I have at least 3 ltrs a day, more when doing long
rides) and supplement Vitamin C and Vitamin E (help to repair Oxidative
damage you get from exercise). Oh and eat Marmite - it contains lots of
B complex Vitamins which are essential in repairing stressed muscles.

Repeat this until you die - which will probably be when you are very
very very old :-)

--
Chris

paul wrote:
Now I've bought my road bike, and I can ride it uphills without
falling off, I want to do some serious training. Not for competition,
but to lose sopme weight. I've tried dieting, and I realise that I
will need to eat properly is I put some miles in, but I want to try
and rescue my heart before it becomes too cloged up, and doing it byu
food alone hasn't worked for me in the past. Are there any online
guides for this sort of thing, or good books that people have tried.
Any guidlines would be helpful (like 'do I need a HRM?')

TiA

As the other replies said, eat low fat food, the diet books say less than 4%
fat is good. A HRM is useful at the start to show you what your heart is
doing but IMHO you soon learn what your body is doing and don't need it. A
Training with a HRM book will show you the zones in which your body uses
different source of fuel for the effort. One of the sources is fat so the
goal is to ride within your fat burning zone and of course your HRM will
tell you this. You may be surprised, you do not need to ride hard and get
totally knackered to get some benefit.

I have done all of this over the years but I have found that simply riding
at a comfortable pace for long distances (60 miles) in varying terrain
coupled with a healthy but not extreme diet has allowed me to lose three
stones in the last 19 months. BTW Fast weight loss is not healthy. I don't
call my training serious, totally unstructured but committed.

paul wrote:

Now I've bought my road bike, and I can ride it uphills without falling
off, I want to do some serious training. Not for competition, but to
lose sopme weight. I've tried dieting, and I realise that I will need to
eat properly is I put some miles in, but I want to try and rescue my
heart before it becomes too cloged up, and doing it byu food alone
hasn't worked for me in the past. Are there any online guides for this
sort of thing, or good books that people have tried. Any guidlines would
be helpful (like 'do I need a HRM?')

To reinforce Velvet's last point - don't forget to ride
aerobically. Many beginner cyclists push hard against
high gears (anaerobic), which will give you big leg muscles
but do less for your overall fitness. Ride by spinning
the pedals faster in lower gears, and you'll get a good
cardiovascular workout.

Don't wait to read a fitness guide, go out this evening for
a few miles and enjoy yourself!

--
jc

Remove the -not from email

I have been cycling for about two years after previously doing very
little exercise in adult life.
I have lost just over 2 stone.
I don't diet but I try to eat sensibly - I have mainly cut down on
sugar, butter , beer and fatty foods.
My weight started to go up again recently and I started doing more
uphills and I have lost a stone and a half since easter.
I am not a big build and although I hardly drink beer now, my gut was
built over many years drinking bitter on a daily basis, and my gut has
absolutely refused to go, though it has gone down a lot. I have just
started sit ups but that doesn't seem to be doing much either. I traded
beer for white wine, though after what an earlier poster said, I might
trade down to red wine - the thought isn't doing much for me though.
I have never thought about a hrm. Would it be worth it. I cycle about
12 hours a commuting to work via roundabout routes and try to do a 50
mile run every weekend.


--
Skunk

"Skunk" wrote in message
...

I have been cycling for about two years after previously doing very
little exercise in adult life.
I have lost just over 2 stone.
I don't diet but I try to eat sensibly - I have mainly cut down on
sugar, butter , beer and fatty foods.
My weight started to go up again recently and I started doing more
uphills and I have lost a stone and a half since easter.
I am not a big build and although I hardly drink beer now, my gut was
built over many years drinking bitter on a daily basis, and my gut has
absolutely refused to go, though it has gone down a lot. I have just
started sit ups but that doesn't seem to be doing much either. I traded
beer for white wine, though after what an earlier poster said, I might
trade down to red wine - the thought isn't doing much for me though.
I have never thought about a hrm. Would it be worth it. I cycle about
12 hours a commuting to work via roundabout routes and try to do a 50
mile run every weekend.


