ISPringle

I'm not a Clydesdale, close, and at this rate I will be shortly.

Why am I gaining weight? I just started riding a bike. I ride 20 miles a day. My caloric intake is between 1400 and 1800 a day. Before bike riding I was eating 1400 a day and losing a little over 2 pounds a week, and 10 a month. My goal was to be down to 160 for September, which is where I want to be permanently. Before I got a bike I weighed in at 186, that was Sunday before my first bike ride. I have now rode my bike every day since then for 20 miles a day. I weighed myself this morning, before my bike ride, and I am 191.

Is my body just storing more water do you think? My diet has not changed, except for a few hundred more calories to make up for all the biking. I never see my weigh go up that much, and I've been losing for a number of months (started in January at 220).

I'm so concerned because I don't have clothes that fit me. I can make it through the summer like this, but I can't get through a school year without enough clothes, so my goal was to make due until I hit 160s and then buy clothes, because I just can't afford buying clothes that won't fit me down the road a few months.

I'm worried and seriously considering dropping the biking if this isn't rectified in the next week. I would have expected to be losing more weight, not gaining more weight with all this riding. 20 miles = 1100 calories.

Dave Cutter

And..... there is your problem! Stop eating that "few hundred more calories". It isn't the cycling that is making you fat... it's the food.


Your not burning any 1100 calories riding 20 miles! Stop kidding yourself that you can gobble down more crap if you ride a bicycle. Go back to your old eating habits and bicycle for the fun of it.... and stop eating EXTRA for cycling.

Problem fixed.... your welcome.

ISPringle

Shouldn't be adding weight though. When I eat 1800 calories a day I am still losing, only at a slightly slower weight. I know, I did this a month ago. It's still well below my BMR. The addition of 400 calories on my 1400 calorie/day diet does nothing to me gaining anything.

And yes, every article and calculator I have found says that 20 miles at a 14mph pace burns roughly 1000 to 1200 calories. I do bike for fun, I never intended for this to be about losing weight, but if it hinders me, it's gone.

WestPablo

+1

Now that's funny!

Cycling has increased your metabolism. After being somewhat sedentary for awhile, this whole cycling thing comes as a total shock to your biological system. Your body has now gone into the "energy storage" mode, as it slowly rations tiny energy packets "ATP's" to your cells. It's trying to store the extra energy it feels that you're gonna need for more physical exertion.

Just keep cycling and eat dinner immediately after cycling. Never eat after 7:30pm.

* Soon you'll find that things will return to normal once again...

ISPringle

Clearly, neither of you have any idea about caloric deficits.

lindyfd

I've been wondering the same thing. Started riding about a year ago and I've maintained the same 301 pounds since day one. Doing the myfitnesspal app and coming in under my intake goal. Tried eating all the grass clippings and twigs and healthy stuff for weeks on end, no change. Tried back to my old eating habits, no change. Tried low carbs, no change.

So far I've been told that I'm eating too much protein, not enough protein, not eating enough, eating too much, not enough good fats, riding too much, etc..

The food thing has me confuzzled but I definitely see an improvement in my general fitness. When I started I could barely ride a mile and a half, now I can ride 20+ miles at a time. That alone keeps me motivated to continue riding but I'm about to give up hope that I will drop any weight.

Best of luck to you with your goals!

lindyfd

Just as a PS, maybe the increase is from your leg muscles gaining mass. I heard somewhere that the quads are the largest muscles in the body so any increase in mass there will be more noticeable.

Don't know for sure, just thinking aloud.

stephtu

Those articles and calculators are simply wrong. There are people on this forum who have power meters which directly measure the amount of energy being put into the hub or crank, and most seem to say 30 to 40 calories per mile is a better estimate depending on how hard you are working.

How are you measuring your calorie intake, are you weighing your food to the gram? If not you are likely underestimating. How often do you weigh yourself? Body weight can fluctuate enormously due to water retention, I use the "Libra" app on Android which has some algorithm calculating a moving average, weighing daily, this can help you better see if your weight is really changing. Measuring waist size is also a good idea.

Cycling should aid weight loss, but only if you don't overcompensate by eating too much more. 20 miles isn't enough for me to want to eat anything extra at all. At most 200 calories extra IMO.

ISPringle

And it's a much better response now. And I do hope it does return to normal, because I really enjoy this road cycle thing, have a number of rides I want to do this summer including a 4 day tour in August. But my weight loss comes first, it's been four years coming and I can finally see the finish line, last time I stopped losing it took me nearly three years to get back at losing again, not ever going to let that happen.

