New year, new you? What's the fitness/health plans?

[weeksy]

After a very very rocky road of December and way too much food and beer, I'm back on the 5-2 today with Mon being first fasting <700 cal day.

Combined with a start of linger riding time and less intensity, I'll be working on fat burning zone workouts for the first 3 months of 2022.

Anyone else starting the year looking to drop some lard? Improve fitness? Whatever

[MingtheMerciless]

Get some fitness back from my peak around 2 years ago. So dragging my sorry arse out more and attacking hills (I seem to have lost the rage I could tap into) rather than just making it up them.

Cutting out the booze and eating better(not easy with my food intolerances).

Get back into the habit of a 100 press-ups on waking up.

[weeksy]

Get some fitness back from my peak around 2 years ago. So dragging my sorry arse out more and attacking hills (I seem to have lost the rage I could tap into) rather than just making it up them.

Cutting out the booze and eating better(not easy with my food intolerances).

Get back into the habit of a 100 press-ups on waking up.

I wouldn't finish them until bed time

[Crosshair]

Still trying to get back in the groove after being ill the other week.
Tried to start the year right by doing a midnight ride on New Year’s Day By 01:30 I had 33 miles and 1200kcals in the bank

I’m roughly counting calories and aiming for a 500kcal deficit but prioritising having energy for workouts over being strict on that.
Losing some weight by April will be essential for Dirty Reiver (15.5stone again at the minute )

I have a Trainerroad plan going but as and when I can fit them in- I’ll probably swap out some workouts for longer endurance rides.
The new adaptive training feature is pretty cool. It picks up on what you actually did each ride and adjusts your next workout to suit. They’ve also gone one step further than just scaling their workouts by ftp alone- each energy system now has levels attached. So let’s say you smash a level 4 threshold workout, your next one might become a level 4.2. If you fail it, they may swap in a 3.5 next week.
Following an old Trainerroad plan to the letter always felt precarious- you could feel yourself getting fitter but it didn’t account for life factors. So if you did a big group ride smash fest on a Sunday for example, you might then fail the Tuesday workout and start digging yourself into a hole by continuing to follow the plan. With adaptive training, it will sense you are struggling and knock the next workouts back a touch to match your fatigue before ramping them back up as you recover.

But really it’s just about the fundamentals- consistency, quality, time and focus.

[Mr Moofo]

Back on the 5:2 this week ( Wednesday / Thursday are my days)
Need to do more miles and drop 5 or so kilos

And I want to learn how to climb better / faster

[v8-powered]

I put on 11lbs over Christmas so will be back on the Peloton from tomorrow!

[Hoonercat]

Started a little fit club with 2 mates in the village a week before before Christmas (I told them it was the worst time of year to start ). Managed 3 days before I burnt my hend on a mate's log burner during a pre-Christmas booze-up, just as it healed one of my mates done his ankle in and is now on crutches. The other mate is just about recovering from a very boozy Cristmas and New Year.
Still feeling a bit lethargic from all the crap I ate and drank over the festive period, but back to walking the dogs tomorrow now the ground is drier so should hopefully get me back in the mood for fit club next week

[G.P]

The battery on our weighing scales needs replacing so not sure what weight I am, but I guess I need to loose around 4-5 kgs.

Last year wasn't great health wise, I was over working , over stressed and ended up in Hospital with a TIA (mini-stroke).

I've addressed the stress thing to a large extent by ending 11 years of freelancing and going Perm with a client I engaged with in Oct 2020. its a stressful job as its a start up but its fun Stress IYSWIM

So, for 2022, Q1 is taken up by a house move (not good for the BP either!) but after that, my main fitness focus will be e-MTB riding and mega dog walks.

[Noggin]

I'm a weirdo as have mental issues with food so don't do diets. However, TBF, after years of trying (and failing) various diets I know what I should and shouldn't eat. And now I'm back working I have much less time for cooking stuff so tend to eat less now

I'm trying to get out ski touring on mornings I'm not working so that I can build my stamina so that I can get to the top of the mountains soon (ish!). In theory, if I was properly fit and not broken, it would take approx 2 hours. But I'm not! But, if I can do it in 3, then I'll be happy. I'll be starting on a route that isn't too bad in the steep areas. But the goal is to be able to walk up to the main mountain from my village and that is either a LONG way or the last bit is seriously steep (basically a red, but wide so they call it a blue!!)

