MikeOK

I've been on a diet for about the last 9 weeks and I've been riding 3 days on 1 day off. I am up to riding an hour now. I was steadily losing about 2 lb's a week. The last two weeks though, I've gained 4 lb's and I didn't change ny diet. I'm not going to put on here what I weigh, but suffice it to say I need to lose 75 lb's to get back to my racing weight. The past two weeks have me stumped though, could I be gaining that much muscle in so short s time?

Mack3601

Have you considered something like a ketogenic eating plan? 10% carbs, 20% protein and 70% fat. It has been very helpful for me.

John E

What is happening to your waistline? If you are indeed gaining muscle and losing fat, you should start to see a small impact there.

Also look into the types of foods you are eating. Try cutting back on refined sugar and flour, dairy, and meat, and see if that helps. Make sure you are getting enough fiber.

Biker395 

I wouldn't worry about it. IMHO, if you keep doing what you did to lose the weight, your weight will continue to drop long term.

The weight variations are really interesting. I went on a campaign to lose about 10 pounds some months ago, and lost a bunch of weight so fast, I knew it was illusory. I then plateaued and actually gained a couple of pounds ... all while doing the same thing I did to lose the 10 pounds in the first place.

I also typically lose weight all week, then come Monday morning, find that I've gained anywhere from 2-3 pounds. Pretty much guaranteed. And a typical weekend for me includes an all-day arduous ride. A couple of days later, those 2-3 pounds are gone and the weight continues to decline from there.

I'm not the only person that has experienced it either ... other cyclist friends of mine have seen pretty much the same thing.

My guess is that it is due to undigested food in your GI tract (gotta eat on those long arduous rides or you'll bonk), and different levels of hydration. Someone who really knows what they are talking about probably has a better explanation. lol

Darth Lefty 

Aside from the obvious diet book stuff, how do you feel? Is your appetite up? Are you being honest with yourself about your eating?

MikeOK

Thanks for the replies. I did notice that my jeans fit better. I've watched my diet religiously, eating two meals a day. I did pick up my riding in the last two weeks but I know from my weightlifting days that you can put on 1, maybe 2 lb's of muscle a week at most so I really don't think it's all muscle. It's really bringing me down though, I was losing about 2 lb's a week before I picked up my riding.

10 Wheels

Stop eating Meals.

Eat 5 / 6 times a day just enough to keep you going.

MikeOK

I may try that but what I was doing was working for several weeks. I'm 54 too so that probably has something to do with it. I'm sure 10 years of sedentary living has my metabolism at rock bottom. One year when I rode freewheel, a 7 day cross Oklahoma ride 60-70 miles per day, I got down to my high school weight and it stayed off for a couple years. I'm retired now and have time to ride like I always wanted to but the last two weeks has me buffaloed.

canklecat

Recent conventional wisdom says high intensity interval training is most effective for burning calories, with the effects persisting even after the ride is over.

Unfortunately it's also the least enjoyable form of cycling for me. But I'm giving it a try. Not for weight loss, but to improve my hill climbing. My weight is already within 5 lbs of my optimal weight in my 20s. But asthma thwarts me on every hill, so I'm emphasizing shorter, harder rides this year -- around 10-20 miles per interval training ride.

Fortunately we have a few nearby hilly roller coaster routes that are perfect for interval training without using a clock. All I need to do is push as hard as I can for 30-60 seconds on the hills, which is usually enough to reach the crest before relaxing and pedaling easy on the downhill slope before the next hill.

Seems to be working. I'm getting a bit stronger on hill climbs, and losing weight without intending to.

The only downside is I prefer the longer more casual rides. I still try to fit in a few of those a month. To separate the two I got a road bike last month for the interval training rides, and switch to my hybrid for the longer casual rides. My speed isn't actually much slower on the hybrid, it just feels more relaxed.

pdlamb

Give it another week before you start to worry. It could be something innocuous like retaining fluid (sore muscles swelling, GI full, re-hydrated after a few weeks, etc.). Weight loss rarely seems to be a linear thing -- you'll lose 2 pounds one week, 1 the next, gain a half, then lose 4 pounds.

MinnMan

Here's how my weight varied over about a 6 month period some years ago when I was trying to shed pounds - albeit not as quickly and not as much as you are looking to lose. My point is that you can't tell much from trends of a week or two. Just keep exercising, eating right, and don't worry too much about the day to day or even week to week variations.

jppe

For me it just comes down to the math. I need to document every calorie consumed versus what is burned to know for sure what is going on. I'm betting in your case it's probably some water weight involved. You are on the right track. Keep doing what you've been doing. Just be careful and not consume too many calories thinking you've burned more than you might have. I lost 60 lbs from my peak weight. Right now mine modulates 4-5 pounds depending on what I eat, exercise and hydration.

