Training on Empty

[lavoisier]

Hi All,

It is with much trepidation that I post this question having only just taken up cycling and only doing 3x6mile runs per week.

I am overweight by what I consider to be a couple of stone, maybe more. In order to lose weight I am better off cycling without breakfast or is it always best to have something?

Thanks

Paul

 

[gaz]

6 miles and you should be ok. But listen to your body, if it tells you otherwise then act on it.

 

[lavoisier]

Thanks gaz. Just want to lose weight quickly and get my mileage up.

Paul

 

[Dayvo]

If you want to read up on it, there's plenty of stuff ont' net.

http://www.aboc.com.au/tips-and-hints/eating-for-cycling

http://www.cptips.com/bsnutpl.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/mar/26/cycling-food-eating-fuel

 

[Seigi]

Definitely don't miss breakfast, worst thing you can do. Your body requires the morning boost of kcal to get your body running and burning calories, if you don't eat anything on the morning your body will start to store fat and you'll incidentally just gain more weight.

3x6miles should be enough. I started off doing 3x6miles per week, now I aim for at least 6miles per day (As it's an easy route).

 

[doog]

Brekkie is always a good thing as its fuel but it wont make any difference with your current mileage.

To lose weight you will need to get the the mileages seriously up when your fitness improves with time ( as you have stated ).

I commute 16 miles a day and do the odd 30 mile weekend ride and lost nothing for years. It was only when I cut out beer (ie diet change) and did a 760 10 day tour from Spain to the UK that I lost 1 stone 8 pounds....the 1 stone was cutting out alcohol, the 8 pounds was cycling 70/ 100 miles a day for 10 days....

So my tip for losing weight is to look at your diet as well as the cycling.

Best of luck

 

[gbb]

I suppose it depends on whether you'd eat breakfast normally and what you eat the evening before. We're all different.
I never eat breakfast, cycling or not, until maybe 10am. If i'm going on a longer ride, i can ride 15 miles before even remotely needing to fuel up.
Commuting to work at 7am, no breakfast, i regularly do 10 miles and dont need to eat until 10am, but then i eat well in the evenings.

I'd say if you were dieting though , be careful. You intake might not be enough.

 

[lavoisier]

Thanks for all the replies. I've been cycling for just this week so I am very new to it. I am losing weight slowly due to diet but I know I can do better with exercise.

I am hoping to up my mileage weekly. What is a reasonable amount to expect per week say?

Paul

 

[Dayvo]

You won't necessarily lose muchweight to start with as muscle weighs more than fat, but you will tone up and your clothes will become looser.

Don't try and do too much mileage: do what you're comfortable with and maybe add an extra 10 miles at the weekend every two or three weeks.

Although it isn't the distance that matters so much but the terrain and effort you put into it.

Cycling 20 miles downhill won't burn many calories, but a steep climb, repeated if necessary/desired, will burn a lot off.

 

[lavoisier]

Thanks Dayvo. I do a circular route around our village which has a climb or two in it but also has downhills. I'm just breaking myself in gently to start with, it's a long while since I did any exercise at all.

Paul

 

[Bayerd]

Thanks Dayvo. I do a circular route around our village which has a climb or two in it but also has downhills. I'm just breaking myself in gently to start with, it's a long while since I did any exercise at all.

Paul

I started in a similar way to you about 2 years ago. I built up to doing 10 mile rides at least 5 mornings a week, first thing before breakfast. I lost nearly 4 stone.

 

[lavoisier]

Wow Bayerd. That's fantastic. That's answered all my questions in one go.

At least I know it can be done with some application. I love to hear success stories like this.

Paul

 

[apollo179]

Brekkie is always a good thing as its fuel but it wont make any difference with your current mileage.

To lose weight you will need to get the the mileages seriously up when your fitness improves with time ( as you have stated ).

I commute 16 miles a day and do the odd 30 mile weekend ride and lost nothing for years. It was only when I cut out beer (ie diet change) and did a 760 10 day tour from Spain to the UK that I lost 1 stone 8 pounds....the 1 stone was cutting out alcohol, the 8 pounds was cycling 70/ 100 miles a day for 10 days....

So my tip for losing weight is to look at your diet as well as the cycling.

Best of luck

Agree with doog.
I totally cut out potatoes , pasta , alcohol (as much fatty foods as possible ) it is surprising how fast you forget them - eat fresh fruit. As my mum says - nobody gets fat eating to many apples.
Any exercise is good but for burning calories / losing weight cyling for long periods is the thing , 4 and 5 hours without pause.
Maybe you can do some routine journeys (work , tescos etc) by bike so you interweave the cycling into your normal routine - As the intial hardship fades and the sense of achievment grows you will even begin to enjoy it.
A reasonable breakfast is fine.
Lastly dont undereat / over exercise as it can affect you pschycologically and physilogically.
Good luck

 

[HLaB]

I'm no nutritionist but I think that if you over exercise on empty, the body grabs the next food and stores it as fat thinking it might be subjected to the same in future. Plus if it too much on empty you will get dizzy etc.

 

[JustT]

Ok, so you want to loose weight .

DONT SKIP BREAKFAST.......DONT SKIP ANY MEAL......EAT MORE OFTEN.........YES I INTENDED TO SHOUT.


Sorry just wanted to make sure you heard that.

Never ever ever skip meals if you want to loose weight. Or exersize on empty.

Ok dieting 101....short version.

Our bodies are designed to cope with extreme environment. We know this because we are still here, even after nuking, starving, druging, and drinking ourselves into oblivion.

you eat to little, or skip a meal or eat your first meal to late, and keep this up whilst you try to loose weight, and your body yells...DROUGHT......... and switches to starvation mode.....it stores everything it can get its grubby little lips round...and begs for more constantly.

You feed it a little, often, say small meals every 2-3 hours, up to 6 times a day.....it yells.......HELLO HEAVEN....THE TIME OF PLENTY IS UPON US.... and thinks, blah I can throw this away, i'll get more in a few hours.

You change your metabolism. Your body gears up for a time of plenty, a lean, mean time when it never knows hunger.

Small meals often has another added bonus....you have to plan ahead, make double, freeze them, so you have food for work, lunch, snack, supper....its hard work, your food obsession is switched from wanting food, to being sick to death of trying to plan and fit 6 small meals into every day. Then comes the apple, bannana, for a quick meal and hay presto 5 portions a day....he he , snuck in there didnt they.

If you exersize before breakfast you are teaching your body to push itself, call on its fat stores....so yes you burn fat....only if your body is a fine tuned machine that knows you are going to feed it, and not a recent food hording machine that will panic and switch straight back to starvation mode.

So if you must exersise before breakfast, as some have too....grab a smoothie, light on the old tum, and food to tide you over.

Get to the gym, or buy weights....if your going to loose all this weight, you will have to fill the gaps with muscle if you dont want to have lots of flabby bits...light high rep sets to tone and shape, and burn fat longer.

Lots of squats and lunges, build up steadily...they will help build the muscles round your knee's lower back and but to support the new usage and help ease the strain on them, especialy the knee's and lower back. If you start to suffer in your cycling you are less likely to continue. Kettle bells are a great workout, strength plus cardio, but a good class is essential....

And most important, keep the exersise enjoyable, you will not succeed if the exersise becomes a chore..try everything until you find something you enjoy so much, you would do anything to be better at it, thats 90% of the battle won..enjoy your cycling, set yourself realistic goals. More will be acheived by several small steps rather than one unreachable one, patience.

I used these principles .....I went from a size 24 to a size 10 in just over 12 months...I've had 6 kids, I have no flab and I love my cycling. All the best.