Watching the Wheels Go Around (and the pounds go down)

[xyrn]

So I've figured out I'm not a kid anymore, relative to when I really was a kid.
That is, I'm 39 this year and when I was younger it seemed like I could eat all I wanted of anything I wanted, not exercise other than just going about my life and generally had a hard time keeping any weight on.
I'm 6'1" and until about age 30 I was under 150# which is a BMI of under 20.

Over the past several years I crept up to 212-214# last year. My Mom actually commented to me that of all her boys I was the last one she would have thought would ever get fat. (As she gestured toward my gut.)

Now, I know that 214 pounds isn't huge and for many that would be a great target to get down to, but for me that was kind of the limit.
Noticed I was getting significantly short of breath walking up the three flights of stairs from the lockerroom to the parking ramp after work, and I didn't like it. So, I stopped drinking pop and cut down on beer a bit and drifted down to about 204 earlier this year.
Not bad, but still wanted to become fitter.

Many many years ago I bicycled a lot, and enjoyed it. Did it some for exercise with the family when I was a kid, but usually just rode to get to school or the park or to friends' homes.
I have a mountain bike that fits me (1994 G.Fisher Aquila) but it's really heavy and I wanted to get back into road cycling. We had a Trek 750 laying around that I rode for about a hundred miles in July, but it's sized for a person 5'8 to 5'10" and I started having problems with hand numbness and persisting weakness (ulnar neuropraxia setting in!) and neck and hip pain.
I was just plain scrunched up on it.

So, although I can't afford it right now I put a new bike on credit and got something that fits me very well.
2015 Cannondale Quick 4



I got it mid August and have now put about 300 miles on this particular bike.
Each time I go out I'm cutting a few seconds off my single mile average, and I can feel that my endurance is improving.
I'm currently at 188.8# and feeling better.

Since the picture was taken I've added some riser bars so I can change hand position, another bottle cage, a bell and an underseat tool kit with spare tube, 'irons' and a CO2 inflator.
Next year I may get clip on pedals and special shoes.

In a bit I'm going to zip out for another twenty miles or so.

[xyrn]

Just got back and all showered up now.

Man, autumn in Minnesota is weird.
Started out mostly sunny and actually a bit warm if you were just standing in the sun.

Twenty-two miles later it's completely overcast, the breeze has turned into a gusty wind and it's actually a little chilly.

Got that nice "after workout" glow feeling right now, mmmm, cozy.

[jdd2]

I'm jealous.

[Doug]

You are still a kid. 


"Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are."

[TKennedy]

You are an animal.

[xyrn]

Oct 8, 2015 19:07:05 GMT -5 TKennedy said:

You are an animal.

Thanks!

Just trying not to go extinct.

[Marshall]

Well done !


If you want to work on the mid section, do sit-ups. They are not fun at first (ever?). But they WORK !

[Fingerplucked]

Cycling is fun and can help with your fitness. Just keep in mind what you already know, that losing weight is all about burning more calories than you take in.


Right about 2 years ago I hit my high of 188 lbs and I decided I needed to cut down. I ate less. And when spring rolled around I started cycling a lot. The weight came off pretty fast. By mid summer I had lost 25 lbs. But with all the cycling I was doing, especially the 30 to 50 mile trips, I figured I had to stay well fueled, so I intentionally started eating more. My weight started creeping back up but it was no big deal. As long as my speed and endurance were improving, I didn't care about a few extra pounds. Then fall came and I started cycling less but still kept eating the same. I wound up gaining back 20 of the 25 lost pounds. Oops.


At just the right time (for me) Supertramp posted about MyFitnessPal and his efforts to lose weight. He convinced me and a few others here that it was a good approach. He was right. The weight came off slower this time, but I also started to focus on weightlifting, trying to gain muscle while losing fat. (Just losing "weight" without caring whether it's fat or lean tissue and muscle is, in comparison, much easier.) As of this morning I'm 44 pounds under that high of 188. If I could just get rid of four more pounds of fat I'd be at 10% bodyfat which is my target before reversing direction and starting an intentional bulk to add muscle.


Anyway, my original point was that cycling and losing weight, while related, are pretty much separate things.

[Tamarack]

Nice bike. Owning and riding a fine bicycle is almost as rewarding as owning and playing a fine guitar.

[Deleted]

I'm 49, and 6'1". I weigh 203 right now, and that's too heavy by about 10 pounds. 214 is too heavy for 6'1" all day, except in America where we lie and tell ourselves it's OK.

