The Get fit club!

[airshifter]

Yeah maintenance is what worries me on the bike. Even though it's new and a half decent Trek it's still got nearly 250 pounds of me on it, and I'm not the most sympathetic of riders when I'm going downhill! However I'm starting a new job next month (better paid) so won't mind so much about paying people for the hassle of servicing. It's also still better value than joining a gym and, most importantly, it's a form of exercise that I enjoy doing.


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I actually like turning wrenches, so fixing things doesn't really bother me, it's just a time thing. I figure I can usually fix it faster than I could get it to the shop for them to do it. And by being familiar with the bike, I can make good adjustments. In my case it's just that the bike is old.

This is the getting fit thread but one thing I've learnt about myself is that I find it easier to get fit than stay fit. I run a lot. I constantly run over 50km/week yet lately I managed to gain some weight and I have some nice love handles, even though nobody to use them , and a nice muffin top. I thought all this running will allow me to treat my body like a dumpster and just eat everything I want but I guess I have to sort out my eating habits too. No matter how many calories I burn, it seems I can eat more.

That was one of the biggest disappointments when I started cycling. Everyone is saying oh yeah start cycling and the weight will fall off, you can sit and eat fish & chips followed by an entire chocolate cake and still lose weight as long as you've been out cycling.

When of course it's total nonsense, even when I'm up to 100 miles per week and cutting back on food I'm still putting weight on! The only way I've been able to get it off is just by old fashioned severely restricting what I eat.

This is where a nutrition app has helped me a lot in keeping me honest with food intake. In basic form it's simple.... less calories in than out. But the app helped me really see where I was making bad choices, and also helped a lot with balancing the proper ratios of proteins, fats, and carbs. It also ties in with Endo to keep track of exercise and adjusts the intake for days you work out, so that is a big plus. One of my major weak points was not eating properly after a day of burning big calories on the bike. Rather than eat right to recover, I would eat light and then be wanting to eat everything the next day, and on top of that I was eating the wrong things.

The app is fairly easy to use... making the lifestyle choice to use it and keep myself honest was a little harder. But I now view weekly calories and know when I can do well to build up for a "splurge" day and eat that big cake!



From my personal experience I have to be really fit to just "eat what I want". Back in my military days and at one period after where I had a fairly physical job I could do it. But without a lot of muscle mass and activity it's out of the question for most people.

As for avoiding heavy foods before a work out, I turned to using some nutrition/protein bars and such things. Small and don't slow you down, but there are varieties with just about any nutrition combo you want.



As for the efficiency thing, I think we are all on the same train of thought. Adding Endo and then later a bike computer that shows pace/cadence/etc might have helped a few percent. But overall the efficiency comes more from conditioning those certain muscles we need for the activity.



I've been doing good this month. Over 200 miles on the POS BOMB (Beat Old Mountain Bike) and some walking miles. Sunday I was feeling a bit tired from my Saturday ride and not really feeling strong, but managed to get a personal best 20km as well as a personal best 1 hour on the bike. So far I'm burning a little over 1000 calories a day average for the month.