Your cycling weight...? (help and advice required)....

bristolpete

Serious one this one. Whilst I enjoy a laugh on here I could do with some serious feedback.

I weighed myself yesterday and was pretty shocked to come in 15 stone 13lb.

I am 5' 9". I have one of those frames where the weight does not look like the size if that makes sense. I have if anything oversized velodrome type thighs, yet the odd thing is that I ride pretty well, apart from long hills on long rides.

I used to play rugby to a very high standard and got pretty big due to this and I can see that changes taking place gradually, but I am starting to realise my passion - cycling, is weight related and this could begin to depress me as I have had bad spells of depression in the past, but the bike is helping me beat it.

1. continue as you are and enjoy what you do. I can cycle 60 miles in around three hours with my club and often go out doing 40-80 miles on my own on a day off.

2. Seek help with my weight and really go to town on it in 2010. I would have thought if I can loose say 2 stone, then my power to weight would increase and my climbing skills would improve massively to.

3. Pack it in and go back to something else

Thankfully, I look OK on my bike and enjoy riding it, but I realise that the desire to be a ten stone whippet my over power me and trip me up. What is a guy to do..? The other footnote is that diet wise I do OK, but realise I can tighten up on stuff but perhaps need expert help here as loosing weight and training is in my opinion quite tricky.

Thanks for any input and are you happy to list your weight? ONe of my riding friends is 9 stone and I cant see how I can ever ride like him with an extra 6 stone in the saddle....its just mental.

Pete.

softlad

I'm the same height as you. In my early 30s, my racing weight was 10.5 stone. I'm now in my mid 40s and currently 12 stone, having already lost half a stone in the last couple of months. I'm planning on riding a few races again next year, and if I can get to 11 stone by early spring, I will be happy. I doubt if I will ever see my weight in the 10s again - and I'm not sure I would even want to, to be honest...

But if you are enjoying your cycling and have no particular reason or incentive to lose weight, then stay as you are...

voxegam

You could try and lose weight but you may find that you are just naturally big. Instead, maybe play to your strengths on the bike and ignore the skinny bastards. Saying that, at 6'1" and 10.5 stone, I am, I guess you could say, naturally thin.

DaveyL

I guess it all depends on what your goals are - what do you want to achieve in cycling and is your weight preventing you from doing it?

I suppose on the plus side there are many, many different types of cycling so there really is something for everyone. I'm 6 ft 4+ and 110 kg so pan flat TTs and the track should be good for me. Somehow I still insist on mountain biking and trying to ride up Alps though!

RichTL

Hi Pete
Im pretty much the same as you in a lot of respects.
5'9" tall 14 stone 9 lbs, used to play rugby and have a large muscular type of frame. Although as the years have past I must admit some of the muscles have turned to fat.

Im generally quite a strong cyclist but due to weight struggle up hills.
Im 50 in 2010 and have decided once new year comes Im going to try to loose weight.
Ive entered the Cheshire Cat sportive in late March and want to try to get to about 13 stone by then. Im never going to be whippet like but Im sure I can make some big improvements. I also want to try to set mtyself a few realistic challenges in 2010 just to prove to myself that 50 is not such a bad land mark.

If you want anyone to compare notes with or discuss success/failures let me know.

JimmyK

there must be a 5 ft 9 inches club round here, Im that height also , I am 40 yrs of age and I am 13 stone 4 lbs . Id love to be 11 stone again, but it aint gonna happen . id rather just enjoy my biking rather than get too obsessed about weight. im siting here with a bottle of budweiser as i type this

Jimmy

Pokerface

6 feet tall and 13 stone. Want to lose at least another stone (as I struggle to get up hills also**). But I race and would like to race a lot faster! If you're not racing, then your weight probably doesn't matter. Or if you DO race, and don't have any problems keeping up at your weight, then don't worry too much.

As others have said - depends on your goals and the type of riding you want to do.

You can always cut back on the food a bit and gradually lose weight.