Yeah, exactly. All I eat is oatmeal (and only a 1/4 cup a day), quinoa (also a 1/4 cup), green beans, salad, random vegetables that I have to cover in mustard (zero calories) since they taste horrid, and the occasional fudge pop (because at 40 calories, how can't you?!). I throw in meat for variety and never anything but chicken or fish.

When I ran I never lost weight, but I always accounted that to my weight lifting, but I know what you mean about fitness going up. Have you kept track of your heart rate? I did, when I was running/lifting. I think I was the only 270 fat guy in the world with a rest heart rate of 55! I think that'd a pretty good measure of fitness, heart rate.

Best of luck to you too my friend!

So I'll stop eating any more, then, and see if that helps. But like I said, when I eat 1800 a day in the past I still lose, and never see a 4+ pound gain in a week!

Calories based on measure, I don't have nor can I afford a scale. But I compensate by always over doing the estimate (ie, I never fill up a full cup, and if there is any question I always say I ate more than less). If anything I probably eat under the number of calories I think I'm eating, not more.

I weigh myself daily, but that's only for my note taking, I know it fluctuates, I've been at this for five years. I have kept very detailed notes about my weight lose and my body habits. I've discovered the average amount of fluctuation I see over a week. At most it's up by 4 pounds, and that's only ever been at night time, when I average about two pounds more than morning weigh in. But this morning I weighed in 4+ over my Sunday morning, which is what I go on for my actual improvements. That's what I am so alarmed about, that's never happened to me in my 5 years.

WestPablo

+1

Fat does factor into protein muscle develpment, once activity picks up!

Dave Cutter

Here's a thought for anyone confused about the calories count diets and weight loss. Next time your around a group of people.... inquire if any of them current own... or have EVER owned a car that for unexplained reasons.... stopped burning fuel.

Cars.... are much like people. They need fuel for movement. And with cars and/or people.... mileage may vary slightly by how it is operated. If your weekly driving travels cause you to predictably burn 10 gallons of gasoline a week. Altering your way of driving may save you a quart or so of gasoline a week.... or burn a little extra. The difference will be measurable... but not huge.

Exercise will help a diet. But it isn't needed for weight loss. Thousands of children will starve to death this year.... without even trying. Most... don't even own a bicycle.

I lost my weight using a diet app myself. And yes I tracked my exercise calories [burned] as well. But I didn't eat EXTRA to make up for the exercise. That is just your food addicted mind playing tricks with your thinking. If you want to lose weight: EAT LESS... and bicycle more.

prathmann

This seems like a really high estimate. Using the Analytic Cycling site (https://www.analyticcycling.com/FitMonitor_Page.html) and assuming level ground for 20 miles at 14 mph gives a power output of 64 W for 86 minutes which is eq. to about 316 kcal at a metabolic efficiency of 25%. If you add in some hills the number would go up, but unless it's really substantial climbing I'd be surprised to see much over 500 kcals for that speed and distance.

So I'd expect the few hundred extra kcals you're consuming to essentially make up for the energy expended while cycling. Then there's the question of whether your other energy expenditures have changed. If you get done with cycling and then plop down on a couch for a while when otherwise you engaged in more energetic activities then that could certainly affect the results. Finally there's the problem that weight loss rarely follows a nice orderly progression - it's not uncommon to have some significant losses followed by a plateau or even increase despite keeping intake and activity levels as constant as possible. Most people find that over the long run cycling makes it easier to lose weight as long as they keep their food intake from rising to compensate. So I wouldn't recommend giving up the cycling based on a short-term setback.

stephtu

What was your intake goal, and did you ever try say (intake goal - 500) for an extended period? Did you weigh your food? Were you "eating back exercise calories" as the MFP approach recommends?

There are several things that are critical, and unfortunately all these numbers are estimates, and easy to get wrong, and by quite a lot:
1. Your maintenance calories/TDEE/BMR etc. The calculators only are based on population averages. You, OTOH might be below average and need to go lower.
2. Food intake. Studies have shown that most people, even professional nutritionists, underestimate intake, by quite a lot in some cases. To get anywhere close to accurate you must weigh portions! It's a big hassle though, I don't do it, then again I didn't have trouble losing. If I had I suppose I would have resorted to this at some point.
3. Exercise calories, particularly if you are taking the MFP approach of "eating them back". Unfortunately most calculators wildly overestimate the true amount of calories you are burning. I'd cut by 50% if "eating them back".

The combination of all 3 sources of error is easily enough to cancel out a supposed 500kcal/day deficit targeting 1 pound per week loss, and leave one holding steady instead.

