iBike and Weight Loss

[Velocomp]

It was precisely 5 years ago, in November 2004, that Velocomp was formed. Since then, for most of the past 5 years it seems like I've been sitting in front of the computer, working. Most certainly, I've not done nearly as much cycling as I would like.

Lack of exercise, and a new business startup, is a sure way to gain weight. In fact, if you search the archives and look at some of my more recent ride files you'll find that my weight was getting a bit out of hand.

So, on October 1 I started a diet, and added to it healthy--and enjoyable--cycling every day.

I've been using the iBike to manage my watts pacing to about 60% of my FTP--a good place for fat burning. Also, I'm also using a diet that is high protein, low carbs (but not Atkins) from a company that is based here in South Florida.

Today, 21 days after starting the diet, I've burned about 12,000 calories on the bike and I've lost 15 pounds. My blood pressure has dropped considerably, too. I feel great and the cycling is really helping me be more fit. Oddly enough, I find also that the cycling invigorates me and helps me fight the fatigue of a low calorie diet.

I have another 15 pounds to go and then I'm done with the diet, but most certainly not done with the cycling, nor with the enjoyment I'm getting from seeing my iBike fitness stats improve.

Anyone else have any stories to share?

[iodaniell]

Congrats on the 15 pound loss, John.

Most of my weight loss started at age 40 when I got tired of being 200 pounds at 5' 7" tall (I'm nearly 52 now). At my lowest weight, I reached 145 pounds through running... hurt my knees, rehab'ed them on the bike.

I'm at 160 pounds these days, but my cycling is a lot stronger than when I started and I can run again, but would have to work back up to hard surfaces like the road.

[racerfern]

Congratulations John. I tried numerous diets to no avail and didn't really lose weight until I started cycling with with conviction in 2005. In 2006 I became addicted to cycling, bought a Gen 1 and became addicted to power. Over the last few years I've gone from a high of 223# to a current 185#. No more blood pressure medication and a drop in resting HR from 92 to 61 always reminds me that it's all well worth the effort.

It gets tougher and tougher to lose weight as you get older (I'll be 59 next month) and you get closer to your goal. So be prepared for some challenges that I'm sure you'll be able to overcome. Keep it off.

[lorduintah]

I will have put in over 5,000 miles this year (2,000 and 3,000 the previous two years, respectively) - not that much by many standards, but adequate. This year I have dropped off 15-20 pounds (now 180-185, depending on hydration), BP is better than before - meds stay the same, but the average is lower than the controlled values I had previously (was 120/75, now 115/60). My resting HR is 46 - two years ago it was 70.

I am 62 - so speed is not a desire nor issue. I got back to being fairly healthy.

[Velocomp]

Update: after 48 days on my program, I have lost 30 pounds and achieved my weight loss objective.

30 pounds is the equivalent of burning about 104,000 calories of fat stored in the body.

My iBike measured that I burned about 31,000 calories cumulative from my rides. Since cycling causes an increase in metabolic rate for several hours after completing the ride, no doubt there is a multiplier effect on the "raw" iBike measurement of calories burned and corresponding weight loss.

Any fitness program (of which weight loss can be considered as one type) starts with a belief that the training regimen will have an eventual benefit. For me, the value of my iBike during this experience was that I had daily feedback--and quantified knowledge--of the benefit of my exercise towards my goal. Though my body weight sometimes would not change at all from day to day, my calories-burned count just kept increasing. It was very motivating!

In fact, with my iBike I really did not pay attention to bike speed, miles traveled, HR, or any other parameter. I simply kept my watts to about 55% of FTP (without carbs my legs were definitely not anxious about working too hard) and I burned calories; my goal was to burn between 500 and 1200 calories on each day's ride, depending on the time I had available.

Managing my watts in this way, lots of cyclists passed me on the road but I really did not care; my objective was different. But now that I think about it, in the last week, not too many people have been passing me, and, in fact, I've gone zipping by quite a few people myself...

Now that I am at my target weight I will move on to the next phase: strength building. Once I get some carbs back in to my body I'd like to see how much speed I can get from my legs!

Even though the strict diet is over I suspect that I will continue to lose weight, slowly, for a while. I have no intention of going back to the eating habits that allowed that excess weight to accumulate in the first place, and most certainly my cycling will continue to be the best part of my day (aside from answering emails from all of you).

[Foothills Rider]

Wow. That's really impressive, and I'm super-envious.