--
Skunk

Don't have exactly the same problem as you (i.e. 'gut') but seem to have
'plateaued' in terms of weight loss. Got an HRM with an HR Max of 185 and a
RHR of 63 and am perenially confused as to whether my training zones should
be at 50 - 60% or 60 - 70% of max hr and also whether I should use the Heart
Rate Reserve (Karvonen) method or the 220 - age formula.

Each give different results and 'target zones' within which to work:

Karvonen (185 HR Max)

50 - 60% = 123 - 134 bpm
60 - 70% = 135 - 146 bpm


Age Related (220 - age = 182 HR Max)

50 - 60% = 91 - 109 bpm
60 - 70% = 109 - 127 bpm


I suspect that the age related formula, even on the lower % zone for fat
burning/longer duration, is flawed as raising my RHR by less than 30 bpm is
not really gonna do the job - I can do that walking upstairs.

If I could pinpoint the more accurate way, with some clear definition over
what exactly the correct 'weight loss' zone is, then I may have more success
with the HRM.

On the other hand maybe I'm just a classic endomorph! ;-)

S

Skunk wrote:
I have been cycling for about two years after previously doing very
little exercise in adult life.
I have lost just over 2 stone.
I don't diet but I try to eat sensibly - I have mainly cut down on
sugar, butter , beer and fatty foods.
My weight started to go up again recently and I started doing more
uphills and I have lost a stone and a half since easter.
I am not a big build and although I hardly drink beer now, my gut was
built over many years drinking bitter on a daily basis, and my gut has
absolutely refused to go, though it has gone down a lot. I have just
started sit ups but that doesn't seem to be doing much either. I traded
beer for white wine, though after what an earlier poster said, I might
trade down to red wine - the thought isn't doing much for me though.
I have never thought about a hrm. Would it be worth it. I cycle about
12 hours a commuting to work via roundabout routes and try to do a 50
mile run every weekend.



Yeah, I have exactly the same "gut" issues - main reason I don't wear Lycra!

However, the good news is the gut *is* disappearing; I guess it was
quite a few years in the making, so is likely to take more than a couple
of weeks to disappear. It has diminished from 42" to 35" though

--
Chris

Martin 'MSeries' Newstead wrote:

As the other replies said, eat low fat food, the diet books say less than 4%
fat is good. A HRM is useful at the start to show you what your heart is
doing but IMHO you soon learn what your body is doing and don't need it. A
Training with a HRM book will show you the zones in which your body uses
different source of fuel for the effort. One of the sources is fat so the
goal is to ride within your fat burning zone and of course your HRM will
tell you this. You may be surprised, you do not need to ride hard and get
totally knackered to get some benefit.

This is what I had read in a HRM book too, but I have also seen long and
apparently learned articles and threads which say (summarised as far as
I understand them...) that the 'fat burning zones' idea does not quite
tell the full story. (It doesn't contradict what you're saying about the
benefits to be gained of even low intensity exercise, just the concept
of 'fat burning zones').

As far as I understand it (and please correct me if you know better...)

* exercising in the zone burns more fat as a percentage of the fuel
sources being used; BUT

* exercising at higher rates burns more calories in total and it is the
number of calories used (not the source of the calories) which really
counts in weight loss.

Therefore while it's easy to do too much and 'burn out', you don't need
to worry too much about staying in the range of the 'fat burning zone'.

Or to quote from one page I found:

"It is the final balance between total Calories burned (from ANY source
- carbohydrates, fats, or protein) and those eaten (i.e. the NET
NEGATIVE CALORIC BALANCE) that determines whether weight is gained or
lost. The advantage of riding more slowly is that it may make the ride a
more enjoyable experience for the novice rider, and the pace can be
maintained for hours. If you have only a limited amount of time to ride,
the faster your average speed, the more Calories you will burn and the
more weight you will shed."

http://www.cptips.com/weight.htm


It appears to make sense, but then I don't do enough exercise to test
the theory... ;-)

David