If the mental side of things keeps getting a bit better, the rest will follow

I gained about 3-4kgs when I came back from rehab last December. But that also coincided with the hormone issue and a ton of stress, loneliness and misery!! Most of which is reduced now, so hopefully things will get better weight wise as well as everything else

The major bonus is that my shoulder doesn't hurt (much, as in, rarely) when I exercise now. Obviously I still have to be picky about what I do but I am attempting yoga most weeks (if work allows) - that's a serious challenge for a shoulder injury but fab mentally and pretty good physically!! Walking isn't ideal in the winter and I get bored of the walk back down in the summer!! But ski touring rocks!

I have lost 3.5kgs in the last (maybe) three months - I don't tend to keep a record of when I weigh. Got to change that so I have more idea - as long as my brain doesn't spazz out about it. Tiny amounts I know, but given all the issues, I'm quite chuffed to be back at roughly the weight I was for most of the last 4 years - and that impressed the psychologist and the dietician in rehab because, apparently, people gain a lot when they can't do physical stuff due to injury. I didn't! (just put it on when I got home and was on my own and feeling sorry for myself! )

But I do want to lose quite a lot of kgs to get to a smaller size. Not really sure how much, will depend on how I feel in clothes as to when I stop. But, hoping to start losing a decent amount with the ski-touring and eating less (although I do need to plan better as I do find myself getting home from work and realising I haven't eaten for 8 hours - well, 8 hours as long as I have breakfast before I leave!! And that's not ideal!)

In past seasons I've lost quite a lot, doing a different job. But the skiing, touring, more active in general and being better with eating, I reckon I could get into some of the bike gear I've got stashed!! LOL


Gotta find something to do in the summer to continue the loss as I have a set of leathers I haven't worn for blooming years!!

[DefTrap]

I cut down (skipped lunch, no booze Sunday thru Thursday) while my missus was away for 3 weeks. Lost 5kg with no hassle. Not really any magic in it, eat less, consuming less booze is a double whammy because you eat less crisps.

Obviously at least 2kg was from the w@nking.

[Dodgy69]

My wife is cutting down on calories. She been told not to go over 1900cal per day from something.
My question was, how many under do you aim for? She says it doesn't matter as long as you don't go over 1900.

As I understand this, if she takes in say 1400 per day, she will lose weight quicker than say 1800 per day. Is it as simple as this ? Exercise or at least plenty of movement throughout the day also plays a big part I imagine.

She had some quiche last night, said it was OK cos she'd been on a bike ride.

[weeksy]

My wife is cutting down on calories. She been told not to go over 1900cal per day from something.
My question was, how many under do you aim for? She says it doesn't matter as long as you don't go over 1900.

As I understand this, if she takes in say 1400 per day, she will lose weight quicker than say 1800 per day. Is it as simple as this ? Exercise or at least plenty of movement throughout the day also plays a big part I imagine.

She had some quiche last night, said it was OK cos she'd been on a bike ride.

It's mostly that simplistic yes

Past research has shown that there are roughly 3,500 calories in 1 lb of body fat

so lets assume she's at an equal weight every day on 1900 cals... to drop 1lb a week she now needs to be on 3500 less than that.... now calories are not intelligent, they don't know whether you do less than 1900 in... or if you use exercise to burn 400 more.... if the Doc/App says 1900 or less... that's assuming no exercise on top. So the theory is, she's correct that if she cycles she can eat a bit more... but it's slightly a self-cheating system in some ways

[Dodgy69]

Don't understand the 3500 bit. oh ye, over the week.

[weeksy]

so lets say you weigh 12st0

each day you eat 2000 cals and each week you still weigh 12st0 so you're in perfect equilibrium week on week.

If you want to drop 1lb next week, you either need to eat 3500 less that week, or burn 3500 cals more.... Now taking into account walking for 30 mins briskly is about 500 cals.... you'd need to walk 30 mins per day, every day that week and if you still eat exactly the same, you'd lose 1lb of weight.

