Weights or Water

[bikerHen]

The good news, all my trainer miles this winter have definitely made me stronger. The bad news, I have not lost any weight! I don't get on the scale, I go by clothes fit. And my pants are tighter than last fall.
It seems I can "diet" or excerise. I can't do both at the same time. Sooo, since I'm in the excerise mode I'm thinking about adding more excerise. Then maybe I'll be too tired to eat. My choices . . .
A. Ride my bike to the gym, weight train, ride my bike home. Or,
B. Ride my bike to water aerobics, do an hour of deep water aerobics, ride my bike home. Of course the answer is really,
C. Stop eating so d*** much, but that dosen't seem to be happening.

So, of my choices, which would do the most good? Weights, water or sewing my mouth shut! Bikerhen

[Trekhawk]

LOL - Bikerhen you crack me up.
All of the options sound pretty good - but even though I know how well you sew dont try that option.

[Eden]

Skip the pool and ride your bike and/or work out at the gym instead. Swimming and water aerobics are good for fitness, but not so much for losing weight. I read an interesting study that found that the same exercise in a very warm pool, vs a cool pool burned the same amount of calories, but the cool pool exercisers were more hungry and ate more after their workouts. Apparently the cool temperature supresses the hormone system that controls appetite. The same goes for cool weather bike rides so the suggestion was warm up on the trainer at home after a cold ride to warm up your core and avoid over eating.

[han-grrl]

water aerobics is well, more aerobics, even though there is resistance with the water.

Building muscle mass will increase your resting metabolic rate (slightly) to burn more calories. Plus you can do some specific training to improve your riding (like core!)

Smile
Han

[mellic]

You say that all the work you have done has made you stronger, so perhaps you have converted body fat to muscle mass, and as a result you have not lost any weight.

When you were on the trainer over winter did you grind or spin???

In regards to the weights versus water aerobics it really depends on what you are hoping to achieve. As han-grrl mentioned weights would most likely build more muscle mass, and this will help you on the bike, but there are other means of gaining strength without doing weights.

I do attend water aerobics once a week, but it is more of a relaxation thing for me and it gives me a chance to work muscles in the upper body that I never use without bulking them up.

If you really want to do something off the bike pick a long aerobic activity. Swimming is a good form of cross training as it is low impact and high repetition.

[RoadRaven]

I agree with Mellic, Bikerhen...

I did not lose weight in the first year of cycling, but my shape changed.

My cycling partner has had to buy bigger pants because her thigh muscles, after several years of biking and running, are suddenly much bigger.

Perhaps this muscle-mass-being-heavier-than-fat is something you can add to your equation as you seek the answer?

[airbornetorch]

I also agree. The first year I was cycling I lost 26" but struggled to lose just 5 lbs sooooooo frustrating...... my shape changed dramatically (and still changing) so I guess I'm doing something right. I just try not to concentrate on the scale so much.

[RoadRaven]

Yeah, Airborne, I dropped one and a half dress sizes, but my weight didn't shift at all in the first year to December 2005.

My partner noticed before me about 6-7 months into training - when he slipped his hands around my waist from behind he commented on the change in shape... it was such a thrill.

My weight has only just started to shift now - according to my parents scales I have lost 5kg (approx 10lbs) this year, according to the gym's scales I have lost 3 (approx 6).

[bikerHen]

I WISH my shape was changing for the better. But it isn't muscle that's making my waist bigger. It's plain old belly fat.

I'm leaning more toward weight training. A friend is doing her best to get me to sign up at a local gym. She signed up in Jan. but doesn't like to go alone. So she figures if I sign up we will encourage each other to go.

It would be a very early bike ride to the gym three days a week. I'm still trying to decide if I want to commit to that. BikerHen

[nuthatch]

Since you ain't a chick anymore, that waist fat is probably hormones. My very slim ride partner and I are both of the same age and last summer we started noticing that we were adding fat to our middles, where no fat had been before. No change in diet, no change in riding miles we were putting in but the fat appeared anyway.

And it's stubborn - the only thing that worked for her was reducing the amount she ate for normal meals and saving those calories for nutrition while she was actually riding. I'm not that strong, yet - I'm still in the "weeping with frustration" phase!

Dang that estrogen, anyway!

[bikerHen]

I'm not that strong, yet - I'm still in the "weeping with frustration" phase!

Dang that estrogen, anyway!

Well, pull out another box of Kleenex and I'll join you! Bikerhen

[mimitabby]

I WISH my shape was changing for the better. But it isn't muscle that's making my waist bigger. It's plain old belly fat.

I'm leaning more toward weight training. A friend is doing her best to get me to sign up at a local gym. She signed up in Jan. but doesn't like to go alone. So she figures if I sign up we will encourage each other to go.

It would be a very early bike ride to the gym three days a week. I'm still trying to decide if I want to commit to that. BikerHen

Hi Biker hen, I live in Washington too. We had a workshop right here at my place of employ where we learned about fitness. They said in no uncertain terms that doing exercises to get rid of belly fat puts muscles UNDER the fat and takes no fat away. They said a combination of burning more calories and eating more wisely was the only way to get rid of it. So MORE BIKE RIDES!
good luck, another too old to be a chick.
mimi

[traveller_62]

weight training is a good thing to do if you get the proper coaching on how to get started. but probably what will help you most with the belly fat is Long, Slow, Distance rides.

moderate exercise that extends for 40 minutes or greater causes your body to release a hormone that, in turn, helps you tap into fat as a primary energy source. if your workouts are aerobic (like with interval training) your body will preferentially use the glycogen stores in your muscle and blood stream as an energy source.

my favorite nutrition author, Monique Ryan, has a book on nutrition for athletes that talks about this kind of stuff in a really accessible way.

[Geonz]

Far as I can tell, I can be strong and in shape and riding like crazy... but the gut is still there...
I've gotten rid of a teensy bit of it this last month - from 152 to 146 - and I'm not sure why, since I was trying the same stuff since January. Welp, maybe I've been a little more successful in cutting bakc on the beer intake...
I've thought that maybe a little exercise focused on that belly ... so maybe *this* is the week I get back into a little bit of yoga. I successfully backhoed the living room so I can see enough floor space, even next to a wall, to get that mat down... yes, TOMORROW MORNING, I'm going to start... I really mean it this time
I've found that if I want to LOSE weight... I have to exercise *and* eat less. It means drinking a lot of water the day after long rides so I don't eat everything in the house (and in my friends' houses, and raiding the work fridge...)

[MomOnBike]

I'm another one with the belly thing going on - plus a bit of a twinge in the back. Maybe I should try to find the living room floor, put down the mat and do some back/core excercises.

Hmm, now where is that vacuum cleaner, anyway?