As a start to fitness.

kenmc

Something else to consider is moving from white bread/pasta/rice to brown; there are more nutrients in the brown varieties of all of these. And keep an eye on stuff which is labeled 'low fat' cos it often has increased sugar or salt content to add flavour back in.
Also it's no harm to get into the habit of looking at the nutritional info on the side of jars/packets - usually you will find two products with wildly different fat/sugar/salt levels, and it makes sense to take the one with less - you don't have to count every single calorie like this, but just to make yourself aware which products are 'better' than others.
Breakfast cereals are typically laced with sugars, even some of the well known meuslis. Whereas it's a very simple job to make your own meusli if you eat that for breakfast, and you can control what you put into it a bit more.

blorg

Lumen wrote: »

Bottom line: sit on your arse - get fat; walk/cycle - lose weight. Eat what you want, within reason.

I'd have a bit of a different take. This advice works if you are just a bit overweight (and a stone overweight is barely anything) and reasonably active. I've lost around a stone since the start of this year without paying any attention to my diet and eating whatever and as much as I want. I wouldn't have been overweight before I lost it either but it does make going up hills a bit easier

Someone who is 18 stone however is that weight because they routinely eat too much, not just the wrong thing, and as such portion control is very important. If OP "eats as much as he wants" of stuff like potatoes and bread the weight is never going to come off. Counting calories is a useful exercise that educates you as to exactly what is in food; some stuff has a crazy amount of calories in it and other stuff next to nothing. For example, if preparing a pasta sauce- 100g of double cream, contains around 450 calories. By contrast you would have to eat around 2.5kg of tomatoes for the same amount. It is trivially easy to put together a meal that might weigh in at 1,500-2,000 calories or more without really realising it.

Potatoes and bread were a bit of a disaster area in my experience when trying to lose weight; they contain a hell of a lot of calories and portion sizes are very large in this country compared to what you might eat in for example pasta. Obviously boiled is better than fried but when I was trying to seriously lose weight I just dropped them entirely, replacing with pasta. If you previously had a sandwich at lunchtime, have a wrap instead. Those Cuisine de France demi-baguettes have a worrying amount in them even before the filling.

When you have lost the weight, are exercising regularly, and have an idea of what healthy eating choices are- then is the time to "eat what you want."

Lumen

"Someone who is 18 stone however is that weight because they routinely eat too much, not just the wrong thing, and as such portion control is very important."

OK. But imagine you wanted to maintain a weight of 18st, say for an acting role. Would it be possible to maintain that weight whilst exercising properly? The weight would just fall off if you were doing an hour a day on a bike.

There are no fat marathon runners. I've never been able to work out whether this is because running causes weight loss, or because fat people can't run. Causality, correlation and all that.

TinyExplosions

Lumen wrote: »

OK. But imagine you wanted to maintain a weight of 18st, say for an acting role. Would it be possible to maintain that weight whilst exercising properly? The weight would just fall off if you were doing an hour a day on a bike.

There are no fat marathon runners. I've never been able to work out whether this is because running causes weight loss, or because fat people can't run. Causality, correlation and all that.

I think it would be possible, but would take as much effort as losing it (ie, you'd have to see the calories you burned with exercise, and replace them and more to keep the weight on)

There are no fat marathon runners because (I think) they would keep a close eye on what they ate, and every aspect of their diet etc is controlled or helped by a nutritionist. I think (as stated above) the biggest problem is with portion control -we aren't told at any stage in school or anywhere what a correct portion is, so a lot of the time we are eating far more than we have to

bobtjustice

My two cent,

Aim for an hour a day on the bike of actual cycling not rolling along, keep your legs moving as much as possible.
Stretch before and after, or you will be setting yourself up for cramps and ligament trouble.
Plenty of water, 1 and a half - 2 litres a day, 2 litres is tough but it'll make a world of difference.
As a previous poster said, the best way to shift weight is to weight train 2-3 times a week and as much cardio as you can do without killing yourself.

Make sure you enjoy it is the main thing, this shouldn't be a chore for you .

blorg

Running is just fundamentally more difficult from cycling. Unless you are cycling all out (e.g. racing) it will burn more calories per unit of time you put into it, as many as twice as much.

But, it will be substantially more difficult to sustain and comes with a significantly higher risk of injury due to the impacts involved. This is elevated if you are overweight.

In cycling your weight is supported and there is the opportunity to rest frequently- freewheeling, the descent after climbing a hill, etc. You can't rest in a run other than by stopping running (although indeed a run-walk-run pattern is often suggested for first time marathon runners.)

It's easy to cycle in your aerobic zone where fat burning is most efficient for the amount of effort expended. You want to be pushing yourself a bit but not killing yourself either.

This is one of the reasons a HRM is a good idea- it keeps you honest. There are a lot of variables in cycling (wind and gradient being the two key ones) so it is useful if you have a HRM and can log that you spent your hour at an average of 130 or 135BPM, say.

