opher

I'm not familiar with the brand at all. Ultegra is what I have on my (7 y.o.) Klein and I'm very happy with them. I'd suggest (in addition to the forums, which is a great idea) to talk with the folks at the store and ask them to compare that bike to other bikes you may be more familiar with. Finally, take it out for a test…

There are many things that determine how many calories you burn including: - Gender - Weight - Fitness level - Age - Type and level of activity - Length of activity You can get a decent estimate from your weight, activity type, level and length e.g. from MFP or from such online calculators as…

Your usual breakfast does not sound too bad, and since changing gradually makes it easier to stick with your plan, I'd suggest making the change in your "large dinner of pasta and chicken". Try changing from pasta to whole grains and veggies. Perhaps some qinoa as the grain part and cauliflower mash or steamed broccoli…

Exactly! BMI has been shown by research to have the lowest predictive power of long term health results of the four main ones used. A far better measure, and as easy to use, is the ratio of height to waist circumference. Anything over 2.0 is good. If you're 5'10", shoot for 35" or less around your waist.

As said above, you can't expect your weight to go in a straight downward line no matter what. Depending on things like how much salt you had, or how long you slept last night, or any of a dozen other things, your body may retain more water today than it did yesterday, increasing your weight by a couple of pounds. Next, a…

There are many ways to estimate how many calories you should eat to maintain your weight. The simplest one (though not the most accurate) is the following - multiply your weight in lbs by 10, add the calories you burn exercising that day, then subtract 500 or so to lose about 1 lb/week. If you're fairly light, you may need…

Well, you're right of course, but... these people are morbidly obese and for the first time in their life (or at least in many years) are working out 6+ hours a day and strictly controlling their diet. Their basal metabolic rate is probably around 3500 calories a day, and when they work out, their heavier weight means they…

Gotcha! I thought you were summing up the METS (as in, today I hit 16, yesterday 14, and the day before 15, so my total is 14+15+16 = 45 which would be nonsensical). Since you're summing up METS * hours, that's completely reasonable. In my car example, it's the equivalent of summing speed * hours which equals the total…

You can't add up METS from different workouts. The METS is a rate measurement, sort of like the speed of a car. You do not sum up the speed you go on different trips, and in the same way, you'd not sum up METS from different workouts. You can, however, set up a METS goal and measure how many minutes you exceed that level…

I have the FT7 and am very happy with it. I use it both indoor doing workouts, playing racquetball, and even cycling long endurance rides. As you can imagine, this means the chest strap is (relatively) comfortable. The main reason I bought it over the FT4 was that you can replace the battery yourself without voiding the…

After more thought I incorporated your suggestion and added a link to a calculator from Discovery.com. When I tried what I advised you to do I found it adds about 6 calories per day per pound I added to my assumed body weight. I also added the sources of the two formulas I included there. Thanks for the excellent…

The 200 + 8*weight-in-lbs comes from a TV show by Dr. Oz of Oprah fame, and the 10*weight-in-lbs is from the P90X nutrition guide. I forgot to add those sources to the article, but will correct that soon. The thing is that large people burn much more than small people in just maintaining their larger bodies. If you take a…

There are pros and cons to both. I like the flexibility and hassle-freedom of at-home workouts, and I do it with my wife or son to stay motivated. If they're not there, I work on myself as needed to get the workout in. I also like the fact that if I don't feel like doing the scheduled workout I can simply do something else…

Absolutely agree. Creating and/or using unofficial downloads or bootleg disks is illegal, may not have the same quality as the originals (or not work at all) and deprives you of the added materials like the workout book and the nutrition guide. It's also highly counter-productive. If you don't have skin in the game (i.e.…

P90X is one of the best known workout routines in the US and utilizes muscle confusion. It includes 12 routines put together in different order as you go through the 90 days. The first 3 weeks have one order, then there's a recovery week, then another 3 weeks with a different order, then another recovery week. The last 5…

Before I started using a HRM I used the calculator at http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc which has a gazillion activities. You enter your body weight, the number of minutes next to the type of exercise, and hit "calculate". Of course you could simply get a real HRM ;). I got my Polar FT7 for under $100 including…