FrenchFit 

Well, read the book, paperback or Kindle: "The Warrior Diet: Switch on Your Biological Powerhouse For High Energy, Explosive Strength, and a Leaner, Harder Body" on amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Diet-B.../dp/1583942009.

It starts with debunking the notion you should be grazing all day, always having your digestive system working, processing food. The argument is: give it a rest. Hofmekler argues your body only needs to eat once a day, and you'll be stronger and higher energy if you do.

Of course, it means discarding the conventional wisdom. Good luck.

contango 

I'd second this, unless the OP means 2000 calories per week (i.e. 3x30 mile rides).

I weigh about 250 and reckon on a very ballpark figure of 40cal/mile. That would put a 30 mile ride somewhere around 1200, which I'd normally round down to 1000. Some folks tell me my estimate of 40 cal/mile is too high.

After a ride I'll often reach for a chocolate bar to replenish some of the calories I burned, the key is not to burn 1000 calories on the ride and then eat 1200 calories to refuel. An even worse thing to do is burn 1000 calories, think you burned 2000, eat 1500 and think you're 500 ahead when really you're 500 behind.

InOmaha

A heart rate monitor will give you a better indication of the calories you burn. Calorie burning varies considerably based on size.

I keep eating less each day until I start loosing weight. If I'm hungry, I drink water or coffee and replace high calorie foods with low calorie fillers. Coffee is an appetite supressant and I'm normally tired anyway. Water, coffee, eggs, almonds, green tea, apples and vegetables are natural appetite suppressants. Higher protein meals make you feel fuller but stay away from excess bad fats.

If you want to control calories the best thing to do is eat the exact same thing every day for a while. Then you only have to calculate the calories once and anything else you eat is cheating. I do that for breakfast and lunch then estimate the evening meal. If I start up on the scale I only need to diet in the evening. When I first started, I ate the same thing every day for around 2 months to kickstart the process. I found after the 2 months my stomach had shrunk and I had a hard time eating too much.

cafzali

Ideally, what a person can do is work with a coach who is also qualified to develop an eating plan for them. That's what I had when I was training for a Gran Fondo and it was very helpful. People have so many misconceptions about eating, how much to eat and how to eat when they're exercising that it feels very daunting to handle that part of the exercise equation. But the one thing that's almost universal is left to one's own devices, a person will almost always overeat following a heavy workout because all too often they don't eat properly on their ride and/or beforehand and get in a deficit.

A lot of people also snack late at night when their metabolism is already in decline, which over time can lead to packing on pounds.

Mark Stone

For some people.True for some people. Never been true for me, late night eating has been irrelevant.

My point is that weight loss, eating, and health gain are highly individual decisions with highly different results. This thread demonstrates that. Every single post that I read through is correct and demonstrates a tactic that works. However, what we need to realize is that some plans that work for some do not work for others. Some people (like me) manage weight better with exercise rather than diet - others manage weight better with diet. Some eat high carb, some high protein. What we need to do, really, as opposed to your suggestion to "work with a coach", is to spend some time getting to know ourselves, finding out what forms of exercise and what types of diet work to keep us healthy.

RGNY

i'm down 75# since i started cycling seriously (commuting and fun rides).

i just eat clean and limit calories. if my activity level is down for a day, i eat less. i evaluate what i'm about to put in my face and decide whether i've "earned" it.

i avoid processed food/HFCS/artificial sweeteners like the plague. i cook every day and bring lunch (and no money) to work to avoid vending machines and ordering out.

still enjoy my carbs, but they come second to protein and veg/fiber.

beer was the hardest part. if i'm having a beer (or max 2/day), i have to have given up the carbs somewhere else. it's rough when i'm near local breweries and one sponsors the big yearly cyclocross race....

jenrick

A good friend of my is professional sports nutritionist, and he gave me some great advice.

Most people are able to completely change their diet for a week to 2 weeks without any problems. After that it usually falls apart, folks who are significantly above a healthy weight can usually keep it together for a month or 2. Usually until they hit their first plateua, then it seems as though the dieting and deprivation has done all it can, and the diet again falls apart. Changes in eating behavior need to be made in an incremental manner, that allow a gradual permanent change in eating habits. Start with simply choosing a "healthier option," please note that this is not to be confused with a "healthy option." A person who has poor eating habits can make themselves eat green vegetables for a week or two, but life usually intrudes and the double bacon cheeseburger at Wendys is suddenly the choice for lunch again. A "healthier option" is choosing something that is better for you then what you would normally get, it doesn't have to be "healthy" just better then your normal choice.

When I started doing this lunch normally consisted of a Bacon Double Cheeseburger, large fries, large diet drink. The "healthier option" wasn't a salad and yogurt, I'd have managed to do that for a few days before going back to my old habits. The "healthier option" would be a regular bacon cheeseburger and medium fries, or possibly a double cheeseburger with no bacon and medium fries. Go down a combo size, skip the bacon/cheese/mayo on an item, etc. Soon the "healthier option" becomes your normal choice. Now go for the "healthier option" from this new normal, a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a cheeseburger, etc. Eventually you'll eat healthy, and you'll have established a permanent pattern of healthy eating.

Trying to do too much too fast is the biggest problem people have. Gradual long term, but permanent changes are the best option. It might a year or two to go from a Bacon double supersize combo to a grilled chicken breast and fruit. So what? No one wakes up with an extra 200 lbs on their body, so it's unreasonable to expect to drop all the weight in the short term as well. Eat better every day, and eventually the weight will come off and never come back.

-Jenrick

Rowan

Yep, been doing all this since mid-December, and have lost ~10% of my starting-point body weight.

Eating healthier (it's a very subtle but very effective strategy) has been combined with an increased activity level compared with what was happening before that. I don't feel deprived, and there is still some "bad" food in the mix.

Another trick is to look at the kids' menu... the sizes are proportionally smaller when compared with the adult servings... and cheaper, too.

I am confident of keeping on going and losing ~20% or more of my starting-point body weight because (a) the small adjustments to my food intake will continue, (b) the weight is coming off slowly -- yes, there has even been a plateau that I have progressed through -- and (c) my output or activity is about to ramp up again.

USMCRet

Keep it simple. Myfitnesspal.com. It works.

InOmaha

I did this all the time when we were traveling and would stop at a fast food place. If you look at the food those places served in the 50s and 60s you realize the kid's meals were the regular meals.

brianogilvie 

^This is true - with a big caveat: many heart rate monitors (HRMs) inflate the calories you burn. My Garmin Edge 800 is pretty accurate, but my Garmin Forerunner 410 gives figures that are about 140% those of the Edge 800 - on the same ride, with the same heart rate strap paired with both devices. My old Timex HRM was even less accurate. I found that the Timex gave decent numbers if I plugged in only my lean body mass (estimated) of 140 lbs., rather than my real weight of about 215 lbs.

On the original question: I find that planning meals for several days at a time helps me control snacking. And like many others, I've found that after a few days of following my plan carefully, the urge to snack has declined. I keep baby carrots, celery, and baby dill pickles around for those times when a glass of water doesn't dispel the feeling of hunger. I also try to keep busy, since it's easier to ignore a rumbling tummy if I'm focused on a project.