Any cycling enthusiasts 'round here? About This Page:

[Pax]

I'm hoping this is the right subforum for fitness-related athletics.

...

So, I recently committed to buying myself a new bicycle. Except, after months of dithering and internal debate, I decided I wanted a tricycle ... a recumbent, "tadpole" (two wheels in the front, one in the rear) trike. Given that I am quite fat (yesterday, I celebrated being under 280# for the first time in decades), I was a bit limited in which models I could choose from. The one I found is from TerraTrike - I picked the 3-speed version of their Rover model, which is rated for passengers as heavy as 400 pounds.

Well, the trike arrived, fully assembled (I just had to adjust the seat, and put the "seat bag" and safety flag in place), yesterday. I took a ride almost right away, just in the neighborhood, and had a ball.

So today, I decided to take a more serious ride, for the excercise of it. I rode out 2.3 miles, then turned around for home - sadly, that was a mile short of my half-serious goal (lunch at KFC/Taco Bell), but also pushing my limits for the round trip by more than a little. Yeah, 4.5-ish miles isn't a huge distance .... unless you're a 280#-ish, forty-something couch potato like me!

The calculator / excercise log I've elected to use - Bike Maps, Cycling Workout, Biking Routes | MapMyRide - says I should have burned 745 kcal, averaging 4.2mph over the entire route. My entir ebody felt like a limp wet noodle when I tried to get off the trike - but, I hadn't felt like that, while actually triking. (And yes, I'm keeping hydrated - I do remember that much from my Basic Training days, ha!)

I've never actually been _excited_ about exercising before. This is awesome.

DGF has a treadmill - a nice one, the kind people gladly wait in line for at gyms - but using that always just bored me; after 3 or 4 minutes, I'd be thinking "can we be done yet? Please?"

With the trike .... I want more! MORE! I've got routes planned that are way longer than what I did today, and I can hardly wait to be in good enough shape to actually do them. A seven and a half mile loop onlocal roads (all left- or right-turns, depending which way I turn at the end of our driveway); a twelve-mile circuit around Lake Webster; an eighteen mile run to, and along, the West Thompson Dam bike trails just northof Putnam CT; even, for next year or the year after, a 127-mile giganto-loop, stringing from bike trail to bike trail, starting with the Airline Trail from Putnam to Willimantec, through the Salmon River State Forest, up to Haven, then back to Willimantec and back up the Airline Trail. Oh, plus the 10 or 12 mile round-trip to get to the trailhead.

[Jakesmom1118]

Sounds like a good trike!!! I'm not a cycling enthusiast by any means but I LOVE spin class and actually took my first outdoor bike ride in over 13 years today! I borrowed my sons bike and it felt weird but i did it! My ride was just a few blocks but I remember the limp noodle feeling from my first...and second and third...spin class. Walk as much as you can! It does help I swear! Yes staying hydrated will help and don't forget to add some electrolytes in your rehydration if you aren't I believe it helps you feel "normal" faster.

Great job on the ride!!!!

[Coop]

Good thing staying hydrated. Although you may just undo all your progress triking to KFC/Taco Bell for lunch. But the other routes sound good - working up to that last one naturally.

[Pax]

Originally Posted by Jakesmom1118

[...] don't forget to add some electrolytes in your rehydration if you aren't I believe it helps you feel "normal" faster.

.... that's good advice. I think I'll start trying a few different sports drinks (Gatorade, etc) at the convenience store, just a ways up the road - I'd pass by it on most rides, anyway. Thanks for the tip!

[Pax]

Originally Posted by Coop

Good thing staying hydrated. Although you may just undo all your progress triking to KFC/Taco Bell for lunch. But the other routes sound good - working up to that last one naturally.

Well, yes and no. I was going to have lunch anyway, so some of those kcal were going into my system regardless of anything else.

Even if I blew it, and ate 1:1 to what I burned, there's still the cardio, muscle-building, and getting my joints and tendons and such re-accustomed to harder use.

And, my usual "I'm hungry" meal at KFC/Taco bell is a 3-piece chicken strips, three soft tacos, and a drink.

• Soft Taco: 200 kcal; times three is 600 kcal
• Chicken Tender: 130kcal; times three is 390kcal
• Bottled water: de nada.

