I think I've forgotten how to fuel properly.

[luvmyguys]

This calorie calculator might be of interest. It's more exact than others, because you're factoring in your particular levels of activity. In addition, I think that many of the calorie recommendations are way too low, which can potentially prevent weight loss, because your body is going into starvation mode. So I've seen more than one recommendation to use this measure and subtract 500 from it.

[tongue_tied]

This calorie calculator might be of interest. It's more exact than others, because you're factoring in your particular levels of activity. In addition, I think that many of the calorie recommendations are way too low, which can potentially prevent weight loss, because your body is going into starvation mode. So I've seen more than one recommendation to use this measure and subtract 500 from it.

This was really interesting and actually reading some of the comments helped (for once). I do think I'm under-eating, in general and this is part of my problem - kind of a hard mentality to get over.

[tongue_tied]

1400 is very low. How tall are you? 1700 with riding, should, by the numbers, allow you to lose slowly. That would be less than a pound per week, and would take almost 12 days to lose just one pound assuming no other factors interfered to mitigate any weight loss. For me, my patience ends after a day or two, and I give up or eat much less to lose faster (not recommended). If you have a couple of higher days, you would probably end up maintaining, 300 calories is nothing. When we get thinner, there is just much less room for slipping up or miscalculation). I'm assuming that since you just have 10-15 to lose, then you are taller with a muscular build, perhaps similar to mine? You may need to plateau for a couple of years if you've lost a lot. I guess it's possible to burn the rest off by lowering calories temporarily to get beyond a plateau, but that has to be done carefully. Honestly, 1700 sounds perfect.

You didn’t' mention if you are actually still losing. A heavier person burns more calories just to support their body mass. If you've lost a lot, then that advantage disappears. But you should be burning due to exercise and muscle support. (Having more muscle tends to burn more calories). Have you plateaued? That's often difficult to overcome.

I haven't lost in several months which is my frustration. I've started strength training and I actually think I might have gained a few pounds. I'd like to get down to 150-155 eventually, but that's another 20 pounds or so.

[ny biker]

1. It's not uncommon to gain a few pounds when you start strength training.

2. In my experience, it's very hard to lose weight when doing very long bike rides. In fact I gained weight when I trained for centuries. I was always hungry so I ate too much.

[thekarens]

Ditto, I went from 200 to 140 and then started riding and my weight has been creeping up. It was easier when I wasn't trying to do distance rides. Distant for me, that is :-)

[Skippyak]

I think that mostly the weight loss comes from the kitchen and the exercise is a bonus, don't eat your caloric deficit from exercise, because that is the point of exercise, and as it as been said, endurance exercise is hard to use for calorie deficit because you need to eat to fuel real endurance, consider high intensity exercise more often, consider dropping endurance rides to occasional only, I also don't especially buy into under eating stalling weight loss, people who under eat are underweight, track every actual calorie eaten because THAT is an eye opener, every bite, every drink, everything, I am your height, I have been 200 pounds and to lose weight I have to cut calories to 1200 to lose weight without daily exercise of at least 500 calories burned (estimate, polar f60 or garmin 500/910). I always do a minimum of @3500 calories burned of exercise every week, in summer I am more likely to use @5000, I do not lose weight over summer. In summer, I eat to ride (swim/run) in winter I exercise to eat, I still have 15 pounds as I am at about 137 and have a lot of body fat still left. Eating to ride is a very tricky math problem. Lots of rec riders carry weight. Because we think we can eat like TDF riders LOL.

[Crankin]

I agree. If you are worried that you are not losing weight when fueling for riding, then you are not fueling enough for riding. It is a tricky balance. When I first started riding, I had to lose a small amount of weight. It came off in about 9 months (yes, it takes me that long to lose 15-20 lbs.) without doing anything but riding, going to step classes 2x a week, and eating my regular diet, which at that time probably was healthy, but a little carb heavy. I find my weight loss comes from small tweaks to my eating and adding in other types of exercise.
All I know is that when I am doing longer rides (+30 miles), I get very hungry and I know now exactly when and what I need to ingest, so my riding doesn't go to crap. I don't wait until I feel crappy, like I can't finish a hilly 40 mile ride to eat the Shot Blocks anymore...

[OakLeaf]

What you eat off the bike has as much to do with it as how much you eat, too. Personally I can't tolerate much fat at all during exertion, but you need to make sure you're getting plenty of healthy fats in your daily diet, because your body needs those to metabolize stored fat (among other things).