Now the thing is, your equilibrium may be 2000 cals, mine may be 1800cals, someone elses 2400cals... But you need to work that out yourself, humans are all different and the 2000cals for women and 2500 for men is only a gauge... each human will differ.

If your wife was eating 2000 and now is only eating 1900.... well... assuming nothing changes in terms of exercise, she'd only lose 1lb every 35 days...

Think of weight as energy burnt.... energy being calories... 3500calories is the energy to burn 1lb of fat in the same was 6000rpm at 12 mins is 1 gallon on fuel.... calories are just fuel, fuel inside you... you put in the fuel, you either use it, or the tank has fuel left in it.

[Tricky]

A good few years of running 100-150k a month, a couple of very old biking/sports injuries and advancing age seemed to finally catch up with me last year, some of my joints started really complaining and as a result my running pace and aerobic fitness level has dropped right off, and my performance in my last race (Reading Half in Nov) has made me realise that realistically my running days and chasing PBs are over.

I've kicked back a lot the last couple of months, not really been doing much exercise at all and also been eating and drinking far too much and as a result, am definitely carrying more flab than I'm comfortable with around the middle so I need to tone up a bit and reckon drop a stone or so, so I'm going to have a bit of a de-tox over for the next few weeks at least and get exercising again

My eating plan sounds similar to some others on here in that it wouldn't be an absolutely rigid abstention from anything for the whole period, and won't be a massive change for me in terms of main meals as I generally eat fresh and healthy due to my OH's food restrictions but the big change will be no alcohol /shit food or chocolate, etc between from Sundays until Fridays and am going to stay away from bread and spuds generally too.

The exercise will be daily press-up/sit-up sets when I get up and whenever I put the kettle on, and 30mins or more on the cross-trainer at least 4 or 5 times a week.

And as I should also have a lot more free time come end of Feb, I'm also going to also try and start using the (currently very dusty! ) MTB I bought off couchy a couple years back too

[weeksy]

And as I should also have a lot more free time come end of Feb, I'm also going to also try and start using the (currently very dusty! ) MTB I bought off couchy a couple years back too

Bring the old thing over and we'll go through it first if you want. It's not a bad bike, but they do have a few things that are a bit 'cheap' on them and need looking after. I think i changed the headset last time it was here and maybe the bottom bracket.

[Crosshair]

@Dodgy knees
To put what Weeksy said another way, it’s handy to put your details into a BMR calculator like this one:

http://www.bmrcalculator.org/
And it will tell you roughly how many calories you use to stay alive each day.
Mine comes back at 1900kcals. So if I do nothing and eat 1900 calories each day, I will stay the same weight.

Some people use an activity level prediction on top of this to set their baseline. So if I was on my feet each day, I may be able to set my baseline to 1900+300=2200.

I don’t do that. I choose to factor in my activity on a day to day basis and add it on.

Some days, this might be 1500kcals of cycling, 300kcals of walking and the 1900kcal resting baseline giving 3700kcals to stay the same weight for that day.


From there, you need to set a target for weight loss. As Weeksy said, -500 per day gives you 3500 / 1 lb a week. So in that example above, I’d eat 3400kcals that day.

[Dodgy69]

For those in full time work it can be difficult fitting in the exercise and enjoying it. For those retired or on reduced hours it's much easier.

I'm on my gap month, maybe two or more and really enjoy my cycling and walking and doing it in the week when most are at work makes it even better. Everywhere i go is quieter and reminds me of the good old days.

Chuck a bit of motorbiking in and this retirement time is bloody marvellous.

@Tricky will be a new man in march.

[Nordboy]

I'm currently sat eating a huge bag of peanut M&M's feeling sorry for myself after having Covid all over crimbo!! Got absolutely bugger all energy and get fatigued very quickly.

Looking at possibly buying something like a Wattbike to either start the fitness drive, or possess a brand new clothes hanger???

[weeksy]

Slightly irritated that after my CV19 booster on the 3rd, i'm still a bit bleurrgggh. Yesterday i was really bleurrrgh, today, not too bad, but i know for sure i shouldn't be doing anything too hard.