I am a biologist and a teacher. That is the lens through which I see the world. One thing that I have learned the hard way over the past 20 years or so is that the human body is excellent at scavenging and saving energy (primarily in the form of fat). About 10 years ago, I began the process of working to reduce my energy stores by riding a bike. I've had some significant success with this. I am down about 60 pounds from my maximum ever weight. I do have periods of gain and loss but the 10-year trend is down. The point is that I dug myself a health and fitness hole, and have been climbing out of it pedal stroke by pedal stroke (and by avoiding calorie intake). I have not learned all I need to about this subject. I will count it as learned when I reach my target weight and stay within 10 lbs of it.
I want my students to learn from my mistakes. I am collecting physiological data on my body and how it changes. I will use this data in my classes. What data am I collecting? Weight, calorie intake, exercise (calorie expenditure), blood pressure and photos (front and side images). I plan to stack the photos and make a time-lapse of changes in body shape. If you have other ideas about information I should collect, please make suggestions. I think that riding across the continent will give me some significant credibility when talking about the subject of health and fitness to my students.
What do I want them to learn?
- Balance eating and exercise.
- Never let stress throw off #1.
- Establish healthy habits now. They will be hard to un-learn later.
What kind of bike are you using and have you taken long bike trips before?
ReplyDeleteSome cool things to track/measure would be:
ReplyDelete-Before/After bodyfat percentage, as measured either by hydrostatic weighing or DEXA scan
-Before/After bloodwork - lipid profile, insulin sensitivity, etc
-Resting Heart Rate
-Macronutrient breakdown, by gram and as percent of your total intake
mvolk - a couple of years ago, I did a cross Pennsylvania ride. We followed PA Bike route S for most of the ride:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dot.state.pa.us/bike/web/tour_routes.htm
The bike - I have not decided yet. I will write a post about this.
Grant - these are excellent ideas. Would you be willing to help me with the hydrostatic weighing? This website:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/underwater.htm
says we can do it in a pool with a chair suspended from a diving board and a scale.
Bloodwork - gotta make an appointment with the doctor.
Resting HR - when would be the best time to take this?
Macronutrient breakdown - I'm using myplate from Livestrong:
http://www.livestrong.com/myplate/
I suppose, but setting up the apparatus would be quite arduous - pingry's diving board is very, very springy. Do we have a spirometer? And a lifeguard would likely need to be present from a liability standpoint? Perhaps you can get your bloodwork and DEXA scan at the same place.
ReplyDeleteas far as RHR, I don't think it would matter - perhaps the same time every day for consistencies sake? Right after rising, before eating or riding.