Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Why am i not losing wieght

well i have been riding for a month now and i ride 27 miles a day 5 days a week. i eat maybe 2500 calories a day and have seen no progress just that i can commute to work faster. i dunno what im doin wrong but its not like i ride slow either cuz i avg 16-18 mph. any tips would def be appreciated.

you may not be eating enough. to few calories can be a problem too. my body does not digest food right and I found no matter how little I ate i could not loose weight. once I started increasing calories I started loosing weight. your body will start eating muscle if you don't eat enough calories.

If you're riding 27 miles round trip to work that is two 13.5 mile rides 8-9 hours apart. So you are riding for about 45 minutes each way. I don't think that is enough "extra" activity to see a rapid decrease in weight. My expereince has been that I need rides of 90 minutes or more to really get after the fat stores. For a short ride like yours your body easy survives on what is in your system already. I also see less weight loss results in the winter time, I don't sweat as much. Maybe that's not a factor for your location.

It might help to know your age, height and weight. Whats a typical days menu for you.
IMHO sometimes it can be the type of food not just the number of calories. I managed to loose 70 lbs in about a year. Avoiding simple carbs increasing protein, fiber and some fats. Nuts are your friends...

losing weight requires a calorie deficit, you may need to drop down to 2000 cal a day...

That would give you a 3500 cal deficit per week which is equal to 1 pound of weight loss..

Pedal faster, eat less, lift some weights too. I personally lose weight very slowly when I just do aerobic workouts, lose no weight doing just weightlifting, and do best when I am doing both.

Try using some of the various online calorie trackers, you may find you're eating much more than you think. There are many guides to portion control and food scales can be useful as well. You may want to try a support group like Weight Watchers.

Unfortunately, cycling by itself is an activity that we adjust to very quickly because it is efficient. Thus, it takes massive amounts of time in the saddle to have a really noticeable effect, if all you do is ride a bike. I initially lost 40 pounds in about 6 months of riding - approximately 180 to 225 miles a week! That takes about 3 hours a day. That was because I was on second shift and therefore had the time to spend out there on the roads before I had to get home and shower for work.

Now that I've been on first shift, the time isn't there and weight has somewhat come back. It's a dilemma, for sure. I hate to diet, but I've got no choice other than to join a gym, or run with a bad back.

Bottom line is: neither of us are riding enough to burn it off.

I'd say more LSD(long steady distance) rides or less calories.

WAIT!

Don't change a thing. It will come.

well i have been riding for a month now and i ride 27 miles a day 5 days a week. i eat maybe 2500 calories a day and have seen no progress just that i can commute to work faster. i dunno what im doin wrong but its not like i ride slow either cuz i avg 16-18 mph. any tips would def be appreciated.

All sorts of advice in here. One thing to remember is that you will spend a while building up the "framework" for your weightloss. As you start cycling (and hopefully doing some basic core exercises and the like), your body can take a few months to begin to really reshape itself to your new activities.

You need to do two things in order to lose weight: 1) Exercise more; 2) Eat less.

You're exercising OK, now eat less. You say you eat "maybe" 2500 calories a day...keep track for a while, carefully and honestly, and find out how much you really eat. Cut back by about 500 calories a day, and you should lose about a pound a week.

First, how do you know you're eating 2500 calories a day? Maybe it's more. Soda has a lot of calories.

Figure out exactly how many calories you eat on a daily basis. Log drinks, meals, snacks, everything. Do it for a week. Then you'll know. Once you know, cut back to 2000 calories a day. Then you'll lose weight.

2500 may be too many calories. I only lost weight when I was consuming 1800-2000 calories.

http://caloriecount.about.com/ is a good way to keep track of calorie consumption and expenditure.

I agree also that we can't really help unless we know your weight, your height, and how many calories you're really taking in.

I know for me not only is the food intake and types of food a problem, but I also loose weight more easily if I cut back on caffeine. I've found about one 20oz drink of diet soda with caffeine I'm ok, much more than that I tend to have problems loosing weight.

You haven't given enough information for anyone to give you any real advice.

