I am 40, and have a BMI of 32 (167cm/90kg) and I am working hard to get fit. Tonight I sprinted up some climbs on my bike that previously I would have had to walk. It feels like my efforts are paying off.

But I am a bit worried :

1) despite getting obviously fitter, and losing 2 inches off my waist, I haven’t actually lost weight..
2) my percieved improvement in fitness is partially down to a change in my attitude to being knackered/in pain. I am taking a beating and it doesn’t lead to me quitting and walking/resting like I used to. I dunno if this is really an improvement in fitness..
3) a colleague has anecdotally told me of a cardiologist who “spends most of his time dealing with 40 something blokes who are fat and have been trying to lose weight/get back into exercise.”

So am I actually any fitter? Is my increased pain tolerance actually putting me at risk of heart attack?

Firstly I’m not a cardiologist.

Well done for doing the moving about more bit but you have to combine that with the eating less bit as well.

You’re fat but you’re not that fat. Watch America’s Biggest Loser sometime. Those people really are morbidly obese and they get some really intense workouts without any problems so if I were you I wouldn’t worry.

Are you actually in pain or are you just suffering? If you are in pain stop doing it. If you are just suffering that’s different and part of being fitter is being able to suffer more.

“Pain is weakness leaving your body”

– Philly’s Spin Instructor

Has your training jumped significantly in intensity and or volume?

BMI only considers height and weight

As you get fitter and do more you will loose some fat but gain muscle.
Muscle weighs more than fat.

Weight isn’t the best indicator always.

In terms of heart attacks its the anecdotal evidence of the 40yo who goes to play squash etc runs round like they used to at 20 then has heart attack.

If your worried read up on the signs of heart attack and go some a doc for a check up. Talk to them about what you are doing.

Of course on the web everyone is an expert so here’s my experiece:

My family history for cardio stuff is just off the scale awful. When my younger cousins starting having heart attacks and strokes I decided to get off my 40 YO ass.

There were of course risks. The other risk (of not doing anything, to me, were much much worse).

Anyway – there are far too many ways of measuring “fitness”. I’ve settled on speed of recovery as being good for me, not to do with how quick I get up a hill but how long I spent lying on the verge trying to get my breath back.

For you – your start point isn’t actually all that bad.

Bear in mind – from my experience only – its a long process to go from couch potatoe to active person.

The good news is that when you do it once its easier do it again (eg after injury).

You may not think this now – but – if you’re determined – that “I” word is probably your biggest obstacle in the medium term.

If you’re anything like me – you’ll start to see imporvements. Then decide to go hell for leather at some crazy goal.

Then your knees or back/tendons/carpal tunnel/ joints / something …. will suddenly go: WTF!

So for me – in retrospect – push yourself – but dont break yourself – and the hardest of all things (and I mean HARDEST) is allowing rest days, easy weeks (off season kind of stuff – even if you’re not a racer your body adapts in a similar way).

If you are worried use a hrm and don’t get your pulse too high. do more but less intensive? Its the very high intensity bursts that cause you to blow your heart up

Get some real advise?

Fat burning zone is 60-70% of max heart rate ( i think, stand to be corrected) so there isn’t a massive need to push your heart that hard, if you are worried.

3) a colleague has anecdotally told me of a cardiologist who “spends most of his time dealing with 40 something blokes who are fat and have been trying to lose weight/get back into exercise.”

Ok I’m not a cardiologist but I do deal with frontline medical treatment and I’ll safely say I deal with a tiny amount of blokes in there 40s trying to get fit. In fact I can’t remember the last one under 60 I had with any cardiac problems not caused by illness.

I’m not a cardiologist and I don’t know anything about sports science and I’m not even a fat bloke in his 40s trying to get fit. So I think I’ll just shut up. 😉

Thanks all for your input.
Drac that’s interesting, I also think it was B S but my colleague is adamant it’s true. I have been trying to find some evidence..
Badlywireddog 😆

but my colleague is adamant it’s true. I have been trying to find some evidence..

