Metabolism spikes

[Tracer Tong]

Lately I've been doing some riding on the road, trying to regain my figure, and commuting as well. I'm wondering what the minimum is to get my metabolism to spike so I can do that on my ride home and get benefits that way as well as real rides.

Anybody know?

[Duncan]

Ride, ride, ride until you feel like shit (even for hours after you've finished riding). Rest. Repeat. Cut back to short, easy rides when you feel like you are burning out. Do challenging rides when you feel good. Stay hydrated at all times on and off the bike and eat properly. If you keep cramping, drink electrolyte. If you keep getting sick, you're overtraining and your immune system is going into meltdown. I think eating right is the one thing that many people seriously misjudge. It takes some experimenting - everyone is different and take a look at food tips/recovery tips for cyclists and athletes in general. Stay away from junk food. When you do good and feel svelte, its OK to treat yourself to junk food in moderation. Beer is fine, so long as you don't wake up the next morning in a dumpster with a splitting headache. Works for me - I try to make 1,000 to 1,500 km a month - mostly road riding theses days:

http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=82805

[sanrensho]

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Weight loss, strength, endurance or just overall fitness?

To me, a "metabolism spike" is just a means to an end. So I would basically look at it from the perspective of coming up with an overall workout (riding) program based around your goals. The rest of the things will fall in place.

My $0.02.

[Tracer Tong]

I'm sorry, I should have given more information in my post.

This last year I was teaching high school English in Egypt and while I was there I dropped fifty pounds due to diarrhea, dysentary, giarrdhea(sp?) and food poisoning. I lost all cardiovascular fitness and just about all my strength.

I've been back for about six weeks now and I've started riding again. I'm looking to not gain weight, but not necessarily lose weight either. My primary goal is to regain some cardiovascular fitness and with it my general feeling of health.

I commute on my bike and because I'm worried that I'm probably gaining weight I'm wondering what is the minimum amount of riding I can do to get my metabolism to go up for a few hours and thus burn a few more calories without going through all the effort of a real ride.

I hope that clears things up a bit.

[Straw]

You won't gain weight if you lead a healthy lifestyle. Commuting every day and eating well are a good direction to go.

[Duncan]

You won't gain weight if you lead a healthy lifestyle. Commuting every day and eating well are a good direction to go.

I agree ... eat a healthy diet, and exercise and you won't go wrong. If you are gaining weight (ie storing excess intake as fat), then you are either eating too much/the wrong food or not burning off the excess of what you eat (ie not exercising enough in proportion to what you are eating). That's the basic physics of it. You hear stuff about "slow metabolisms", "genetic predispositions" etc, but the fact is if you don't burn off the excess that you eat, you put on weight. D.