monkeyevil

I'm 5' 10", 205 lbs. Started counting calories again, which I hate, but so far it has me down from about 245lbs in 3 years or so.

I'm eating ~2,000 calories a day. I ride 50-100 miles a week, run 3-7 miles. Usually ride about 16-19 mph. Tonight for instance I burned an estimated 1,000 calories on my 25 mile ride.

How much of those do I eat back? The problem is made worse by the fact that I actually want to get faster AND lose weight

danlikes

I was reading that 1/2 the calories comes from available storage in the muscles of glycogen while 1/2 comes from fat.

Supposable every 3500 calories you eat and do not use equal a pound gained.

I am currently reading a book by Bicycling Magazine "Nutrition for Peak Performance." I got the book at Hastings on clearance for 99¢

The book also has a complex formula in chapter 17 Cycling Calorie Counter where you can enter your values and work out the formula to figure the ride average burn. At 15 mph I am burning about 350-400 calories an hour. I can’t remember for sure.

danlikes

I also recommend Bicycling Magazine book, “Training Techniques for cycling", edited by Ben Hewitt. 99¢ clearance rack again..

Machka 

You probably did not burn 1000 calories on a 25 mile ride ... that would be highly unlikely. You probably burned about 500 calories per hour.

And when you consider what a small amount of exercise you're getting each week, while still consuming a high amount of daily calories ... you don't need to eat anything extra. Especially if you want to lose weight.

Perhaps if you double the amount of exercise you're getting you might want to add an extra 200 calories a couple days per week ... like perhaps a granola bar in the middle of your twice weekly long rides.

poxpower

Where are you getting those numbers? At his weight, if he's riding at 16-19mph for an hour, every number I've come across online says he should be in the 900-1100 range.

https://www.healthstatus.com/cgi-bin/calc/calculator.cgi == 984
https://www.nutristrategy.com/fitness/cycling.htm == 1117
https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calo...=60&order=NAME == 976

Machka 

Online calculators are generous and notoriously incorrect. Assuming 500 calories per hour is just as accurate as those calculators ... probably more accurate and more realistic. After all, many people over estimate their exercise (and particularly the intensity at which they do their exercise), and underestimate the amount they consume.

Also, if a person wants to lose weight, the person should use the goal weight rather than the current actual weight in the calculation.

abdon 

What he said. He's right, listen to him.

Drop all the garbage from your diet. Drop the nutritionally shallow crap (for instance everything made out of bread), go easy on the sweet stuff (and by sweet, I mean fruits, 'cuz everything else should had been dropped with the garbage). Of what's left, eat more and ride harder.

The second you finish riding you need to eat. Right after exercise you are on that magical state where your muscle cells are sensitive to suck up nutrients, while your fat cells are insensitive because they are still in burning mode (they can either burn or grow, they can't do both). Delay refueling and your muscles become insensitive while your fat cells get ready to swallow anything that comes through the blood stream.

Nothing stops fat loss faster than spending too much time on a caloric deficit. Cycle your diet, or suffer in vain. Any by cycling I mean maintenance, not hog wild.

monkeyevil

This is why weight loss is hard. When working out 4-5 nights a week from 30 min to 1:30 is considered light exercise, and when 2,000 calories for a 200lb male is considered a high amount.

Thanks for your other info BTW.

monkeyevil

I understand the reasoning for doing so, but I'm not going to be cutting bread and fruit out of my diet. I'm trying to make a lifestyle change that I can live with forever, that plan includes bread and beer in moderation. I ride as hard as my body will let me every fitness ride, but I guess I could ride more nights per week.

valygrl

Losing weight while getting faster is hard. It's easier to separate them - get faster in spring & summer, lose weight in winter. That said, try for a fixed calorie intake per day, rather than "eating back" calories - your target calorie intake should already be adjusted for your exercise, so you can't eat more, that's double counting. Obviously, if you do a huge extra workout, you're going to need more food, but most of that should be consumed DURING the ride, not after.

