1 month ago and I was not that fit but realised it and started going to the gym as the weather was not being co-operative. Started gently and I have settled into 3 sessions a week of 1 hour duration and is one session of weight training- 1 hour of Cardio Vascular on the various machines and one hour of spinning. Checked my weight at the start and I was 153 lbs. Around 10lbs over my target but I would like to see 140 again. First spinning session and I said that it would take about 6 sessions to get into it and I did my 7th last Thursday. First spinning class and I was knocking out a consistent 140-150 watts and I used 480 calories. Struggled to get out of the saddle for extended periods and by the end i was finished. Thursday and I was seeing 230 to 250 watts on the 3 minute climbs in high gear and low cadence or the 2 minute sprints of lower gear and cadence of 110 to 120. Managed all the standing climbs by putting on extra gears and found myself at least two gear higher than I have pulled before. Calorie count at the end of one hour was 602 so I have got into the swing of spinning again.

On the weight side- I dropped to 150 lbs in the first week but none lost since. Body felt firmer and I did go down 2" on trouser size but NO weight loss. That was until yesterday. 145 lbs on the scales that has stayed off this morning aswell so I am near my 10lb target I set a month ago.

So one target very near and all I have to do now is work harder. The cardio work is still hurting- the weights are hurting more as I find muscles I never knew I had but that may be due to the bigger weight I am pulling. I don't do high weight but repetitions and by the end of each sequence of 10- I can't do the 11th.

The spinning though-This is where I have seen an improvement but not as good as my neighbour. He only started riding 18 months ago and like me is using the gym as weather is not good. 18 months ago he was unfit. 12 months ago got a better bike and last summer did 4 metrics and 2x 100 milers. His calorie count on Thursday was 700. Looks like I will have to do the rides he is doing to improve to his standard but I do have an excuse- he is only 55----10 years younger than me.

Reading with a sinsere intrest,,,

My Useless 2 cents,,, calories in vs calories out,
I lost 4 lbs in two weeks by cutting the dairy and meat a little,
With no changes in exercise habbits,
198 lbs to 194,,My Target is 190
6ft tall, 36"waist

My main goal is to shrink my belly, I want a waist of 34"

So when I hit my 190 target weight I'm gonna try for 1,000 crunches a week.

we shall see.

Weight loss: It's much easier to not eat it in the first place than to try to burn it off by exercising.

Performance: Training improves performance through physiologic adaptation to stress. Stress means significantly exceeding comfort level in intensity. Higher intensity generates faster adaptation. Consider high intensity interval training, also Tabata intervals. A good book is "Cycling Past 50" by Joe Friel.

+1 for Joe Friel's, "Cycling Past 50" , I get more form this book each tie I read it, a good source of information. Sounds like you are doing the weight loss the right way, especially with the diabetes diagnosis. Take it slow and evenly so you body can adjust, not fast and dangerously. Glad that the gym is helping you in your quest to regain your lost fitness.

Bill

My diet - Pre and during the gym work is not bad----In fact I would say it is good. Not counted calories that I eat but I am a small bloke with a meagre diet but what I do eat is good. None of the Fast food junk- light breakfast- Light lunch and evening meal is protein in the form of meat and vegetables. So I do not overeat and what I eat is not harmful. I went for 3 weeks without losing a lb then it suddenly went so my normal diet plus some "Extra" exercise is beginning to pay off. Mind you- that diet will have to be better in the future due to the onset of Diabetes.

Todays exercise was a 30 miler with around 1500 ft of climbing and the Garmin showed 1100 cals on the ride. Lunch was just light and my weight after the ride is still 145lbs. One of those hills was the basket of 3/4 mile at 16%. It was not easy but I kept the other two insight all the way up. It was not easy but I got to the top quicker and just cycled over the top. Last time I did it I was off the bike and on the verge for 5 minutes trying to get the lungs to work.

So the gym has not only lost a few lbs- It has improved me on the bike aswell.

Yep and I'm shure you know, Muscle mass weighs more that fat fat cells....

I think you mean that volume to volume, muscle has more mass. 5 lbs of fat takes up a greater amount of volume than 5 lbs of muscle--muscle is more dense.

I have never been able to lose weight just with spinning. I think a lot of this is genetic. I can be away from the gym for 6 mos. then go in and within 2 wks. max the machines for certain exercises. Things like doing leg presses with the full 400 lbs or quad extensions with 200 lbs. But, endurance type stuff comes much, much slower to me. Not surprisingly I was a sprinter in HS but couldn't run distance worth a damn. My basic problem has everything to do with calories in and calories out as has been stated here before.

Don't get me wrong. At 150/155 and 5'6" short- I am not overweight. but 10 lbs at 155 is a 6% weight gain. I could feel that as it is in the wrong place. I may not be losing a lot of weight but most of the surplus is coming off . Or is it just being moved to somewhere else as My upper body feels firmer and I have a 3 pack come back. I can feel Muscle around the stomach area instead of something that wobbles about. And I realise that Muscle has a smaller volume than fat weight for weight but muscle also takes up less space. I may not be losing much weight but trouser size is down and My paunch was not being hit by the thighs when I was in the drops today.

Sounds to me like you're doing all the right stuff. My ideal weight would be like what I was in '69 after basic training....5' 10" and 175 lbs. But now, at age 66, I'm 5' 9" and 188 lbs. And, even in season, it's really hard for me to get to 180 lbs.