Very Fat bloke looking for advice

[Goldfang]

Congratulations richtea, I have slowly been working my way back in to serious cycling, have ben doing a 2 mile each way commute for years and thought that I would never put in any serious milage again. I weigh 20 stone, have sufferered a serious illness and smoked for 30 years, today I did 2 laps of a 10 mile circuit around the local lanes for the first time, I am starting to lose weight and feel so much better so the very best wishes to you, and yes, I ordered my first pair of Lcra shorts yesterday!
Regards, goldfang.

 

[slowmotion]

One day you''ll be in a shop and think "I could buy that, it'll fit me". It might be just undergarments, or it might be something that could be worn as a single skin, but you'll wear as an undergarment.

But you'll wear it!

In the end, we are all Lycra....

 

[gb155]

In the end, we are all Lycra....

GB sits here looking at this STUNNING legs in his lycra astana shorts and thinks," I need Radioshack baby !!!!"

Ohhh sorry did I say that out loud ?

There was no wayI ever thought 'd be wearing lycra, ever, but just take a look at me now ! (for the Phl Collins fans out there)

 

[gb155]

Thanks for all the messages. I plan to do another 2 miles today but will wait for it to be a bit cooler first.

Gaz - I have read through most of your blog now, I am going to email you with some questions once I finished reading it, hope this is ok.

Can anyone direct me to a simple guide about gearing please as the last bike I rode had one front and 5 rear cogs and this one has a lot more. I know I should be able to understand it but I cant get my head around it and it seems that one minute im struggling like mad the next theres no effort at all.

It will be my pleasure to help out mate

 

[richtea78]

Ive done 3 lots of 2 miles so far and it does seem to be getting easier but I think most of that is down to working out the gears properly so thanks for those links. I now just leave it on the middle front and use the rear one to go up and down. The route I picked out was fairly flat (or it looked it in a car ) but on a bike its not so flat.

I still feel quite unstable on the bike, especially when signalling or looking behind me, I guess that will come back with practice. I used to cycle with no hands when I was a kid but now if I take 1 hand off to signal it makes me wobble

I am going to get myself a cheap computer too so I can work out how far and fast I actually cycle, at the moment I use mapmyride to work it out but that doesnt tell you how fast really.

Gaz - i havent forgotton to email you, i am still reading through your blog

 

[rh100]

Ive done 3 lots of 2 miles so far and it does seem to be getting easier but I think most of that is down to working out the gears properly so thanks for those links. I now just leave it on the middle front and use the rear one to go up and down. The route I picked out was fairly flat (or it looked it in a car ) but on a bike its not so flat.

I still feel quite unstable on the bike, especially when signalling or looking behind me, I guess that will come back with practice. I used to cycle with no hands when I was a kid but now if I take 1 hand off to signal it makes me wobble

I am going to get myself a cheap computer too so I can work out how far and fast I actually cycle, at the moment I use mapmyride to work it out but that doesnt tell you how fast really.

Gaz - i havent forgotton to email you, i am still reading through your blog

It will get easier the more you do it, but if starts getting really easy then extend the mileage a bit.

I'm a big guy and started cycling last August. My first ride of 1 mile nearly done me in. That was around the block.

Then we started cycling to the park, around the pond and back, was about 3 miles, I had to stop regularly to rest. If it wasn't my legs it was my lungs.

Then one day I rode to work, only about 2 mile but I started doing it regularly, eventually got rid of the car so we are a one car household now.

I fairly frequently go on a regular ride of 12 miles, and have recently started pushing the weekend rides to 20 miles, this summer my goal is to do a 100 miles in a day.

This time last year it was unthinkable that I could do any of this as I was completely unfit. Now I want to do long rides and maybe even touring.

However, I'm still 20st but much fitter, I am now looking at sorting the diet out to start losing the weight, it needs both diet and exercise to lose the weight.

Your skills with the bike will improve as you go, just keep at it.

 

[gb155]

Well done richtea - do check out gb155 though. The guy's done amazingly well and he's got the added burdon of being from Manchester

Close, Im actually from a small village in Lanc's, Live in Cheshire but yes for my sins I work in Manchester

 

[gb155]

Ive done 3 lots of 2 miles so far and it does seem to be getting easier but I think most of that is down to working out the gears properly so thanks for those links. I now just leave it on the middle front and use the rear one to go up and down. The route I picked out was fairly flat (or it looked it in a car ) but on a bike its not so flat.

I still feel quite unstable on the bike, especially when signalling or looking behind me, I guess that will come back with practice. I used to cycle with no hands when I was a kid but now if I take 1 hand off to signal it makes me wobble

I am going to get myself a cheap computer too so I can work out how far and fast I actually cycle, at the moment I use mapmyride to work it out but that doesnt tell you how fast really.

Gaz - i havent forgotton to email you, i am still reading through your blog

Take your time mate, its not a sprint, here if and when you need mate.

 

[Chrisc]

You're off now so just keep it up and as has been said, it'll come. Amazing how quick your fitness picks up as you ride. I could only manage a couple of miles last year before collapsing but now ride 140 a week, commuting to work and getting out at weekends. If you'd told me I'd be able to do this a year ago I'd have fallen about laughing!

Wouldn't worry too much about the diet, the exercise will see the weight off and eventually you'll be able to eat as much cake as you want!

