Excercise Toll?

SG <[email hidden]> wrote:

: Am I doing something wrong? My diet has remained virtually unchanged.

Yes. Anyone going hard 5 days a week like that will get run down,
never mind starting from a lower base like yourself.

1) Take a few days off
2) When you start back, alternate riding in and back at a nice easy
pace with days where you ride one way only hard then ride the other
way nice and easy.

After a couple of months of that, see how you go.

arthur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
Don't get me wrong, perl is an OK operating system, but it lacks a
lightweight scripting language -- Walter Dnes

"SG" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Until recently I used to play the odd game of football mid week and
try to go to the gym and swim the other times. I have also gone out at
weekends off-roading.
I have just taken up cycle commuting to get fitter and lose a bit of
excess. I have a round trip of about 16 miles mainly of road which I
have religiously followed for over two weeks. I make this trip as
vigousrously as I can.
As things stand not only have I lost virtually nothing but I am
beginning to become exhausted and my first "day-off" is imminent with
a train journey instead.
Am I doing something wrong? My diet has remained virtually unchanged.
Thanks
Sam

Depends on what your diet consists of as to whether you are eating too
much/too little/healthily/unhealthily. The only way you can really tell is
to keep a food diary and be brutally honest about what you are eating and
how much of it. You can also lose fat & develop muscle and have little
effect on the scales.

Rest days are just as important as exercise days. Indeed if you are
exercising hard rest days are *crucial* If you have not had a day off in
over two weeks and you have been cycling hard, I'm not surprised you are
tired.

Cheers, helen s

SG said:

I have a round trip of about 16 miles mainly of road which I
have religiously followed for over two weeks. I make this trip as
vigousrously as I can.
As things stand not only have I lost virtually nothing but I am
beginning to become exhausted and my first "day-off" is imminent
with a train journey instead.

If you feel as though you need a day off you probably do. I'm not
surprised you're feeling tired with that regime.

Quoted message said:

Am I doing something wrong? My diet has remained virtually
unchanged.

It depends largely on how sensible or poor that diet is. 2 weeks is not
really that much; give it 6 and I think you'll really notice an effect.
Also, for weight loss IMX it's distance or time on the bike rather than
effort that counts. It's also excruciatingly boring to repeat the same
effort on the same route every time.

A 16 mile loop is probably enough to start seeing some benefit soon,
but it would be better if it were a little bit further and there were
some variation. So, try to find routes of varying length, say between
12 miles and 25 miles, and vary your pace a bit so you go flat out when
you feel good, and a bit, or a lot, easier when you are jaded.

Log your weekly mileage and aim to increase it gradually and steadily.

Richard said:

If you're going as vigourously as you can, I'm guessing you're taking

Quoted message said:

about 20-30 minutes to do 8 miles? That's burning a lot of sugar,

but

Quoted message said:

not much in the way of fat. Plus, what you have been burning as fat

may

Quoted message said:

well have been compensated weightwise by improvements in the muscles.

Quoted message said:

And, it's burning a hell of a lot of water. Are you sure you're
rehydrating enough?

To be honest it's not long enough to be burning either much fat or much
sugar. As you increase intensity you don't reduce the absolute amount
of fat you're burning, in fact it increases. Only the relative
percentage of fat/carbs decreases.

Quoted message said:

Get a heart rate monitor and slow down until you're in the aerobic
regime - roughly speaking, calculate your max heart rate as (210

minus

Quoted message said:

your age in years), then stick to around 70-80% of that max (That's a

Quoted message said:

very ballpark regime - if you know better, then stick to what you

know).

Quoted message said:

R.

"SG" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have just taken up cycle commuting to get fitter and lose a bit of
excess. I have a round trip of about 16 miles mainly of road which I
have religiously followed for over two weeks. I make this trip as
vigousrously as I can.
As things stand not only have I lost virtually nothing but I am
beginning to become exhausted and my first "day-off" is imminent with
a train journey instead.
Am I doing something wrong? My diet has remained virtually unchanged.

Too soon to say. The fact you have lasted two weeks suggests you are
reasonably fit -- though it could mean that you are stubborn and are not
listening to your body.

From nothing to 80 miles a week of 'vigorous' cycling is quite some step.

I would suggest slowing down to a nice comfortable pace (it will naturally
increase as your fitness increases) and taking a day or two off whenever you
feel like it. Forget about losing weight and improving fitness -- they will
happen anyway -- but the former may take more and the latter less time than
you anticipate.

One of the joys of cycling is that it provides a means of relaxation and
stress relief so you arrive at work refreshed and ready for the day and home
de-stressed and ready for some fun or relaxation. If you are cycling with
your bum in the air and the hammer down hard you will not be getting the
full benefit of that relaxation time -- indeed you may be raising your
stress levels.

As summer comes on and the evenings get lighter and warmer I strongly
suspect that you may want to take the long way home from time to time --
perhaps with a quiet drink in a nice pub on the way. By then you will be so
chilled that the beer will freeze :~)

"Richard" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

snip<
Get a heart rate monitor and slow down until you're in the aerobic
regime - roughly speaking, calculate your max heart rate as (210 minus
your age in years), then stick to around 70-80% of that max (That's a
very ballpark regime - if you know better, then stick to what you know).

