Training & Nutrition - weight loss?

i started to mountain bike to have fun and i noticed i lost some weight from it. i also have a road bike. i was wondering what type of riding it best to build muscle and to loose weight. aso will cycling help get rid of love handles, tighten my stomach and getrid o my gut or is crunchs/ sit ups better for that? thank you

muscle will come in time, often doing longer rides or harder rides will do good at muscle. there is park near my house that has this insanely steep climb for about 50 feet that I like going up and down repeatedly for that kind of thing. Usually i'm about to fall off once I hit the top, it's jsut a really nasty climb.

I've been spinning my gears like mad to lose weight, better cardio workout that way.

I have no idea if it will help with a gut...I would say no since I still have my beer belly... :(

i started to mountain bike to have fun and i noticed i lost some weight from it. i also have a road bike. i was wondering what type of riding it best to build muscle and to loose weight. aso will cycling help get rid of love handles, tighten my stomach and getrid o my gut or is crunchs/ sit ups better for that? thank you

Crunches/situps will help to build ab muscles. But, they won't get rid of love handles, which are simply stored fat. For that, you need to eat less and/or exercise more. If you can achieve a daily calorie deficit of 500 calories per day, you will lose about 1 lb per week (a reasonable and healthy goal).

Doing both (exercise and diet) is a good thing, but eating less is the easiest way to lose weight for most of us. It takes a tremendous amount of exercise to burn off the calories from a typical fast-food meal, and most of us just don't have the time.

If you get rid of your love handles, how will your lover grab hold of you?

The cycling certainly helps with weight loss. For diet, try making small changes, one at a time. The best results will come from changing your eating habits over the long term. Weight may come off more slowly than with fad diets, but, with healthier eating habits, it will stay off.

Second the last reply. I have dropped 15 lbs in the last 5 weeks. I had to make a change to my eating habits and my exercise. I was eating to much and not exercising. I eat 2000 cal a day, reduced my salt intake (hypertension) and started riding. I reduced my effort from z3/z4 (70-90% HR) to lot more Z2 and some Z3 and my weight loss increased. I found for me if I backoff the intensity and ride slower and longer I burn more fat and less carbs.

I found for me if I backoff the intensity and ride slower and longer I burn more fat and less carbs.
THat has been my experience too. When I go full throttle, it's a great workout but I only really notice the weight loss after riding at a slightly elevated pace for a week or two. Slowing down really did burn more fat for me.

I also found that not eating Chips Ahoy helped :rolleyes:

THat has been my experience too. When I go full throttle, it's a great workout but I only really notice the weight loss after riding at a slightly elevated pace for a week or two. Slowing down really did burn more fat for me. :

I don't wanna get into a whole thing about this, but........

It's great that you've had positive results, but the 'fat burning zone' really is a bit of a myth, or at least, not the whole truth.

Check this out: http://www.volleyweb.com/lylemcd/fat.burning.html

There's plenty more where this came from :)

Check this out: http://www.volleyweb.com/lylemcd/fat.burning.html

There's plenty more where this came from :)

Interesting, kinda like the philosophy Bill Philips prescribed. Sprinters, boxers and the like tend to be very lean and have decent endurance.

Jawbone: Yes that is what is working for me and you need to do what works!

nutbag: I have read Sally Edwards books on this, have 3, and Edmund Burke's also. You really need to do what works for your system. I have been off and on bikes since 88 when I started mt biking. I pulled my HR records and logs. From the last 2 times, I did this and going easier and longer gives me better results than the last time I went hard out of the box, got real strong and only lost 19 lbs in 10 months. So far I have lost 19 lbs and its been 6 weeks. The drawback is that as I lose more weight and get more fit, I have to raise the bar to get the same level of burn rate. Best thing I think that is helping is me eating fruits and vegetables, I did not do this and ate a lot of fast food :( Now I am going through the slow and agonizing routine to lose that weight I gained.

I'm with nutbag, and I've been researching this for awhile. The reason going long and slow works better is because most people can do that versus hill repeats or sprint sessions. In the end, it's the total calories burned, not which "zone". Higher intensity exercise will keep the metabolism higher all day (example: circuit weight training), thus burning more calories. Maybe cycle long and slow as you have, but throw in some sprints and tempo efforts for the extra calorie burn.