My thoughts are that most people grossly underestimate the amount of calories they take in. If you are riding that much then you should be able to lose weight but I would suggest cutting calories to about 1800 ish and measure very carefully....then increase riding time appropriately.

For me I need to be under 2000 calories a day to lose weight.. I watch my protein intake like a hawk, it seems I lose more when I regulate my protein.. The calculation is .36 x weight.. so a 200lb person would need only 72 grams of protein a day.. I go slightly over the 2000 calories a day when I am working out extra hard or going on 2 hour + rides.. This is for my energy drinks during the ride and recovery drink when I finish.. Considering that I am expending 1500-3000 calories during these rides, that is an allowable extra intake..

Drink more than the recommended 8 glasses of water per day. Keep your calories about the same. MAybe do a little wieght training. REmember at first your body will develope some muscle so now you have some fat and muscle. In time your body will start to burn the fat off as it requires more energy to feed the lean muscle. Also try eating more often. Not more food just more often. Take the same amount of food and spread it out over the day.

"you gain weight before you lose it"
thats what I was always taught. You gain muscle which helps in cutting fat off your body.

well i have been riding for a month now and i ride 27 miles a day 5 days a week. i eat maybe 2500 calories a day and have seen no progress just that i can commute to work faster. i dunno what im doin wrong but its not like i ride slow either cuz i avg 16-18 mph. any tips would def be appreciated.
As stated much more info is required to best suggest solutions or explanations.

You have reported that you are increasing stamina, by your commit concerning commute faster. And that is important, to be able to maintain a set pace, and then increase activity. You are likely benefiting with better muscle tone in the lower half of your torso and legs.

I also, would suggest reducing caloric intake to below 2000, and cut all calorie intake via liquids. Avoid drinking calories, they often are high sugar, and this is to easy for body to process and store.

Depending on your history you may benefit from consulting a physician to help evaluate your present condition.

Wish you the best.;)

"you gain weight before you lose it"
thats what I was always taught. You gain muscle which helps in cutting fat off your body.

:lol: You do not have to gain to loose. The muscle mass you have can burn all the fat you need.
The formula is simple calories burned > calories eaten = weight loss. Increase the time you ride or decrease the calories.
More info would be helpful. If you really are counting every cal then decrease intake to 2000 Cal.

well i have been riding for a month now and i ride 27 miles a day 5 days a week. i eat maybe 2500 calories a day and have seen no progress just that i can commute to work faster. i dunno what im doin wrong but its not like i ride slow either cuz i avg 16-18 mph. any tips would def be appreciated.

you have received a lot of advice here already. Look at the variety of answers eat more, eat less, and ride more seem common. One thing that helped me get on the right track was measuring my food portions and tracking them on fitday.com I could see what a portion looked like and also knew how many calories I was consuming.

I am guessing you are in your 20s, but don't know your height or weight so I can't comment on the number calories you should be eating. But, as a commuter riding twice a day you have a great foundation for losing weight. There are racers who get a great workout in 45 minutes, so time in saddle can be miss leading. I would look at your diet first. Somewhere on here someone has the signature line "I ride for fitness and diet for weight loss" or something similar.

Calories in < calories out doesn't always work. The human body has a pretty weird metabolism, and has all kinds of tricks to prevent weight loss. Some medications will cause weight gain, no matter what you do. And some metabolic disorders (like diabetes) will cause similar issues. I would check with your doctor to make sure you don't have something unexpected like that causing trouble.

Then if you've got a clean bill of health, I'd try the other ideas.

As usual the very supportive people of C&A have a lot of good ideas. But we are working in dark here.We need :
Age
Weight
Height
Medical issues

thank you

Calories in < calories out doesn't always work. The human body has a pretty weird metabolism, and has all kinds of tricks to prevent weight loss. Some medications will cause weight gain, no matter what you do. And some metabolic disorders (like diabetes) will cause similar issues. I would check with your doctor to make sure you don't have something unexpected like that causing trouble.

Controlled diabetes does not cause weight gain, weight gain causes diabetes.