I suspect that’s his excuse for not getting off his arse

I started back exercising at 40 and a bit fat, I’m 53 now and regularly [every day] push my heart rate over 90% and I come from a family of heart disease [both parents died from it in their 60s]

You could of course listen to a few chumps on the internet who’ll tell you that all you need to do is eat unlimited quantities of sausage and bacon and stay on the couch.
Or you could listen to the docs and cut the fat down and exercise more

You also have a base line of fitness from previous riding so it’s not like your going straight into this and trying to bust yourself. Ask your colleague who the cardiologist is so you can speak to them for advice, I bet he has a great excuse.

Hi toys19,

my colleague is adamant it’s true

Just be careful that your colleague is not just looking for excuses to avoid some sort of activity themselves 🙂
Or maybe they are now worried that you will be able to beat them up those hills 🙂
I guess the best thing to do is just listen to your body. I think that it will give you a good number of signs if you’re overdoing it (irregular heartbeat, inability to recover your breath, chest pain etc etc.)
If your heart was going to pack up when your heavily exerting yourself when riding, then it probably would anyway under other life circumstances such as running around after the kids, doing the gardening or having fun in the bedroom 😮
Keep focused on the fact that you’re doing everything you can to make sure that you keep being able to run around after the kids, do the gardening and have fun in the bedroom, for as long as possible.
I’d second a previous poster’s comments and congratulate you on doing something about your fitness and getting out there in the fresh air riding.

I can’t remember the last one under 60 I had with any cardiac problems not caused by illness

Could you ellaborate on this, please.
Is that people in their 60s pushing themselves too hard, or people with not significant exercise backround, just suffering from illness.

coming from a persoanl background of 1 stroke two heart attacks artifical heart valves ..
weight and BMI played ZERO ZERO part in my poor health. ( i personally believe i’m in good health its only when in front of a quack that it doesnt sound good)
over excercising ( cycling) was the major contributory factor linked with eating too little which placed un natural stresses on my body.. my weight at time of first incident was 11.25 stone my resting heart rate was 47 i’d placed on a fell race and a cross race the weekend before.
the simple message is reduce the crap you eat increase the good you eat dont eat after 8pm dont miss breakfast.
excerise moderately excercise a.m. not late p.m.

so your 40 now dont expect to be as able as you were when 19 never mind as able as somebody who is actually good at what you want to do.

i’m off now for a pootle on the MTL on my filing cabinet

Cardiologist here 😀

The vast majority of my time is spent looking after people who smoke, and the people who have first degree relatives with heart disease (eg parents, siblings etc).

There is always the odd person who seems to lead a blameless lifestyle and doesn’t have a family history who pops up in my clinics/ward from time to time. But they are in the absolute minority.

There is some evidence that very strenuous exercise can precipitate something happening eg an MI, but this happens in people in whom it would have happened anyway at some point. Anecdotally, there always seems to be a peak of heart attacks when it’s snowy and all the old guys go out to clear their drives of snow with a shovel (having not been accustomed to that sort of exertion, on a background of smoking etc).

Regular cardiovascular exercise is good for you. I agree with paulatmtbleasing’s thoughts that maybe your friend just doesn’t want to get out there and exercise.

the simple message is reduce the crap you eat increase the good you eat dont eat after 8pm dont miss breakfast.
excerise moderately excercise a.m. not late p.m.

Why does the time of day matter?

Eating well after 8pm doesn’t seem to bother a lot of the rest of Europe.

Could you ellaborate on this, please.
Is that people in their 60s pushing themselves too hard, or people with not significant exercise backround, just suffering from illness.

Nothing much to elaborate, heart disease effects more older people than young simple as.

You could just phone your GP and ask?

And with all the sports stars having heart attacks in the news recently I’m sure I heard something allong the lines of the ‘test’ only costs £35-£40. No idea what the testing involves, presumably hooking you upto an ECG and checking that it goes boo-dum boo-dum- boo-dum rather than ba-doom-tchhhh ba-dum-tchhhhh (or whatever it’s suposed/not suposed to do).