Are you maintaining 55-60% FTP throughout, or are throwing in some sort of intervals as well?
Do you track body composition on something like the IronMan devices? If so, how much has your body fat percentage dropped?
Do you sprinkle in some morning "bonk" rides - riding before you eat anything in the morning, just until you get that vague sugar-depletion buzz?

I have averaged 4600 miles per year over the past 7 years, but this is way down this year, (2900 as of today), but the decreased volume has been matched with increased intensity throughout the year...Yet, I am still 5 pounds over my super stable weight, and my body fat has increased to 18.5% when my water content is 57.5%. (I am 54).

Your post is one of the few that brings in weight loss with a PM. I appreciate you bringing in it, especially during the holidays, with high calorie foods starting to pop up everywhere now....

Bill

[pjboyle]

I just started riding a bike again in Oct. 2007 (age 55). My starting point was fairly sedentary other than golf and about 194 pounds (lifetime high weight was 200 so I was not far from it). I rode about 5000 miles the first year, not really training, just riding around, and lost about 7 or 8 lbs. and plateaued. November last year I began training with Coach Boyd Johnson, thinking I needed more stucture. He started me on a steady diet of base miles that seemed at the time to be agonizingly slow to stay in HR zones 1 and 2. Amazingly the pounds melted away. Later in the winter and since then many other strength/speed workouts were added, but I had become a firm believer in the value of these base miles rides. All told I did 6600 miles that second year. At my lowest I was down to 168 lbs., and am now holding at about 171. I am going back to heavy base miles for the winter, along with some strength training in the gym. I'm convinced that if I could kick my addiction to peanut m&m's and milky ways I could get down to about 160, but hey, an old guy has to have some pleasures in life!

Congrats to John, and thanks for the demonstration that the iBike as a training tool has application beyond racing.

PJBoyle

[Velocomp]

Are you maintaining 55-60% FTP throughout, or are throwing in some sort of intervals as well?
Do you track body composition on something like the IronMan devices? If so, how much has your body fat percentage dropped?
Do you sprinkle in some morning "bonk" rides - riding before you eat anything in the morning, just until you get that vague sugar-depletion buzz?

Bill

In addition to the cycling I was on a no-fat, low carb diet. With this diet I did not have loads of extra energy to use for intervals.

I never pushed myself and I let my body dictate how hard, and how long, to ride. I found that I would "naturally" ride at 160W-180W, for one to two hours. This pace was absolutely in line with my pre-diet Fitness Test result of 260W.

In the last few weeks, I found my natural pace drifting up to around 200W, and at the end of each ride I would push for about 5 minutes at 260W to 350W. The push was mostly for fun, not to try to get any additional training effect. Once I get some carbs back in my body I am going to do another Fitness Test; I'm curious to see what the change will be!

I don't think I ever experienced "sugar depletion buzz", because I never had any sugar during the diet!

Curiously enough, my experience was that cycling made me less hungry and more energetic. My (unsubstantiated) hypothesis is that cycling somehow stimulated my metabolism and helped to extract more energy from my fat.

I don't know my body's fat percentage reduction (I'm not sure I want to know) but I do know that I can again fit into clothes I bought 15 years ago, and that I had to purchase new shorts this afternoon that are 4 inches smaller in the waist.

Since energy used (calories) is directly proportional to watts x seconds, I've always thought that power measurement is the best possible way track cycling-related weight reduction programs. Believe me, when you're losing weight you want to get 100% credit for anything you do to manage calories. My iBike is my friend...

[iRacing.com]

In addition to the cycling I was on a no-fat, low carb diet. With this diet I did not have loads of extra energy to use for intervals.

That's a little taste of what us Diabetics have to deal with. At least you can go back to storing them, for me they have to remain stored in the packaging they come in on the store shelf.

[racerfern]

Great discussion, when I got to my low weight of 181# I did a fitness test and had only picked up 5 watts. However the reduced weight and increased w/kg was very obvious on any significant hill climbs. Since then I've put a few pounds back on and really feel it as soon as the road turns toward the sky.

I look to my w/kg progress rather than FTP increases when my weight changes.

[lorduintah]

John -

Your weight loss description is consistent with both the diet and the exertion level you rode at. A higher wattage threshold goes directly after energy, whereas the somewhat less exertion you were using set your body up for fat burning.

What was your planned calorie intake during this month of training?

I have lost about 20# this year (now 180-185 - my weight back around 1995) with almost 5K-miles of riding and > 200K calories, but I have not made any significant change to my eating habits - minimal as they are - only one real meal a day and snacking mostly on fruit during the day. Unemployment for the year would probably have led to a weight gain from stress and depression had it not been for the biking.

Tom