Advice for losing weight (or not gaining) while cycling

[leah]

ny biker, I'm the one in Bethesda

As a total aside, not to hijack - I just spent the weekend in Bethany and rode Rt 1 to Ocean City, it's a 32 mile round trip. Going there was fine, but on the way back I had a fierce, and I mean fierce, headwind the whole way. I thought I would never make it back.

[ny biker]

ny biker, I'm the one in Bethesda

As a total aside, not to hijack - I just spent the weekend in Bethany and rode Rt 1 to Ocean City, it's a 32 mile round trip. Going there was fine, but on the way back I had a fierce, and I mean fierce, headwind the whole way. I thought I would never make it back.

Glad to know I'm not completely crazy.

I think wind is generally the challenge on the Eastern Shore. I personally prefer hills to headwinds, but either one will make you stronger.

[Irulan]

I second REALLY evaluating what you are eating. It may be time to log everything that goes into your mouth. You may think you are eating well or within a certain calorie goal, but are you really.? I thought I was, until I started logging. There are some good websites and smartphone apps that make it pretty easy.

Do you know your base rate for calorie, that is how much you need to function, BEFORE any exercise? Do you know how much more you can eat, calorie wise, for the amount of exercise you do in a day?

Last fall I was on a quest to reduce fat without loosing muscle. I did it with the help of some guidelines from a trainer, as part of a challenge at my gym. Here's an example. To lose about a pound or two a week, my base calorie rate was 1200. If I rode my trainer for an hour, or did my high intensity circuit training, I could add in 450 calories for the day. For me and my size, 2000 calls a day would have still been too much. I was riding my trainer 2x a week, doing a high intensity circuit 2x a week, and something moderate. At the end of 12 weeks I'd dropped fat from 31% to 22% with very little muscle loss.

So short version is, look at the food piece of it with careful analysis.

[Irulan]

Stats: age 51'
Height: 5'3
Weight today 125. I was up to 136. Right now I fluctuate between 122-125. Last time I had body fat checked it was about 22% down from 31%. I established all my calorie stuff when I set up the MyFitnessPal app. It worked great for me for establishing a slow but steady rate....YMMV of course.

[lovelygamer]

A funny that some of the recent posts mention evaluating diet. I've been logging a week and already I see the issue. Although my calories are in line, My diet is high in fats and carbs. I am going to work at reducing these- I'm sure that's what my issue is.

Also, reminded of my earlier years when I was seeing a nutritionist. She used to tell me you wouldnt believe how many things society touts that you need in your diet that are actually bad for you. She recommended I cut or nearly cut dairy out because of its propensity to make me gain weight. Her advice was make sure you have good vitamins instead.

I am a snacks person and I think, convienence foods too. I do have a CSA farm share so I eat lots of veggies. Not all a lost cause but I totally need to improve my diet ASAP. Thanks for all the book recommendations!

[lovelygamer]

Great for everything except substituting vitamins for dairy. Definitely reduce dairy with a lot of fat though. Skim milk versus whole while losing weight, etc.

Greek yogurt is the bomb for nutrients and a nice filling snack at nine pm.

I do love greek yogurt. Right now I use almond or soy milk. I need to quit eating ice cream.

[OakLeaf]

I used myfitnesspal today. I did 12.5 miles, burned 750 cals and ate 1600 cals. According to them, if I did that every day I'd be in good shape.

Are you talking about your estimated total calorie burn for the day? Most calorie counters way overestimate your burn for "exercise" activities. I think a more realistic count for most people would be 2-300 calories per hour for a cruise, up to maybe 500 calories per hour at a hard recreational pace.


Also - just my opinion - while it's true that you don't need a recovery snack if you haven't depleted your muscle glycogen (i.e., gone hard for over 90 minutes without taking in any calories), I think it's a good idea to get into the habit of having a recovery snack. If you don't need extra calories, move them from another meal/snack rather than adding them in. Once you're in the habit, then it won't be such a struggle to force yourself to eat when you do start going long and hard enough to need it. The #1 impediment to portion control IME is not replacing glycogen when I need to (within 30-100 minutes of the end of a long moderate to hard effort). If I don't force myself to have a recovery snack immediately after a long effort, I'll be ravenous for literally days. Establishing the habit now will make it easier for you to do when you really need to, when even the idea of food seems nauseating.