[Owlie]

I'm not trying to lose weight, so take this with a grain of salt. I suffer if I forget to eat before I ride, or if I ride in the morning after a light dinner, even if I eat breakfast. I can't have fish (even fatty fish like salmon or tuna) and feel good doing anything over about 15 miles the following day. (Unless I have dessert, of course.) I need a mix of carbs, protein and fat before a ride (even skewed a little toward the fat and protein--carbs are easy to get on the bike!), and protein after, unless I want to eat everything that isn't nailed down.

[OakLeaf]

Very true about the recovery meal. Since these days my rides are pretty low intensity, I'd forgotten about that, but the recovery meal is really critical for me after any run of more than a couple of hours. Supposedly the window for replenishing muscle glycogen starts closing half an hour after your workout and ends about two hours later. If I don't get a good recovery snack (they say 4:1 carb : protein is ideal), then like Owlie I will be completely ravenous for three or four days afterward, and my training will also be affected.

[tongue_tied]

I almost never hungry after long rides. Not for hours and hours. The only time I feel ravenous is after a short, high intensity workout, if I didn't fuel beforehand. And on a day to day basis, the only hours I feel legitimately hungry, like HONGRY, is between lunch (1PM) and dinner (after riding, about 8PM). I'm usually starving between that time. And I drink plenty of water during the day, so it's not dehydration.

[ny biker]

I almost never hungry after long rides. Not for hours and hours. The only time I feel ravenous is after a short, high intensity workout, if I didn't fuel beforehand. And on a day to day basis, the only hours I feel legitimately hungry, like HONGRY, is between lunch (1PM) and dinner (after riding, about 8PM). I'm usually starving between that time. And I drink plenty of water during the day, so it's not dehydration.

You should eat a snack between lunch and dinner. You should not be starving.

I found that splitting lunch so that I eat half at lunchtime and half between 4:00-5:00 gets me through my evening workouts without adding extra calories.

[Skippyak]

Bear in mind at at 170 pounds and 5'3" you are doing 5 hour century ride's on a regular basis, right? Imagine what kind of speed you will have when you get 30 pounds off. Use an app like lose it or other calories in app, and don't count calories out with them (horribly inaccurate). Decide what you want to achieve this year to improve performance next year. And if you want motivation to cut weight vs fuel endurance, start riding big hills. But mostly, take notice of actual calories in. The math is off when you are not losing weight, it is pretty simple.

[OakLeaf]

I almost never hungry after long rides. Not for hours and hours.

That's exactly it. I have to choke down my recovery snack, too. Literally force myself to eat it, because eating is the absolute very last thing I want to do right after a hard effort. I pay for it if I don't.

That's one of the reasons so many people like a shake or smoothie for their recovery meal - it goes down so much easier. Liquid calories sort of trick your appetite, which is a double-edged sword. Don't fear it, use it.

I'd lay money your afternoon munchies are either glycogen depletion or too many carbs at lunch, or some combination of the two. There was just yet another study showing how carbs create hunger and cravings.

[ny biker]

That's exactly it. I have to choke down my recovery snack, too. Literally force myself to eat it, because eating is the absolute very last thing I want to do right after a hard effort. I pay for it if I don't.

That's one of the reasons so many people like a shake or smoothie for their recovery meal - it goes down so much easier. Liquid calories sort of trick your appetite, which is a double-edged sword. Don't fear it, use it.

I'd lay money your afternoon munchies are either glycogen depletion or too many carbs at lunch, or some combination of the two. There was just yet another study showing how carbs create hunger and cravings.

I think candy makes me hungry, but overall carbs do not create hunger and cravings for me. And I eat plenty of carbs. I lost weight eating plenty of carbs.


But anyway, this is the problem that started this discussion:

"This is become a trend. I'm getting too caught up in, well, everything, that I forget how to fuel. Does anyone have any suggestions... a fail safe routine... a reality check? "

And I think we are continuing the "well, everything," with everything we are covering in the discussion, and that will not solve the problem.

Perhaps a food diary would be helpful for the OP. Start with a really honest look at what and how much you are eating and when you are eating it. That might show some clear opportunities for changes, both for eating during rides and healthy eating the rest of the day.

Also think about when you are hungry and whether you find yourself full before you're finished eating a meal. The reason I started cutting my lunches into half-now-half-for-snack-later was because I realized I was getting full before I finished eating my entire lunch. I also realized I was getting full before I finished my dinner, so I reduced the amount of food I ate every night. I probably cut 500 calories out of my daily diet after that, without feeling hungry between meals. And I really think it's best to avoid feeling starved between meals, because that often leads to binging. Smaller meals more often is something worth considering.