Calories in < calories out doesn't always work. The human body has a pretty weird metabolism, and has all kinds of tricks to prevent weight loss. Some medications will cause weight gain, no matter what you do. And some metabolic disorders (like diabetes) will cause similar issues. I would check with your doctor to make sure you don't have something unexpected like that causing trouble.

I know a lot of people who are trying to lose weight talk about different metabolic issues, but apart from massive water retention (which is pretty obvious), can you show me the science that shows someone expending more calories than they're taking in and not losing weight? Unless, of course, the difference is so negligible as to be meaningless.

I'm also not a big believer in the "eat more to lose more" school of thought. I can well imagine that there's an ideal number of calories for someone to be consuming in order to lose weight, given their lifestyle (as in, if you eat this amount of these types of foods, you'll be providing yourself with better fuel to exercise, and thus will lose weight), and I do believe that your body will try to conserve its resources when faced with a sharp reduction in calories...but losing less isn't the same as gaining or not losing at all. Again, it comes down to physics: if you lower calories below a certain point, weight loss is inevitable. If you don't believe that, look at the millions of people throughout history who had to do hard labor under starvation rations. Cambodians under the Khmer Rouge sure didn't gain any weight.

i am not sure what terrain you are commuting on, i.e. hills etc. but you could consider switching to a fixed gear bike, that way you could maximize your energy output, it works for me. But, be prepared to be extremely sore and tired the first week or two.

I just went through this and discovered I was not eating enough to lose the weight. Since I up'd my calories, I am down 16 lbs. I have been counting my calories and during the week of Thanksgiving, I rode everyday for about 2 hrs and I had to eat an extra 800 to 1000 calories a day to keep the body happy. I'm assuming you have a HR monitor with calorie burn on it, but if not, I would get one to make sure you are burning the calories you think you are.

In my case, my non bike riding days are 25 mins of cardio\weights and my base basal rate is 2080-2430, if I up my cardio a day to 90 mins a day based on your notes, my base basal should be 2600-2950. Based on your body conditions, 2500 might not be enough.

I know a lot of people who are trying to lose weight talk about different metabolic issues, but apart from massive water retention (which is pretty obvious), can you show me the science that shows someone expending more calories than they're taking in and not losing weight? Unless, of course, the difference is so negligible as to be meaningless.

I'm guessing the idea was that your resting metabolism could go down. So you do the exercise, eat less, but you still don't lose weight. Sounds better than your body pulling calories out of thin air, but same idea.

There's also the related trading-fat-for-muscle issue thing where you look better and feel better but aren't any lighter. I spent my first year of cycle-commuting like that.

I'm guessing the idea was that your resting metabolism could go down. So you do the exercise, eat less, but you still don't lose weight. Sounds better than your body pulling calories out of thin air, but same idea.

Right, but this is only going to result in no weight loss if the metabolic change completely compensates for the reduced calories. In practice, I question whether this is the case. If we accept what is commonly said about this "calorie conservation mode", your body feels that it is in crisis and takes radical steps to preserve its reserves. What would precipitate such a crisis? Seems to me the only thing that would do it would be a truly radical decline in calories -- starvation rations, basically. 2500 calories a day is far from that. Furthermore, there's only so much that the body can do to conserve its stores if you are active. Prisoners in concentration camps, who were served starvation rations and forced to perform very hard labor, certainly experienced rapid weight loss. No doubt their bodies used whatever tricks they could to slow this process, but that's all they could do: try (without success) to apply the brakes. There is no metabolic magic that can invalidate the formula "calories out > calories in = weight loss".

I think that there is a miscalculation in the amount of calories being eaten.

In my limited experience cycling alone for me doesn't work. Probably put on 7000 miles during the year with my only weightl oss being a few pounds which was probably from going on a water pill for my high blood pressure, what would be normal for most.

Then I really really clamped down on calories and in the last 500 miles have seen some losses. The only day in the last month I have eaten 2500 calories is a day I drank soda lots and I normally don't drink any but it was soda or tap water at work which makes me sick (problem since solved)

Also are you really really working during those commutes? I found that sometimes I could do my whole commute and not even break a sweat in 105 degree heat because I could just coast along and it only cost me a few minutes.

