Overweight issues

[plantluvver]

I really hope that it was the incompetent guy, not that you'ree body is atter than you thought. I'm thimking of getting a scale, but after reading the posts here, I am reminded that weight is not a good measure of fitness.

I think I'll go for a tapemeasure instead.

It occured to me today that the use of my bike to go sailing was covering me both in the upper and lower body. Although it is hard to measure the actual exertion of sailing, because it depends on the weather so much.

And both fit in well with the idea of earth-freindly transport, whoch is my main purpose anyway.

I am now wondering, after spending WAY to much time on my butt surfing for cool biking deals, whether getting better equipment actually is counterproductive for weght loss. I know that totally lousy equiopment will be frustrating to use, and will keep me from riding. But maybe getting a nicer bike actually will burn less calories.

I would like some input on this. How much does the quality of bike affect the "feel" of biking, versus increased speed and efficiency?

I know when I had a department store bike, I never rode it, felt guilty for being out of shape, and never rode it. And this was during my twenties! But when a coworker talked me into trying out his wife's bike for a weekend, I rode about 20 miles, not realizing how far I was going (on a paved path with few cross streets). The bike felt alive somehow and responsive, versus just a dead peice of steel.

I was at first a little miffed at the suggestion I join Sparks, didn't want to follow a plan. But decided that I didn't have the right to be miffed until I checked it out. I joined up, and it looks wonderful. You get to choose your own goals, and its done in babysteps. Thanks for the advice.

Mary

[kelownagirl]

I was at first a little miffed at the suggestion I join Sparks, didn't want to follow a plan. But decided that I didn't have the right to be miffed until I checked it out. I joined up, and it looks wonderful. You get to choose your own goals, and its done in babysteps. Thanks for the advice.

Mary

Mary, sorry you were miffed at me even only if was only temporarily. After I posted it, I was worried that it might have been taken the wrong way. I found it is working for me, when nothing else has been, because I like doing stuff online and it's so easy to do (for me anyways), and you can set your own goals for just about anything. I figured if someone else was checking out the online community at TE, they might also like Sparks...

Barb

[donnambr]

I bought a Breezer and it wasn't cheap. My LBS calls it the "Volvo of bicycles". What gives me more of a workout (and I sure need it) is that it is upright, on the heavy side at 35 lbs, and I carry a ton of crap to and from work everyday. I'm usually hauling 55-60 lbs with the weight of my bike and my stuff. So it makes my 3.5 one way trip to work a little more substantial. The high quality makes me confident everything will stay working, especially my brakes.

So, good quality can make for a good workout. I like reliability, and I can afford it.

[kimct]

Plantluvver, I've wondered the same thing about quality as well. Well, not quality, but getting a road bike vs the mt bike that I have now. That mt bike gives me a heck of a workout because i try to keep my speed up and I'm increasing my distance! I've heard so much about the roadbikes being so light and easier to peddle and all that good stuff...we're probably thinking a whole other kind of thing! I'm sure we'll get just as good a workout on another type/brand, whatever! Besides, we're not just sitting on the couch, right? We're burning calories, even if it is a little less!

Brina, if you're feeling better, that's all that really, really matters! The better fitness and weight loss will come. I started all of this with the intentions of seeing those pounds go away. Never, ever would I have thought that I'd be doing all of the exercise, watching what I eat and all and not hop on the scale everyday and obsess over it. I don't see biking as exercise now, I see it as a hobby and it makes me feel strong! The weight will go, or it won't...I'm having fun! Chin up girlie...it's not all about the numbers!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Kim

[latelatebloomer]

Plantluvver, Brina, and all - When I embarked on changing my obese body and sedentary lifestyle, it was a tremendous help that both my doctor and the GREAT trainer I found at the gym (after a few duds of the one- plan- fits- all mindset) told me to focus on the changes in how I FEEL, not #s of any kind or my appearance. That if I focused on those, I would get discouraged and give up. That's really held true for me, esp. since I do serious weights at the gym (except for spring, when I'm shoveling manure, tilling, planting my huge garden - I figure that's weight work of a different sort.) After an initial quick drop, all my changes have been slow, but they have added up to a very different body.

