Week Three

We're onto Week Three, and this week Si and Dave go for a bike ride. So how does exercise play its part in weight loss?

Did you enjoy the bike ride?

The bike ride was very good! After the Hairy Bikers left, I had a lovely ride myself to Little Langdale which was a lovely treat for myself on a sunny afternoon. I had over an hour and a half of spare time - a rare treat - so I cycled!

How often do you cycle?

I cycle every day, it’s my normal way of getting to work and between the hospitals.

Why do you love cycling so much?

Because it’s fun to do and it’s so simple, I have no trouble parking... But most importantly I can just be free of everything when I cycle. Even a mobile signal!

How do exercise and diets work alongside each other?

At the beginning, exercise is counter-productive because people feel like they need to reward themselves with food. Once people have started the process and shed a few kilograms of excess fat it’s much easier for them to move about more freely, and then that’s where physical activity can make a real difference.

Instead of sitting in a chair all morning, if a person pottered around the garden doing odd jobs for 4 hours they’d burn about 800 calories at least.

And so just being physically active makes a big difference. It is a bit of a problem in our society, as most people used to be in manual jobs but now people who operate machines often do it from a sitting position. Even the street sweeper sits in a little cab.

If a person of Si’s weight cycles around 10mph - twice as fast as walking, but fairly steadily - on a bicycle, he’ll be burning about 7 calories every minute, so around 400 calories an hour. If people are doing this as part of their daily activity it really adds up.

In the second month of the diet, how is the weight-loss different?

In this month, the body will be burning off excess fat so all the weight loss will be from the fat stores.

It’s important for people to increase their physical activity because all of a sudden the muscles don’t have to work as hard, as the body weighs less. The muscles tend to get smaller if people aren’t particularly active at this stage.

If it’s only a 2 mile journey then just walk it, it will only take about half an hour. Also because the body is smaller, it means that it needs less energy for the body to stay alive - just in the same way that a bat needs to eat less than an elephant.