According to the little booklet that came with my exercise bike, it lists a
'fat burning zone', an 'aerobic zone' and an 'anaerobic zone' (and a couple
more).

For the fat burning zone it recommends 60 -70% of your MPR (max pulse rate)
using 220 minus your age, and states that the burning of fat is enhanced to
an optimum because the calories burned mainly comprise body fat and less
carbohydrates.

The aerobic zone recommends 70-80% MPR and burns more carbohydrates than
fat, and improves endurance etc.

So reading the above I would say it seems you need to slow down and
concentrate on exercising in the 60-70% area of your MPR.

--
Regards, Paul (R)
My Lake District walking site:
www.lakelandwalker.co.uk

SG said:

Until recently I used to play the odd game of football mid week and
try to go to the gym and swim the other times. I have also gone out at
weekends off-roading.
I have just taken up cycle commuting to get fitter and lose a bit of
excess. I have a round trip of about 16 miles mainly of road which I
have religiously followed for over two weeks. I make this trip as
vigousrously as I can.
As things stand not only have I lost virtually nothing but I am
beginning to become exhausted and my first "day-off" is imminent with
a train journey instead.
Am I doing something wrong? My diet has remained virtually unchanged.
Thanks
Sam

I think you're overtraining. Take most of your rides more slowly, it won't
make much difference to your calorie usage. If your diet really does
remain unchanged you'll soon start to lose weight. However, be careful not
to lose weight too quickly or excessively.
--
Michael MacClancy

Michael MacClancy said:

SG said:

Until recently I used to play the odd game of football mid week and
try to go to the gym and swim the other times. I have also gone out at
weekends off-roading.
I have just taken up cycle commuting to get fitter and lose a bit of
excess. I have a round trip of about 16 miles mainly of road which I
have religiously followed for over two weeks. I make this trip as
vigousrously as I can.
As things stand not only have I lost virtually nothing but I am
beginning to become exhausted and my first "day-off" is imminent with
a train journey instead.
Am I doing something wrong? My diet has remained virtually unchanged.
Thanks
Sam

There's a lot of good advice here but one thing I would add is change
your diet. If you eat rubbish you are rubbish.
Cut out alcoholic drink, it does nothing for you and you don't need the
calories when you could have something better, don't smoke' if you do
that is. Check your eating habits have something small six times a day.
Don't get stuff from the supermarket sandwich shelf make it yourself
so you know what's in it.
Exercise alone won't make you thin just fitter, fat bodies do the Iron
Man, they are fit but fat. To be trim and fit is 10% exercise and 90% diet.

Sniper8052.

wafflycat said:

Quoted message said:

Rest days are just as important as exercise days. Indeed if you are
exercising hard rest days are *crucial* If you have not had a day off in
over two weeks and you have been cycling hard, I'm not surprised you are
tired.

Cheers, helen s

Rest days 🙂 I had three months of those when I left the forces ten
years ago, drove me right round the bend...I went back to a proper
training regime.

You can *always* do more. Especially with porridge. Ahh complex carbs
you've got to love em 🙂

Sniper8052

SG said:

Until recently I used to play the odd game of football mid week and
try to go to the gym and swim the other times. I have also gone out at
weekends off-roading.
I have just taken up cycle commuting to get fitter and lose a bit of
excess. I have a round trip of about 16 miles mainly of road which I
have religiously followed for over two weeks. I make this trip as
vigousrously as I can.
As things stand not only have I lost virtually nothing but I am
beginning to become exhausted and my first "day-off" is imminent with
a train journey instead.
Am I doing something wrong? My diet has remained virtually unchanged.
Thanks
Sam

Your overdoing it, you've not given your body time to build much muscle or
glycogen stores.

Don't go as fast as you can every day, practice riding as slow as you dare,
see if you can do it without working up a sweat, start singing and keep the
pace down so that you have enough breath to keep it up. This will let your
body know to keep building and give it the spare energy to do so.

Go hard one day and then notice how it feels the next, then take it really
easy for a couple of days, see how it feels when you push it.

If you want to occasionally push your self, don't do it in the morning,
your legs won't of woken up, get warmed up on the way home then attack a
hill really hard or take a longer route home.

If you have the time, do a few longer rides, say 20 miles or so and get to
feel the pace you can keep up for that distance. That should be your noraml
maximum effort. If you leave work feeling really good and facny pushing it
tahts ok have fun with it.

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

Love this:
Put an end to Outlook Express's messy quotes
http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/oe-quotefix/

"Sniper8052(L96A1)" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Rest days 🙂 I had three months of those when I left the forces ten years
ago, drove me right round the bend...I went back to a proper training
regime.

Proper training does include rest days, you know :-)

Quoted message said:

You can *always* do more. Especially with porridge. Ahh complex carbs
you've got to love em 🙂

You can do more *sensibly* as in building up gradually, so you don't cream
cracker the anatomy. Porridge, made the correct way with water, and topped
with fruit is the breakfast of choice of the PSF :-)

Cheers, helen s

Quoted message said:

Sniper8052