You have to do any "extra" eating before/during the exercise - to FUEL the exercise. THis is sad afterwards, as you feel you worked out hard and "deserve" extra food, but you have to get away from that mind set. Food is not a reward for exercise (after). It's fuel for exercise (before).

Good job on your weight loss so far - if it's working, just keep doing it!

poxpower

You can substitute fruits though : P
Eating grapes, watermelon, apples or strawberries is better than eating bananas, mangos and blueberries in that they will fill you up way more and have less calories.

Bread is super terrible. You can still eat anything you want, but I'd try not buying bread. That's one of the best ways to not eat something: don't buy it at the grocery store. When you eat out, then you can have bread or whatever crap. I don't know about you, but to me bread is as addictive as cake.

As for biking, you're better off riding less but riding every day if you want to lose weight. Keeps your metabolism up and burns extra calories for free even after you're off the bike! And it also lets you be more intense each time, thus burning more calories per hour.

Based on what?
I know from how much food I eat and how much I bike that the higher estimate is probably correct. What I imagine happens most of the time is that people overestimate their speed, not that the calculator underestimates what X speed burns.

The problem with using your target weight for weight loss is that you may be eating too little and dropping weight too fast ( the difference between 180 and 240 pounds for instance is like 400-500 calories a day for maintenance ) and lose muscle mass.
You have to eat less and less as you slim down. Adjust your diet every 5-10 pounds you lose.

Of course if you want to lose weight REALLY fast then yes, you can figure that riding an hour on a bike burns 100 calories and that a 205 pound guy should eat about 300 calories a day to maintain his goal weight of 50 pounds.

dolanp

500 calories/hour is not putting forth a lot of effort. That may be accurate for a commuter averaging 12mph.

If he is working hard I'd believe he burned 1000 calories.

monkeyevil

Here is my ride last night. Garmin calories are usually high, so I likely burned less last night.
I was not really riding at my usual intensity.
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/110458712

My usual rides have me spinning much more consistently.
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/103907716

gregf83 

I think your 1000 Cals for 25 miles is probably close if it was a solo ride without much drafting. A 33mile ride the other day burned about 40 Cals/hr for me and I weigh 165lbs.

jmX

The FR60 watch does not use the Firstbeat calorie calculation method, so it's going to be much too high. If you want the most accurate calorie calc that exists right now, you'll need one of these:

• Forerunner 110
• Forerunner 210
• Forerunner 405CX
• Forerunner 410
• Forerunner 310XT
• Forerunner 610.
• Edge 500
• Edge 800

Johnny_Monkey

2,000 kcal a day is about right for someone around your size for maintaining your current weight and leading a sedentary lifestyle (it is probably even a little low). If you maintain an average of 2K per day and keep up your exercise regime you will lose weight. I am 173cm and (was) 77kg and I have lost 2 kg in 2 months by counting calories and doing less exercise than you. I would have lost about 4 kg if I was cycling 160km per week. My ideal weight is about 73 kg so not far for me to go anyway.

I also have cut down on beer (down from about 14 pints a week to about 5) and sweets.

abdon 

Actually I agree with you; lifestyle changes is where your long term plan is.

Still, you can't be on a caloric deficit forever; your body will slow down and then you will be restricting yourself for nothing. Cycle your diet, cut the bread 4~6 weeks, then eat it in moderation.

One of my lifestyle changes was to limit my consumption of bread. Easiest way to lose weight. I indulge from time to time but always see it for the crappy nutritional value treat it is.

Wife still eats 2% milk and fake margarine, I enjoy whole milk, real butter, and bacon on everything. High nutritional density food without the empty carbs fills you up and let you enjoy life.