Having not made any friends with the above, I'll point out that one can't exercise one's way out of a crappy diet beyond the age of 30 or so. Sure, one can build aerobic capacity and muscle mass, but if one eats poorly, one will have a hell of a time shedding weight. "Able to ride for miles" and "at my target weight" are two different things at my age.

Sorry to be a downer, but if you really want to lose weight, continue the exercise and change your diet. I haven't, and that's why I weigh over 200. Good one you for ditching some of the bad foods.

Someday...

[Fingerplucked]

You have to watch what you eat.  This morning I watched myself eat four donuts. Well, two really, but they were BIG donuts. So I entered them on MyFitnessPal as four glazed Dunkin Donuts.

That's going to set me back a day or two.

[Marshall]

Oct 9, 2015 11:24:28 GMT -5 Fingerplucked said:

. . . , As of this morning I'm 44 pounds under that high of 188. . . . ,

WHOA ! ! ! You da man ! ! !

Great work. I gotta see what you look like ! ! !

[RickW]

Oct 9, 2015 8:06:36 GMT -5 Marshall said:

Well done !


If you want to work on the mid section, do sit-ups. They are not fun at first (ever?). But they WORK !

Nope. You may be doing other things Marshall, but situps don't do diddly to remove belly fat. They're great for strengthening the core. But the only way they get rid of belly fat is if you do enough of them, intensely enough, to burn calories over all.

It's all about lifestyle change. A bit more exercise, a bit better food, goes a long way.

[Fingerplucked]

Oct 9, 2015 23:43:00 GMT -5 Marshall said:

Oct 9, 2015 11:24:28 GMT -5 Fingerplucked said:

. . . , As of this morning I'm 44 pounds under that high of 188. . . . ,

WHOA ! ! ! You da man ! ! !

Great work. I gotta see what you look like ! ! !

I'm much less than I used to be. I'm not exactly invisible, but you might need a good pair of bifocals to see me now.

[TKennedy]

Just for the record I raced road bikes quite seriously from age 35 to 47.
We trained hard and I found I could eat anything and burn it up. Sometimes I had to force myself to eat to stay at 165-170 and I am 6 1/2".
It was pretty intense riding though.

Usually gained 10lbs in the winter even with indoor roller riding and X-C skiing.

Now I ride like a geezer and weigh 180 and really have to watch my diet.

My take is that over 50 you get assigned 10 lbs no matter what you do. It's a survival thing in case your tribe decides you can't pull your own weight and floats you out to sea on a hunk of ice.

Sometimes when you start an exercise program you can gain a little weight at first.as you are replacing fat with muscle

[Fingerplucked]

I was reading something a few days ago about bodyfat and age, saying that the extra fat that typically comes with age can help with all cause mortality. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I saw it.

It included a chart that I already have, one that was included with my bodyfat calipers. Mine is in black and white. I never really noticed the labels at the bottom until they were pointed out in the article.




See the green part labeled "ideal?" At 61 years old, that means I should be aiming for 19% to 26% bodyfat. I'm currently right around 12.8% with an eye on 10%. If I go any lower than that I fall right off the left part of the chart. But maybe I shouldn't be. Maybe I'm too lean already.

I'm going to wait for more information before changing my approach. But in the meantime, if you have a little extra flab, it might be a good thing.

[jdd2]

A tangent, but I've read that sit-ups can be good for mild/minor backache.

[Deleted]

JDD, Don't do sit-ups if you have a bad back. Sit-ups are a horrible exercise in my opinion, and one shared by a lot of sports medicine and physical therapy folks. There are a raft of other core exercises, like crunches using an exercise ball and planking, coupled with stretching, that are better.

[Doug]

Oct 10, 2015 16:24:46 GMT -5 jdd2 said:

A tangent, but I've read that sit-ups can be good for mild/minor backache.

Makes sense to me.  sit-up muscles both front and back have a great effect on the spine.
A lot of mild/minor backache in the US is cause we are fat putting a lot of strain on the muscles in the back that try to keep the spine from leaning forward from the extra weight. Of all my ailments that's one I kind of can correct. I had no back pain till I got fat. When I lost 70lbs(50 have returned - like bad penny) 10 yrs ago (50 have returned - like bad penny) I had less backaches.

[Hobson]

According to the chart, I am "ideal." I have 5 pounds of gut fat, so I don't believe the chart.