 

[Amanda P]

Richtea, welcome to the forum, and well done.

I can't honestly say I have any experience losing weight. I can only imagine what it might be like.

What I can say is that if you can get to the point of using your bike to get to work, I think you'll have cracked it. It becomes a normal part of your daily routine to exercise, not a chore. ("What exercise? I'm just going to work.") Then it becomes addictive, and you feel cheated if you miss out on it. Then before you know it...

 

[Arch]

Richtea, welcome to the forum, and well done.

I can't honestly say I have any experience losing weight. I can only imagine what it might be like.

What I can say is that if you can get to the point of using your bike to get to work, I think you'll have cracked it. It becomes a normal part of your daily routine to exercise, not a chore. ("What exercise? I'm just going to work.") Then it becomes addictive, and you feel cheated if you miss out on it. Then before you know it...

Yeah, you're one of those 'thin people' aren't you....

Richtea: it's worth practising the signalling and so on - find a few quiet residential roads and ride around doing lots of turns and indicating - it'll come easier the more you do it.

Also, I thought on the way home of a way to increase your distances. Assuming, as I said, you live in a big enough urban area, try drawing a circle around your house, at a mile radius. Ride out to the circle, and then try and ride around it (as best as the roads allow) for a bit. However far round you ride, you're always about a mile from home, so you won't find yourself miles away and suddenly knackered. But you can gradually increase how far you ride round before heading home.

 

[potsy]

I still can't indicate and hold a straight line after more than a year getting better but need to practice more.
Best thing about cycle commuting is what Arch said,just normal routine ride to work is your exercise done,then once there you have to come home so that's 2 sessions and it's only taken a fraction of the time it would have if you drove home then did it.(or more likely decide your too tired and dont bother)

 

[Spinney]

I still feel quite unstable on the bike, especially when signalling or looking behind me, I guess that will come back with practice. I used to cycle with no hands when I was a kid but now if I take 1 hand off to signal it makes me wobble

Have you got a mirror? It means you can keep an eye on the traffic behind you without having to keep turning your head - may help with the wobbles.

But note that having a mirror does not remove the need to look properly behind you before pulling out or turning - it just means you don't need to look wobblingly over your shoulder when you know from the mirror that there is something there.

And keep it up. I remember when I moved to my current house I thought I'd manage an expedition to Arnside one day, which is about 10 miles away - and the local buses have bike rides on the back so I wouldn't have to cycle back. Now a local 25 mile loop is just an evening spin! It will come!

 

[richtea78]

Yeah, you're one of those 'thin people' aren't you....

Richtea: it's worth practising the signalling and so on - find a few quiet residential roads and ride around doing lots of turns and indicating - it'll come easier the more you do it.

Also, I thought on the way home of a way to increase your distances. Assuming, as I said, you live in a big enough urban area, try drawing a circle around your house, at a mile radius. Ride out to the circle, and then try and ride around it (as best as the roads allow) for a bit. However far round you ride, you're always about a mile from home, so you won't find yourself miles away and suddenly knackered. But you can gradually increase how far you ride round before heading home.

Oh, these are both really good ideas, I am actually finding it coming back to me gradually. When I went out today again I felt much more confident and went a bit further, almost 3 miles now!

Ive mapped out some bigger routes too around where I live, theres a nice 5 mile circuit that I am building up to trying but it has a killer of a hill on it. Its actually part of the London 2 Brighton route and they always have to walk up it as well so I guess there will be no shame if I have to. I will save this for the weekend though as if I need to stop halfway I will have more time.

I got a set of scales today as well Being a typical bloke I got a massively overcomplicated set that measure all sorts of stuff, you have to have wet feet to use them! Good news is that I wasnt as fat as I thought, I was expecting my first goal to be "Get to 20 stone" but Im actually under that, slightly so that was a result. Now I know what I weigh I can start having a look at dieting and go from there.

It also measures your fat content, admittedly not that reliably I guess, but I am 33% fat which has made me more determined to get this down. I was thinking about it and this means that I am carrying about 6-7 stone of fat around with me all the time. Part of me thinks this in itself must be good exercise as thats a lot of extra weight training

The results are actually quite interesting and quite scary at the same time. I know they arent scientific but its a useful tool to motivate me. It comes with a programme that you upload everything too that makes a graph of all your horrible statistics and I think this will be very handy to keep my going. I like graphs

It also calculates your muscle %, fat% BMI and stuff. I wont rely on it but so long as the fat %, BMI and Body Water are going the right way while muscle % is also then this has to be an improvement.

 

[Norm]

Good news is that I wasnt as fat as I thought, I was expecting my first goal to be "Get to 20 stone" but Im actually under that, slightly so that was a result.

Pah, lightweight! Come on here pretending to be very fat and you're really just normal. Go and get some pies down yerself.

Whilst I've never been quite as unfit as you appear to be (I easily managed the 6 miles home when I bought my bike 12 months ago) the main thing that I've gained is fitness.

We're probably very similar weights but, after a year cycling, I now consider a 30 mile ride to be a pleasant jaunt, if I can't beat 45 mins for my 10 mile off-road run, then I'm disappointed (I might say "gutted" ) and, as you may have seen elsewhere, I averaged over 17mph on a recent 9 mile commute. I'm pretty proud of those numbers.

IMO, being fit is at least as important as not being fat.