So IMO, you either get a lot more accurate with measurement, or simply keep on ratcheting down your target by a few hundred calories per day, until the target is low enough that after underestimation is taken into account you have a real deficit and the weight starts dropping off. If you get to the point where you are ratcheting down 750 kcal/day from your current "holding steady" intake and still aren't losing, then I'd see a physician.

Northwestrider

4 pounds in a week, mean a caloric imbalance of 2000 calories per day ! So I doubt that the weight you have added is fat . Is there any chance you have added an excessive amount of salt, that may make you retain water ? Yes, your 20 miles at 14 mph is at least 900 calories per day, so there is no way I can believe there is not some other part of the equation not yet discovered. However there is no way bicycling is the cause of any added weight. Keeping it up is the way to health. Good luck to you. BTW, I really do believe it is water retention that is the problem.

ISPringle

That's the thing, I can't think of anything. I've been eating quinoa this week instead of bread, but I have balanced out the calories and there is less salt in that. Every other aspect of my diet has stayed the same, and this is not the first time I've eaten the quinoa instead of bread, so I can't think of any sodium increase. Which is why I was wondering/hoping that maybe an increase in exercise has somehow made my body hold onto the water, after all I sweat a lot! I don't know how the pros calculate sweat loss in an hour, but in an hour on a stationary bike my clothing plus the towel under the bike gained just under 2 pounds in weight, meaning I sweat nearly 2L/hour.

My other thought was maybe my body is holding onto more carbs than it normally does, which would be stored in the muscles, and result in more water being held onto. I hope that's what it is.

Don't know about the calories from cycling. I only know that my two bike apps (Strava and MapMyRide) both say I am expending 1100 calories per ride, which is 20.4 miles, at a 14 mph pace with 4000 feet of gain. My calorie tracking app says that it's 1000 calories, and it tells me I can eat up to 400 calories a day more because of this (it's programmed not to let me eat less than the needed for 2 pounds a week). The few online calculators I consulted all also suggested the same rough calorie thing, but like you said it doesn't matter because either way the addition of 400 calories is negated by the riding regardless.

My days have not changed beside the cycling, and the sleeping much earlier. I have a fairly active job which involves lots of walking and pulling 200 to 1200 pounds.

I have noticed that I am absolutely starving now that I am riding, but it hasn't made me eat more, except that I have upped my serving size by roughly 400 calories over the course of lunch and dinner. Is it odd that my appetite has gone from not really existent (I often forget to eat meals, and am only reminded because my phone tells me) to ravenous?

Solare

Has your stool expulsion changed? If it has decrease that could explain your gain and cutting back on water can cause the decrease.

Northwestrider

I hope the OP hasn't been cutting back on water, that can help to plug one up, which of course is not good. IMO just relax, if you are consuming the amount mentioned and you continue your bicycling you will lose weight. You have to, unless there is an unexplained reason for water retention. You will lose the weight. Just chill, drink plenty of water, exercise, don't starve yourself, be a little more patient, it'll come off. You said you wish to be at 160 by September, you have time, IF you don't rush. The way to reach 160 ( temporarily ) is to rush, but your going for the long haul, take your time. Let us know how you are doing next month.

bbeasley

Congratulations on your riding! I'll bet you feel much better.

Many of us have the same problem you describe. I suspect, certainly in my case, we're poor judges of portion size. With the increased appetite from your efforts it's really tough to manage. Here's a thought for you: For profit companies like Weight Watchers run from publishing any statistics about their long term outcomes. The reason is it's abysmal. Independent *research points to a 3% chance of losing 30Lbs or more and keeping it off more than 3 years. Good news is many of us in this forum blow that statistic away. Cycling is an important piece to the puzzle.

Eat often, mostly green. Ride lot's, mostly fast. You'll get there.

*I'm a guinea pig in a long term study for folks who have beat the 3/30/3 statistic

ill.clyde

Here's the thing ... those apps and their calculators are notoriously wrong. I use my heart rate monitor to correct them, but even that, I feel, is sometimes too high of a count. In fact, I've done the same ride, same pace, both with an HRM and without and relied on the app to calculate caloric burn, and the app put me between 300-500 calories OVER what the HRM said.

Dave's right on track here ... 20 mile rides do not require you to "refuel" after a ride.

If you want to lose weight, it's best to under estimate your caloric burn and over estimate your portions. Get a scale, weigh your food, you'll be surprised at just how much you eat.

