by huw williams » Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:01 am
[quote="Michelle"] From what I remember, when you exercise certain bits of your body in order to lose the fat (eg doing loads of sit ups or stomach crunches to get rid of a belly) what you end up doing is toning and increasing the muscles in that area, but not necessarily losing fat from that area. Any other info from anyone else?
This is quite right I'm afraid Mark - You can't spot reduce fat. Many of the riders doing LBP-20 are reporting body shape changes (which in some cases are quite visible). But the areas where you most visibly loose weight from, is highly individual. Our fitness editor is remarkable, I can always tell when she's training well becuase her arse disappears
yet the rest of her tends to stay the same shape despite the weight loss
If weight loss through cycling is your primary goal you need to look at things in terms of your overall body weight. Consider how much you weighed before you started LBP-20 riding and how much you weigh now having noticed some 'slimming down' in the legs. Are things heading in the right direction? Do you weigh less? It's quite possible to get a 'better shaped' body yet still put on weight, by increasing muscle mass (hypertrophy) in amounts which negate the effect of any weight loss through fat burning. This is a tricky balance to get right because most cyclists would want to maintain the amount of lean muscle tissue they have (and in some cases slightly increase it) yet loose weight.
But...
Anabolism, the process of building muscle, requires more calories taken in than expended, plus appropriate resistance exercises to stimulate the many cells involved in muscle development, and adequate rest to allow repair and growth of muscle tissue. Whereas weight loss involves fewer calories taken in than expended, so you would not have the excess calories required to build muscle. As a matter of fact, low calorie eating plans can result in protein deficiency and a decrease in muscle tissue
Stick with it - It won't be long before you can hold that 'plank' in pilates for a minute
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