Spicy McHaggis

First off, I'm a numbers guy. So if the answer(s) you give me can be qualified in numbers, that would be great!

I weigh 244lbs. 36 years old. 6'4" tall.

My BMR is 2310 calories.

Figuring in the Harris Benedict method of sedentary (x1.2) = 2775 calories to maintain current weight.
using slightly active (realistic for me this time of year) (x.1375) = 3180 calories to maintain current weight.

I burn approx. 500 calories per day with my short bicycle commute.
I dropped my calorie intake to 1500-1800 calories per day.

Adding (subtracting) the above numbers means I end up with a net of approximately 1300 intake calories per day. That's anywhere from 1500-1900 calories below the Harris Benedict numbers.

I've been doing this for about 3 weeks. I still weigh the same. I'm not any thinner. What the heck is going on??? I'm healthy in all other aspects. But something isn't working.

What am I missing? I'm eating good food (veggies, chicken, small portions of pasta), staying hydrated, avoiding junk snacks, doing what I thought I should be doing. But nothing is changing.

Any thoughts? I'd like to hear what you have to say - good and bad.

Thanks a ton!
Spicy

photonick

Do you eat breakfast in the morning and make sure you hit all three meals everyday or do you skip/combine meals. I know so many people who skip breakfast and it keeps weight on them and shock loads your pancreas

twobikes

Could you be adding muscle? It is several times more dense than any fat you are losing. It will also cause you to burn more calories. In short, be patient. I am not an expert, but I believe it will happen in time.

chris838

Im not a doctor or anything just offering a few suggestions that may help. Try increasing your protein, stay away from carbs after about 6pm. Avoid foods high in cholesterol and sodium. Get yourself a good multivitamin. Weighing yourself and checking your numbers everyday can make you feel as if you are not doing anything, but if you start to notice changes in your clothes and in you face, then you are doing something right. Don't stick to the numbers, try going for the feel.

Jarery

Back when I started cycling to lose weight it was close to a month before I started to see an effect on the scale.

Depending on how your counting your caloric intake, you may be overestimating the calories in. I know when I use fitday.com to measure my intake/expenditure, it tends to overestimate use and underestimate intake. I always end up setting fitday to 8 hours sleep + sedentary lifestyle, and then I overestimate all the foods I eat in order to get it closer to reality.

valygrl

What method are you using to track your intake?

aham23

this is correct in general, but even more so when using Fitday.com. this approach greatly helped me drop weight. later.

Indyv8a

The is also the theory that dropping caloric intake to drastically will put the body in a "starvation mode." Your body is shocked by the sudden drop in food intake and has gone to a lower metabolic rate to prevent too much weight loss. I've seen in a couple other threads that increasing caloric intake helps because it took the the metabolism back to normal, only with fewer incoming calories. YMMV.

BTW--I'm in the same boat. I've been trying to lose some weight for about a month, with next to no results. I am, on the other hand back on my bike, and if nothing else getting more exercise.

twobikes

I did lose about 15 pounds in a year. I tried to be a bit careful about what I eat and to bike quite a bit. It went with fits and starts. I would drop a couple of pounds, but then bounce up almost that amount. I would be careful about my eating and then eat a bunch of junk. I would ride regularly and then be out of town when I could not ride for a couple of weeks and need to start over again. Still, a year later I was, somehow, down 15 pounds.

A guy I met in Germany lost more than 40 pounds while getting ready for a half-marathon. He used a heart rate monitor. He swears exercising in the 60 to 70 percent of maximum heart rate really works for losing weight. I ride with an HRM, but need a long period of consistently better eating habits and no disruptions to my riding schedule to test it properly. You might also want to download "Cycling and Health." It recommends a bit more riding than you are doing, namely 40 to 60 or 70 minutes per day and doing that about two or three times a week. Then take a long ride of a couple of hours on the weekend. Snack on fruit rather than sweets and eat in a healthy way otherwise.

Nickel

I would use body fat % as a better way of measuring. Do you input everything that you are eating into a program like fitday?

Roody

1. How long is your "short commute"? To burn 500, it must be about 12.5 miles.
2. Most people underestimate calories consumed by a lot.
3. Trying to figure every calorie is probably taking you 15 to 30 minutes a day. Use that time to ride your bike or lift weights instead.
4. Bottom line: if you're not losing, you are eating too much. All the math in the world won't change that simple fact.

flip18436572

Remember that losing weight, with being somewhat active, is going to be gaining some muscle while trying to burn some fat. What really works for me, is to change what I am eating and change what I am doing physically to burn calories. Try interval workouts on the bike, or run/jog or jog/run/walk. Getting your heart rate up is a big thing. A 500 calorie burn on a bicycle would take me an hour of hard riding, where running I can do the same thing in less time.

Are you eating within about 30 minutes of your bicycle ride/commute? My problem with using commute time as exercise, either I do a really hard work out, or I don't consider it much exercise. If I ride hard, I will need a shower when I arrive.