**(But when I was 6 stone heavier - I still struggled with hills, so no matter how much I lose, I seem to always have a hard time. Maybe one day I'll reach that magical weight where I DON'T struggle!)

sagalout

I'm 6ft and 12st 2, down from 16.5 stones this time last year. I found early morning training, before breakfast, was effective at burning the fat off. Well, that and not snacking on crap through the day!

Personally I found that my base metabolism is a bit off what the recommendations are. 1800 cals a day is maintenance for me, despite the weight training I did 10 years ago which gave me a reasonable amount of muscle. 1500 a day and an hours training see's me losing about 1.5 pounds a week, but I sit at a PC all day and my only other exercise is a mile ride/walk to work and back.

The mrs says I'm too skinny now, but I can see in the mirror that theres still a belly to lose! I'm doing a sports test in the new year so will get a proper caliper body fat test (crappy electronic impedance scales say 14%) and see what they suggest. Gut instinct tells me I should lose about another 8lbs.

I guess it depends on your aims and motivations are. I always need a goal for motivation, and feel slightly in limbo whilst I wait to get a proper training plan in place after this test.

Garz

Im a short ass 5'6 with stocky frame thats always defied the BMI tables saying im overweight/obese when im unconditioned.

Since started cycling properly with new road bike I have shed a stone and look quite lean. Dont let your physique dictate the enjoyment, getting out and about on the bike is great fun and the best thing is the more you ride the fitter you get so when the weathers not stopping you go out and enjoy it pete!

Alex_Simmons/RST

bristolpete wrote:

1. continue as you are and enjoy what you do. I can cycle 60 miles in around three hours with my club and often go out doing 40-80 miles on my own on a day off.

Do this but make some small but significant and sustainable changes to your diet to reduce overall calorie intake. Trying to make large changes in one step isn't generally successful. Cut out the rubbish and most alcohol.

Keep both a training log and a food diary for one month. Simply measuring things influences behaviour. Often that's enough for success.

shaw8670

Great if you really want to lose weight , then do it, but when you stand back and look at the bigger picture, you are out enjoying yourself and are a lot fitter than the average Joe on the street! Don't worry unless your weight is stopping you doing something specific that you really want to do, or causing you a health problem!

specializedone

I started "proper" MTB riding in June 2008 aged 58 and weighing 10st 13lbs. (I was a x country runner at school with a county cap etc - weighed 10st 3lbs aged 18).

Since 2008, I have ridden virtually every w/e up to 25-30miles and now ride in the Gorrick series. I'm no speedster in these events but my weight has gone down to 10st 6lbs and I now go to Forced Fit training once a week. BTW I have found that I am fitter than many of the 30-somethings that also go each week.

So I am blessed with a light frame, but persistence will see you improve - when you have done the base miles then up the intensity with a few local races and perhaps the equivalent of an intemsive core work out which I get from Forces Fit.

If you buy a heart monitor, then you can ride to a set intensity - you will suffer initially but riding at 90% for as long as possible will soon boost your fitness, and your weight will drop off.

itchieritchie

Interesting one, this. I'm 33 Pete, and weigh a shade over 10 stone. I'm under 2/3 your weight and the same height.

I am, as you'd expect, ok on the hills (not as good as you might think though!) and I'm more of a triathlete. But here's the rub. Triathlons (the cycle part at least) are all about rhythm and maintaining that flat-backed aero position. On most courses, they have long flats, and that's where I fall down, because I always wish I had meatier legs to power myself along. My chicken legs always get passed by the chunkier guys. Give me velodrome thighs for Christmas any day. But you see, I'll never have them, with all the will and the weight-training in the world...I've tried, believe me...

My advice: play to your strengths, enjoy your cycling and don't give a hoot what anyone else thinks. Why should you pack it in? Besides, 60 miles in 3 hours is nothing to be ashamed of at all. Most people in the UK would struggle to clamber aboard a bike straight off their sofa and do 5...!!

