Training & Nutrition - How fast should my heart rate be recovering?

Ok here is the deal...miles of cycling just aren't getting the weight off...I weight the same today as I did 3 years ago when I started doing 3k+ miles per year (220lbs at 5'10").

I want to loose another 40-50 lbs so this week I have decided to start running again. My plan is to go back to what I was doing before I took up cycling...for one summer I started walking and then joging and I went from 255 lbs to 220 lbs then I got into cycling and have roughly maintianed for 3 years. I use a Polar HR monitor and I jog until my HR gets to 164 bpm (roughly my LT) and then walk until it hits 122 bpm (Polar calculated 20% MHR) then repeat and do that for 30-50 min. Today was my first day back at it but I have been riding and I timed my recovery...pretty weak I think but what the heck do I know. Takes me about 3 min to recover those 40 BPM...the first 10 go pretty fast...then the next 10 go more slowly and then the next 10 depends on the terrain (am I going up level or down).

What rate should a 33 going on 34 year old be recovering? I know the better shape I am in it will be faster...what do I want to shoot for?

Thanks

I have a book called Sports Nutrition Guidebook by Nancy Clark.
It's not just for athletes, it's for everyone.
The one sentance in there that really got me going was(paraphrased)
Excersize alone will not help you lose weight, you have to cut calories.

It's a great book, gives you great info on how to eat for excersize and lose weight.

The best info for me was the amount of calories one needs in a day to maintain current weight
(pretty much take your current weight, add a zero to the end, so 175# would be 1750 calories)
then add a % for how active you are and that it the most you can have to maintain weight and not gain.
Then you decide how fast you NEED to lose and subtract a number of calories per week to get to that number of pounds per week.

I'll be honest with mine here.
I weigh 174 so my number of calories per day just to lay awake in bed and breathe is 1740. Then my day is pretty sedentary, so I add 20% for my day. Or 348. So, my daily intake to live and maintain is 2088.
I've started riding my bike on a trainer in the morning for 30 minutes at 80-90% MHR and it keeps me about 17-18MPH so it's considered pretty vigorous. It supposedly burns 400 calories.
I've then cut my caloric intake to 1600/day. So after a regular day that I did all the above, I get about 1200 calories each day to survive on (not enough but I'be got a family reunion coming up in July, after that I will do things right). So my deficeit per day is 888. So every 4 days I should lose 1 pound. So far, that's working and I'm down 4 pounds and 5 inches. I'd be losing more, but I'm gaining muscle in my legs and that offsets the pounds on the scale. Next week I start doing upper body weight training.
Oh, and I'm cheating a bit with an ephedra supplement. I know, not the best way, but I love the energy and focus I get with it!
I'm also taking a multi vitamin to make sure I'm getting the vitaimins I need if I'm not getting them in the food, and a fish oil supplement for my high cholesterol.

Good luck to you.
Oh and could it be that in order to lose weight you'd have to lose muscle?
My DH weighs 180 and is 5'6. His legs are like tree trunks! His arms are the same. He carries the extra 20 pounds at his waist. Gut from drinking. He loses that pretty fast if he bikes with me and stops drinking beer.

As for the HR, I think as your heart gets in better shape, it recovers faster. In just 10 days, mine has been recovering a lot faster. I have had to up my gearing each day just to stay at the 80-90% at 85 RPM cadence. 10 days ago it took less than 1 minute to get to my 60% MHR that I warm up at. Now it takes almost 5 minutes, or 2 songs on my MP3. 10 days ago it took 5 minutes to get from 80% down to resting, now it's around 2.5 minutes. I don't think there is a set time since each person's heart is in a different state of fitness. Oh and I'm a fat, 40 yo, female.

I'm not a fitness trainer, nor do i play one on TV. . .

+1 to cutting calories as well as exercising.

How fast your heart rate recovers is related to (at least) how fit you are. Im 28 and I ride at 160BPM most of the time. In the 30 seconds or so when I get caught at a light it will drop to 120-130. I've had it go under 100 at a longer light before. I also commute 25 miles round trip nearly every day.