MikeOK

Thanks for all the good suggestions. My wife recently mentioned the keto diet, that may be worth a try. I'm only eating around 1500 calories/day and according to my bike app I'm burning around 1000 calories/day, so the weight should be falling off me. The last couple weeks I've drank way more water than I was since it got so hot. In an hour ride I'll drink a full 70 oz camelbak plus one bottle of water then when I get back home I might drink a couple more bottles so some of this might be water weight.

bbbean 

What he said. I lost 165 lbs over 2 years, and my loss chart looked very similar. Its common to plateau and even gain weight temporarily. There are a lot of things that cause you to gain or lose weight. The intensity of your workouts, carb intake, sodium intake, infections stress, etc. can all cause you to hold a few extra lbs even if everything else is on target to lose weight.

Keep riding, keep eating right, and don't get hung up on temporary weight gain or loss. If you have 75 lbs to lose, you're changing your lifestyle, and thats going to be a much longer process than any 1 or 2 week gain or loss will show.

BB

MinnMan

I'm not an expert about this, but I'm not sure that 2 lbs/week is sustainable over a long period of time. I think 1 lb/week is quite possible without really stressing your body or nerves over a period of many months, but 2 lbs seems like a lot to me. Others here surely know more.

bbean above says he lost 165# over 2 years - that's averaging about 1.5 lbs/week, so I guess that's feasible, but not all of us can sustain the same level of discipline. The key to success, I think, is adopting a lifestyle that you can enjoy that also makes the long-term weight trend downward, rather than achieving very quick results.

bbbean 

Good points. FWIW, my weight loss wasn't consistent. The first 40 lbs came off fast when I cut out some of my worst habits. The last 40 lbs came off a LOT slower. So while it may have averaged 1.5 lbs/wk over 2 years, it was more like 2-3 lbs/week for 6 months, plateau for a month, 1.5 lbs for a few months, plateau, .75-1.25 lbs a week for many many months.

BB

FlashBazbo

OP, could it be a difference in the salt content in the foods you ate? That's what usually brings my weight up a couple pounds. With increased salt, you get increased water retention. And neither the weight gain nor the subsequent weight loss is real.

There's a Mexican restaurant in my town that serves food extremely high in sodium. My personal record is gaining 4.2 pounds of water weight after having dinner there. (I don't eat there anymore.)

MikeOK

Yes I salt salt. But it's nothing new. About a month ago I had a tooth pulled and it made me sicker than a dog. I couldn't hold anything down for 2 days. I lost 8 lb's in two days. Ive gained most of it back though.

Machka 

Sign up with a site like My Fitness Pal (it's free!) or other similar ones.
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Enter your details into the program.
Select sedentary as your activity level.
Select how much weight you would like to lose each week (1 lb/week)
The program will tell you how many calories you should consume to accomplish that.

If you exercise, log that ... then eat about half to 3/4 of your exercise calories back.


That worked for me! Lost 25 kg in two sets of 16 weeks.


Also note that weight loss is not linear. Sometimes you drop steadily, sometimes you don't. One of the big factors is water weight and water weight can be gained for all sorts of reasons including:

-- more exercise than usual
-- flights
-- hot weather
-- sunburn
-- surgery
-- eating salty food
-- TOM


So perhaps you're experiencing one of those or a combination of them.

MikeOK

Thanks I'll check that out. One thing I didn't take into consideration was what I drink. I have a big glass of chocolate milk before I ride, and throughout the day I drink 4 or 5 glasses of sweet tea. Add that all up and it's 800+ calories a day! I think I will drink mostly water and see if that helps.

Rowan

And, without putting too fine a point on it, do you drink alcohol? And if you do, are you factoring the drinks with your calorie counts?

Rowan

Ahhh... you've sort of answered my questions, and you've found that even non-alcoholic drinks can be an issue if they aren't included in the calorie count.

MikeOK

No alcohol, but I will definately monitor my fluid intake more closely. Those are empty calories I can't believe I didn't factor that in.

McBTC

True, true... there is 3500 calories in a pound of fat so eating 500 calories a day less than the body's daily requirement (e.g., 2200-2500 or more if young, spectacularly athletic or in great pain and worry a lot) will result in the loss 1 pound a week. You can weigh every day but changes in water weight can vary total body weight by 2-5 pounds a day.

MinnMan

Interesting. One of the things I did when I was trying to lose weight was to resolve to consume essentially no calories in fluids. I take my coffee black anyway, but I stopped drinking juices, lemonade, etc. Now I drink some calories- notably from skim milk and energy drinks during rides, but I'm no longer trying to reduce my weight.