bicycletothesun

I'm eating 2470 calories a day and still losing 1 pound a week.

But should I be eating 2470 on the 1-2 days a week where I don't ride at all (recovery days)? Or should it be at the BMR (~1860)?

Hypothetical question:

If Joe consumes 3000 calories every single day and he burns 1000 every single day (a deficit), will he lose weight? Or to lose weight does it need to be in the sub 2000 calorie range AFTER cardio? Or to lose weight does the total caloric value need to be close or below the BMR AFTER working out? I hope this makes sense, if not, my computer.

gregf83 

It depends if you want to lose more than 1 lb a week. I would just stick with your current approach as it seems to be working.

You'll need to reword the question below as it is not clear what you are asking
I assume you mean he is burning 4000 Cals/day for a deficit of 1000 in which case he would, of course, lose weight.

Not sure what you are talking about here. To calculate your deficit for the day just subtract your total caloric expenditure from your caloric input. The total expenditure includes an estimate of your normal daily output plus any additional exercise you do.

DeweyJuice

You might be overthinking this. Just add up the calories for a week and make sure you burn more than you eat. I believe 1lb is about 3500 calories. So you must be burning about 3500 more than you eat in a week. If you are losing 1lb per week I wouldn't change anything if weight loss is your goal. If you over-do it, you might have more troubles biking and losing weight.

Dubbayoo

Yes, I would eat a little less on less active days.

Lamp-Shade

I have problems with this too. I have been trying to rid myself of an eating disorder and I notice it is infinitely harder for me to eat on a rest or easy day than it is a training day. I tend to not eat enough on training days, and the hunger carries over to rest days.
Rest day nutrition is still important. It's time to give your body the proper materials to build a stronger body. Try not to focus on the amount you are eating, but instead WHAT you are eating. Sure, you can stuff your face with pasta on training days and get away with it, but on rest days that's just to hedonistic for weight loss. Experiment with vegetables you haven't eaten before. Look up recipes on the internet for them. Try and find filling, micro-nutrient dense food that you actually like, and eat as much of these as you can on your rest days (I like Asian style broccoli, cinnamon carrots, and cabbage soup, myself. All mixed with lots of protein, of course.)
But honestly, I'm probably the last person to take advice from. My relationship with food is still extremely skewed.

eshvanu

I eat about the same every day. *shrug*

ChltCat

I actually have the same question...but I don't think I'm eating enough on the days that I ride.

On the days I don't ride, I of course eat less..but that's just my brain saying "hey, you're not burning anything off..so don't over due it"

I'm still new to all this but..An hr of cycling burns approx 600 calories right? And of course we all know speed and all that other good stuff goes into to it as well, but an average of 15 mph burns about that much..well ...from what I've always known...Food intake-exercise=net calories..I use Livestrong to calculate how many calories I should be eating daily..I changed it yesterday from sedentary to lightly active since I now ride 3-4 days a week and am starting to do yoga on my days off..it jumped from1225 calories a day to 1650...

does that mean that I should be eating 2250 calories on the days that I ride to equal 1650 net calories? if so, how the f*ck do I eat that much without it being crappy food? 2 out of the 4 days I ride after work..and I honestly don't have much of an appetite after I ride..and then it's time for bed..the thought of actually eating more baffles me, but I do know if you're not eating enough, your body has nothing to eat so to speak so it's not burning calories in turn...no weight loss

does any of this make sense or am I just babbling

gregf83 

Riding at 15mph on the flats will burn more like 400 Cals/hr so you're probably overestimating your expenditures.