I let my clothes tell me about my shape changes, and the hills tell me about my fitness changes, and my partner's eyes tell me....

[Pachyderm]

Hi all, I am new to this forum. I have enjoyed reading all your posts, and it is great that so many of you are achieving the inch-loss you desire.

I have just started to get back into cycling again recently. I have to admit that one of the main reasons that I started again is to increase my fitness and help with weight / size loss (although I do love the freedom of the open road as well). I am currently about 55lbs over my ideal weight (well that was my weight as an inactive person at the right size). In British sizes I am a 16, which I think is a US size 14 and I would like to be a British size 8-10.

I have been finding it pretty hard going. I finally get the saddle sorted and then my shoulders and back hurt, it is a nightmare. And now I have to put the cycling to one side for a month as I am looking after my parents dogs while they travel in Canada. The beasts need a lot of walking, so I am getting up early and walking them for about 4 miles every morning before work. This is when I realise just how unfit I am. This walk would be quite a regular weekend walk when I am staying with them, but doing it every day has been killing me! I get back, shoulder and hip pain ( I think mainly from one of the dogs constantly pulling on the lead - I can't let him off as he will not come back to me), as well as very tired legs. However, now that I am on day five of this, my legs do seem to be getting less tired, and I am making it up the last hill without a rest-stop half way I have also avoided all junk food for 3-days now (first I had to clear out what was in the house!).

[Brina]

thanks ladies for listening to me. Yes, I am mad at the incompetent trainer, not at myself. I am pretty happy with myself and the advances I have made. I did find a much better trainer and have worked with him on and off for the past 9 months.

I am torn on the quesiton of less efficient bike equals better workout. I guess it comes down to a question of what kind of workout you are doing. If it is a set course - 4 miles to work and back each day, then yes, it does make logical sense that a heavier, less efficient bike would yield a better work out. If, conversely you have an amount of time that you work out - say 2 hours every saturday morning, then I would be thinking that you would have better results with an effiencient road bike that is built for going great distances fast.

[Veronica]

I am torn on the quesiton of less efficient bike equals better workout. I guess it comes down to a question of what kind of workout you are doing. If it is a set course - 4 miles to work and back each day, then yes, it does make logical sense that a heavier, less efficient bike would yield a better work out. If, conversely you have an amount of time that you work out - say 2 hours every saturday morning, then I would be thinking that you would have better results with an effiencient road bike that is built for going great distances fast.

It's really about YOUR effort level, not so much about the efficiency of the bike. An efficient bike allows you to put in less effort to reach a particular speed. When I made my bike more efficient, by changing tires and removing fenders, I added rocks to my bag to make the workout harder. Yes, really.

I think it's more important to ride a bike you find comfortable than to ride one that is efficient and uncomfortable.

Happy Riding!

V.

[Tuckervill]

I think the way body fat percentage is measured has a huge affect on the result. When I was in the Army, if you were overweight they meausred your body fat using the pinch method. If you fell within the reasonable standard for body fat, they gave you a pass on the weight. But later I read that the only true way to measure body fat is to dip you in water and measure displacement (I think that's how it works).

I don't think a scale is going to be very accurate. It's just going to use a table based on known factors to determine your "probable" body fat percentage.

Can the body fat percentage really tell you anything useful anyway? You already know you have weight to lose. You already know your level of fitness. What good is that number to you? I wouldn't stress out over a stupid number. If you were using it for motivation, find something more accurate and pleasing, like the way your clothes fit or something. Don't reduce yourself to a number.

Good going on the weight loss! Hope to be joining you soon.

Karen

[Tuckervill]

But maybe getting a nicer bike actually will burn less calories.

But wouldn't you go farther and ride more if you had better equipment?

There's no real way to tell how many actual calories you burned anyway. All the calorie calculators are based on ideal or standard conditions that whomever did the tests determined to be appropriate. Your "mileage" may vary, yanno?

Karen

[Brina]

I think the way body fat percentage is measured has a huge affect on the result. When I was in the Army, if you were overweight they meausred your body fat using the pinch method. If you fell within the reasonable standard for body fat, they gave you a pass on the weight. But later I read that the only true way to measure body fat is to dip you in water and measure displacement (I think that's how it works).