When I first started working out and getting fit it would take several minutes for my heart rate to drop.

+2 on cutting calories as well as exercising. I had the same problem about a year ago. I had been biking about 1000 miles per year to keep the weight off, but as I got older, the weight came back slowly. I finally started watching what I ate and have lost 30 lbs over the last year. Unfortunately, exercise just isn’t enough.

As far as your heart rate goes, when I am doing 45 second intervals, my heart rate goes to about 175ish (34 years old) and recovers to about 125 in about 20-30 seconds. But I am reasonably fit now. It used to take much longer.

Ginny - wow. You're a smart chick. Lucky DH. Enjoy your tandem. I'm sure you will.

Your post should be a sticky. That's all one needs to know. I used to do some ephedra, too, when I was starting out. Then I dropped that and switched to caffeine. Then I got so I could get high just from exercising and quit the caffeine, too, except for long hard rides. 1 pound every 4 days is kinda fast. I wouldn't expect that to continue for too long. A pound a week might be more sustainable. Don't torture yourself. You'll get averse to it after a while.

Ginny - wow. You're a smart chick. Lucky DH. Enjoy your tandem. I'm sure you will.

Your post should be a sticky. That's all one needs to know. I used to do some ephedra, too, when I was starting out. Then I dropped that and switched to caffeine. Then I got so I could get high just from exercising and quit the caffeine, too, except for long hard rides. 1 pound every 4 days is kinda fast. I wouldn't expect that to continue for too long. A pound a week might be more sustainable. Don't torture yourself. You'll get averse to it after a while.


When I first started out and for about 3 months I was dropping 3lbs a week.

I wouldn't recommend that though :)

As for the HR, I think as your heart gets in better shape, it recovers faster.

Exactly. I can be cruising at 140bpm, hit a stoplight, and be down to 100 before it turns green.

Ginny - wow. You're a smart chick. Lucky DH. .

Wow.
Thanks!
:)

Eat until you're not hungry, not until you are full.

You cannot lose weight unless you feel hungry at least some of the time.

Combine the two and the weight will come off.

Add intensity. Obey your thirst before your hunger. Don't eat empty calories like fatty foods.
Do intervals a couple of times a week. Go as fast as you can for as long as you can then however long it takes to recover. Repeat. Learn how to compete. Wait till you hit the mid 40's....

Ok here is the deal...miles of cycling just aren't getting the weight off...I weight the same today as I did 3 years ago when I started doing 3k+ miles per year (220lbs at 5'10").

I want to loose another 40-50 lbs so this week I have decided to start running again. My plan is to go back to what I was doing before I took up cycling...for one summer I started walking and then joging and I went from 255 lbs to 220 lbs then I got into cycling and have roughly maintianed for 3 years. I use a Polar HR monitor and I jog until my HR gets to 164 bpm (roughly my LT) and then walk until it hits 122 bpm (Polar calculated 20% MHR) then repeat and do that for 30-50 min. Today was my first day back at it but I have been riding and I timed my recovery...pretty weak I think but what the heck do I know. Takes me about 3 min to recover those 40 BPM...the first 10 go pretty fast...then the next 10 go more slowly and then the next 10 depends on the terrain (am I going up level or down).

What rate should a 33 going on 34 year old be recovering? I know the better shape I am in it will be faster...what do I want to shoot for?

Thanks

If you're riding 3000 miles a year and not losing weight, it's all about what your eat and how much you're eating, not about the cycling.

My advice is the following:

1) Go out and buy "food for fitness" and "south beach diet". Understand what kind of nutrition you need at what time.

2) Hydration. Dehydration and hunger are easy to confusion

3) More than 3 meals per day

4) Longer rides. One two-hour ride is far better than two one-hour rides.

5) Recovery nutrition is very helpful in keeping you from being too hungry. I've had good luck with Endurox, which keeps me from eating too much after exercising.