Where do I start !!! Very overweight, unfit older man

tenbar

BowtomePhil wrote:

I just got that one and man do you sweat, which is a good thing, body burns fat when creating sweat.

does that mean you burn fat when you're a bit hot and sitting having a beer?

BowtomePhil

You burn fat just by breathing.

Weigh yourself before you go to bed, then weigh yourself in the morning, you can lose 2 pounds.

keef66

BowtomePhil wrote:

You burn fat just by breathing.

Weigh yourself before you go to bed, then weigh yourself in the morning, you can lose 2 pounds.

I suspect most of that is water

t.m.h.n.e.t

keef66 wrote:

BowtomePhil wrote:

You burn fat just by breathing.

Weigh yourself before you go to bed, then weigh yourself in the morning, you can lose 2 pounds.

I suspect most of that is water

Pretty much all of it will be water.

nweststeyn

Come on now wytco0! Update please!

wytco0

nweststeyn wrote:

Come on now wytco0! Update please!

Very timely as yesterday I went for my first ride although not on the Cannondale. I have spent last few weeks trying to research nutrition and making plans for my diet, I haven’t weighed myself but I don’t think my weight has changed at all.

Yesterday’s ride didn’t go as planned see http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12884415 I had a lot of trouble sleeping due to leg pain, late night bath helped a lot and then in desperation I took some paracetamol and managed to get to sleep at about 0300, however I feel fine today with a little bit of muscle soreness but thats all.

Good things about the ride were that I enjoyed much of it and even though it didnt go as planned I am looking foward to getting out again soon.

My next ride will be much shorter probably 10miles or less and I will stay with shorter distances until I have a bit of stamina. For yesterday’s ride I took my bike to the start point which was the garage where its having an MOT, this meant I couldn’t really bale out of the ride and return and by missing a turning the carefully planned 15 miles ended up being nearer 20.

I am also going to spend a bit of time on my Tacx turbo trainer later in the week just to get used to it, that’s assuming I can put the blo**y thing together properly, I think I need to use some of the additional bits of plastic that came with it as the wheel doesn’t touch the roller thing, however the Tacx instructions are truly terrible.

Trev The Rev

You must destroy the instructions, much easier without them.

Longershanks

'A close friend of mine who is a very experienced cyclist, challenged me to be able to ride from my house to his mothers by next summer, its only about 50 kms but for me that is a long way'.

You'll smash it.
Personally i would try and ride at a pace where you're not out of breath. Sounds hard but it's a good way of knowing that you are taking it easy, which is what you need to do for a month at the very least.

Now the weather is turning you don't want to be going out and pushing it too much. Use the winter as a chance to build your fitness up really slow. Come April you will have built a good base up and you can start going out and pushing that bit harder.

Don't waste your money with a personal trainer, you can get help from people on here.

Above all make sure you enjoy it and don't worry too much about speed.

D.

wytco0

Longershanks wrote:

'A close friend of mine who is a very experienced cyclist, challenged me to be able to ride from my house to his mothers by next summer, its only about 50 kms but for me that is a long way'.

You'll smash it.
Personally i would try and ride at a pace where you're not out of breath. Sounds hard but it's a good way of knowing that you are taking it easy, which is what you need to do for a month at the very least.

Thanks for the encouragement and even thought yesterdays ride didn't go as planned I do feel good having done it. I am riding pretty slowly and also trying to keep the force on the pedals down and riding in a lower gear that I would naturaly, my mate who challenged me to ride to his Mums, said that was a good way of ensuring that I dont overstress my legs and joints.

I notice that I have a tendancy to pedal for a bit then freewheel rather than peddaling all the time, I dont know if this is just a bad habit, a reation to tiredness or something else? but I think I need to teach myself to keep pedalling all the time.

Longershanks wrote:

Now the weather is turning you don't want to be going out and pushing it too much. Use the winter as a chance to build your fitness up really slow. Come April you will have built a good base up and you can start going out and pushing that bit harder. Don't waste your money with a personal trainer, you can get help from people on here.

Thanks , I have certainly found that the advice I have recieved here is first class and very supportive and its much appreciated.

Longershanks wrote:

Above all make sure you enjoy it and don't worry too much about speed.

D.

