Warbiking!
About three years ago I had the idea to set up a workstation I could use while stationary cycling. I saw the need for more regular exercise, but I also wanted to reclaim the time somehow. The original idea was to do some programming work, but I found that it was very difficult to stay focused while exerting myself. I tried playing some old video games, and I actually managed to make it to the end of Dragon Warrior 1, as well as a bit of Final Fantasy 7 (I beat both games long ago). But I soon lost interest. It didn’t help that the bike I was extremely uncomfortable.
Fast forward to a few months ago. I had just started playing WOW, and this article caught my eye. I thought to myself, could a more comfortable biking position + a very addictive game work? I mulled it over for a while, then a few weeks ago I purchased an inexpensieve recumbant bike at Walmart. I really thought I would have to spend several hundred dollars to get a good bike, but this one only cost a hundred, and has a digital miles/speed/calories/time readout. It’s also solid and makes very little noise.
I've spent time trying to get a setup I like, as well as come up with some goals. I think I've found what I need, so as of today I am beginning a 6 week plan to lose weight and get a lot of WOW stuff. I'm posting my plan here to help keep me accountable. I'll be posting updates weekly, so stay tuned!
Here's the plan:
Cycle 2 hours per day, 5 days a week
5AM to 6AM, and then 5:15PM to 6:15PM
20 Miles per day
500 Calories per day
3 Lbs / week
50G per day
750 honor per day
Over 6 weeks (30 days) this works out to:
600 miles
15000 calories
18 lbs lost
1500G
22500 honor
Is this reasonable? I think so. Originally my goal was for 1K honor per hour, but thats simply not possible every time. If I win the daily and play 2-3 Alterac Valley's, I can get over 1000, but that usually isn't the case. Note that I'm not counting marks here. Physically my goal is a challenge, but reasonable. My current Body Fat % is around 26%. At 5'11" 200 lbs, my BMI is is 28, which is well above my normal range of 18.5-24.9. The trick to lowering that weight is burning enough calories to deplete my extra fat stores, and lowering my caloric intake. However I can't starve myself either. If I fail to eat enough fats & protein, my body will literally begin to cannabilize itself. The minimum a healthy adult of my BMI should eat is around 1200-1400 calories, with 1800 -- 2200 being the norm. I'm going to shoot for 1400-1800, which I'll adjust based on weight loss and hunger levels. The other quantity I can vary is the bike resistance, which will equal more calories per hour. I've done ten sessions so far, and I've worked up a good sweat by the end, but I haven't been exhausted either.
If all goes to plan I will drop down to 1 hour per day once I've reached my target weight of 180-185. Even for someone as obese as Kit