I don't think a scale is going to be very accurate. It's just going to use a table based on known factors to determine your "probable" body fat percentage.

Can the body fat percentage really tell you anything useful anyway? You already know you have weight to lose. You already know your level of fitness. What good is that number to you? I wouldn't stress out over a stupid number. If you were using it for motivation, find something more accurate and pleasing, like the way your clothes fit or something. Don't reduce yourself to a number.

Good going on the weight loss! Hope to be joining you soon.

Karen

actually, the scales measure body fat by using an electrical impediment method. a small current - which you do not feel - goes through your body and it moves differently through fat than muscle than through water. based on the measurement of the electrical pulse as it exits your body the scale can measure your percentage of body fat and your percentage of water. body fat is actually a much more important number than weight. If you lose weight just by dieting, with no exercise, you can actually be losing muscle which is worse for you than not losing the weight at all. If you lose fat and gain muscle but your weight stays the same you are healthier. obsessing about the number is bad, as obsessing about anything is bad, but knowing the number and using it to improve your fitness and your health is good.

[Kimmyt]

But wouldn't you go farther and ride more if you had better equipment?

I have to agree here. I have a lug of a bike, I use it sometimes for commuting. It is a big, heavy beast of generic department store make, that doesn't shift very well and is generally unpleasant to ride. I hate commuting in on it, because of the weight and the issues with shifting. If I had a commuter that was a tad lighter with better components, I would commute in much more often. In fact, I rode my road bike in to work the other day and it was a dream. I can't wait until my work schedule permits me to commute again!

I think it all comes down to what gets it done for you. Does riding your big heavy bike get you all excited? Or does it make you dread the upcoming ride? If it's the latter, then you probably won't ride as much. If you have a nice, smooth ride, then maybe you're more likely to do longer distances, which has benefits of it's own.

K.

[plantluvver]

QUOTE:

"Mary, sorry you were miffed at me even only if was only temporarily. After I posted it, I was worried that it might have been taken the wrong way."

Oh, I didn't mean it that way, that post was not directed at you, just for the benefit of others who might have read your post, and ignored the recommendation, like I was going to at first.

I thought it would be some "program" of diet, not just adding small lifestyle changes gradually. I wanted to let others know that it wasn't.

I did weight watchers once, and it wasn't a good fit, I was getting headaches, and tired. And since then I don't beleive in restricting calories. Hunger will ALWAYS win, I now think. But I think it is great to ADD good habits. Eventually, I hope they crowd out the bad. For instance making a bargain to eat an orange when craving a candy bar. And if I still crave a candy bar after 15 minutes, then I get to eat t.
So, thank you, you did the right thing, because if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to check it out.

Mary

[mimitabby]

actually, the scales measure body fat by using an electrical impediment method. a small current - which you do not feel - goes through your body and it moves differently through fat than muscle than through water. based on the measurement of the electrical pulse as it exits your body the scale can measure your percentage of body fat and your percentage of water. body fat is actually a much more important number than weight. If you lose weight just by dieting, with no exercise, you can actually be losing muscle which is worse for you than not losing the weight at all. If you lose fat and gain muscle but your weight stays the same you are healthier. obsessing about the number is bad, as obsessing about anything is bad, but knowing the number and using it to improve your fitness and your health is good.

my husband bought one of those scales. He's a biker with a flabby upper body.
he came out being something like 8% body fat. we both knew that was NOT true.
but if you look at his legs, they could be 8% body fat. but the rest of him was at least 30% body fat so those scales can't really be very accurate.

[natheless]

Just chiming in to say that body fat scales are indeed not very accurate. The ones you stand on send a current through your lower body only, so if you're like many women and store your extra in your bum and thighs, a body fat scale will tend to give you a reading that is too high. (I guess in the previous post, it also explains why that reading was too low.)

They are also very twitchy - you have to weigh in under specific conditions (properly hydrated, haven't eaten or exercised, etc.) and your best bet is to take the average of several readings.

Where they are kind of helpful is that they are consistenly inaccurate - so if it is giving you a reading that is 5% too high, it will always be 5% too high, but you can still tell if your reading is heading the right way over time.

View it as an interesting gadget, and NEVER let it ruin your day!