And another thing. Your size isn't all bad. I used to play rugby at school. You'll never know the pain and toe-curling embarassment of being swatted aside like a fly on the pitch as I attempted a pathetic try-saving tackle with all the girls watching. God, I NEVER got any action after that one.... ;-)

TommyEss

This time last year I was shocked to find I reached 16 stone - which for a guy who's 5'8" on a good day, is far too much.

I'm now down below 13 stone (have varied from 12st 9 after a ride to 13st 2 over the Christmas period, so I'm around that mark) - this has come from a year of cycling and not eating like a pillock (I was having enough pasta for 2, for 1 - amongst other things)

But I haven't dieted... just been a bit more sensible about portion sizes and tried to cut down (but not out) the chocolates and crisps)

So from that, I'd say stick at it, and see how you go - I'm certainly better now than I was a yaer ago, and some of that will be the weight, some of it will be that I now have 3300 miles in my legs...

Good luck mate!

bristolpete

Thanks for all the feedback folks. I really appreciate the comments.

Cycling is a real paradox and as an ex runner, I realise you do not have to be thin to be fit. Have never been a natural athlete but by god I give it my all, all the time. I know people who are lean mean machines who piss it up all the time. Personally, by choice I dont drink, really I cant stand the stuff. Dont make me a bore, I have a cracking time all the time but the figure of almost 16 stone has really been bugging me since the weigh in.

To support my words, here is a picture of me in regular kit, setting up a photo shoot on a job. I am candid enough to realise that there is weight to loose, but its just working out the best way. I am going to rejoin the gym and train light weights on the upper body and revamp the diet with help hopefully. I would dread to think that I look like a big guy on a bike but I would support any cyclist looking to get there. Its odd, but whilst my weight has seemed to remain where it was in the summer, I feel so much thinner and people say, blimey, you've lost weight. Weird.

The other thing that keeps me going is steaming up a hill that used to kill me. I went out boxing day and road it tempo out of the saddle and realised two thirds of the way up that I was doing so, it was a great moment for me this year.

TommyEss

Remember that as you exercise more, you change your ratio of fat to muscle - muscle is more dense than fat, so if you can lose fat and gain muscle and end up thinner but heavier.

That's why BMI is a bit flawed - FWIW - I've lost 3 stone - but I think I'm thinner than 13 stone would say on paper, if that makes sense.

Hopefully this goes some way to explain how you're weight hasn't changed much, but your friends say you look thinner... Sounds like your are thinner...!

guv001

60 miles in 3 hrs it sounds like your going ok that a solid 20mph average (i know about not paying lots of attention to ave speed before someone pipes up). Eat healthy is the answer no more difficult than that, I've lost 2.5 stone since June by just eating veg instead of double carbing, lots of lean meat and muller fat free yoghurts, my performance started to improve before major weight loss and I'm sure it is down to diet as mine was shocking before June.

a_n_t

itchieritchie wrote:

I always wish I had meatier legs to power myself along. My chicken legs always get passed by the chunkier guys.

You have seen Mr Wiggins?

ut_och_cykla

You could do both - keep cycling (and being active generally) and lose weight - but lose very gradually - like others have suggested - by 'just' eating sensibly, cutting out rubbish etc. Even a very small daily deficit of about 250 kcal a day could amount to losing 5-6 kgs over 6 months and you wouldn't be tired/lack umph for exercising. If you manage to increase your energy/calorie burn by 250 kcal (an hours stroll per day or less time working harder) you could lose double that weight. Good luck!

DaSy

Maintaining a food diary is, as Alex suggested, a really good way of visualising how much you do actually consume.

I'm 6' 1" and 11 stone 1 lb, and at 45 I have to keep an eye on what I eat; the food diary helps to show you where the extra calories that you tried to forget about, came from. Also the fact that you have to write it down, makes you think about whether you really need or want that piece of toast, or whatever.

