Exercise bike for weight loss

[Peter Mount]

Hi

I'm about 28 kilograms (roughly 62 pounds US) overweight. I managed to lose about 7 kilograms since late last year.

I've got an exercise bike and I've just started using it again after a couple of months of not using it. I managed to use it for 10 minutes today.

I've been told I need to get 30 minutes of exercise per day to lose weight. Should I aim to use the exercise bike for the whole 30 minutes or should I include walking in that? Or doesn't it matter?

I've had a problem with drinking water while on my exercise bike as it's gone down the wrong way a couple of times. I'm thinking if I go up to 30 minutes on the exercise bike I should have a break at 10 or 15 minute intervals to have a few sips of water.

I've also made changes to my diet although it's still not perfect.

What do other people think?

Thanks.

 

[SpyvSpy]

I'd say if you're going to do it for a half hour each day. I'd split it up into 2 15 minute periods so you don't overdue yourself then gradually increase your time when you feel more comfortable in doing so.

 

[DaveF]

First of all, congratulations on starting an exercise program and best of luck to you. I have lost about 55 pounds myself over the last few years so I know some of what you are going through. I will tell you what worked for me; hopefully you can glean something useful out of it.

The two most important things I did to lose weight was to change my food habits and to start walking for 30 minutes every day. I went through my cupboards and threw out every food item that had high fructose corn syrup, partially-hydrogenated oils, or "enriched" flours. This included seemingly innocuous things like Rice Krispies, ketchup, and all of the bread I had been buying. Then I stocked up on foods with the shortest ingredients lists in the supermarket. I went from Jif Reduced Fat Peanut Butter (which read like a chemistry textbook) to Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter (two ingredients: peanuts, salt). It was higher fat, yes, but it was natural and clean. Anyway, you get the idea...five years ago this stuff was brand new to me but nowadays it's pretty common knowledge.

Second thing I did was to walk every day for at least 30 mins. Every day. Rain or shine. When it snowed, I walked on a treadmill but if I didn't have a treadmill I would have walked in the snow. I am the type of person that if I slacked off once, I would find a reason to slack off again. 100% compliance is the only thing that works for me. As for pace, I used the metric "you should be able to talk but not sing". I did nothing but this for a year and the weight just melted off. Once I got down 20 pounds or so I had to work harder, but for that first 20, walking and not eating junk was all it took.

Since you already have a bike, I would still walk for 30 mins a day, but I would add cycling in to build your aerobic capacity. Do intervals if you can. See if you can do this: warm up for 3 mins, and then pedal somewhat hard for 30 seconds, and then pedal easy for 90 seconds. Then hard for 30, easy for 90. One more round of hard 30, easy 90, then a 3 minute cooldown. You don't have to go crazy with the hard pedaling, just a bit faster than is comfortable. Say a perceived 6 on an exertion scale from 1-10, which 5 being your comfort zone. You can work on increasing your time and pace as you get stronger.

Eat clean, walk every day, and do those intervals two or three times per week (not two days in a row though) and you will be shocked at how fast the weight comes off. Good luck!

 

[Peter Mount]

Eat clean, walk every day, and do those intervals two or three times per week (not two days in a row though) and you will be shocked at how fast the weight comes off. Good luck!

I like those 3 points about:

1 Eating clean
2 walking every day
3 and the intervals

They seem to sum up what you said.

Thanks for that.

 

[joebob2586]

X2 on the eating, and the walking (which you can eventually lead up to jogging) For the intervals its good to get your heart rate up and keep it changing. What has worked for me and a few pals is to alterante your peddling speed, say play a mix of music while you ride. Alternate songs between a fast and slow beat. When a fast song comes on peddle with the beat or as fast as you can go, then when the slow song plays peddle at a more leisurly pace to catch your breath and repeat. After a while you will be able to keep the same speed for the whole ride.

 

[tblech]

I personally find stationary bikes to be a bit boreing. I like a regular bike so I can get out and see things. I find that the time goes quicker that way. I am up too 10 miles when I am going for distance and in the hills of Northern Kentucky if I go hill climbing the distnace is much shorter yet still about the same length of time (1-1.5 hours) A decent bottle will help with the water drinking, out of a glass is to cumbersome and I can see having issues with that. Get something that you can tip up to lessen the amount of air your going to gulp in, and that will help. Kleen Kanteen makes a nice model though they are rather pricy. If you have an unlimited budget you might look into a camelbak system, those are nice I hear. Good luck whatever you decide to do but be sure to work up to your goal of 30 minutes in, say, 5 minute intervals per week. You may even want to try for longer further out...

 

[Subrage]

I personally find stationary bikes to be a bit boreing. I like a regular bike so I can get out and see things. I find that the time goes quicker that way. I am up too 10 miles when I am going for distance and in the hills of Northern Kentucky if I go hill climbing the distnace is much shorter yet still about the same length of time (1-1.5 hours) A decent bottle will help with the water drinking, out of a glass is to cumbersome and I can see having issues with that. Get something that you can tip up to lessen the amount of air your going to gulp in, and that will help. Kleen Kanteen makes a nice model though they are rather pricy. If you have an unlimited budget you might look into a camelbak system, those are nice I hear. Good luck whatever you decide to do but be sure to work up to your goal of 30 minutes in, say, 5 minute intervals per week. You may even want to try for longer further out...