Total is 990 kcal; figure, I'd've probably had a 600 or 700 kcal lunch here at home anyway. So the meal adds, at worst ... call it 400 kcal. And I have to burn 1000+ kcal, to get it - meaning, I burn 600 kcal more than the increase due to having fast food.

In my book, that's a 600+ kcal "win". And when my legs, lungs, and heart are more capable of handling it, I can start going further and further for those lunches - burning more and more kcal to get there and back, widening that "win" more and more.

Eventually, instead of breaking even with just skipping the meal (and being hungry all day) ... I'll be able to get it to where I can eat more lunch than usual, and still have a net-negative kcal impact.

And you know? Thinking that all through? Makes me feel better about the idea of "if I ride my trike to _____, I can treat myself to something tasty when I get there". Lunch, a (small) icecream, etc. Sort of a reward system for exercising, hahaha!




Oh, and if anyone's curious, the trike I got was the 3-speed (not Nexus) version of this: http://www.terratrike.com/rover.php

[Coop]

You don't have to explain kcal to me. I'm a nurse and have many hours of nutrition class under my belt. A 990 kcal per meal is too much by any means. That's more than half of a recommended 1800 kcal/day diet for just one meal. And the fat/carb/protein breakdown of fast food is unhealthy as well - where's the fiber and micronutrients? The best choice at Taco Bell would be a veggie Cantina Bowl. Glad to see you choose H20 as your beverage of choice.

But whatever gets you there.

[Pax]

... 1800/day? Um ... no. That's what a woman needs, to maintain a healthy weight (with a "lightly active" lifestyle).

I'm a man, I am 42 years old, and I am 5 foot 10 inches tall.The top end of the healthy weight range for my age and height is 170 pounds.

With a lightly active lifestyle, I would need to eat 2,246 kcal per day, to maintain that weight. An 1800 kcal per day diet would send me to a weight of only 115# ... and let me tell you, that would be positively anorexic. I was 5'7", slim but not muscular, and weighed 134 pounds when I was only fourteen years old (and even then, I needed 2134 kcal/day).

A man of typical build who wants to lose weight, should aim for ~2,200 kcal/day.

(Source)

...

Another calculator, given that I intend to excercise on that trike every day, tells me my intake should 2,854 to lose weight, and 2,240 for extreme weight loss.

Once I reach my target weight - a modest goal of 200#, still overweight but no longer obese - if I keep exercising, I'll need to be eating 2,973 kcal each day, to maintain that weight. If I elect to keep losing, I'll still be eating 2,378 kcal/day. Or, if I for some silly reason decide to go for that whole "extreme weight loss" track: 1,784 kcal/day.

The "ideal" weight for my age and height, is 150 pounds. Maintenance intake for my planned activity level, at that point, will be 2,600 kcal. Continuing to lose - which at that point would be unhealthy, would see me on a diet of 2,080 kcal each day.

...

So, um. Yeah. About that 1800/day thing. Yikes, right?

[Coop]

And your source is the internet. Because everything is true on the internet. But like I said - whatever motivates you to get out there.

[Pax]

Originally Posted by Coop

And your source is the internet. Because everything is true on the internet. But like I said - whatever motivates you to get out there.

Just because I cited sources via the internet, doesn't make them untrue. And just because someone I don't know from jack says "I'm a <insert healthcare profession here>", doesn't make them right either.

Yes, by the by: I am now quite annoyed with you. Because, something to consider: if you're wrong? You claim to be a nurse, yet, you just gave potentially harmful medical advice. That's not a good place to be in.

Also ... as for internet sources?

The USDA has a chart here:
How Many Can I Have?
It lists a target intake of 2,200 kcal for men aged 31-50. And, surprise surprise, for women age 31-50, it lists ... 1,800 kcal/day. What you just said I should be aiming for.

And next up, how about a calculator from the bloody Mayo Clinic (which I trust you will find to be a sufficiently-reputable source):
https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ca...ulator/NU00598
Plugging in my vital statistics - height 5'10", age 42, gender male - and the activity level I'll have with this trike - active, "at least 30 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week" - and the result it spits out is 2,900 kcal/day, to maintain my current weight.



Are you ready yet to admit at least the possibility that you're wrong? That you cited an inappropriate target to me? One that ignored my gender (and height, and weight, and expected activity level) ...?