And no, it doesn't seem odd to me that you're ravenous. I get the same way. Generally a big glass of water staves that feeling off.

pvillemasher

Same here, my HRM calculated a much lower calorie burn than the apps. And I believe even the HRM may be a little optimistic.

Nothing I've read or heard would indicate that there's anything inherently unique to cycling that would cause someone to gain weight (the muscle mass theory, etc.).

Pretty simple - Your "goes ins" are greater than your "goes outs" calorie-wise.

IBOHUNT

On line calculators are inherently wrong.
As an example, last night I did 20 miles with 1,100' elevation gain and according to my power meter I used 915kJ which is roughly the equivalent of calories.

For myself, I'd think 20 miles @ 14 mph = ~500 calories.

IBOHUNT

^+1

Sig worthy quote right there

RISKDR1

1400 to 1800 caleries a day seems a bit light for someone riding a lot. Chances are you are losing muscle mass and lowering your metabolism. Also, the composition of your diet is important. If your diet is high in sugar or carbs you may be triggering a fat storage response. The other thing that might happen is you maybe be gaining muscle mass while losing fat but showing a net gain on the scale. This seems unlikely though because it might be hard to gain muscle if you are not doing resistance training and getting enough protein . Are your measurements getting smaller, particularly in the waist or is your waist getting larger? So many possibilities here and you have not told us everything. Your age is important as well.

When I started cycling back in my youth (33) the weight fell off of me and I ate everything in sight. I did also do a lot of resistance training and gained a lot of muscle (which helps in losing fat). At 70 it is much harder now.

ISPringle

Okay, I'll give a week of biking + no caloric increase from the usual roughly 1400 a day and see how things work out.

At what point should I start consider eating on a bike ride (I don't currently) or eating after one with the express purpose of "refueling" (I don't do this either, actually I'm very not hungry after a bike ride). I ask because Friday I will attempt my first 40 mile ride. Next week I'm upping it to 30 a day, and next friday/saturday (whenever I have off) would be my first 100k. The week after that I will up it again to 40 a day, with another 100k at the end of the week (interested in seeing how/if ride time decreases). I will level out at 50 mile rides a day the week after that and keep that for a while, with one long ride at the end of each week. I have two centuries coming up, one is within a month, and the other within 6 weeks. Additionally I have a 300 mile, 4 day Tour coming up in just shy of two months.

And, I'm also curious, does riding a single speed with 77 GI change the calorie output on my part? I ask out of curiosity, not trying to be argumentative, as nothing that has calculated my caloric output has asked for my gearing, but it seems like it should change it somehow, since I have to pedal faster on flats and pedal harder on inclines.

I'm 22.

That's why I initially bumped it up to 1800, because I felt like 1400 calories was far too low for any person who is regularly expending energy, a decent amount (whether it's 1200 or 500 or whatever someone on the lower side said). I have lost a net total of 5 pounds of muscle since I began measuring my body fat% when I weighed 260 pounds. My Sunday weigh ins include my BF%, and I did one last night and I should still have the same muscle weight as I did on Sunday, so I do not think that's the case.

My diet looks like this:
Breakfast- Oatmeal, 1/2 cup dry. Egg beater, 1/4 cup. An inconsequential amount of hot sauce.
Lunch (varies but usually follows roughly something like this)- Carb/Fiber (Usually low cal, 35 per slice, bread, 2 slices, or quinoa, 1/4 cup dry), Tuna fish (low sodium), 1 can.
Dinner (again varies as I don't cook dinner)- Vegetables (usually steamed), 1 to 2 cups. Meat (mostly chicken occasionally beef), never more than 200 calories (6oz chicken or 3 oz beef).
Dessert- 1 serving of berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or banana)

Additionally I consume snacks in between these meals. The usual snack is 1 serving of fig newton (100 calories). I eat them between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner, the purpose being to bring up my calorie intake so that I will see 1400 by day's end. Also, every other day I will substitute either lunch or dinner with 10oz of salad mix (usually romaine lettuce, sometimes a spring mix, rarely spinach), cucumber, 2 servings of croutons (70 cal), and olive oil and vinegar.

I do doubt I am gaining muscle. I have a decent amount of muscle, focused mostly in my back and legs. I have lifted weights in the past (less than two months ago) and was hitting PRs of 450 in the olympic squat. If anything I am going to see muscle loss, which I have not seen yet.

Null66

Nope and nope...


Gluteus Maximus largest muscle.

It takes a lot to gain enough muscle to seen on a scale. A very pleasant thought, but certainly not true.

Riding a little ain't it...