Exercise/Diet/Fitness question.

[notfred]

Ok, so recently I've been feeling like I'n not in as good of shape as I want to be. I'm not really fat, but I've got a few extra pounds around my mid-section that I wouldn't mind doing without.

Anyway, I thoguht I'd kill a whole bunch of birds with one stone, and start riding my bike to work. It saves gas money, gets me in shape, is good for the environment, etc.

Anyway,my ride to work is 17 miles each way, meaning that I'm doing 34 miles on the bike each day that I ride to work. I rode last Friday for the first time. Then I rode again on Sunday (even though I don't work on Sunday, but I had something else to do in the same area), and I rode yesterday.

This morning I wanted to ride again, but I couldn't get out of bed. I was dead. I went to bed at midnight last night, and tried to get up at 7:00, but I couldn't do it. I eventuially got out of bed at 8:45 feeling extremely tired. I ended up driving to work.

Yesterday, I consumed about 2500 calories. I added up everythign I ate, and it'spretty close to 2500. Now, I looked up some stuff on various online calculators that says my resting metabolic rate requires about 2000 calories/day, and that 34 miles on the bike consumes roughly another 2000 calories. All in all, if these online calculators are anywhere close to accurate, then I'm using 4000-5000 calories a day when I'm riding my bike.

If I only ate 2500 calories yesterday, and used 5000, then I have a 2500 calorie deficit there. Is that too big? Could the reason for my being tired and unable to get up in the morning be because I'm not eating enough?

Any thoughts are welcome.

 

[DaShen]

Don't know, but I think you should be fine. Are you in good shape enough to handle riding 34 miles a day? If you are, no worries, your body will eventually stabilize and you will start instinctually eating more. Anyways 34 miles shouldn't really burn 2000 calories, if it did I would be a stick by now.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: DaShen
Don't know, but I think you should be fine. Are you in good shape enough to handle riding 34 miles a day? If you are, no worries, your body will eventually stabilize and you will start instinctually eating more. Anyways 34 miles shouldn't really burn 2000 calories, if it did I would be a stick by now.

I don't know, several various online calculators say that a 200lb guy riding 34 miles burns about 2000 calories.

I'm just tryin to figure out if there's any good reason I was so tired this morning. My legs are pretty much OK. I'm a tiny bit sore, but not that bad.

 

[newbiepcuser]

2500 calories of what?

"Empty calories"= sugars, junk food, etc

Complex carbs are your best friend during the day, so that will provide you energy for the long run. Water throught out the day is good idea also.

Before the bike ride, you might have small snack like an energy bar and after ride, definetly get a decent breakfast in after the ride.

A good multi vitamin is not bad idea if you're not getting enough nutrients from your food source.

 

[adamRB12]

thats way too far to bike everyday. youll get sick of it. how long does it take you to bike 17 miles?

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: adamRB12
thats way too far to bike everyday. youll get sick of it. how long does it take you to bike 17 miles?

It takes a little over an hour. Maybe an hour and 15 minutes.

Also, thanks for the encouragment, and for knowing what I'll get sick of, since you know me so well. :roll:

 

[edro]

I don't care how much you eat and how hydrated you are... after a day of hard physical exertion, you are going to be fatigued.

Creatine helps with fatigue and allows you to recover faster, but I think supplements are for chumps

The only other tips I can say are to up your calories and drink more water.

BTW: Those online calorie counters are severely off. If you are a normal bike rider, you do not consume anywhere near 2000 calories on your ride. More like 500. The more in shape you are and the better you are cardiovascularly, the more efficient you use calories, so you need to work much harder to burn more calories.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: adamRB12
thats way too far to bike everyday. youll get sick of it. how long does it take you to bike 17 miles?

Moron.

notfred: I would say that a 2500 kcal deficit is way too much. I think 500 kcals a day deficit is the max I would go.

What you're experiencing right now is shock. You're body wasn't use to the exercise and certainly wasn't use to the lack of calories...you're supposed to ease into these things.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: DaShen
Don't know, but I think you should be fine. Are you in good shape enough to handle riding 34 miles a day? If you are, no worries, your body will eventually stabilize and you will start instinctually eating more. Anyways 34 miles shouldn't really burn 2000 calories, if it did I would be a stick by now.

