Making Progress...
 

Hello all,

I'm a former high school and college athlete who, due to desk job and poor eating habits, found himself over the age of 50 in a less-than-desirable position body-wise. I do a lot of riding, but I wasn't getting great results with weight. However, I've changed my nutritional approach and things are improving. Right now I'm down to 224 from a high of 266 a few years ago and 247 at the beginning of the year, what a difference! Went on a short ride today and felt a huge improvement, which shouldn't really be a surprise, but it's nice to be riding at mid-year speeds in early March. I'm looking forward to a better commute (32 miles round-trip) and improved stamina on long rides.

I've had success with a significant change in how I eat. I've dropped breads, muffins, donuts, cakes, cookies and other high-carb foods for the most part (only the occasional pizza, etc...), not much pasta, some rice and other grains like quinoa and oatmeal, a few nuts, and lots of fruits, vegetables and lean meats. I'm not a big drinker, so no real change there. Since January, I have been sticking (mostly) to a 1400-1500 calorie/day limit, plus some additional calories based on exercise. I also joined a local gym, and have been doing both strength and cardio work, which is definitely helping. I use myfitnesspal.com to track calories and exercise, and I find that sticking to a pattern helps. On workdays, I plan my breakfast and lunch the night before so I don't have to improvise. Breakfast is usually greek yogurt and either oatmeal or something with eggs, like frittata, along with a clementine. I switched from coffee to green tea except for one cup daily. Lunch is generally a mixed green salad with olive oil and wine or balsamic vinegar and a protein. I also include snacks at mid-morning and mid-afternoon. All in all, I try to fit the daytime into 800 calories give or take, leaving the rest for dinner. I know that once I get to a better weight, I will change my calorie count, but I will continue with the approach, I sure don't want to gain the weight back.

Anyway, I know this is all common knowledge and I'm not inventing anything here, just wanted to share what's working for this Clyde...

Sounds like you're all over it - congratulations! 14-1500 might be a little too aggressive (just me speculating, not any sort of professional medical opinion) but if you can keep it up without tricking your body into thinking it's in starvation mode, good.

I got the number from myfitnesspal with a goal of losing 2 lbs/week, I just lowered the goal to 1 lb/week and the calorie budget increased to 1830. Also, as I ride more when the weather improves, I will increase calories accordingly.