As others have suggested, play to your strengths; all the rides I lead go over every hill I can find, as that is what I'm good at. Conversely, my mates all attempt to lead rides on long fast flats, to make me suffer.

oldhamtj

So I'm 5ft9 too - yet another one - and for most of 2009 was 10st9, having gone down from 11st4 after starting cycling "properly". Some of that weight loss might have been stress related though, with my wife leaving me - or maybe it was because I was sorting my head out with cycling. I'm down to 10st3 now but that's because of a week not eating after an accident left me unable to and then surgery killed my appetite.

So you can always go the marital breakdown and titanium plates route that I have been!

My number one tip though is to always kill excess calorie intake by getting out there. If you go out on the sauce - or stay in on it - or know you've taken on board a load of calories then the next day then even if you only get out for an hour of real work to burn off glycogen before it gets converted to fat then it will help. Then keeping a lid on the rubbish - including meal-time rubbish - will do the rest.

My other tip is to get out there every chance you possibly can. 20 miles a day is a lot of calories in absolute terms compared with 10 miles a day. But it's better to do 10 miles than zero!

Of course long runs require you to take on board energy as you go and when you recover which it seems to me makes it harder to judge your total energy intake balance, whereas many short runs don't. I have done 30+m runs without taking anything on but don't particularly recommend it because you're very likely to seesaw your energy intake later, whereas 15m really can be done easily on normal meals and just see 800 calories disappear. In my experience, which somebody else will be able to comment on more scientifically!

TJO

Slimbods

I think you've really got to want to lose the weight, if you're not bothered by it, why worry?

I've been heavy all my life, but have recently dropped a good 8 stone or so. Comments have gone now from 'wow well done' to 'you look ill, eat more pies' which is getting me down a bit. I'm 6' and 12.5 stone but I still feel like I'm heavy, particularly when cycling or running up hills, but people who don't run or cycle don't seem to understand that. I've still got a band of flab around my belly that really doesn't want to go!

In short, do what makes you happy

bobtbuilder

I'm another memeber of the 5'9" club and I weigh in at 85kg (although probably more due to recent Mince Pie consumption).

I would really like to get to 80kg and stay there.

I think you should just keep riding and maintain a healthy diet. You, me and lots of others have to accept the fact that we are never going to be 70kg whippets who float up climbs. Personally I enjoy my strengths (power on the flat & short explosive climbs) and work on my weaknesses (longer climbs & weight).

I'm never likely to take up racing, but I love being on the bike more than anything else.

Bikerbaboon

bobtbuilder wrote:

I'm another memeber of the 5'9" club and I weigh in at 85kg (although probably more due to recent Mince Pie consumption).

I would really like to get to 80kg and stay there.

I think you should just keep riding and maintain a healthy diet. You, me and lots of others have to accept the fact that we are never going to be 70kg whippets who float up climbs. Personally I enjoy my strengths (power on the flat & short explosive climbs) and work on my weaknesses (longer climbs & weight).

I'm never likely to take up racing, but I love being on the bike more than anything else.

wow thats just like me... stopped rideing my MTB due to 6"+ of mud on each ride back in september and have just got my first road bike so im now looking to load in the miles. looking to try to drop the weight in about 3 months or so and if by the end of the year im under 80kg im going to be realy happy.
as for power on the flat and short climbs... (I like to think of my self as a sprinter. )

oldwelshman

I am 5'9.5" and just 80 kg, also ex rugby.
I would not worry over weight really.
Your never going to become a climber so would not even try. Anyway there are not many races these days with real climbs in compared to years ago.
You would probably be fine on most circuits and there are a few withing reach of you.
If your actually in Bristol maybe you should also try the track at Newport, there are a few regulars from your area who go there.
I would say these days it is more difficult for natural climbers to do well as there are so many circuit races with no real difficulat climbs so most races tend to be bunch sprints.