I don't know, several various online calculators say that a 200lb guy riding 34 miles burns about 2000 calories.

I'm just tryin to figure out if there's any good reason I was so tired this morning. My legs are pretty much OK. I'm a tiny bit sore, but not that bad.

I would say it is variable on your level of fitness and how used to the exercise your body is. Part of the reason fitness people will say to vary your exercises every once in a while. I rarely break a sweat nowadays going anything under 20 mph on a bike.

Anyways, did you sleep much over Memorial Day weekend? That is more likely the culprit, food intake will slowly change as your body become accustomed.

 

[TheNinja]

I'm not a biker, but you should ease into any exercise program. Like can you drive your car to work and put your bike in it, then the next day ride your bike to work and drive your car home?

Also, as someone else mentioned, 500cal a day deficeit is really the max you want. Anything more than that and you'll feel the affects (and probably burn a lot of muscle too).

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: TheNinja
I'm not a biker, but you should ease into any exercise program. Like can you drive your car to work and put your bike in it, then the next day ride your bike to work and drive your car home?

Also, as someone else mentioned, 500cal a day deficeit is really the max you want. Anything more than that and you'll feel the affects (and probably burn a lot of muscle too).

notfred is looking to loose weight though. If he eats the right type of things while working out, his body will slowly make him eat more. Again, no big deal, just eat right and you will be fine.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: DaShen

Originally posted by: TheNinja
I'm not a biker, but you should ease into any exercise program. Like can you drive your car to work and put your bike in it, then the next day ride your bike to work and drive your car home?

Also, as someone else mentioned, 500cal a day deficeit is really the max you want. Anything more than that and you'll feel the affects (and probably burn a lot of muscle too).

notfred is looking to loose weight though. If he eats the right type of things while working out, his body will slowly make him eat more. Again, no big deal, just eat right and you will be fine.

Just to be clear, I'm looking to lose weight, but only 10-20 lbs. It seems that a lot of the "lose weight" threads on here are started by people with SEVERE obesity problems. I'm just trying to say I'm not in that group, I'm in fairly decent shape, but just kinda haven't done much exercising since winter started. I have put about 100 miles on the bike in the past few days, so I'm not *THAT* out of shape.

I don't know if that makes a difference, but people are talking about 17 miles being some huge distance, and it's not for me. I can complete the 17 miles.

 

[Ctrackstar126]

Your initially going to get tired. Its just the facts and the other fact is you are going to have to consume more calories even if you are trying to lose weight.

You NEED to drink water too. That cannot be stressed enough.
You also need to make sure you are eating good calories that is balanced between your fats and carbs and yes carbs are good.

If you are too tired not the best thing to do is maybe just bike after work for 5-10 miles and work your way up. but if you can troop it then stick with the bike ride and make sure you dont stop. you may be tired now but eventually youll get the hang of it to the point where you could ride 25 miles to the gym to work out.

That being said I just bought a new bike today and im about to do 25 miles to the best buy to pick up some dvds

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Nutdotnet

Originally posted by: adamRB12
thats way too far to bike everyday. youll get sick of it. how long does it take you to bike 17 miles?

Moron.

notfred: I would say that a 2500 kcal deficit is way too much. I think 500 kcals a day deficit is the max I would go.

What you're experiencing right now is shock. You're body wasn't use to the exercise and certainly wasn't use to the lack of calories...you're supposed to ease into these things.

BINGO!!

Take it easy on yourself. Start by biking to work once or twice a week. Every few weeks add a day.

What you are suffering from are the classic signs of overtraining. When you feel these symptoms, it's time to ease up a bit. If need be, bike every other day. Say; monday, wed and fri giving yourself a day of rest inbetween.

17 miles on a bike is nothing for someone who is used to it.

BTW, when starting a new exercise program, it's probably a good idea not to limit your calorie intake until you know what your body needs. Calorie deprivation is unhealthy. Best to simply clean up your diet, eat enough to get full, and eat whenever you're hungry. If, after a while, you do not seem to be meeting your goals, SMALL diet modifications can help.

