siulonbow

I have been riding bike almost everyday in the last 3 months. I rode 10-15 miles 6 days a week, but I haven’t lost any weight. 3 months ago, I weigh 190 lbs and now I am still at 190. I don’t think I have lost my gut. I wondered if I have been doing anything wrong? My computer usually indicates that I have consumed about 600-1000 calories from riding bike everyday. I just don’t know why I am still maintaining the same weight. I eat the same portion of dinner as before; the only change is I will eat more rice for lunch to prepare for my evening ride. I am about 6 ft tall, and a little bit chubby. I feel like I should be able to lose at least 10 or more pounds. Can anyone please let me know if you have the same problem? If you do, how can you lose weight?

I usually ride at 6-7:30 at night, I wondered if I should have dinner right after I ride or should I wait 30 mins to an hour before I have dinner? I have read from somewhere that after a person swim (exercise), he/she should wait for 30 mins to eat; if not, the body will store extra fat in case of hunger again. My question is, when should I have my dinner?

Nick29

you're eating too much. Diet is more important than exercise when it comes to losing weight. Worry about calories first, then getting the right amounts of macronutrients (protein/carbs/fat). Meal timing has much less of an affect and is something to worry about after you have those things in check and are much leaner than you are now.

Pugsly

1. No way are you burning 600-1000 calories on a 10-15 mile ride. Figure 40 calories/mile max. If you are doing the same ride the same way every day then it is a lot less than that because your body has adapted to that level of exercise and exertion and become very efficient at it.

2. Keep a food and exercise diary. You'll find the answer you seek there.

ridethecliche

60-90 miles a week isn't much...

If you're only riding that much, you need to cut calories from your intake.

sakonnetclip

+1

Here's how I diet.

1) Eat less
2) Don't eat crap
3) Don't eat past 8pm
4) Eat something first thing when you wake up
5) Don't let yourself get too hungry
6) Feed a craving before it turns into a binge
7) Don't drink too much booze
8) Do drink a lot of water
9) Exercise

Also, you're on a diet so you don't need to carbo load at lunch, that's probably the worst thing you could be doing. It's not about the calories you burn when you ride as much as how the body responds by converting fat into quick burning energy days later. If you fill your tank with easy to burn fuel, your body will always use this first instead of converting fat. I believe this is also why too much alcohol slows your metabolism.

-spence

Breadpudding

I am in almost the same situation as the OP, little bit bigger and riding about the same. I've been wondering about eating less, but I in fact did that, just maybe not to the degree that I should. I generally just don't have time to ride more. =/

fallabel

(Calories in) - (Calories out) = Weight change

gomango

Post #5 is on the right track. Also, check your health plan. I bet you can get a trip to a dietician covered through your plan. You might need a referral first, so talk to your regular Dr. about this right away. If you are interested in really going for it, you are going to have to put in more saddle time, and/ our cardio at the club. As a base, I do about 275-300 miles per week, on varied terrain. Challenge yourself with your ride. Look for rollers and big hills. I mean stuff that looks like you have no chance on! Then, stick the thought into your head that you can do it. So much of this stuff is mental. At least for me it is. Oh, and by the way, I started riding with a group again six years ago. I had allowed myself to get into god awful condition. I woke up one morning and said that's it. I was at 253 pounds and steadily going north. Today, I am 181. Happy and going broke on bikes at an alarming rate.

cheval

You're doing 90ish miles a week now. OK good. for the next two months do these miles per week. 100, 110,122,100 then go 135,150,165,135. For rides less than two hours dont eat during the ride and drink only water.

cooleric1234

+1

Exactly my experience when I lost 45 pounds.

telebianchi

That's how I dropped 30 lb.

Don't listen to your computer's calorie count. It is wrong. Do some searches on HRM/calories and you'll read some of the reasons why, but the reasons don't really matter unless you like to know those things. I "trick" my HRM by setting my weight at 10lbs less than my actual. And then I record about 10% fewer calories than it reads at the end of a session.

Try using FitDay.com or other similar on-line calorie counters. One of my big issues had been eating simply too much food even though I didn't eat many "bad" things.

Increasing your mileage as mentioned above would help. But if you don't have time to do that, then increase your speed (which would, in turn, increase your mileage) or find routes with more hills. But after three months of the same thing it's time to start pushing your body harder...you can definitely handle that at this point.

Check out the Bike Forum's Training & Nutrition area. I got a lot of great info there just reading through existing threads.
https://www.bikeforums.net/training-nutrition/

Finally, great job on working at this for three months and not giving up because you don't see any changes on the scale. I would wager that you are in better shape now than when you started even though the weight is the same. Scales only show the effect of gravity on your mass. There is so much more to fitness than that one little number.

