Advice for losing weight (or not gaining) while cycling

[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.

[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

[withm]

Negative on the DC. I live on the Eastern Shore (near Ocean City) where it's totally flat and sea level.

I live in Bethany - if you want to get together for a ride in the evening or weekend some time, give a holler.

[lovelygamer]

I live in Bethany - if you want to get together for a ride in the evening or weekend some time, give a holler.

Will do!

[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.

[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!

[malkin]

Whole eggs are a great dairy food. Only 75 calories each. They are a complete protein. And are supposed to lower LDL cholesterol. I eat maybe a dozen per week, most weeks, and my total cholesterol is 119.

I like eggs too, but the USDA has made some big changes, they aren't dairy.

[Irulan]

What's to freak out about? They've been moved to the protein category which makes perfect sense to me.

[Irulan]

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

[Reesha]

I've been careful to get 300-400 calories of carbs and protein into me immediately after getting off the bike the last few days. For example, after my 100 mile ride I drank a big Nesquik and ate a baggie of salt and vinegar chips. I was so full of accelerade and other stuff that it took me an hour or two to get to a dinner-eating level of hunger on Monday.

I think about what I ate yesterday and I was pretty hungry all day but in retrospect it's not that bad. Greek yogurt with granola, honey, and pb for breakfast, 3" sub, 1 cup penne alfredo, 1 cup steamed broccoli and salad for lunch, a choco milk mid afternoon and gnocchi with smoked salmon and asparagus for dinner. I'm just not used to waking up with this voracious appetite!