 

[Kaido]

OP, what about when it rains? Not to knock your idea but just make sure you have a poncho or a car backup in case of bad whether. Any exercise is good, kudos for wanting to improve your body :thumbsup:

The best diet & exercise plan is the one that no one wants to do: exercise regularly and eat well. I know two people who were 300/400+ pounds and got down to normal size by doing this. The basic rules are as follows:

1. Go to bed before 10pm
2. Keep hydrated by drinking water throughout the day
3. Eat regular, healthy meals (no crappy food and not at weird intervals throughout the day)
4. Exercise consistantly (only has to be 20 minutes a day, can be walking, biking, whatever)

I've seen some amazing results just by doing this. No whey shakes, no protein supplements, no crazy exercise machines. It just requires commitment to doing the basic things. I know of less than 5 people who have actually done this and all have had fantastic results. Not to mention more energy. I'm jealous

Edit: Like Amused said, start slowly, even if you're not grossly overweight. My problem is that I always try to do too much, i.e. 30 minutes of hard exercise a day, etc. Just remember two things: anything is better than nothing (even 5 minutes of exercise), and every decision matters (remember that when those cookies are looking good!). Also, if you start micro-managing yourself by keeping track of how many calories you eat, how many calories you burn, etc., you might drive yourself nuts. I'm something of a perfectionist and that approach didn't work for me.

 

[UTmtnbiker]

As everybody else has said, start off slowly. Also, if you're riding hard one day, the next day you should go a little easy (recovery ride). For example, if you're going 17 miles at 20mph one day, the next maybe jack it down 2 to 4 mph and just spin, work out the kinks in your legs, etc.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: Ctrackstar126
Your initially going to get tired. Its just the facts and the other fact is you are going to have to consume more calories even if you are trying to lose weight.

You NEED to drink water too. That cannot be stressed enough.
You also need to make sure you are eating good calories that is balanced between your fats and carbs and yes carbs are good.

If you are too tired not the best thing to do is maybe just bike after work for 5-10 miles and work your way up. but if you can troop it then stick with the bike ride and make sure you dont stop. you may be tired now but eventually youll get the hang of it to the point where you could ride 25 miles to the gym to work out.

That being said I just bought a new bike today and im about to do 25 miles to the best buy to pick up some dvds

Couldn't have said it any better.

 

[Special K]

One thing to keep in mind is that if you just do long cardio workouts and don't do any weightlifting, you may likely burn muscle along with the fat. If you aren't careful, you could just end up a smaller version of yourself, but with the same % of bodyfat.

I know you may not be looking for a complete weights/diet/fitness program, but it's just something to keep in mind.

 

[DavemanUT]

Originally posted by: adamRB12
thats way too far to bike everyday. youll get sick of it. how long does it take you to bike 17 miles?

I completely agree. This won't last long at all. I used to ride my bike 4-5 miles a day to school and back... then it started to rain and I would make up excuses- my crotch would get sore, etc. Find something else to stick to in order to lose weight. Listen to lots of your fav tunes in the gym on eliptical or something and get in the habit. It will do you so much better in the long run.

 

[Amused]

For those talking about rain.

Notfred is in Sacremento.

The average rainfall by month (starting with jan):

Avg. Precip. 3.7 in 2.9 in 2.6 in 1.3 in 0.3 in 0.1 in 0.1 in 0.1 in 0.4 in 1.1 in 2.7 in 2.5 in

He can use rain days as part of his rest days, they are so infrequent.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Amused
For those talking about rain.

Notfred is in Sacremento.

The average rainfall by month (starting with jan):

Avg. Precip. 3.7 in 2.9 in 2.6 in 1.3 in 0.3 in 0.1 in 0.1 in 0.1 in 0.4 in 1.1 in 2.7 in 2.5 in

He can use rain days as part of his rest days, they are so infrequent.

Amused is right, it doesn't rain here *AT ALL* from May through October. We get maybe 2 or 3 rainy days per summer.

 

[oboeguy]

Way,way too big a deficit. Teh Carmichael (Lance's coach FTW) says 500 or so per day is right. That's a one pound loss per week. If you're going to do big rides day after day, it's key that you eat a bunch of complex carbohydrates (e.g. pasta) with in the first half hour or so after riding. You will restock you muscles with glycogen much more efficiently that way and feel less dead by the end of the week. Also, rest is key. Take a day off once a week if you're riding a lot or ride one way and drive back or something like that for a couple of days. Riding without rest == dead legs.