Beginner's advice needed for fitness, weight loss etc

Iain C

OK so I'm 34, been back into cycling since the early spring and I'm loving it...main reason for doing it was to get a bit fitter and I am pleased to say it does seem to be working. I have an MTB which now tends to just get used for proper weekends away or day rides at trail centres and a road bike for general riding.

I know I'm getting fitter, hills are much less of a challenge, I can whizz along on my roadie for long periods the other side of 20mph and even managed probably about 1/2 mile last night at 30mph...probably rubbish as far as you cycling gods are concerned but I'm fairly pleased, and I know my legs have totally changed shape too.

My issue is I know embarrasingly little about the proper way to exercise, nothing whatsoever about food groups, what I should be eating/drinking and conversely what I should not? Let's get this straight...giving up beer and curry is not an option...but I suppose there is room to cut down?

So can anyone give me some basic advice in terms of how much I should be riding per week, what heartrate or speed I should be aiming for and for how long, realistically is a few pints a week and a curry OK, should I be avoiding "energy bars" if I'm doing a trail centre weekender, what should I be trying to eat or trying to avoid eating during the week, and should I be looking to try and sign up to some races to give me something to aim for, or I am I going to be hopelessly last. General plan is to continue to get generally fitter, and try and shed a few pounds, especially from my middle!

Thanks!

andrewc3142

Try to ride about 100m per week or more, ideally including some hills, and time yourself to set some targets, the first major one of which is probably 20mph over 10 miles or more

Upper body exercises at least 3x per week (press-ups, sit-ups, etc)

Swimming is all round good exercise as well

Cut out sugar (and avoid energy bars/drinks, which are basically sugar)

Eat a proper breakfast, eg muesli, and normal food for lunch/dinner. Old advice of lots of fresh fruit and veg, home-prepared meals, etc is still good

Cut down on alcohol, which has huge amounts of useless calories (and reduces your performance)

Aim to lose 1 lb per week, 2 lb at most

Avoid faddy diets, or indeed any diets

Get a decent amount of sleep

bryan71

I have cut out wine and beer all together and i go out on my mountain bike almost every day.And about 3 times a week on my road bike.I've started at the gym.Spin classes.But a good diet is a must.Cut out sugar and junk food.In 9 weeks i have lost over 28lbs.I have increased my protein.White meats,turkey is better than chicken.Plenty of water through the day.

Iain C

OK great advice guys, thanks.

Time commitments might stop me from doing quite that much riding, I can usually manage about twice a week in the evenings (25-30 miles max as we are starting to run out of daylight!) plus weekends...but I guess I could get somewhere close to 100 a week if I put my mind to it.

Sorry but I could not cut out alcohol altogether...I'm kinda past massive binges every weekend but I do enjoy a couple of beers after sailing (weds night) or at the weekend BBQ. I've never smoked, but I do enjoy a pint!

Food is the killer...I work in sales, driving a lot so I'm afraid I am fully familiar with the Ginsters range...why can't you get tasty, healthy convenience food at garages?

What about heart rate and stuff? Just ignore it and ride or aim for a specific range?

andrewc3142

I reckon if you do all or most of that your heart rate will take care of itself. At least, that's what I assume for myself ...

I know the travelling problem. I'm a consultant and travel quite a lot, here and abroad. Plus I'm veggie, which further reduces the choice. I take home-made sandwhich rolls when I can. Eating out is better than it used to be since it's usually possible to find a decent salad on offer. For garages, they often sell rolls, cheese, peanut butter separately and so it's just a question of putting them together, or you can find a shop. The new M&S stores at service stations and garages are pricey (hey, it's on expenses) and have much more than the Ginsters stuff.

Bronzie

Iain C wrote:

What about heart rate and stuff? Just ignore it and ride or aim for a specific range?

Unless you are training for a specific event or discipline (ie a race or a tough sportive), I'd just get out and ride as much as possible for now. You will know as / when you are ready to take things to the next level and get more serious.

The real test of course is when the summer (?!?) finally leaves us, and we are back to dark evenings and really bad weather - will you be riding through the winter or will your fitness improvements from the summer be lost and have to start again next spring?

madturkey

You've said that you want to get fitter but is it just fitness you want or do you have a bit of "excess" you'd like to get rid of?

If your main aim at the moment is to shift fat your best bet is to ride a little slower. You burn slightly higher proportions of calories from fat at lower heartrates. I know that HRMs are a bit approximate but according to my polar I can increase the percentage of fat burn by 10% if I ride at the lower end of my training range.

andrewc3142

The real test of course is when the summer (?!?) finally leaves us, and we are back to dark evenings and really bad weather

Indeed. If you do carry on through winter, thoroughly worth it, be prepared for some serious investment in lights and clothing, perhaps, different tyres. Or major discomfort and cycling blind.

myoplexman

Iain,
Glad you are enjoying your bike. Joinning a club is a good way of keeping motivated. When the weather is poor consider a turbo trainer in the garage or join a gym and get some miles in on a spin bike, some squats etc.

