Rides for overweight unfit people?

I agree with this but would really recommend the use of a simple cycling computer, one that shows speed, distance and average speed. Nothing more is really necessary.

Such a device can really encourage. First because you are likely to be able to ride further than you would imagine and the distance monitor will confirm this. Secondly, because you can see improvement when riding the same course. A better average speed. This latter measure should be taken with caution as wind can play a considerable part.

As t heart rate, the best advice I ever received was that most cycling should be done at a pace that allows you to hold a conversation while doing it. I often talk to myself while climbing hills.

If you have an iPhone or Android phone SportsTracker app (free) or something similar is a great place to start.

Page 4 so it's about time someone suggested a ride

http://www.lfgss.com/post2447899-2387.html

must be all of 2km, don't do yourself an injury.

Oi TwoTents, enough of your cheek. I rode there and rode home. 4 miles. More than 2k.

FFS
You need a list:

Pottering around a route possibly taken from on here.

1. Clive
   
2. Ramaye
   

List of skinny little fit people who have no place on a thread like this:

1. Day-Moe
   

I'm trying to fucking help you here. Tubby.

If you have an iPhone or Android phone SportsTracker app (free) or something similar is a great place to start.

I've got an Android phone and I use "My Tracks" it's free and is pretty good, developed by Google so it incorporates Maps etc...

xxx

Endomondo is good.

List of skinny little fit people who have no place on a thread like this:

1. Day-Moe
   
2. Andy.w
   

List of skinny little fit people who have no place on a thread like this:

1. Day-Moe
   
2. Andy.w
   
3. Cliveo*
   
   

*used to be fat but bot anymore. Spe up MOFO

List of skinny little fit people who have no place on a thread like this:

1. Day-Moe
   
2. Andy.w
   3.~~ Cliveo*
   
   

*used to be fat but bot anymore. Spe up MOFO~~

Oh how I wish it were true.

List of skinny little fit people who have no place on a thread like this:

1. Day-Moe
   
2. Andy.w
   
3. itsbruce (used to be 15 stone)
   
   

Had unsubbed from this thread, will again.

itsbruce, you might be able to tell how it is done.

Well, eat less (and more healthily) and exercise more. Don't rely on exercise; changing your attitude to/relationship with food is much more important than your exercise programme. Do be aware that if you depend on a heavy fitness regime to help you slim, you will either have to remain committed to it permanently or face a whole new set of challenges once you reach your target weight.

It's the food, stupid. Learning to eat properly will keep you at a healthy weight even when you're ill or injured. The most important benefit that exercise gives you isn't the calories burned but the boost to your mental well-being and confidence, which helps you to maintain your new dietary discipline. Recognise this and realise that you don't have to hit amazing targets straight away; set small targets, meet them, then set slightly more ambitious targets and keep going.

Fat people who don't address the food issue first and just throw themselves into vigorous exercise are almost always doomed to failure. If they don't injure themselves, they discover that all that inefficient effort isn't helping them lose weight. This tends to be demoralising and can lead to further weight gain (I speak as a recovering comfort eater ;) ). The good news is, you don't have to stop loving food; you just have to find a more positive way to express that love and treat food less like a cheap date.

Don't waste our time with the "fat doesn't necessarily mean unfit" meme, by the way. Being significantly overweight is unhealthy, no matter how far you can ride.

That's about it.

^ harsh but fair.

Remember, if you're heavy then you're also used to carrying a lot of weight. When you lose that weight you retain the strength need to carry all that avoir du pois. Which makes you super strong in comparison with a racing snake.

Well, it's a nice way to think about it anyway. Good luck everyone. And I've just downloaded 'endomondo' app for android which looks easy to use and fairly fun as you can race yourself vs yesterday's ride or even another user somehow, possibly using magnets.

I am 5'7" and 80kg have a little bit of beer belly, my waist is 34". I eat healthy but I am also a beer lover (trappist especially) and I can do that: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/120183151#

I also ride 15 miles a day (fixed, langster etc) for 5 days a week. Takes me about 35 mins one way. Then do 2 laps of Richmond park on Sunday, takes me around 46/47 mins.

Am I healthy/unhealthy?

Not a simple question. Assuming we restrict the comparison to people of a similar age and background...

• You're fitter than somebody your height who is inactive but in the ideal weight band.
  
• You're fitter and healthier than somebody inactive at your height and weight.
  
• You're less healthy that you would be if you lost the extra kilos.
  
  
  
  

There's a long debate that could be had about whether you're healthier than the relatively inactive but ideal-weight guy. I don't think it's relevant, and I can give you both the long and the short reasons.

