Cycling and Weight Loss

September 11, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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When many people think of weight loss they think of fad diets and doing whatever they can to tighten their belt a few notches. A better way to think about weight loss is to aim for increased fitness and overall health.

Cycling can become a way of life that kick starts a whole new dimension of health and wellness. Rather than simply producing a reduction in size, it can produce health benefits that make a huge difference to every day life.

One of my regular radio segments is a chat to Ian Wee of Perth Integrated Health Cycling Group. Yesterday we spoke about cycling and weight loss. You can hear our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

We discussed the fact that many people who decide to ride, especially in their 40s and 50s have done so from a sedentary lifestyle and were concerned about fitness and their existing weight. Many were looking for an exercise or sport that is low impact and non jarring for their bodies. When they began their new training regimes those that committed to an 8 week structured program, which involved cycling twice a week as well as riding with their friends or by themselves for an additional one or two times more a week actually lost between ten and eighteen kilograms in that time frame with no additional changes to their lifestyle apart from waking up earlier to ride.

Those taking part also reported that by waking up earlier they felt refreshed and able to achieve more during the day once their bodies got used to the initial change in daily routine.



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Too Much Information?

January 8, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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the_withings_wi_fi_body_scale.jpgSocial networking has helped us to instantly connect to people around the world. We can share all kinds of things about our lives and update people on the other side of the planet with what we’re doing every second of the day. But how much information is too much information?

I blog, I use Facebook, Twitter and various other online applications but I still manage to keep huge amounts of information about my life private. I’m not trying to be secretive or to hide anything, it’s simply that I choose to choose what I reveal about myself and those close to me.

I don’t mind telling you that I’m trying to lose weight. I did pretty well last year, slipped up a little over the festive season, and am now back on track to start reducing the numbers on the scales again. What are those numbers? Sorry, that’s my business.

Of course if you want the world to know your exact weight every time you step on the scales you could always get a set of Withings Wifi Body Scales. I love many of the features of these scales. Just step on and they automatically record your weight, fat mass and BMI, then transmit the information to your chosen weight management application online. Brilliant. As someone who records their weight alonng with cycling statistics every day, this could be a huge boost, but I certainly wouldn’t be using the new Twitter feature.

You can select to tweet your weight every time you step on the scales or once a week, once a month or whatever you prefer. I’d prefer not to let everyone on Twitter know my weight at all but I can see that it’d be a useful feature for those seeking some external accountability.

So how much is too much? How do you draw the line on what you put online? Experts say that you shouldn’t put anything in an email or online that you wouldn’t be prepared to have splashed across the front page of newspapers around the world. Are people sharing too much? Have you ever wished that someone close to you had held back a little more? I’d be very interested in your response. Please leave me a comment or two.



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