The key to nutrition is to be organised and invest some time in it. Don't rely on garages and corner shops. Prepare some decent food the night before and get a cool bag and some ice packs. Avoid dead calories and concentrate on low fat protein sources such as chicken or tuna along with complex carbs such as brown rice, wholemeal pasta or seeded bread. Don't overdo the carbs if you are trying to loose weight but make sure you get plenty before and after trainning. Start off the day with something like porridge and make sure you get more than your 5 a day of fruit and veg. Keep your beer and curry if you want but try making your own curry. Also keep hydrated and don't forget the omega 3 and 6.

Hope that is of some use to you and happy biking.

howiejmidlands

Iain

For me it was cut out the chocolate, only used as a treat now. Cut the wine out.

Curry and beer i adore, but now only in moderation, once a fortnight (my curry house thought i had died!)

Ride regularly and drink lots of water during the day. Dont go blasting out on rides, take it steady, i now go further and faster than i did before, and feel refreshed after a ride.

Dont expect huge weight loss in a short perond of time, do it gradually, and you will get fluxuations in weight due to glycogen/water retention after hard rides.

I have plataeued on my weight loss programme, but it will drop off eventually, and more imprtantly stay off.

Most of all, enjoy the rides.

blackhands

madturkey wrote:

If your main aim at the moment is to shift fat your best bet is to ride a little slower. You burn slightly higher proportions of calories from fat at lower heartrates. I know that HRMs are a bit approximate but according to my polar I can increase the percentage of fat burn by 10% if I ride at the lower end of my training range.

The% of fat burned may be higher at lower levels of effort, but its a higher percentage of a smaller number - in other words you would still burn more fat if you rode harder and thus used more calories in total.

Don't worry about how many miles you do, think in terms of time. Also forget about heart rate it tells you very little except how hard your heart is beating (which may be due to a number of factors such as temperature, tiredness illnes etc).

Infamous

Blackhands is right.

To suggest that you will burn MORE fat by riding SLOWER is ludicrous. However, a long slow ride will burn a lot of calories, not because you are going slow, but because you are going for longer.

Also, running is the best exercise for fat burning there is. Swapping one ride per week for a run is a good idea imo.

ricadus

Iain C wrote:

Time commitments might stop me from doing quite that much riding, I can usually manage about twice a week in the evenings (25-30 miles max as we are starting to run out of daylight!) plus weekends...but I guess I could get somewhere close to 100 a week if I put my mind to it.

I started riding to/from work and at the time I stared it was about 15 miles each way, so that was 100 done before the weekend had begun, though initially I only rode in 2 or 3 days a week, as I had been pretty sedentary before getting the first bike and it seemed better to work up to a daily bike commute over a couple of months.

Later on I moved to a different office closer to home, so only about 8 or so miles each way, but by then I had built up a base fitness anyway.

Mettan

Iain C wrote:

So can anyone give me some basic advice in terms of how much I should be riding per week, what heartrate or speed I should be aiming for and for how long, realistically is a few pints a week and a curry OK, should I be avoiding "energy bars" if I'm doing a trail centre weekender, what should I be trying to eat or trying to avoid eating during the week, and should I be looking to try and sign up to some races to give me something to aim for, or I am I going to be hopelessly last. General plan is to continue to get generally fitter, and try and shed a few pounds, especially from my middle!

Thanks!

Sportives for next Spring/Summer? - something to aim/train for? You can improve your fitness and lose weight (assumes healthy diet) from doing a couple of moderate intensity Undulating or Hilly 10 milers every week - (it's not the case that you have to be doing 50 or 60 milers twice a week or whatever at a novice level) - just get out a couple of times a week and enjoy a moderate intensity ride, preferably with a number of Hills thrown in. A bike computer can help with motivation and enable you to monitor avg's over set loops - worthy investment.

Alex_Simmons/RST

madturkey wrote:

You've said that you want to get fitter but is it just fitness you want or do you have a bit of "excess" you'd like to get rid of?

If your main aim at the moment is to shift fat your best bet is to ride a little slower. You burn slightly higher proportions of calories from fat at lower heartrates. I know that HRMs are a bit approximate but according to my polar I can increase the percentage of fat burn by 10% if I ride at the lower end of my training range.

Just to add another rebuke of this silly myth that seems to crop up again and again....

If weight loss is the desired impact of training, then train as hard as you can sustainably do so for the time you have available. Consume fewer calories than you burn but not too many fewer.

By sustainably, I mean:
- during the ride (pace yourself so you are going as hard at the end as you start)
- day to day, so that today's effort doesn't jeapordise your ability to do tomorrow's effort
- week to week (so this week's training doesn't jeapordise next week's) and so on.

Providing training is conducted on this sustainable basis, then it matters not what fuel source we use within our bodies to provide the energy. All that matters is that you have a sensible daily calorie deficit, on average, over the course of the period weight loss is desired.

stavG

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