Long reason: the extra kilos do present a health issue. Your beer belly isn't a dead weight; it affects your metabolism and does increase health risks (all the old obesity-related gremlins you'll be familiar with, don't need to list them here). Plenty of research you can do about the effects of excess abdominal fat.

Short reason: you're less healthy that you could be. How much does that matter to you?

I'm guessing, without enough evidence, that your weight is more or less stable. If that's true, then it's up to you to balance the potential mental and physical stress of any weight loss drive against the negative health impact of your beer belly. But maybe that's a matter for a different thread, as a few of the people on this thread (hell, on this forum) would love to have your weight "problem" rather than theirs.

Although I've mostly ignored the question up till now, not having any information about your past or current rate of weight loss/gain makes it very hard to give a proper answer, in truth.

when i started cycling again in 2003.. i got super tired, recovery took a while (several days in fact), also i ate more, because my metabolic rate went up.. as mentioned before cycling even in small steps is the key to unlocking this.. but probably needs to be supported with a good diet. and carbs and protein are essential of energy and recovery.

even though i do 60 - 100 hilly miles in the summer months.. i only consider myself reasonably fit, certainly not fast on the flat or uphill, and my weight still fluctuates between 70 - 85 kgs..

so be brave plan a ride say 10km from your home, just do a circular route, get your bike checked over first.. go somewhere familiar, preferable when the roads are quiet, therefore less stressful. if you are close to regents park PM me, otherwise i'm gonna have to find you..

whats ur height?

5'10" why

even though i do 60 - 100 hilly miles in the summer months.. i only consider myself reasonably fit, certainly not fast on the flat or uphill, and my weight still fluctuates between 70 - 85 kgs..

100 hilly miles!?

Fit person in denial

Well, eat less

I usually eat once a day and this is the reason I'm overweight and have no energy (plus fatty liver). Got used to this lifestyle at uni and then when working in media for ten years. I used to be slim (65kg @ 5'11") till I hit about 36 and then it went downhill - especially when I stopped smoking.
Exercise doesn't do much. I don't cycle much, but when I do it's between 20 and 35 miles, but ends up with some beers and such.
Better diet would probably help me, not less food.

Awaiting DFP and GA2G...

smaller meals several times a day woul be better than one small meal.

but you'd lose more weight with one small meal.

I usually eat once a day and this is the reason I'm overweight and have no energy (plus fatty liver). Got used to this lifestyle at uni and then when working in media for ten years. I used to be slim (65kg @ 5'11") till I hit about 36 and then it went downhill - especially when I stopped smoking.
Exercise doesn't do much. I don't cycle much, but when I do it's between 20 and 35 miles, but ends up with some beers and such.
Better diet would probably help me, not less food.

That would be covered in the "eat more healthily" that you edited out. But if you've been putting on weight, you have been consuming more calories than you take in. You still need to either reduce that intake or increase the activity levels.

Eating patterns can help or hinder. If you're eating in one big meal, then that's going to make you sluggish after the meal and then tired later, which doesn't help with being active. If any supplemental calorie intake for the rest of the day is in the form of booze, that'll put a seal on it ofc.

Exercise doesn't do much. I don't cycle much, but when I do it's between 20 and 35 miles

To be harsh, you're not doing that much exercise. I cycle at least 17 miles every working day, with more on some evenings and most weekends, which is not unusual on this forum (and doesn't put me in the superfit category, by any means). I'd guess that the occasional 20 or 35 mile ride tires you enough that the booze and food recovery at the end mostly cancels it out. The active cyclists on the forum are quite capable of cycling 30 miles, having a cup of tea and cycling back. The occasional 30 mile ride really isn't significant; somebody who is riding just 3 miles a day but doing it every working day is getting more benefit from their cycling than you are. And that's actually the most important comparison; occasional events don't amount to anything in terms of general fitness, whether it's 30 miles or 120. The occasional events are the ones your fitness level prepares you for, they test it but they don't contribute to it. If you dropped the longer rides altogether but cycled 3 or 4 miles for at least 3 days a week, you'd be doing much more for weight and fitness.

It's a very common thing to hear people say "I stayed slim up till age X". While it's true that your muscle mass and your resting metabolic rate tend to reduce over time from roughly around the age of 40 (though this is much less true for the physically active, particularly those who do any kind of resistance/strength training), the reality in most of these cases is that the person's calorie intake has gradually crept up. Maybe snacks go from being an occasional treat to a regular one or, more simply, as you become more well-off than you were, you can spend more on food. Ex-smokers often put on weight, both because tobacco is an appetite suppressant and because they may replace it with a snacking habit.

Yes, a healthier diet would be good. You'll find it very hard, though, to do that with your current eating pattern. There's only so much broccoli you can eat in one sitting.