[Coop]

Did I give you any medical advice? NO! I simply stated a fact. 990 kcal IS indeed greater than half of a recommended 1800 kcal diet. Did I say this was what you needed to restrict yourself to? Again NO! I was encouraging you to use whatever motivation you need to get out there and exercise. Good for you. Be annoyed or whatever. Your insulting manner is deplorable.

[Charlie97]

I was assigned to bicycle patrol back in 2005. About 15 of our officers trained with Border Patrol bike patrol, and boy 'o boy, they put on a very strenuous course (one agent had to get air lifted after wiping out on the "Widow Maker". I came close to wiping out. We were up in the levees along the river (U.S. n Mex. border). We were in the wooded areas, on the streets, staircases, 50 foot drops, mud, sand...you name it we went through it. Our very first day we put in 33 miles. I carried lots and lots of water in my Camelbak (if it is super ice cold, I would take sips and pour some down the back of my neck. It is very refreshing to do that. I packed granola bars and bananas for potassium.

Didn't touch the Gatorades at all, and even on motorcycle patrol I stick to COLD COLD water. On my days off back in 05, I would go biking 27 miles at a nearby wildlife refuge. I normally did it in just under an hour, with the south wind blowing at me and offering more resistance. We had numerous brands of bikes in our department; Specialized, GT, Trek, and some others that I cannot remeber. I stuck to the GT bike, because I was impressed at how it handled and took the beatings that the class threw at us.

Keep it up Sean, it is great exercise, and yes, I did get that More, More, More feeling. I need to start the bike again. It was very fun.

[Pax]

Originally Posted by Coop

Your insulting manner is deplorable.

Oh, come on.

I outlined what one hypothetical meal would be. You then, in direct response, said that it would be "too much by any means", based on an 1800 calorie diet. What logical conclusion is someone supposed to draw from that, except that you were suggesting that diet was what I should be aiming for?

1800 kcals is fine, for a woman of healthy weight. Not so much, though, for a man of my weight and height. Any competent nutritionist would be aghast at the suggestion I should be eating so little, AND exercising. Honestly, they'd be aghast at that recommendation for ANY male of my height and age, regardless of weight. 1800 kcals would have me so underweight, I'd look like ... like ... bloody heck, I'd look like one of the inmates at Auschwitz in 1944. If you're actually a nurse, the very thought that you might have mislead someone into such an amazingly inadequate diet should horrify you. Absolutely horrify you.

You say "[you] have many hours of nutrition class under [your] belt" .... so here's an idea: go to your instructor(s). Ask them what someone my age, gender, height, and weight should be eating. Ask them how dangerous it might be, even unintentionally, to prompt such a person to restrict themselves to only 1800 kcal/day, while citing that "you're a nurse", and presenting yourself as an expert on nutrition.

I'm pretty sure they'll be even more dismayed at the thought, than I have been!

...

As for my "insulting manner" ...? Lady, if I hadn't already known your 1800/day bit was wrong, had taken it at face value (given your claims of being a nurse), and had actually applied it to my life? I'd've ended up in the bloody hospital! So you're just going to have to deal with my "attitude" just the way it is.

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So, seriously. You made a mistake. Instead of trying to shift or dodge the blame ... own it, admit it ... and move on.

[Charlie97]

Stepping out of this topic now....Sorry, I do love biking tho Sean. Best of luck to your program.

[Pax]

Originally Posted by Charlie97

[...] Border Patrol bike patrol, [...]

Yikes!

Taking a trike off-road is very different from a traditional diamond-frame bike; you can't just put bigger tires on it and call it a day. The steering works differently, and balance while traversing a slope (like, if it's too steep for a direct climb/descent) would be ... well, "interesting", in the Chinese Proverb sense of the word. Ha!

Which is kind of a shame, because I can see how a trike could be of benefit for long-distance patrol / police work. Very easy to quickly dismount - just stand up and step forward. Also, you don't have to pay as much attention to things like balance, because the trike is inherently stable. (Cornering is another matter, you CAN flip a trike if you try to turn too sharp, at too high a speed.)

Keep it up Sean, it is great exercise, and yes, I did get that More, More, More feeling. I need to start the bike again. It was very fun.

Thanks, and yes, yes it is!

[Coop]

You're so arrogant you miss the point entirely.
1- 1000 cal at any fast food restaurant is too much. It's done every day yes, but it is too much
2- exercise is good. Biking, triking, running, hula hooping, whatever it takes.
Now I'm done with you.