SSP

^^^ All very good advice. ^^^

Especially the last point...nobody is immune to the Laws of Physics. At the end of the day, it's all about Calories In vs. Calories Out (averaged out over time).

To the OP:

1) Be very careful not to "reward" yourself with food when you exercise.

2) Be very careful not to "let yourself go" with respect to food quantity and food choices. It's really easy to subvert a good exercise program with one or two "bad" days each week.

3) Identify your "substance abuse" foods, and get them out of your house/environment. For some guys, that's things like pizza and beer. For me, it's the "C's" (cookies, cake, and anything chocolate). If they're not in the cupboard, you can't eat 'em.

4) Be aware of "mindless" eating associated with stress or time of day. I have to be very careful in the evenings...I can be good all day long, and then blow it in a few hours of evening snacking if I'm not careful.


Keep after it...don't give up...and, best of luck.

tdbmd

Consider the relationship with fat/carb metabolism with intensity and duration. Make sure you are using adequate duration and not overdoing the intensity. The reason being, that as duration increases, your metabolism shifts towards burning fat from buring carbs. The other part is that as intensity increases, you shift towards carb as a source vs. fat as a source.

So, increase the duration of your activity, as you approach 90-120 minutes, the metabolism is generally 98% fat vs. carb and keep your intensity down in the 40-50% of VO2 max range, because as you get closer to your VO2 max, the carbs begin to make up more and more of the energy source. Now, this is true for weight loss, not race prep so if that is your goal, you also need speed training, intervals, climbing whatever for your race. Good luck.

Rowdy

When I usually plateau it means that I have to increase my intensity in my workouts. I am not big on decreasing calories because I don't want my metabolism to drop. I do more hill intervals on the bike or run.

Spicy McHaggis

Yes, I always eat breakfast. It's usually the "biggest" meal of the day for me. Because of my ease of becoming hypoglycemic, I try and eat 4 small meals per day.

Spicy McHaggis

Unfortunately, no I'm not adding muscle. What you see for my "workout" (aka my commute) is all that I am able to do during the day. I try and add more workout time, but it's damn near impossible, which is why I commute.

Spicy McHaggis

Thanks. I try and avoid eating anything late at night, but I always need something to avoid crashing with hypoglycemia. I only weigh myself once a week, so I'm not concentrating on the pounds. The frusteration is because I'm not seeing the belt get ANY tighter, and my face (where my weight really shows) hasn't changed either.

Spicy McHaggis

I hadn't heard of fitday.com, will check it out. I'm 99% sure I'm doing the calorie "counting" correctly. And unless I am WAY off (like 1000 calories per day), I don't think it would matter too much since I'm so low on calories anyhow.

Thanks!

Spicy McHaggis

A pen and paper.

Seriously.

Spicy McHaggis

Interesting...that very well could be the case. I have been doing some reading about it and I may have dropped my intake too low...

Spicy McHaggis

No, I use a calculator, pen, and notepad...

Spicy McHaggis

1 - Short commute is about 3.5 miles one way. At about 12-14mph and riding for about 15-20 mins (it varies on weather), I figure about 250 calories per ride.
2 - I overestimate usually.
3 - It only takes a few minutes, and I write down the calories as I'm eating, so it doesn't add much time at all to my day.
4 - Understood...but how can 1200-1500 calories per day be too much for a 6'4", 24_# guy?

Spicy McHaggis

Thanks to everyone who replied. I'm out the door back to work now, but wanted to get a few replies in.

I know that ultimately for me, the best way to lose weight is to ride, ride, ride! It worked before...but then again I had a lot of free time. Now I am on call 24/7, and need to be able to respond within 15 minutes of getting a call. I know it's easy to make excuses, but this is one I can't avoid - it's the nature of my job.

I'm going to try and work some more time in during the day, but I'm afraid it will impact my sleep...and me without 8 hours of sleep is NOT a good thing! lol

Thanks again to everyone!

RCordone

When I had to lose 60lbs I went through these plateaus where it would seem that I wouldn't drop a pound for 2 to 3 weeks and then in the course of one week I would lose 10 lbs. One thing I started doing different was only weighing myself once a week, weighing myself every day or two was making me crazy. Paper and pad was also how I tracked calories. I rounded everything up to the next 50 or hundred to make it easier to keep the calorie count in my head.

Ten years later I still track calories but I don't need to record it anymore. I still stay away from fried foods like potatoes and chicken. When I go to out to dinner I eat all of the salad ( no cream dressings) and usually take 1/2 the entree' home. I never eat more than 3 oz of meat in one sitting. Ice cream and other desserts are a rare treat. It is no longer a conscious effort it is my the normal diet

Hardest part for me to get over was the food reward thing. Now,instead of rewarding myself after a tough ride by eating a 16" pizza,I let a small scoop of frozen yogurt, a 32 waist and good looking a55 in Lycra at age 52 be the reward.