fastercyclist

I'm 6 foot and 155lbs. Going to try and turn up on the start line in March at 140-145lbs. As far as I'm concerned you can cycle 1 1/2 hours without fuel. If you want to cycle any further you're going to have to start eating. With the efficiency from a weight loss perspective of cycling beyond that dropping off the cliff I just try to cycle for 1 1/2 hours a day. Control your eating and the weight will just drop off. When I see fat cyclists I see bad eating habits. I find it hard to believe there can be overweight cyclists who manage their eating given how much of a calorie furnace cycling is.

bristolpete

fastercyclist wrote:

I'm 6 foot and 155lbs. Going to try and turn up on the start line in March at 140-145lbs. As far as I'm concerned you can cycle 1 1/2 hours without fuel. If you want to cycle any further you're going to have to start eating. With the efficiency from a weight loss perspective of cycling beyond that dropping off the cliff I just try to cycle for 1 1/2 hours a day. Control your eating and the weight will just drop off. When I see fat cyclists I see bad eating habits. I find it hard to believe there can be overweight cyclists who manage their eating given how much of a calorie furnace cycling is.

Fair comment, but myself nor others here have called themselves fat cyclists and furthermore, if we were then support would be required, hence the opening gambit. Your points are noted however.

TommyEss

It's a good point on the whole "fat cyclists" comments - plenty of people start cycling to lose weight - that means that when they start they're overweight - anyone looking to lose weight has to start somewhere - don't knock them, encourage them.

At least they're out there doing something about their weight rather than sitting at home filling their face and wondering how they got so big (been there - got the now comically over-sized t shirt to prove it)

ut_och_cykla

TommyEss -spot on! fat or skinny if you enjoy riding your bike then ride it - theres too much 'weight snobbery ' in cycling at many levels - all 'fatties' have to start somewhere and other cyclists should try to help not deride. There is also a fair amount of evidence to suggest that exercising still makes you fitter than a similar overweight person who just does nothing. We're all different - thank goodness - and cycling is not just for skinny people!

fastercyclist

ut_och_cykla wrote:

TommyEss -spot on! fat or skinny if you enjoy riding your bike then ride it - theres too much 'weight snobbery ' in cycling at many levels - all 'fatties' have to start somewhere and other cyclists should try to help not deride. There is also a fair amount of evidence to suggest that exercising still makes you fitter than a similar overweight person who just does nothing. We're all different - thank goodness - and cycling is not just for skinny people!

Well I was surprised at the other two responses as it wasn't meant in the way it was taken, same for this one. Of course new cyclists will have weight to lose - I was 82kg in August - was 72 by the end of October. I had cyclists who have been cycling for longer in mind when I said my comments - perhaps I should of been clearer. I agree cycling isn't just for skinny people but my point was that cyclists who are overweight* probably should look at their diet.

*and been cycling for a while

I apologise for any offence caused as it was not meant in the way people took it.

bristolpete

fastercyclist wrote:

ut_och_cykla wrote:

TommyEss -spot on! fat or skinny if you enjoy riding your bike then ride it - theres too much 'weight snobbery ' in cycling at many levels - all 'fatties' have to start somewhere and other cyclists should try to help not deride. There is also a fair amount of evidence to suggest that exercising still makes you fitter than a similar overweight person who just does nothing. We're all different - thank goodness - and cycling is not just for skinny people!

Well I was surprised at the other two responses as it wasn't meant in the way it was taken, same for this one. Of course new cyclists will have weight to lose - I was 82kg in August - was 72 by the end of October. I had cyclists who have been cycling for longer in mind when I said my comments - perhaps I should of been clearer. I agree cycling isn't just for skinny people but my point was that cyclists who are overweight* probably should look at their diet.

*and been cycling for a while

I apologise for any offence caused as it was not meant in the way people took it.

Hey its cool, no harm done here. I concur wholly and that its why we/people ride bikes. The empathy and understanding is something non riders simply don't have. The biggest disappointment this year was the cover of Cycling Weekly asking 'is it ok to be fat'. I feel that they could have worded it so much better....