Jonah19

Too often we underestimate how many calories we eat. That's far more likely than estimating calories burned. I use a website called FitClick.com. It's free and is easy to log your diet/calories and exercise/calories burned. It subtracts those from your BMR so you have a complete picture. Yeah, I know like most online tools it's probably not super accurate - but it's the trend you're following. The site is easy to customize for your use and is very comprehensive in food groups and exercise routines.............In the past 7 weeks I've dropped 25 lbs. (215 to 190) You can customize a diet on FitClick for any lifestyle you like. I like the diets prescribed by Gary Taubes & Michael Eades (Low Carb and I know many will disagree with that - but I'm also interested in lowering insulin levels for high blood pressure). However, there are lots of days I cheat (love a good bottle of cabernet)... but with a good record its easy to get refocused. My riding has also improved during this time. I'm a long way from being where I want to be but I'm very pleased with my progress (90 miles during week - another 90 on weekends ..12.5 to 14.5 mph avg.)---and I just turned 62 y/o if that means anything.

cleon

Amen!

Plug... https://www.drfuhrman.com/default.aspx and https://www.diseaseproof.com/

Machka 

Try aiming for 90 minutes of exercise every day, 7 days a week.

That exercise does not have to be cycling for 90 minutes a day, it can be divided into various activities at various times of the day ... for example:

-- Walk to work (30 minutes), cycle after work (60 minutes)
-- Walk at lunch (20 minutes), walk to the playground and throw the ball around with the kids (40 minutes), cycle (30 minutes)
-- Cycle (60 minutes), weightlift while watching TV (30 minutes)

90 minutes of exercise a day, 7 days a week amounts to 10.5 hours of exercise a week. That is the minimum amount I try to get ... and even that amount is often too little to lose any significant weight, but at least it helps keep me in shape (maintain fitness) for the weeks where I get a lot more exercise.


Oh, and replace your fruit, bread, and beer with veggies ... lots and lots of raw and/or lightly boiled/steamed veggies. Plain veggies.

I lost 13 lbs in 13 weeks just recently with 10.5 hours of exercise a week and heaps of veggies.

sjvcycler

You should consult with a local dietitian. They don't charge too much and can make you a diet plan. I'm going to see one soon and they said they need a 1-2 week diary of what you eat and be honest. Then go see them with your diary.

vision646

I lost 35 pounds in about 4 months by using the Weight Watchers system. I didn't really exercise much but its a good system for keeping track of how much you eat and keeps you on a calorie restricted diet. Instead of paying to use Weight Watchers I created my own excel spreadsheet that has all the calculations in it and includes everything I ate for those 4 months. You can eat whatever you want but you only get so many calories so if you decide to eat something sweet you'll have to do without later that day/week. As Machka said veggies are your friend, not only are they good for you but they are also very low in calories and help you feel more full/calorie.

Machka 

Based on a little "experiment" I did on a 1200K randonnee back in 2002, and subsequent observations.

And yes, many people do overestimate their speed. It's nice to think that the 25 km/h you see once when you happen to glance at the computer is actually your average speed ... not your max speed.

To keep within the recommended 1-2 lbs a week, a person should have a calorie deficit of 3500 to 7000 calories per week ... or in other words 500-1000 calories per day. If the starting weight and goal weight are within about say 50 pounds of each other, a person would do well to go with the goal weight. If the the difference is much more than that, then maybe the person might enter a weight 50 lbs lighter than the starting weight to start with. Given that many people over estimate what they eat and under estimate what they do to burn calories, it would very likely work out to be close to right.

poxpower

Oh yeah and don't forget to eat your protein and whatnot. 160-170+ grams a day in your case. That's probably the most important nutrient you have to keep around to maintain / gain fitness during that time, as well as fatty acids from flax / fish / olive oil / whatever.

If you eat 2000 calories a day, given your current amount of exercise, you should be 3000-5000 in the hole per week in terms of calories. Keep it up for a year and you'll lose 50 pounds. Then you'll be faster : D

Well yeah you're obviously not going to keep up 1000 cal/hour if you're riding incredibly long distances, but he's not. In his starting post he says 1000 calories for 25 miles, which at his given speed range is 640-760 cal/hour. His computer logs back up his speed claim too.