Hello,advice needed.

[gav_norfolk]

hello,
i've decided to take up cycling as a way to get fit.i am properly overweight and decided it would be the best way.i was wondering how many miles a week should i be doing to see some weight loss.I went out for the first time the other day and suprised myself by doing about 12miles without feeling to bad at all.should i realy push it or take it easy??
thanks
gav

 

[Paulus]

Welcome, 12 miles for a first go is good going. I would suggest you keep this distance for a week or so, and then add a bit to your ride, and try going a bit faster and/or dropping down a gear or two to make it a little harder and see how you feel. Once you feel comfortable add a mile or two to your ride on a weekly basis and then you're away.

 

[Globalti]

Hi, as above 12 miles is good. 21 years ago I thought I was fit and I rode 7 miles home on my new bike, which nearly killed me. Now I think nothing of doing 30 to 60 miles in a ride.

Eat sensibly, cut down on the beer and keep at it and it won't be long before you see the reults.

 

[rh100]

Hi Gav

I started cycling over a month ago, and today was the first time I lost any weight to speak of (3 lb). This is mainly because I don't yet have my diet sorted out properly. I think that cycling is excellent exercise but to work really well I guess it needs to be in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle. 12 miles is excellent, I struggled with 3 to start, now I do 3 without stopping, I did 17.5 yesterday with plenty of rest stops. Needless to say you will work harder with hills in the route. Even though I havn't lost much yet, I feel so much fitter inside. Main thing is take it easy and make it enjoyable, make a purpose to the ride, ie head for somewhere to visit and back again. If you push too hard you may end up not enjoying it or even do yourself a mischief. Theres loads of people on here who can help you get the most out of your bike so ask anything that comes to mind, someone will know. Good luck with it

Rich

 

[postman]

Hello welcome just keep putting the short distances in and enjoy it.
And before you know it the miles will mount up.
Keep it up it's agreat way to get fit and meet people.And don't rush at it.Everything will come in time.

 

[accountantpete]

Hi Gav - personally I find that little and often works equally as well provided you can get out daily even if it's only for a 5 mile spin round the block. I've lost 1/2 a stone in 6 months despite eating well and with the winter approaching it's relatively easy to maintain the schedule.

 

[DannO]

Good luck Gav, my advise to you is simple. Just enjoy your rides out and the rest will follow

 

[dan_bo]

Enjoy and keep getting out of breath. that should do it.

 

[chillyuk]

Hi, I am 18 stone and 62 years old. I regularly cycle 20-25 miles in the hope of losing weight. In 6 months I have lost very little, but my body shape has changed, especially my legs. My thighs really have definition now, and my wife assures me my backside has improved shape as well

 

[ASC1951]

It's very difficult to lose weight just through exercise, because you would have to do huge amounts.

What you also need to do is to stop doing whatever got you so fat in the first place. In my case it was too much food, rather than the wrong sort, and too much alcohol. You can summarise all the shelf-miles of diet books into this - proper food i.e not heavily processed, not too much, mainly plants.

Where exercise helps is to make life so much more enjoyable that you actually want to lose weight so that you can do more. Dan_bo is spot on - you should exercise at least half an hour a day a level that makes you out of breath. "Out of breath" means that you can talk, but not continuously; if you can't get a word out, that's too fierce to sustain. You also need to mix it up to avoid boredom, so I do a 20-60 minute run (ok, jog) every few days.

A lot of people trying to slim down find it helpful to weigh themselves once a week and to keep a record.

 

[gav_norfolk]

thanks for all your advice guys,ill just keep plugging away and see what happens.ill aim for 15 miles tonight.
thanks again

 

[KevinG]

Good luck Gav, like you I have just started out and longest ride so far is 12.6 miles.

Looking to gradually increase the distance.

I'm hoping that the fact that the nights are drawing in won't stop progress during the week, as I work all day and a commute isn't possible yet, at least till we move offices in November that is.

I have lights and high-vis gear so don't want to leave all riding till the weekend :-(

Maybe a switch to early morning rides? What do people think?

 

[karlos_the_jackal]

Weight loss was one of the motivations for me aswell as just doing a commute. started three months back with about a month out due to no bike. Intially i actually put on a couple of kilos, but since then dropped quite a lot, dont weigh myself but just what other people have said confirms that body shape changes a lot. Did 10 miles for first ride, (with plenty of stops) now do over 100 a week some weeks. If you do exercise it makes you think about food more anyway as you dont want to ruin the good work you put in. The harder you exercise also the more endoriphines you create and make yourself feel better and then the better diet you get, if your drive to eat is emotion based.

As people say just enjoy and not focus too much on the weight but the body shape.

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

I'm slo-o-o-o-o-owly changing body shape, probably 'cos the cycling is offset by beer and eating a lot. So I'm probably losing weight as well, albeit most likely even more slowly than the body shape change. But I don't weigh myself: I'm happy to go with the better health (no sick days in well over a year now), cardio-vascular thingummy (MUCH better results at last asthma clinic), tighter legs, smaller moobs and gradually diminishing tummy.

I think to seriously lose weight you need to do LOTS of miles and / or watch your diet. The food I eat is basically good: wholemeal stuff, fruit and veg, fresh prepared, etc. There's just rather a lot of it. And beer.

But that's part of the attraction for me: I'm getting fitter and (slowly) leaner without compromising on food, simply by doing something I enjoy.

 

[Arch]

Good luck Gav, like you I have just started out and longest ride so far is 12.6 miles.

Looking to gradually increase the distance.

I'm hoping that the fact that the nights are drawing in won't stop progress during the week, as I work all day and a commute isn't possible yet, at least till we move offices in November that is.

I have lights and high-vis gear so don't want to leave all riding till the weekend :-(

Maybe a switch to early morning rides? What do people think?

If you can get yourself up, early morning rides might be a good idea - apart from anything else, at the end of a winter day at work, in the dark and rain, drivers might not be so alert, just wanting to get home.

Gav, like someone said, if you enjoy your rides, you'll find the distance increases come naturally. I was out on Sunday, only meant to do a couple of hours, 20 miles ish, but it was so nice I stayed out all day and did 50. Admittedly, I've done that distance and more before, but the point is that it didn't feel like exercise because it was such a nice day. I'd say do a combination of steady gradual increases, and maybe every so often set out to push yourself a bit (but don't beat yourself up if the weather or whatever conspires against you).