As to whether it would be possible to cycle for an hour a day and remain 18 stone? Sure, and without much difficulty- you could manage this simply by eating a flapjack or two and drinking an energy drink on your spin, with no other change to your diet. Indeed you could cycle for an hour a day and put on weight if you overcompensated.

Cycling an hour a day can burn surprisingly few calories; depends on how fast you are going! The good news is that the heavier you are the more calories you burn during exercise so watch the diet and get out on the bike and you should see good results.

petethedrummer

bobtjustice wrote: »

Stretch before and after, or you will be setting yourself up for cramps and ligament trouble.

Don't stretch cold muscles, warm up first.

jdivision

Lumen wrote: »

Would it be possible to maintain that weight whilst exercising properly? The weight would just fall off if you were doing an hour a day on a bike.

.

Not if you ate the calories to compensate. Also, 18 stone can be fat and 18 stone can be muscle, the difference is everything.

bobtjustice

petethedrummer wrote: »

Don't stretch cold muscles, warm up first.

+1.. I would have thought that was a given but for definate warm up first.

Lumen

jdivision wrote: »

18 stone can be fat and 18 stone can be muscle, the difference is everything.

Robert Cammarelle (Olympic Gold Super Heavyweight) is a little over 14st, so I'd hazard a guess that it's somewhat unlikely in the case of the OP.

irishmotorist

petethedrummer wrote: »

Don't stretch cold muscles, warm up first.

Just wondering how you'd do this, realistically. My commute is just under an hour each way. I don't usually bother stretching for the daily cycle, but should I cycle for 10 mins, hop off and stretch for a few before getting back on the bike again? I sort of thought that gentle stretching (no quick snaps) before the start of a cycle would warm the muscle up as well as loosen it.

petethedrummer

irishmotorist wrote: »

Just wondering how you'd do this, realistically.

I've no idea to be honest. I'm the wrong person to ask. I just know that intense stretching of cold muscles may increase your chances of being injured.

blorg

If you are cycling for under an hour in the aerobic zone I don't think you would need to stretch.

I am no expert on this mind; I have never stretched in my life and don't get cramps cycling. Running can hurt mind.

Again everyone is different but I think you are generally safe doing your daily commute without stretching.

311

Lads ,one thing I forgot to mention and it's kind of bugging me. Drink wise how much drink is acceptable under circumstances like my own.

Given that my diet is and will be nothing like what it was before.

scottreynolds

petethedrummer wrote: »

I've no idea to be honest. I'm the wrong person to ask. I just know that intense stretching of cold muscles may increase your chances of being injured.

I'd stretch when you get home after the night commute. Thats what I do. Its really about keeping the muscles stretched out over time. I'd stretch 3 times a week like this.... well I do.

blorg

311 wrote: »

Lads ,one thing I forgot to mention and it's kind of bugging me. Drink wise how much drink is acceptable under circumstances like my own.

Given that my diet is and will be nothing like what it was before.

If you mean alcohol, reducing is a good idea if you are trying to lose weight; it is inherently very high in calories. Its effect on direct weight gain is debated but it can also tend to promote dodgy eating choices (kebabs, chips, etc.)

Other than that from a pure calorie point of view, swapping beer for wine or spirits with low calorie mixers could be a good idea.

311

blorg wrote: »

it can also tend to promote dodgy eating choices (kebabs, chips, etc.)

Other than that from a pure calorie point of view, swapping beer for wine or spirits with low calorie mixers could be a good idea.

Thanks blorg ,I had a big problem with ordering food late at night.
I've had some wine tonight and normally I'd have had some pizza ordered. But the cycle at 6.30 has me on my toes all the time in the evening ,in a good way mind
The diet calories is well down and counting.

Baguettes are off the menu aswell ,going to try and wrap chicken with lettuce and tomatoe at 12 for the day.

Thanks for the help ,your lifesavers :)

72hundred

311 wrote: »

Lads ,one thing I forgot to mention and it's kind of bugging me. Drink wise how much drink is acceptable under circumstances like my own.

Given that my diet is and will be nothing like what it was before.

Guidelines are:

21 units for male per week
14 units for female per week

For example one pint = 2 units, one spirits shot = 1 unit.

I'd cut this drastically though if you're trying to get fit, 10/12 units would be enough, that's not too restrictive - allowing for something like 2/3 pints on Fri and Sat night.

EDIT: This comes back to earlier topic of compliance... if you enjoy the odd pint, cutting down to zero units a week will probably have an overall negative effect as you might give up the entire effort.

Turbulent Bill

scottreynolds wrote: »

I'd stretch when you get home after the night commute. Thats what I do. Its really about keeping the muscles stretched out over time. I'd stretch 3 times a week like this.... well I do.

I wouldn't stretch before cycling (stretching cold muscles is a bad idea), but you should spin gently for a few minutes when you start to warm up the muscles. Similarly, you should spin gently at the end of a cycle as a warm down. My natural flexibility is poor so I stretch after every cycle, and this is probably a good idea too if you're starting off.