The first item of must have equipment for me is a good bicycle (not an exercise bike), but a real bicycle for cycling outdoors. While I know that walking is one of the best exercises that you can do, it just doesn’t do it for me – I find it somewhat boring and a bit of a task, whereas with cycling, I love the freedom of being able to travel much greater distances, see more of the world around me and get a significantly better fat burn for the time involved in exercising.

I can also burn around twice as many calories riding than I can walking for the same amount of timePlus when riding a bicycle I can get my heart rate up into the fat burning zone quite easily, even at a moderate pace, whereas with walking, I find it quite difficult to get my heart rate up to that same level without resorting jogging intermittently. I can also burn around twice as many calories riding than I can walking for the same amount of time.

At the moment I have two bicycles, a hybrid bike and a road bike. The hybrid bike I use for my shorter rides (workouts) and the road bike I use for my longer rides (usually an hour or more). I had previously owned a mountain bike, but like more than 75% of mountain bike owners, I rarely used it off road- It was meant for maneuvering rocky areas and hills, not flat concrete bike trails so the suspension forks, nobbly tyres and etc. became a hindrance when riding on the roads – hence the switch to a hybrid or city bike.

Make sure that your bicycle is the right size for you or it can become quite uncomfortable due to your incorrect body positioning, similarly, a good quality comfortable saddle (seat) is also important if you are planning to spend some time riding. You should be able to ride for a couple of hours without any pain or discomfort after. A good pair of cycling shorts (with chamois insert) is also highly recommended to reduce or minimise any discomfort in the crutch area.

At least one water bottle cage or carrier is also a must for your water bottle(s) to ensure you keep yourself well hydrated during your rides – drinking water at least every 20 minutes is recommended. I also have a small Cateye cycling computer attached to both bicycles, so that I can check my speed, average speed, time and distance traveled during and after a ride.

I also use and highly recommend a a heart rate monitor which includes a chest strap and a wrist unit that measures duration of exercise, time in “the zone” (your target heart rate to accomplish fat burning), average and maximum heart rate, and calories burned – but I will cover this item in more detail in a later post.

Bike riding is a fun part of my exercise and weight loss regimen, helping me to burn calories at an accelerated rate – so I suggest checking out a hybrid bike and customizing it to your needs.

The school holidays, including Christmas and New Year have not been kind to my now advancing middle aged body and I am now at my heaviest weight ever – and feeling it. Time to do something about it.

I have pulled up my old Excel spreadsheet based on Tom Venuto’s "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" ebook that I had used previously to drop some 7 kilograms in my now slimmer past. This time the challenge is far greater, as I am looking at losing a minimum of 11 kilograms and hopefully 14 kilograms. As you can see from the spreadsheet image below, it is not a pretty picture by any means and it is going to take some dedication.

In the end that is all that is required – willpower and dedication (or application). I figure that if I could quit smoking "cold turkey" (as I did a few years ago) then I should be able to stick to my diet and exercise program (without relapses) til I reach my goals.

I took it fairly easy for my first day with a 42 minute bicycle ride, which according to my polar heart rate monitor burned 405 calories, with an average heart rate of 126 bpm and a maximum heart rate of 139bpm, pretty well in my fat burning zone – not too paltry for my first day.

I also carefully monitored my meals and snacks today for a total calorie intake of 1,377, which is fairly low – certainly lower than I had anticipated, especially given that now that I am exercising, my adjusted BMR is around 2,543 calories. If I put all the pieces together, then it gives me a calorie deficit for my first day of 1,571 (equivalent to 0.20 kg), again, more than I would have expected – but a good start all the same. If I maintained this sort of rate I could drop approximately 1kg per week, which is about the top end of the recommended weight loss rate.