+1 To regular bikes.

I picked up a MTB last year and ride it almost every night. Usually doing close to 20-25 miles of paved trails. I cant stand being on a stationary bike, plus you get to be outside in the fresh air.

Check out www.pricepoint.com they have great deals on camelbaks

 

[TenorClef]

I love my bike!

 

[bradyarz]

I love my bike!

nice kicks! bicycling in style!

 

[Peter Mount]

I love my bike!

Very nice.

 

[Luc]

Loosing weight isn't easy, it takes a lot of determination and time!

If you already know the flaws in your diet, that's great. I lost a *lot* of weight by cutting pepsi/7up/coke. It took around 8 months and I went from a size 44 pants to 36. I'm still at 36, I could loose some more but this is where I'm not pushing myself enough where I should.

Cutting beer would be the next step and exercise. Riding a bike is great, the weather over here allows you to do it all year round. Good luck mate!

 

[ginantonix]

I love my bike!

Very nice bike! Looks like you have some sweet Brooks accessories, too!

 

[Space]

Biking is good definitely, but Get some wieghts in too. nothing crazy 10-25lb. weights are great you can work out your arms, shoulders, back, and chest. and you'll burn weight much quicker. plus resistance training is good for fending off sarcopenia in later years. cardio not so much but cardio is obviously good for your heart.

I've been riding a bike to and from work 5 miles each way, for a good 10 years now, but I didn't really start losing weight until I start using weights lightly. I'm talking 30 mins 2 or 3 times a week.

 

[Petesurfer]

Hello,

I'm a great fan of the books of a Spanish personal trainer called Fernando Sartorius. He's been a personal trainer for a lot of famous actors, actresses, etc.. Sadly I don't think they're available in English. His style is very straight forward and honest, which I appreciate a lot. With respect to walking, he says it's a wonderful activity, but in order to really burn any fat you would have to walk more than 3 hours a day. What he recommends is doing an aerobic exercise (bike,running,step,etc..) 3 or 4 times a week, which will make your heart work between 60% and 80% of your maximum bpm (which is 220-your age). Let me explain:

I'm 26 years old. 220-26=194beats per minute (this would ideally be the maximum amount of beats per minute I should make my heart work at)
60% of 194ppm=116ppm
80% of 194ppm=155ppm

Following his advice, I would have to do 3 or 4 sessions per week of 30-40 minutes each one, of an aerobic exercise which would mantain my heartbeat between 116 and 155 beats per minute. He also stresses a lot that the aerobic sessions must last between 30 and 40 minutes. He says that up to around 25 minutes, the body burns the energy that comes from the food you have eaten recently, but it's at around 30 minutes when the body starts to burn the "energy reserves" which is the fat stored in the body.

I actually did follow his advice, and it worked great. I did loose the weight I was aiming for. I must clarify though, it takes a big amount of will power, and now that I've stabilised my weight, I have reduced the frequency of my work out sessions.

 

[djh]

It's great that you have decided to do something for your health and well-being Peter and cycling (in almost any form) is a good way to burn calories. To begin with, you need to understand that you are simply playing a numbers game and you must burn more calories than you take in to steadily lose weight. This means that "how" you exercise is much less important than it is for people training for something more specific. Walking to the office, riding an exercise bike, walking the dog, going for a swim...... all of these relatively simple tasks can help you to reach your goal.
As you make some progress, you may wish to add other exercises to your training regime- after all, muscle is what you use to move and it is important in the whole process. Simple exercises such as sit-ups (done safely, of course), squats (without additional weight) and push-ups will help to stabilise your body and allow you to perform your cardio exercises at a higher level.
A diary is a great way to keep track of what you are up to- if you were to start a blog and make it public, people can help you by encouraging you to keep at it.
Good luck!

 

[SRock]

Cycling can be a great way to lose weight. Just keep in mind that if you are more concerned with fat loss you should set your gears (or ride hills) so you have greater resistance. Focusing on longer more difficult rides will burn more fat than brisk cardio type workouts.

 

[Peter Mount]

It looks like I've lost my first 10 Kilograms (about 22 US pounds) since I started in about September 2009. I've got 25 Kilograms to go.

I'll have to use my exercise bike more consistently from now on.

 

[Uncle Erik]

The exercise bike helps a lot - keep using it if you enjoy it.

However, I dropped a bit over 100 lbs. with serious dietary changes. You have to keep an eye on calories. For a good explanation, Google the "Hacker's Diet" or pick up Carol Lay's "The Big Skinny." Both are close to the method I used. Changing diet is a big step, but you get used to it with time. The benefit is that the weight really comes off. I averaged about 2 lbs. a week for two years and it stays off. I went from wearing 40" pants to 30" and from XXL shirts to a medium or small. I've never felt better, either.

 

[SRock]

It looks like I've lost my first 10 Kilograms (about 22 US pounds) since I started in about September 2009. I've got 25 Kilograms to go.

I'll have to use my exercise bike more consistently from now on.

Thats some seriously slow weight loss. However, that usually makes it much easier to keep off. Are you also dieting or only riding the bike?

 

[Peter Mount]

I've been trying to watch my diet as well. I wasn't consistent with the exercise bike over that time. I'll try to be consistent from now on.