Here is a simplified example of the "fat burning myth". Without going into the science, you are basically getting a bigger piece of a smaller pie.

http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/l/aa022601a.htm


"The body does burn a higher percentage of calories from fat when involved in lower intensity cardio exercise. BUT, at higher intensities, you burn a greater number of overall calories which is what you should be concerned about when trying to lose weight. The chart below details the fat calories expended by a 130-pound woman during cardio exercise:

............................................Low Intensity - 60-65%MHR..........High Intensity - 80-85% MHR

..Total Calories Expended per min........................4.86...................................... 6.86
Fat Calories expended per min.............................2.43.......................................2.7
Total Calories expended in 30 min......................146........................................206
Total Fat calories expended in 30 min.................73..........................................82
Percentage of fat calories burned......................50%.......................................39.85%

From The 24/5 Complete Personal Training Manual, 24 Hour Fitness, 2000

In this example, the woman burns more total calories and more fat calories at a higher intensity. This is not to say that low intensity exercise doesn't have it's place. In fact, endurance workouts should be a staple of a complete fitness program. Read on to figure out how to structure your cardio program.

I think we are missing each others point here to a certain degree. You have to build a base, especially someone like myself that has not done any riding in 2+ years. If you build this base at a reasonable level, below you anaerobic threshold, you stand a better chance of losing weight and gaining fitness. Zones do apply if you train with a HRM, just depends how they work for you and how you apply them. I use Sally Edwards’s methods as they work for me. http://www.heartzones.com 5 zones in 10% intervals. For cycling Z1 is worthless to me (50-60%). The only time I am in Z1 is when I ride with my 8yr old daughter ~8 mph. I base my riding off Z2-Z5 (60 – 100%). Right now I am trying to build a 1500 mile base before I ramp up to harder training. I am not doing any Z5 training, (90 – 100%). My rides do vary, but I have the freedom to change my mind as to what I want to do. Not locked into a high intensity ride for the sake of numbers on the HRM. When I trained like this I found I burned a lot of cals, but I tended to eat more to replace what I lost as I was starving. I did this for a year and burned out and stayed off the bike for over 2 years. I have done this more than once. Yesterday was a good example, I was going to ride 70 – 75% of my HR for 1.5 hrs. I felt like crap, body was tired from the long weekend rides. My legs were still sore and I was having trouble, so I backed off the pace to 60 – 70% and rode longer. I felt better because of this and I did enjoy my ride. I am trying to structure my rides now to include various items that will help me. Instead of the old method of just keeping a certain pace all the time. I find I enjoy this more and I am more willing to work out.

Hey JohnM, are you using any of these routines from her:

http://www.heartmonitors.com/exercisetips/12workouts.htm

I'm only starting out with HR training but I'm looking forward to good results. It might sound crazy, but I never realised the benefit of short, intense cardio workouts before, having trained mainly with distance running (my training was for a rugby match, which is 2x40 minutes of play). Now I see that hitting the red zone in an intense quick session might be very useful to me.

Al.

When I trained like this I found I burned a lot of cals, but I tended to eat more to replace what I lost as I was starving. .

Oh, I see; I think I actually have a similar dilemma. Last year I had my biggest ever year (13,000 miles), yet gained weight, and let me assure you it wasn't muscle! I find that I can't control my appetite after long hard rides (anything over 50 miles, with hills, etc), sometimes even waking up to eat at 2am, but this isn't gunna stop me training hard. :)

What concerns me is that there are people out there actually stopping themselves from achieving good cardiovascular fitness, and good cycling condition, because they think they'll stay fat.

What we all hate to admit is how important caloric intake is when it comes to weight loss. In Australia recently, a bunch of former international cricketers did a charity walk from (I think) Brisbane to Melbourne, over a period of about a month, whatever. So, they were walking about 6 hours a day, and they were shocked to find that only one of them loss weight, and it was 2lbs. So it goes to show that you can exercise all day but ruin it by stuffing your face.

alrocket: No those I have not tried. I do have 2 of her books, "Heart Rate monitor book for cyclists" and "The heart rate monitor guide book to Heart Zone training". Both have exercises listed. I am still reading both, time constraints. I only have time to ride 4 days a week, Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun. What I do is a recovery ride on Tuesday depending on how I feel or Z3 chris cross. [Warmup 15 min, 15 min at Z3 max, 5 min at Z3 min and repeat then ride at 70% for remainder of ride.] Thu I do a warmup for 15 min and ride to one of my favorite sites at 75%, takes ~ 15 min, recover ~ 5 min then head down the straightaway in the big ring and crank away till I go over 90% and try to hold as long as I can. Recover, and repeat 2 more times. Finish the ride at 70 - 75%. Saturday, Z3 cross and then 1 hr at 65 - 75% for total of 2 hrs. Sunday 30 mile ride with a bud. I try to be flexable each ride and listen to my body. Like right now I am wipped out and my legs are still sore so I will do a short ride with my daughter ~ 4 mi @ 8mph. If you have kids you will understand :)

nutbag: Yes, I had days I was so wiped out from a max effort ride that I would fall asleep when I got home and then eat like a horse when I woke up :( . In 10 mo I only lost 19 lbs. Was still 20 lbs overweight. Trying to lose the bulk this time with some better riding style. I am also walking at lunch in that Z1. Not much exercise and cal's burned, but I am out of the office for 30 min and have my iPod on listing to my tunes as I plot my weekly ride schedule.