I was just lamenting the same issue on another post. I bought my first bike in February this year and have been cycling like crazy ever since and only lost 18 lbs. My best bet for losing these days is to--ironically--stay OFF my bike. I can only guess that the muscle I'm building is compensating for the fat I'm burning. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

I was just lamenting the same issue on another post. I bought my first bike in February this year and have been cycling like crazy ever since and only lost 18 lbs. My best bet for losing these days is to--ironically--stay OFF my bike. I can only guess that the muscle I'm building is compensating for the fat I'm burning. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

A simpler explanation might be that you eat differently when you're riding. Many people, particularly those who were previously sedentary, seriously up their food consumption when they start exercising, either under the conscious rationalization that they "need it" (and this persistent myth that their bodies will go into "starvation mode" if they don't), or unconsciously, because the added exercise makes them feel like they're "starving" (they're not, but their nutrition might be crappy).

A simpler explanation might be that you eat differently when you're riding. Many people, particularly those who were previously sedentary, seriously up their food consumption when they start exercising, either under the conscious rationalization that they "need it" (and this persistent myth that their bodies will go into "starvation mode" if they don't), or unconsciously, because the added exercise makes them feel like they're "starving" (they're not, but their nutrition might be crappy).

I agree! While I'm sure there are a few documented cases, I think mostly it's just an excuse. I'm sure that upsets people, but I've been there done that and live it every day.

I was just lamenting the same issue on another post. I bought my first bike in February this year and have been cycling like crazy ever since and only lost 18 lbs. My best bet for losing these days is to--ironically--stay OFF my bike. I can only guess that the muscle I'm building is compensating for the fat I'm burning. At least that's what I keep telling myself.Well, 18 pounds in about 10 months isn't all that bad. Try eating about 250 calories per day less, and you should lose about twice that fast. You really shouldn't try to lose much faster than that.

I know a lot of people who are trying to lose weight talk about different metabolic issues, but apart from massive water retention (which is pretty obvious), can you show me the science that shows someone expending more calories than they're taking in and not losing weight?

I gave two specific examples of situations where lowered calories will not always cause weight loss. If that isn't enough for you, I'm not sure what is.

They also happen to be situations where working with a doctor on weight loss is important. If you are on a drug that causes weight gain, often the easiest solution is to find a medication that does not give you that side effect. Take away the drug, and it gets much easier to lose weight (not easy... just easier than if you were on the drug). And controlling diabetes doesn't always mean weight loss (a lot depends on the kind of diabetes and how long it went untreated), but a doctor can be a big help there as well.

It never hurts to rule out the stupid and obvious stuff. And yes, if the answer is "there's nothing wrong with you"... weight loss is hard.

A simpler explanation might be that you eat differently when you're riding. Many people, particularly those who were previously sedentary, seriously up their food consumption when they start exercising, either under the conscious rationalization that they "need it" (and this persistent myth that their bodies will go into "starvation mode" if they don't), or unconsciously, because the added exercise makes them feel like they're "starving" (they're not, but their nutrition might be crappy).

Hmm. I don't think I do--hubby is diabetic and prepares most if not all the food around here. But I will pay attention in the next days/weeks. Thanks for the tip! :thumb:

endurance exercises make your body more efficient at burning calories... The more efficient the less calories you burn. Try doing sprints in your bike ride were you pick up the pace for 30 or more seconds with couple minute cool down in between.

I gave two specific examples of situations where lowered calories will not always cause weight loss. If that isn't enough for you, I'm not sure what is.

Actually, you made generic references to metabolism, medications and diabetes. You didn't provide specifics on any of these that show a situation where calories out > calories in != weight loss. I'm not trying to be a jerk about this, I'm just saying that you don't break the laws of physics. You might, through "metabolism" or "medications" or "diabetes", be changing the value of one or more factors in the equation, but you don't invalidate the equation.