Good luck.

J.Lockdown

+1 to all of that.

4) Eating in the morning is very important as it gets your system going and burning. You go to any dietitian and they will tell you that. The quantity of what you eat for breakfast/ what you are eating is important to monitor however. Fruit and oatmeal and great things for breakfest.

7) Just stop drinking all together, saves you some calories per day

8) Drinking water is always a good thing. Dont substitute water with power drinks unless you are riding as it is just extra calories that you dont need. Drinking most juices are good but dont drink just certien things make sure there is a balance.

Couple other things:
1 - Keep a diary of the food you eat (if you ever see a nutritionist/ dietitian this will be there first request)
2 - Calories are not the only part to dieting, eating the right foods are just as important. Also certain foods takes longer to process so you will actually end up eating more before you feel full.
3 - Dont starve yourself as you will more then likely over eat later.
4 - Dont go overboard or bull blast with these changes, you will end up falling off the horse more likely. Slowly integrate new changes into your diet.

CatherinewithaC

I think you'd be better off doing 3 weekly rides of at least one hour each than six 30 min rides because when you exercise for less than one hour, your body doesn't kick into fat burning mode.

JoelS

Looks like your question has been answered. Rule of thumb:
If you're not loosing weight and think you should be, look to diet. The answers are there.

float

I was tri "training" for months but never changed my diet and was confused and a little pissed off that I wasn't losing any weight.

As soon as I changed my diet (read: started eating good food instead of crap) I dropped about 20 pounds fairly quickly. Granted, at ~240 to start with, I had pounds to lose, but still, it was rather dramatic in a relatively short period of time.

I don't know if that's your exact issue, but that's where I'd start.

BillyD

What you eat is equally as important as how much you eat.

Stop eating fast food, junk food, and fried food.

No more McDonalds and the like. No more potato chips, donuts, cookies, muffins and the like.

Go to the library or the bookstore and do some reading on eating healthy foods. Better yet, subscribe to Men's Health magazine. Every issue has tons of info on eating right. Remember, what you eat is what you are.

And like they've said above, burn off more calories than you take in and you must lose weight, period.

EKCooper

Doesn't the amount of calories you burn depend on age, amount of exertion and weight? Theoretically, he could be burning that amount of calories at his weight making vigorous effort I think.

Regardless, don't forget about all the gel and gu. You didn't mention those, but if you're eating a bunch of them (calories in) and only going short distances, I don't think you'll ever burn off any of your body's own fat - just the calories from the supplements.

I've been riding seriously (well, for me) for nearly 4 months while doing martial arts. I've lost 15 pounds by exercising and cutting back on the amount of food (and replacing breakfast tacos with fruit and desserts with 100 calorie packs). The food journal is the way to go so you know what you're really eating. Nonetheless, a sedentary lifestyle is more detrimental to your health than being slightly overweight. The fact that you're exercising is a step in the right direction!

ok_commuter

incorrect

abstractform20

if you want to lose weight because you are overweight, dont increase your calorie intake when you workout.

paste_me

You can easily do interval training or intense cardio for 30 minutes.

Velton

This is the greatest formula I have ever seen! All you questions can be answered right here!

Big Pete

Go to weight watchers and get there meal plan I guarentee you are eating to much food!

SAlso switch up the ride do long flats day one and short uphill sprints the next. Good luck just remeber you have to work it for it to work!

Talus

You are eating too, much or not the right things. I'm doing 90 miles a week right now and losing weight. Try to eat as many fresh veggies and fruits as you can. Cut out all fried foods and as much processed food and white flour and sugar as you can.

chadteck

A lot of good information here.

One thing I would like to add: I think your situation is common for someone that has recently started exercising regularly. You have probably gained some muscle and are eating a bit too much because the exercise is making you hungry. If you follow the advice in this thread, you should get it figured out.

Whenever I take a break from cycling and start back up, there always seems to be a short period where I gain a bit of weight, or am not losing weight as I think I should.

ImaPoser

10-15 miles in an hour to an hour and a half? Are you even increasing your heart rate? You could probably ride that pace all day and not get a noticeable calorie burn.

I started this spring riding about 40 miles a week. I just got to the point of riding 100+ miles a week the last two weeks. I am limited by houw much free time I can commit to riding. Riding hard when I have the time, and watching how much I eat(still haven't got that whole switching to something better for me part of the diet), I've dropped nearly 25 pounds so far.