Either way the GP would probably rather you pester him once now than later (either as a fatty with fatty problems, or a god forbid there’s actualy a current undiagnosed problem).

cut the fat down and exercise more

way to go 🙄

cut out natural fats at your peril.

avoid trans-fats/corn syrups/refined sugars

way to go
cut out natural fats at your peril.

Cut down fats not out, you’re obviously hard of reading today

Yeah, go and see your GP. I went to see mine last week about an irregularity in my resting heart beat, he assured me that I was fine but ordered an ECG anyway, it’s standard practice. I’m 34 and look fit as a fiddle so the nurse who did the ECG looked at me a bit funny when I walked in but **** it I’m not about to mess around when it comes to my heart. I’d rather be a healthy hypochondriac than the alternative… 🙂

Nothing much to elaborate, heart disease effects more older people than you simple as.

Err. Ok.
I didn’t think that was an unreasonable question, I was genuinely interested.
however, you seem to have an issue, so I guess that seeing as you are a Moderator, that I’ll have to leave it there.

Sorry to have troubled you with my question.

Solo why so sensitive, I answered your question? There isn’t anything to elaborate simple as I get more in there 60s and over.

as your 40 you ‘d qualify for a well man session from your gp or more likely prcatice nurse pop along the beauty of the nhs its FREE.. my issues (detailed above) became apparent during an innocent conversation with a lady whose actions saved my life one xmas day evening at kendal hospital.

excercise am rather than pm was the absolute reccomendation of my cardiologist/s as sleep soon after excerise can often be disrupted, and sleep is the best way of your body recuperating.

it was the opinion that cyclists and basket ball players often suffer from enlarged heart muscles due to the stop start nature of the excercise

and legolams spot on.. non smoking blokes of average weight and little/ no family history are the least likely to have heart issues.. so i’m defo in the minority i was 32 at first indication 37 for surgery.. that xmas day in kendal hospital though was ironically the best day of my life as that keen nurses actions saved my life.

one over riding caveat.. if offered an artifical heart valve. DO NOT DO NOT choose a non organic one.. the noise is unbearable, the metalic contant prevents many current diagonostic tests MRI etc. and the ongoing use of warfarin and the restrictions that places are not acceptable.

went to see mine last week about an irregularity in my resting heart beat

mintimperial – how did you identify the irregularity in resting hr? do you mean it can jump from say 40 to 70 in the space of a few seconds whilst sitting down taking RHR or that it varies each day or something else?

thisisnotaspoon – Member

presumably hooking you upto an ECG and checking that it goes boo-dum boo-dum- boo-dum rather than ba-doom-tchhhh ba-dum-tchhhhh (or whatever it’s suposed/not suposed to do).

Mine goes boom boody-boom boody-boom boody-boom
Boody-boom boody-boom boody-boom-boom-boom,
Oh!
Boom boody-boom boody-boom boody-boom
Well, goodness gracious me. 🙂

I had a stroke at 54,have family history of heart disease and smoked,I’ve also worked in Coronary Care,and Chest Disease wards as a Nurse.I started riding again post stroke and use a heatr rate monitor on my GP’s advice.Get your GP to do an ECG then as above,buy a heart rate monitor,and use it,it will stop you overtraining,and stop you worrying about sudden cardiac events.You have started something which will improve your health a lot,don’t be discouraged by a mate who doesn’t seem to have your best interests at heart.
Ian

Mine goes boom boody-boom boody-boom boody-boom
Boody-boom boody-boom boody-boom-boom-boom,
Oh!
Boom boody-boom boody-boom boody-boom
Well, goodness gracious me.

I was actualy thinking of The Cat from Red Dwarf 😛

how did you identify the irregularity in resting hr?

I can feel it very distinctly. It goes: ba-boom ba-boom ba-boom ba-boom … BOOOM ba-boom ba-boom and so on – skips a beat every so often. No pain or anything, just feels weird and was stopping me falling asleep. Resting HR is otherwise reliably sat between 60-70bpm whenever I’ve checked it properly. I feel fine when I start exercising, or even if I just get up and walk around a bit, it only happens when I’m sat around doing sod all.