Will do

Tim

Sprool

Michael Mosley's 5:2 fasting was a really interesting program, and probably for me as a science geek one of the more credible diets I've heard, esp as its aimed at longevity and not just weight loss. Its worked quite well for me over the last couple of months, along with regular cycling. I've looked into cycling, fitness and weight loss an awful lot over the summer and it seems the good advice to shed weight is to spend an hour or more if you're up to it, on low impact exercise, so do not go for power or strength, just get your heart working a bit and keep it going. Now the days are short, cold and wet I'm doing at least 45 mins a day on my rollers in the garage, alternating easy long sessions with short sprinting bursts then cool down periods. One day a week total rest but as the weight comes off and the fitness increases its quite addictive to keep on going. Good luck to you, its a great pastime and so good for your long term health.

phreak

wytco0 wrote:

nweststeyn wrote:

Come on now wytco0! Update please!

I am also going to spend a bit of time on my Tacx turbo trainer later in the week just to get used to it, that’s assuming I can put the blo**y thing together properly, I think I need to use some of the additional bits of plastic that came with it as the wheel doesn’t touch the roller thing, however the Tacx instructions are truly terrible.

re the turbo, just stick some paper or something under the back end (the sticking out bit under the roller - sorry for the technical jargon). That does the trick for me.

wytco0

Sprool wrote:

Michael Mosley's 5:2 fasting was a really interesting program, and probably for me as a science geek one of the more credible diets I've heard, esp as its aimed at longevity and not just weight loss.

That is how I feel as well, also a science geek (amateur particle physics in my case) I was persuaded by the science that this might work for me.

Sprool wrote:

Its worked quite well for me over the last couple of months, along with regular cycling. I've looked into cycling, fitness and weight loss an awful lot over the summer and it seems the good advice to shed weight is to spend an hour or more if you're up to it, on low impact exercise, so do not go for power or strength, just get your heart working a bit and keep it going. Now the days are short, cold and wet I'm doing at least 45 mins a day on my rollers in the garage, alternating easy long sessions with short sprinting bursts then cool down periods. One day a week total rest but as the weight comes off and the fitness increases its quite addictive to keep on going. Good luck to you, its a great pastime and so good for your long term health.

Similar to my plan I am doing some exercise 3-4 days a week to try and get some basic fitness and then try and add some longer sessions as my fitness (hopefully) improves, I will only do low impact as I am very over weight and I don't want to damage my joints.

Did you also see the earlier program that Michael Mosley did about high intensity training?, your routine sounds as though it include HIT as well and its probably very beneficial.

wytco0

phreak wrote:

re the turbo, just stick some paper or something under the back end (the sticking out bit under the roller - sorry for the technical jargon). That does the trick for me.

Thanks that looks like a nice simple solution.

wytco0

Quick update, I decided to try and lose a decent amount of weight over the winter and then start proper cycling when it gets a bit warmer, I simply can't motivate myself to go out when its cold and wet !!! and I hate my turbo trainer.

So early Jan I started seriously losing weight and so far I have lost 10Kg which I am really pleased with, I still need to lose another 30kg but for the first time in my life I now know I can lose weight and its not even that hard.

I have just joined a local cycle club and I hope to be able to manage one of their rides sometime in late summer.

Hope to go out for a ride n the next week or so.

jagx400

Stick with it, I started last year, I lost 2lbs a week through mainly cycling. I went from 5 miles a day to 20 a day. when the weather gets better I will be notching it up to 30 a day.

I was an 18.5 stone fat lump, but am now 15 stone. I cannot get to my target of 14.5 stone however hard I try/cycle so I guess I have reached my ideal weight. I have done a 100 mile charity ride and have signed up for the Cheshire Cat this year. If I can do it anybody can. I am 53 this year as well.

Good Luck

keef66

Bloody well done on the weight loss. Hard to do at this time of year. I'm still struggling to shift the last of the weight I put on over Christmas

I got my road bike when I was 50. That was more than 5 years ago. No structured 'training plan' - I just ride the bike as often as I can. Having decent clothing, lights and mudguards helps a lot; the weather has to be pretty bad before I can use it as an excuse not to venture out. Fitness kept on improving gradually; now I can manage 50-60 miles comfortably and I'm contemplating joining a club.

markp80

wytco0 wrote:

I simply can't motivate myself to go out when its cold and wet !!! and I hate my turbo trainer.

so far I have lost 10Kg which I am really pleased with, I still need to lose another 30kg but for the first time in my life I now know I can lose weight and its not even that hard.

