Ride Harder or Longer?

Ghostgraphics

Ok... The goal is weight loss.

I have my 15 mile loop that I ride 3 times a week. As I am getting fitter it is taking less time to do the loop. To keep the weight coming off, do I:

Ride the same loop and aim to keep getting faster and faster doing it.

or

Do I look to extend the loop by a few miles?

As always your thoughts and help is appreciated.

Matt

teulk

I think that you need to be looking at longer but not neccessarily faster - dont quote me on that though. Also the fitter you become the more eficient your body becomes and therefore the harder also you have to work to lose weight.

asdfhjkl

Ghostgraphics wrote:

To keep the weight coming off, do I:

Ride the same loop and aim to keep getting faster and faster doing it.

or

Do I look to extend the loop by a few miles?

To keep the weight coming off you continue to eat healthfully (or start, if you aren't already). This sort of decision won't have much of a significant effect on fat loss - it's pretty much all nutrition.

You will see benefits of both types of riding though; either better endurance, or better performance over shorter periods of time. Why not mix it up to get the best of both worlds, while letting diet control body composition.

Ghostgraphics

Actually that is a good idea.

I have a little less time for my Thursday ride so I could make that more of a sprint, well push the 15miles harder and then on Tuesday and Saturdays go for a bit more distance.

Diet wide...phase one is to cut out all the crap and reduce portion size, which is going well. Phase 2.., I don't know, I like my food. :oops:

sampras38

Ghostgraphics wrote:

Actually that is a good idea.

I have a little less time for my Thursday ride so I could make that more of a sprint, well push the 15miles harder and then on Tuesday and Saturdays go for a bit more distance.

Diet wide...phase one is to cut out all the crap and reduce portion size, which is going well. Phase 2.., I don't know, I like my food. :oops:

You don't say much about your diet and this is fundemental in the weight loss, regardless of how you're riding. I would probably start off by reducing your daily calorie intake by 500 and take it from there. If you're still not losing weight sufficiently,my guess is you were eating too many calories in the first place and you'll have to reduce some more. What goes in your mouth is 75% of the issue, not the specific training,

Unless you're obese, I'd aim to lose about 2lb a week.

Ghostgraphics

Ok, Normal weekday diet is...

Breakfast
Branflakes with raisins
Cup of tea with one sugar

Morning snack
Apple

Lunch
Chicken or Ham Sandwich
Muller light

Afternoon snack
Carrot and Celery Stick

Tea
Something like,
Home made chilie and rice or Jacket Potato or rice and peas with chicken
Muller Light

Drinks is 2+litres of water and a couple more cups of tea

Weekends it is a bit more relaxed, I like my Sunday Dinners

paul.k

low fat milk is good, tuna,salmon, sardines , wholemeal products brown rice ect ,porrage oats will give you more sustainable energy than bran flakes ,chicken breast, poached eggs/scrambled eggs
more of these would be an improvement ,no carbs after 6pm on days where you dont train, tuna has good omega3 and high in protien to aid muscle recovery
a cheat day is always good as this helps stop the plateau
this would just give you a bit more protien in your diet to aid recovery
but sound like its working for you ,6 meals a day and a loss of no more than 2lbs a week
if you have a week where you put on a pound dont let it beat you up remember when weighing your self that if you have had a meal that is quite high in carbs you will be holding more water and could weight more that is nessesseraly true i used a graph chart with weight against time and seeing the downwards scale made me feel inspired .
stay determined .
1 diet
2 excersize
3 recovery
diet and recovery being the most important.

sampras38

Ghostgraphics wrote:

Ok, Normal weekday diet is...

Breakfast
Branflakes with raisins
Cup of tea with one sugar

Morning snack
Apple

Lunch
Chicken or Ham Sandwich
Muller light

Afternoon snack
Carrot and Celery Stick

Tea
Something like,
Home made chilie and rice or Jacket Potato or rice and peas with chicken
Muller Light

Drinks is 2+litres of water and a couple more cups of tea

Weekends it is a bit more relaxed, I like my Sunday Dinners

Seems fine to me.

And keep an eye on the portion sizes. You can be eating the right stuff but maybe a bit too much of it. Things like pasta, rice and potatoes are fine but can be a killer if you're eating too much. Great as slow release carbs but if you're not doing enough to burn them off you will gain weight.

Ghostgraphics

Yeah, I thought the diet looked pretty good when writing it on here. I am loosing weight so it is working so far.

.blitz

Riding longer distances at 60-70% effort is a great fat burner. You could invest in a HRM but generally if you can talk but not sing that's about right.

And now it's getting lighter in the mornings, a pre-breakfast ride will burn pure fat but take some food in case you bonk*

*insert smutty innuendo here

ride_whenever

In terms or pushing yourself, it is easier to do the same length ride at a higher intensity, much more fun competing in this way, and in terms of motivation you'll find it easier.

Remember there is a lot of calories in, calories out interplay here. An extreme example is the ultra-endurance athletes, running a marathon a day for a month. They eat whatever they can just to get the energy in. Obviously you cannot train enough for that, but as long as you eat healthily and at sensible times and keep increasing the exercise then the fat will go. Losing weight is obviously a slightly different matter!

Ghostgraphics

ride_whenever wrote:

In terms or pushing yourself, it is easier to do the same length ride at a higher intensity, much more fun competing in this way, and in terms of motivation you'll find it easier.

You say its easier and will be more fun but will it be better for me.

I think though I will go for a mixture of both.