My GP said it’s nothing to worry about, everyone gets skipped beats but most people don’t notice them. I’m getting loads and loads of them at the moment, sometimes two or three a minute, but then I’ve been doing a lot more hard riding recently, so I suppose it’s to do with that. The ECG looked completely normal.

Cut down fats not out, you’re obviously hard of reading today

no cutting down of natural fats required. in most cases we should be consuming more

Eating well after 8pm doesn’t seem to bother a lot of the rest of Europe.

Sumo wrestlers eat after 8pm in order to put weight on.

sumo wrestlers eat all f’in day long

Checking your own pulse yourself is notoriously unreliable – biofeedback sets in and it will change to whatever you think is wrong

I guess skipped beats the same

The Suunto T6 HRM monitored irregularities in heartbeats apparently.

Checking your own pulse yourself is notoriously unreliable – biofeedback sets in and it will change to whatever you think is wrong

I guess skipped beats the same

Yeah, you’re right there. But this isn’t me taking my pulse and spotting minor weirdness, this is my (resting, unstressed) heart pumping so hard that it distracts me from whatever it is that I’m doing at the time. I don’t mean I can feel it when I put my finger on my wrist, I mean that I feel a massive thump inside my chest more or less at random. It’s pretty unnerving, so I decided to make sure that it’s not something sinister.

My point is, though, that it’s better to get checked out just in case, whatever the reason – the GP won’t be annoyed by a request for a check-up, and if it puts the OPs mind at rest about the amount and intensity of the exercise he’s doing he’ll be able to get fitter faster.

Toys, if your colleague has worried you, try to have a quick MOT at the doctors. if, and i’d agree with the others that he’s probably making excuses not to exercise to any demanding level, you think he might be lying and you’ve already got a base level of fitness from riding then perhaps a HRM would help reassure you when out riding?

I am 40, and have a BMI of 32 (167cm/90kg) and I am working hard to get fit. Tonight I sprinted up some climbs on my bike that previously I would have had to walk. It feels like my efforts are paying off.

great feeling isnt it 😀 good work dude!

But I am a bit worried :

1) despite getting obviously fitter, and losing 2 inches off my waist, I haven’t actually lost weight..

sounds like you’ve lost fat though, again.. good work dude! 😀

2) my percieved improvement in fitness is partially down to a change in my attitude to being knackered/in pain. I am taking a beating and it doesn’t lead to me quitting and walking/resting like I used to. I dunno if this is really an improvement in fitness..

a huge part of training is teaching your mind and body that you can work through that pain, so again.. good work dude 😀

So am I actually any fitter? Is my increased pain tolerance actually putting me at risk of heart attack?

sounds like you are getting fitter. remember to throw in the odd chilled ride as well as the fast ones, keeps it fun!

I think I’m roughly a couple of years ahead of you, a bit younger but with similar experience.

Firstly, +1 for getting a HR monitor. I started running regularly about 2 years ago and it really helped me. I used to run in bursts and then I’d blow up. Using the HR helped me control my pace, I used to try and keep my HR between 150 & 160, then as I got fitter I could do 5 mins around 170 but I knew if I topped 180 I would blow up. It’s also good for “making a game” out of a traditionally boring exercise.

For the first year of getting fit I trained for 24hr solos and completed a couple. I lost no weight and in fact the heaviest I’ve ever been was the day before the Kielder 100 (I made it to the 60 mile mark). I was just exercising without looking at my diet and doing the old trick of “I’m killing myself exercising so can probably eat whatever I want”.

This year I’ve not got out on the bike much at all but I run probably on average twice a week… anywhere between 4 miles & 8 miles each time. We’ve really looked at our diet and I’ve dropped 2 stone since Jan. Really interested to see what happens when I get back on the bike in the next few weeks and to see how I do on a 5hr ride 🙂

Sumo wrestlers eat after 8pm in order to put weight on.

I always eat my main meal after 8pm and I’ve not put any weight on (in the last 15 years, since I stopped growing anyway). BMI 19/20ish…

sumo wrestlers eat all f’in day long

I suspect this has more to do with it. 🙂