Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - How little can I get away with..

while still getting good exercise and calorie burn? I used to wake up really early to go before work, but now the sun is coming up later, and it's either only get 30 min in the morning (i have to leave early to drop my 6 year old at her summer day camp) or 1 hour at night after I cook dinner: from 6:30/7pm to around 8pm. So, naturally I've been doing the night time ride, so I can get more time in.

My question is, is that enough? I'm 5'10" 250lbs and as much as I love riding for all the other misc reasons...I'm also in it to lose weight, so I want to make sure I am on the bike enough to see results.

I usually bike 5 days a week. Three 1 hour rides during the work week, and Sat & Sun is when I do my long rides early in the morning (around 2 hours).

So, IS this enough?

As long as you are riding and eating right, you will lose weight. Maybe not 5-10 pounds a week, but you shouldn't have any problem losing a pound or two a week.

It is all relative to your goals. If you burn 3500 calories more than you take in, you are going to lose Approx. a pound. Now if you exercise more and eat the same you are going to drop weight quicker. It is a combination of diet and exercise and what your goals are that gives the results. Make realistic goals, follow a plan, and stick to your guns and you will be fine.

I have found that 80 percent of weight loss is diet change. The rest is exercise. You can lose weight without any exercise.

Physical fitness is the primary motivation for exercise for me.

As long as you're getting at least a half hour in a day, you will see noticeable effects. An hour a day goes past physical fitness in my opinion. That's either training for something or just really enjoying the hobby — not that there's a problem with that. I cycle because I like it AND it gives me a higher level of physical fitness, but not necessarily to aide me on my weightloss journey.

i do 2 hours on sat and sunday, because thats my fun time...thats when i do it for the love of it, and the exercise is just a pro of the long ride.

I would do that long everyday if i could, but sat and sun, my wife is home, naturally, so she can take care of the kiddies in the morning until I get back. I usually go from 6-8am

Anything is better than nothing. If you want to ride longer during the week though, why not just get some good lights and reflective gear?

I'm kind of paranoid to ride at night, because we live in a pretty rural area with wide open roads with lots of hills and curves. People go REALLY fast at times, and with all the hills and turns, its easy to lose your line of sight sometimes.

Add darkness to that, and its a recipe for disaster.

I'm kind of paranoid to ride at night, because we live in a pretty rural area with wide open roads with lots of hills and curves. People go REALLY fast at times, and with all the hills and turns, its easy to lose your line of sight sometimes.

Add darkness to that, and its a recipe for disaster.

Two other options you might want to look at for working out at night are spin classes, and buying a trainer.

well i have a recumbent exercise bike...but im an outdoors guy, and given the choice of inside or outside, i will always choose outside. But ya, I use the stationary when the weathers too bad outside. Rains fine, but I dont play around w/ lightning LOL

Any thought given to commuting by bike? Unless the distance is just too far its very simple to do.

at the moment, i can't. I have to drop my daughter off to her summer day camp in the mornings, and its way too far. When the school season is back, it may be a very real option. It's only 12 miles away to work, but theres some giant hills along the way. But by that time I'll be in better shape tot ake them on.

I've been thinking a lot about biking in.

The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association recommend at least 20 minutes a day of vigorous exercise to stay healthy, for whatever that's worth. So by that logic, if you do *something* at least once a day, whatever extended rides you take should have the desired effect because you are going up from a good base. But I'm not a doctor, plus I'm fat, so take that with a grain of salt lol.

well i have a recumbent exercise bike...but im an outdoors guy, and given the choice of inside or outside, i will always choose outside. But ya, I use the stationary when the weathers too bad outside. Rains fine, but I dont play around w/ lightning LOL

Drag the trainer out on the porch...

What turbo2L said.

Everything in your life you've ever read says 20 min of exercise at least 3 times a week. You're well above and beyond that. You've got to balance the exercise to make it fun. If an hour is fun, keep it up. If you add time just for the sake of adding time you'll probably burn out. Try for a more intense ride.

Count your calories as well. I use a calorie counting program and I've lost about 100 lbs over the last several years.

John

What turbo2L said.

Everything in your life you've ever read says 20 min of exercise at least 3 times a week. You're well above and beyond that. You've got to balance the exercise to make it fun. If an hour is fun, keep it up. If you add time just for the sake of adding time you'll probably burn out. Try for a more intense ride.

Count your calories as well. I use a calorie counting program and I've lost about 100 lbs over the last several years.

John

Just FYI, they've actually updated their 1995 guidelines (http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home_Page&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=7764).

Turns out we actually need a bit more exercise, and more vigorous exercise, than once thought, just to sustain our body weight. Which would explain why walking through the mall and the grocery store as per 1995 guidelines never seemed to do it for me. But yeah the good thing is, the OP is above and beyond that already, and is definitely in weight-loss territory according to the Feds. And I agree, listen to your body, and have fun with it. Bicycling shouldn't be *just* a chore or you'll find something more interesting to eat I mean do lol.