[Munch]

So here's my deal.. I'm 5'4, 155lbs, and 22 years old. I've just started cycling I go at least 4 1/2 miles, but am steadily increasing my mileage. My goal is to get to 145 lbs. My basal metabolic rate is 1526 cals, while my calories estimated to maintain my weight is 2332. I got these calculations from a website, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post a link or the name of the site. Anyways, I chose my activity level as moderate active: 3-5 days a week, though I try to do something every day. I have been eating around 1500 calories a day for a few weeks, though sometimes going way overboard and have not seen any weight loss. Perhaps I haven't been tracking close enough. Is it possible my body is in starvation mode and I should up my calories to around 1800? That would leave me with a 500 cal deficit from the 2332 cals. I'm not going to experiment with the amount of calories until after my wedding (June 9) as I don't want this to backfire and me end up gaining weight and making my dress unecessarily tight! Just wanted to get some opinions.

[Reesha]

My experience is that when I first start cycling after a long winter off the bike or somesuch I actually gain numerical weight because I'm putting on muscle mass. Honestly, I'd track your measurements if you can. I suspect your using Livestrong.com... theres a place to enter those!

[Irulan]

I used myfitnesspal today. I did 12.5 miles, burned 750 cals and ate 1600 cals. According to them, if I did that every day I'd be in good shape.

.

Wow if I ride for 60 minutes @ 14 MPH (avg trainer ride) I earn 450 cals... are you sure you are entering that correctly? I know it calculates differently based on ht/wt/age, but that seems way off.

[Eden]

Are you talking about your estimated total calorie burn for the day? Most calorie counters way overestimate your burn for "exercise" activities. I think a more realistic count for most people would be 2-300 calories per hour for a cruise, up to maybe 500 calories per hour at a hard recreational pace.

Keep in mind weight matters - the calorie counts you list are close to what I burn - at 5'0" 103 lbs for that amount of exercise (my 50 min commute comes to around 400-450 depending on how hard I work...) so I don't think it is too off base to expect the OP to be burning more.

Unlike some I've been finding Myfitnesspal to be pretty accurate. It agrees pretty well with my Garmin, but strangely enough if I *do not* use the hr monitor. If I use the hr monitor the Garmin cuts the calorie count by about 1/3.... which I know is wrong!! I'd be dying of starvation if I used those numbers... I've been keeping my calorie count 100-200 under what it says I've burned and I've been losing weight slowly - around 1/2 lb a week or so, which seems right on base to me.

[lovelygamer]

Wow if I ride for 60 minutes @ 14 MPH (avg trainer ride) I earn 450 cals... are you sure you are entering that correctly? I know it calculates differently based on ht/wt/age, but that seems way off.

I know what you are saying. Myfitnesspal is usually withing 100 or 200 of each ride I log, according to Endomondo but who knows? I don't wear a monitor.

I think the reason I am burning more now is because I am heavy. I don't ride at 16mph yet either. My average is 11.

[Catrin]

I know what you are saying. Myfitnesspal is usually withing 100 or 200 of each ride I log, according to Endomondo but who knows? I don't wear a monitor.

I think the reason I am burning more now is because I am heavy. I don't ride at 16mph yet either. My average is 11.

I do wear a monitor and have found it quite helpful. I use LoseIt, an app on my phone to track food and exercise for the last 2.5 years. 50 pounds ago when I started this cycling journey I certainly burned far more calories than I do now for the same trip.

A monitor isn't exact either, and I typically assume that I've burned 85-90% of the calories it reports. I have noted that Loseit, Endomondo. RideWithGPS, and other related sites I've tried over the years estimates my calories burned in any activity to be 100-300 calories higher than what my monitor tells me - but we need to have some way of estimating what we burn in our activities. Because of this when I track exercise on Loseit I will scale the time spent back enough so the calories spent will be close to that 85-90% of the calories my monitor reported for the ride/activity.

BTW, after 2 years and losing 50 pounds I don't average 16mph either - my average is 13ish depending on the day/conditions & that is ok

[Reesha]

Oh man. so after riding 200 miles this weekend, my hunger is through the roof. I am sure some of it is real hunger... my body wants to make up for any calorie lag. i also think there's some perceived hunger. If this is a prelude to this summer, it's going to be interesting. It will be really difficult to quantify calories consumed this summer with no internets and such, and I don't plan on wearing a HR monitor the whole time either.

I suppose I should stay away from junk and try to eat loads of good healthy foods. I just worry my hunger will best me. Can anyone who does long tours like mine weigh in?

[Irulan]

How is your recovery eating? I find that is the key to preventing the "bottomless pit" hungriest.