I was assuming a base was already there, and more weight was to be lost. Of course, base building has it's place. I don't train with a hrm, although I have one. I find it takes my mind out of my body and onto the monitor. However, I'm not using any hrm training, rather I alternate hills, sprints, recovery, etc and find I'm fairly good at judging the perceived exertion.

I was assuming a base was already there, and more weight was to be lost. .
I understand, this is an easy assumption. :) I have been using a HRM since 89. I am a gadget nut, I guess typical of an engineer I like a lot of data. I have used the HRM more lately to verify my perceived exertion. I have noticed there are days that I feel I am working hard and my HRM says no. That is when I back off. the best part is I can do my ride and then d/l my chart, HR, speed and cadence to review my ride and what I think of it. Nice to have the extra data.

Typical... engineer (s/w) too :)

Calorie intact is an interesting subject. Last night I did a fairly decent training ride, burned ~900kcals according to my Polar s520 (just how accurate that is is another question - any takers?).

When I got home I was absolutely starving, and had a medium size bowl of pasta & sauce, which I thought would never satisfy my hunger (even bought some extra food I was so sure). It filled me right up. It was no way over 450kcals. Much later, I had some tomato bread and lean meat, figuring on 200kcals max. I had gatorade (100kcal) and plain water on the ride (got a co-worker to bring some gatorade powder back over here from the US - running out quickly so wondering if I'll try some of the home receipes mentioned on here).

So despite feeling so hungry I'm sure I still ended up with a deficit - there's no way I ate a full quota earlier in the day. Think the exercise really does have an appetite suppressing effect. btw drinking plenty of water throughout day helps quite a bit too.

No kids, of my own, but my girlfriend acts like one... :)

Last year I had my biggest ever year (13,000 miles), yet gained weight

Wow, you must be eating a lot :) Stay off the beer a little if you do imbibe - it's my biggest vice, and the reason I wasn't seeing fat loss until recently. (I didn't give it up or anything so drastic - it just seems that I don't have as much time to go to the pub. And in Ireland, that's saying a lot :) )

Interesting read: http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/alcohol.htm

As you mentioned, your health and fitness is much greater than the average sedentary, despite fat gain.



What we all hate to admit is how important caloric intake is when it comes to weight loss.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=Display&DB=pubmed

it just seems that I don't have as much time to go to the pub. And in Ireland, that's saying a lot]

That's nothin', I live in Beeraustralia!! :)

Yes, there's about 2 slices of bread in every 375ml regular strength beer

btw drinking plenty of water throughout day helps quite a bit too. :)

Yes, I've read some research that suggests that proper hydration throughout the day reduces late night food cravings. Sorry, I don't have the references. :(

Must admit I find a Bundy and coke hard to resist... bloody rocket fuel :)
Damn Aussies giving me bad habits!

I currently drink about 6-10 pints of water a day, gradually increased it over the past 18 months so haven't noticed any huge changes, but I'm sure it's doing some good.

Typical... engineer (s/w) too :)
:)


Calorie intact is an interesting subject. Last night I did a fairly decent training ride, burned ~900kcals according to my Polar s520 (just how accurate that is is another question - any takers?).

I read somewhere how this was done on the old Polar site, but that was in 01 when I got my S710. It is based off your info on activity level, weight, and HR if memory serves me right.

Pasta: per cup, 230 cal's, 44 carbs, 11g protein, 7mg salt
Sause: per cup, 143 cal's, 21 carbs, 4 protein, 5 fats, 1080mg salt!
Lifeclinic has a food diary that is free and has the info on the page for you.
I clock my BP, pulse, weight, and food intakes here.
Lifeclinic (https://www.lifeclinic.com/member/login/login.asp)


No kids, of my own, but my girlfriend acts like one... :)
My wife says she has 2 kids a big one and a little one :D

Remember "The only difference between a man and a boy is the price of his toys" ;)

I currently drink about 6-10 pints of water a day, gradually increased it over the past 18 months so haven't noticed any huge changes, but I'm sure it's doing some good.

WOW, that is a lot of water! I drink ~ 75 oz a day of water. Drawback is I have to slow down at night as the vitamine "P" effect kills me at night :p

WOW, that is a lot of water! I drink ~ 75 oz a day of water. Drawback is I have to slow down at night as the vitamine "P" effect kills me at night :p

It is a lot, cos we have real pints over here, not the dinky little American versions ;)

And that's the major drawback alright - but I contain my extreme drinking habits to work hours so it's fine.

I can see that and my dieurtic (sp?) combined here at work :rolleyes: