Getting fit for middle age

McBain_v1

Since this years cycling efforts were brought to a premature halt (broken collar bone now needing rehab - see thread of similar title) I have been taking stock of my overall condition and there is clearly room for improvement.

According to the dreaded BMI rubbish I am within the "ideal" range (but not by much) but my "ideal weight" is around 11st4 :shock: How do you go about losing nearly a stone? Is it a case of going on the Dukan diet and getting elevated cholesterol, or any of the myriad other "faddy" diets propounded by Men's Health etc? I've never really dieted before - does anyone have experience they would care to share with an old fart?

P_Tucker

Dunno, but I've managed to put on a stone since giving up racing about a month ago. It's no coincidence that Greggs shares are up 30%.

In general, eating less/exercising more seems to be the only advice that actually works.

Zachariah

Eliminate alcohol and sugary treats, cycle the equivalent of 20 miles at least per day at a good pace, spread over the week (equivalent to about an hour on the turbo per night). That's what did it for me. YMMV.

meanredspider

Eat less & eat better to lose weight. Exercise to get fit.

Personally I think exercise is overrated as a weight-loss approach - it undoubtedly helps but is far less effective than being careful about what you eat and drink.

night_porter

As a 55yr old who has lost 5 stones in the last 9 months I have to wholeheartedly agree with the comments of meanredspider.

I began commuting nearly 3 years ago to help with weight loss and fitness and after 2 years I had not lost any weight even though I had ridden about 8,000 miles.

I then spoke with my GP about this and he sent me on a weight management course and much to my amazement I learned about proper portion control. Hence the weight loss!

I also learned that too much fruit (which I was extremely guilty of) is also not great for you because it is full of sugar. So now my snacks are mostly vegetables and I limit fruit to "treats" to end a meal.

Cycling and other forms of excercise are great but alone they won't help you shift the weight you need to limit you intake of food too.

Oxo

meanredspider wrote:

Eat less & eat better to lose weight. Exercise to get fit.

Totally - this is what it all boils down to really. I'm a 44 year old who has lost over 4 stone since January with a combination of diet, cycling and daily gym (weights). I noticed some time ago that my biggest drops in weight over a week often coincided with weeks of reduced physical activity, for example if I was suffering from a cold. This effect was probably caused by the fact that I was eating less due to reduced appetite when feeling "under the weather".

A colleague who took the challenge to lose weight with me (same height, virtually same starting weight) reached his goal of 11 1/2st over a month ago purely by dieting whilst I still have just under a stone to go to get there. Whilst he's gone form XL clothing to M like myself, he's now concerned with saggy skin and lack of toning whilst I'm in the best condition and fitness of my life. Not sure of the accurancy of those handheld fat/BMI testers, but my body fat is around 22% and dropping weekly whilst his remains at over 30% and holding steady.

IME, the most useful aid to weight loss was keeping an accurate diary of my daily food intake when I first started so that I could keep my total calorie consumption under 1500 per day.

Good luck acheiving your goal

StillGoing

BMI shouldn't be considered alone. If you are unhealthy, then yes, BMI is a reasonable indicator for being overweight. I was talking to nurse the other week who told me a local pro RU player was refused an operation because of his BMI reading. He was told to lose a certain amount of weight before they would operate without any consideration for his fitness levels. As a consequence of losing the weight for the op, he lost his place in the side until he regained the bulk that made him the player he was. Also don't forget that muscle weighs more than fat so measurements should be used rather than weight scales.

SteveR_100Milers

meanredspider wrote:

Eat less & eat better to lose weight. Exercise to get fit.

Personally I think exercise is overrated as a weight-loss approach - it undoubtedly helps but is far less effective than being careful about what you eat and drink.

My experience also. If you are overweight, and not a pro cyclist then you really don't need to stuff yourself full of carbs every evening. Keep them to a minimum, eat more protein which inhibits your food craving, and you will find it easier to reduce your total calorie input. The brain can really fool you into thinking you are eating sensibly when in fact you're not, and its easy to simply eat way too much.

McBain_v1

Some encouraging stuff here, at least I know I am not on my own in wanting ti improve matters. Mrs McBain has one of those calorie-tracking apps for her smart-phone and she swears by it so there must be something to this food-tracking business.

ozzy1000_0

i've lost a stone since april. based on cycling and slightly altering my diet. i just cut out all booze unless i was out soically... proviously i drank a couple of glasses of wine,or a beer or two every night... doesn't sound like much but it really mounts up... i friend told me to focus on one area to cut back... eg; booze, between meal snacks or chees or whatever.,... at first i just did the booze, but as my fitness increased and i started to feel ighter, i decided to limit my food a bit too... i eat "A LOT!!" i allways have eaten tonnes, but when i was younger i had the metabolism to burn it off.. i have found that just getting used to being hungry isn't that bad. if you make sure you have a pre-ride snack and eatr on the bike theres no reason why you should feel tireder either...


until recently i would eat breakfast (porridge), then a sandwhich at about 10, then some fruit at some point in the morning, then a big box of salad and baggette for lunch, then some fruit and somthing else at at least a couple of point in the afternoon followed by an evening meal and maybe even some cheese and crackers after that.... i'm not big, i just have a heavy sort of fighter build.... anyway, i found cutting alot of that out back to just the main meals, and then drinking alot more water with my meals wasn't too bad.. if you get hungry between meals, just down a pint of water and wait 10 minutes, usually the hunger pangs go away. we only really need 2000ish calories a day, i was probably consistently consuming 3k+. and my spread was spreading