Guidelines for healthy adults under age 65

Basic recommendations from ACSM and AHA:

Do moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week
Or
Do vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week
And
Do eight to 10 strength-training exercises, eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise twice a week.

Moderate-intensity physical activity means working hard enough to raise your heart rate and break a sweat, yet still being able to carry on a conversation. It should be noted that to lose weight or maintain weight loss, 60 to 90 minutes of physical activity may be necessary. The 30-minute recommendation is for the average healthy adult to maintain health and reduce the risk for chronic disease.

Use the links below to learn more about the guidelines and to make physical activity a regular part of your life.

Another thing you might try since it seems like you've built a good aerobic base, is to work in anaerobic workouts when you are pressed for time (like sprints in higher gears while standing/pumping, or resistance training, stairs...basically anything that results in muscle fatigue). Make sure you are taking in enough protein to build the muscles though. But don't overdo it. Injuring a muscle or joint can set you back a long time and might put you in a rut.

Muscle is a good thing to have around. For one thing, your body actually builds the muscle during resting when it has plenty of oxygen to use fat-stored energy to do so, so you actually get a delayed aerobic workout from it. Also, lean muscle has a higher resting metabolic rate than anything else, so you burn slightly more calories just sitting around. Also, more muscle burns more calories while you are using them, so your fat-burning cycles can be more effective. So don't look at a 30-minute workout as a bad thing, think of it as an opportunity to switch up the routine and shock your body.

Oh yeah, bananas are good to combat lactic acid buildup, and tuna/lean chicken are good sources of protein for your body to build the muscle. And plenty of sleep is needed too.

And my last tip...don't forget...vigorous sex-ercise can't hurt either! Those are the kind of reps I don't mind doing till muscle failure!

well im no stranger to muscle. I'm very familiar with building muscle...at my peak I was 215 lbs solid almost no fat. And even now I lift 3 days a week. It's just that I've never been a fan of cardio. I would always lift, and then extreme diet to cut, and define the muscles. The only cardio I got, and it was perfectly enough, until I got older, was just the cardio that came naturally w/ various martial arts throughout the years.

But now, with a family and too many things to balance, keeping in that sort of shape is just a rediculous amt of maintenance that I honestly don't want to go through again. I don't want or need to be big, just fit. I've built up a nice belly in my desk job years, and I'm trying to get rid of it while doing something fun.

I tried jogging, but at 250 as you can imagine, that didnt last long before my foot and knees started screaming at me. It took me 2 months on a program to get up to being able to run 30 min straight, but shortly after i got there, my foot and knees refused to let me keep going. And on top of it all I have always HATED running. I just did it because I knew it was good for me.

But I LOVE cycling/biking. Like I said 2 hours is my "fun" ride. I have fun every single minute I'm on that ride. 1 hour actually feels short to me, thats why I asked in the first place, making sure 1 hour was enough, because it didnt feel like anything to me, even when pushing myself to my limits.

Thanks guys for all the tips thus far.

You're doing great, but if you want to take it up, lengthen one of your weekend rides, and intensify some of your weekday rides by focusing them on speed and climbing.

good suggestion..thanks!

Google "tabata training". Great way to get your workout in without loooooooong times on the bike. You can thank/curse me later. :)

is that like HIIT?

Yep. A surefire way to create 30 mins per day of total suffering.

Wow you lift 3x/wk AND do that much bicycling? At that rate I'd be worried I wasn't eating enough!

I'm sure you'll be in shape in no time, but if you plateau, check the diet and look for ways to shck your body by switching up your routines (increase/decrease weight/reps, change pace/gearing/route of cycling, etc.).

I hear you about running! Back when I was in the Army, the only thing that i dreaded about a 10 mile run was how slow we went. Now though, running is a painful sloppy mess, but I LOVE cycling!

YY - any chance you could take your bike to work and get a quick ride in at lunchtime? I try to do that if I can't ride in the am or pm for some reason.

I have found that 80 percent of weight loss is diet change. The rest is exercise. You can lose weight without any exercise.

Physical fitness is the primary motivation for exercise for me.

As long as you're getting at least a half hour in a day, you will see noticeable effects. An hour a day goes past physical fitness in my opinion. That's either training for something or just really enjoying the hobby — not that there's a problem with that. I cycle because I like it AND it gives me a higher level of physical fitness, but not necessarily to aide me on my weightloss journey.

i found the opposite. i have been watching every little thing i eat for the last 3-4 weeks and no weight has come off. think its probably different metabolisms or something. i have to combine diet and exercise to lose it. but whatever works for you is whats important

ya everyone is different. The middle of the road is always a good rule to follow: balance of diet and exercise. BUT people are different, and some will need more diet and some will need more exercise...just gotta find the happy medium.