- Have you thought about combining your turbo with TrainerRoad? I absolutely love it, and I know I wouldn't use the turbo at all without it.
And well done on the weight loss so far!

Cheers,
MarkP

carl_p

wytco0 wrote:

I have just joined a local cycle club and I hope to be able to manage one of their rides sometime in late summer.

Hope to go out for a ride n the next week or so.

Which club have you joined?

Well done on the weight loss so far. It's hard to get motivated this time of year, but try to ramp up the cycling as soon as you can. There are several organised rides locally, including some with fairly modest mileage such as the Hethersett 30 and so on. Perhaps commit yourself to doing one in the spring? Setting yourself realistic targets is a great way of seeing yourself progress and you'll be knocking out the miles in no time.

wytco0

Carl_P wrote:

Which club have you joined?

Hi Carl I have joined Iceni Velo. Thanks for the tip about targets a good idea but I have a long way to go before i could be confident of maintaining the even 14mph for several hours, I will get there though.

g00se

Iceni Velo... Don't worry about the summer, they have very gentle social runs out on Tuesday evenings. Sign up to the forum, and head over to Fraser's Tuesday Evening Social thread. About 15-20 miles at 12mph. Very low key, gentle, flat bimble. Just a handful of riders.

He's also doing less frequent newbie introduction rides just after Saturday lunchtime - similar, if not slower - with cafe stops.

wytco0

Thanks g00se, I have just added a post on that thread, I had seen it before but I thought it was a bit below the standard required.

g00se

Cool - you'll love it. It's a nice crowd riding through the spring in group will push you along nicely.

wytco0

Copied from the ex XXXXL thread
A quick update nothing spectacular but I am feeling a bit fitter and a little lighter.

I now weigh less than 94kg not sure exactly what as I only weigh myself about once a month. After a slow start I am now cycling every day although not very far. For 5 days a week I do a 5 mile loop which I want to get down to about 20 20 minutes (15mph) currently my best time is 21:30 so still slow but it was 24 mins when i started. Approx twice a week I do a slightly longer ride of approx 8-10 miles. I know its still not much but I am feeling better (and remember I am old!)

zardoz

53 is not old, I only started road cycling again last September after a break of about 35 years and I was 56. I shed over 4 stone down to 11st 10lb and I went from doing 8.94 miles at 12mph and thinking I was going to die or at least my heart was going to make a bid for freedom to riding a 100 comfortably at around 18mph. Its needed a lot of hard work and perseverance especially during the winter months so it can be done.

Best bit of advice is forget about the speed and going for times, just ride more miles and build that up gradually over time. And forget about this age thing, its as much an attitude of mind as a physical limitation.

Well done on what you have done so far and good luck in building on it.

Mindermast

wytco0 wrote:

Copied from the ex XXXXL thread
A quick update nothing spectacular but I am feeling a bit fitter and a little lighter.

I now weigh less than 94kg not sure exactly what as I only weigh myself about once a month. After a slow start I am now cycling every day although not very far. For 5 days a week I do a 5 mile loop which I want to get down to about 20 20 minutes (15mph) currently my best time is 21:30 so still slow but it was 24 mins when i started. Approx twice a week I do a slightly longer ride of approx 8-10 miles. I know its still not much but I am feeling better (and remember I am old!)

I would't look at the speed so much. Speed is nice, but sort of comes automatically. 15 mph is a nice average, try to extend the time instead. But I like your approach to weight-loss: Let the time work for you and only check eventually , that it is still working.

And stop saying "I am old", it would mean, that I would be old in three years! Actually, I felt much older three years ago, when I didn't use my bike. It feels as if I had dropped 20 years, so I am 30 now.

wytco0

Hi all, time for a quick update, following advice here and from friends I have started to extend my rides so instead of doing a 5 mile loop every day I am now varying my rides and exploring the area I live. In the last week I have done a 35 mile ride ( longest I have ever done) a 15 mile and today a 20 mile. I feel good the bike is great and I am starting to look for excuses to ride rather than drive, having broken the 20 mile barrier suddenly large areas of Norfolk are within riding distance.

And an added bonus 2 days after my 35 mile ride I did my 5 mile loop sub 20 minutes, a small achievement but a target met.

ric/rstsport

Great news. And the fitter you get, the more you'll want to do. Keep up the great work and let us know how it goes