joejack951 wrote: ↑Fri May 04, 2018 5:49 pmI don't want to argue about BMI, but will state that I used to be in denial about BMI until I actually tried losing more weight only to find I had a lot more to lose than I thought. Per the BMI chart, you have at least 25 lbs. to lose (BMI = 28 now, BMI of 25 would be 205 lbs.). I'd call that significant. When I had a similar BMI, weight melted away. I think I lost around 25 lbs. in 3 months just randomly riding my bike and a little cleanup of my diet. Losing the rest (BMI = 22 now) got a lot harder.TLN wrote: ↑Thu May 03, 2018 9:59 pmDefine significantly. 230lbs at 6'4 is not significantly to me. my goal is to get under 220. Last year I touched 200-205, but it's not fun.
No I haven't done any zone testing, might consider that in future though, but not sure if that's neccessary for me at this point.
Question was: since I'm riding at aerobic zone (above fat burn) - is that still good for fat burning or not? I found out that it's pretty comfortable for me to stay there, and going at slower pace (and hear rate) is no fun to me.
So should I slow myself down or it's not needed?
The 'fat burning zone' has little to no relevance to weight loss. It is only highly relevant in training for extended periods of exertion where your body doesn't have enough stored easily-accessed energy to burn and must resort to burning stored fat. What matters for weight loss is simply burning calories and you burn calories by getting your heart rate up and keeping it there. So whatever maximizes those two items, keeping in mind that working too hard will cut the amount of time you can work out and not working hard enough might leave calories on the table so-to-speak if you are time crunched, will maximize your weight loss.
Both Shrike and mentok answered this question with excellent answers already.
Solid information and props on the weight loss for many of us. It is a journey, not a sprint.