Losing weight on an exercise bike When I was researching my exercise plan on the internet, I found lots of articles about people who lost amazing amounts of weight from using their exercise bikes. A quick search will turn up dozen of articles from people who lost 50, 80 and even 100 pounds just from riding their exercise bikes. I'm calling bull on those claims. I've been monitoring my weight since starting my exercise plan four months ago and I found that burning 600 to 650 calories 4 days a week amounts to losing around one pound of fat each month (in a good month). At 6 foot tall, my weight has stayed within 3 pounds of 245 since the day I started. I'm pushing the limits on my 55 year old body each time I get on my bike, so I can confirm that 15 miles a day at 19.3 mph will not lead to an amazing weight loss. While I'm sure that many people lose a lot of weight while exercising, the vast majority of dropped pounds are due to a change in diet. Why bother riding at all...
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MAY 2020 As I often do, I overextended myself on the bike during my first month of riding. My first ride on May 8 totaled 15 minutes and 3.75 miles. While I was tired and sore, I rode again the next day for 15 minutes, but this time I covered 3.97 miles (progress!). I took the next day off and followed it up with 9 days of stupidity by riding every day. Time spent on the bike rose to 30 minutes by May 15 and I was riding 9 miles by the 19th. On the 20th, I was tire and sore. Too much, too soon. At this point, I forced myself to slow down and work for a long term goal. To this end , I decided to ride for the same amount of time somewhere between 3-5 rides before adding another minute to my work out. This helped in several ways. First, my 55 years old body could better handle the stress that I was putting on it. Next, it kept me from plateauing too quickly. Therefore, I rode for 30 minutes on May 21, 23, 24, 26 and 27, before increasing it to 32 minutes on May 29. By the end ...
My exercise bike arrived in the mail late one evening last spring and after a few hours of assembly, I was ready to go. Now most people would have invested in some cool biking gear including air wicking shirts, biking shorts and light weight shoes, but I instead kept it simple. I wear a cheap t-shirt, gym shorts and socks (no shoes). Almost every exercise program that I found on the internet uses a complicated formula that mixes high resistance and fast pedaling followed by cool down periods. I don't know the science behind this, but I wanted to measure my progress through consistent resistance and speed on the bike. Therefore, I set the resistance on my bike at 3 (out of 8) and left it there. I then set a pace with the goal to not deviate from it. Not conventional, but I think that it works best for me. As an engineer with 25 years of working experience, I like to be thorough when undertaking an activity (my wife calls it "being a huge pain in the butt"), so on my firs...
I outlined in my first post a brief overview of my efforts to rehabilitate my body following a fall in late 2018, in that hopes that I could once again complete every day activities like climbing stairs in the hopes that I can spend the next 30 years in good health. I hit a low last spring while working from home during Covid 19 when I found myself with free time, but unable to even cut the grass. I looked at getting another surgery, but after talking to my wife, I made the decision to purchase an expensive exercise bike in the hopes that I could fix my broken knee myself. I didn't know where to start. Following many hours spent on the internet trying to narrow down the best bike that would fit into my budget, I looked at many options. At the higher end, the Peloton bike stands out as the hottest new trend going for in-home exercising, but the cost of the bike and monthly plan was prohibitive to me. At the low end, I made many trips to local Goodwill stores in the hope that I coul...
Hi. I'm a married 55 year old dad with 4 daughters that's trying to return to a normal life following an accident in late 2018 that has made me walk like somebody in their 80s. My goal is to keep track of my progress as I try to relearn how to safely walk down the street, climb steps and even safely climb a ladder. 7 years ago, I fell down the steps in my house rupturing my left knee cap. Following surgery, 8 weeks in a miserable cast and weeks of physical therapy, I was able to return to a normal life. So when I did the same damage to my right knee two years ago following another fall in my house, I figured that my life would be back to normal by the following springs. As we often find, life doesn't always go according to plans. 18 months later, I found myself falling down 2-3 times a week (often in parking lots). Climbing stairs was limited to those with railings as I climbed left foot/left foot/left foot forcing my wife and girls to have to spend time waiting on me eve...