Originally Posted by
guachi
Thinking of food simply as fuel is the only way I am able to cut back on eating. Luckily, I've otherwise been able to out exercise my bad diet.
But "food as fuel" is the only way I can be good when I eat. The alternative is always eating as little too much and having a 7,000 Calorie biking week and only losing one pound.
"Food as fuel" doesn't mean I don't care how my food tastes, it just means I try to ensure what I eat has some purpose other than "it's tasty and I'm hungry"
That's a good point, I'm basically where I want to be weight-wise, and not losing any weight on a 7000 calorie biking week would be normal for me. Looking back on it, I've never actually used cycling to lose significant amounts of weight, I lost 50 pounds working out intensely in the gym (watching TV during cardio, btw), then I took up distance biking. While I was doing the gym routine, I was definitely eating in the manner you describe, but I would let myself have a massive "cheat day" about once a month. For me, that turned out to be a pretty good strategy for losing fat and putting on muscle, AND lowering my weight. That cheat day, btw, usually consisted of going to a buffet and eating massive amounts of meat. This is definitely a "don't try this at home" kind of strategy , I suspect there's not a lot of people this would work for, and I definitely don't think my doctor would have approved.
On the not-cheat days, I was watching calories like a hawk while I was losing weight.
TL/DR-- I need to keep in mind that my perspective on this has changed as I went from weight loss to maintenance.