wolfchild

I get between 2600-3000 calories per day. It's a sweet spot for me. I am 6 feet tall and eating this way keeps my weight at 168-170 pounds, which is perfect. What about you ??.. How many calories per day do you eat and how much do you weigh ??

Buzzatronic

Gross calories: ~4,000
Net calories: ~2,850

I weigh 165 and ride ~175-200mi a week.

bbbean 

Net 1800-2000 cal/day keeps me between 165 and 170 lbs (5'9"). Desk job and riding an hour a day on weekdays and several hours a weekend.

Machka 

When I'm really paying attention, I try to keep the net calories between 1500 and 1800.

When I'm not paying attention, it creeps up a bit.

[HR][/HR]


What calorie counter do you all use?

Sixty Fiver

I randomly check calories...

2300-2500 day keeps me at my race weight (145) when I am not racing.

My wife is eating close to the same (2100-2300) and has been losing weight consistently.

Some days we eat more, some days we eat less...

bbbean 

My Fitness Pal, linked to Map My Ride and Fitbit accounts.

GeorgeBMac

For the past 30 days:
Calories in: 1,606/day
Calories out: 879

And, the that broke down into: 15% fat, 14% protein and the rest came from the "C" word...

And, during those 30 days I went from 178.4# to 171.2# and my waist size dropped from 36" to 34". But, with still having 40# of body fat on me, I have a bit more to go.

But actually, I am not trying to limit calories -- I eat when I am hungry and I eat as much as I want. In fact, I try to force myself to not skip any meals -- because, when I do, things fall apart fast while I play catchup using junk foods. But I do try to eliminate any excess calories that go over and above my need for satiety - especially calories from junk foods.

I use "MyNetDiary" to track my nutrition. I use it mostly to track macro and micro nutrients and don't pay a lot of attention to the calories. But, I like it: It's quick and easy to use (especially if you tend to eat a lot of the same foods -- as I do. And, it works well on the IPhone and has a nice website from which you can print a variety of charts and reports showing your progress (or lack of)...

Fat Boy

I go for about 2300/day plus something to compensate for workouts/activity. When I was trying to shed weight, I would target around 1800/day and I'd go to bed hungry every night.

Recently, I've actually been trying to put on a little weight/muscle. I've definitely put muscle on, but the weight itself isn't really coming up, which must mean that I'm leaning out a bit. To really do the job properly, I'd probably need to eat closer to 3000 calories, but I'm happy taking the weight gain slow and lean.

Sixty Fiver

Base level calories for the average male are 2000-2500

From the Canada food guide; minimum calories for men and women.

Estimated Energy Requirements - Canada's Food Guide - Health Canada

When I was working an intensive 8-10 hours a day and riding for at least 2 hours at moderate to high intensity I was eating 5000 calories a day and was slowly gaining muscle.

As I am able to pick up my activity level and ride more I figure I will need at least 3000 calories a day to maintain weight.... I don't like going to bed hungry.

According to these numbers 2000-2500 calories a day is the base amount for adult males who are sedentary, 1550-1900 for women who are sedentary.

Active people need 2500-3300 (M) and 2000-2400 (F) calories a day and the definition of active here is much less than many of the people here.

sprince

Around 4000 calories a day last time I added it up. I'm sitting at a desk most of the day and pay very little attention to my weight or caloric intake. Basically I eat when I'm hungry, which is generally 3-5 meals per day, depending on the day's activity level.

OldTryGuy

Haven't got a clue. Don't really stress over the numbers.

BigAura

I eat the number of calories required to keep my weight around 162 +/- 3 pounds. I hit 165 then I eat less calories. On any given day my caloric intake can vary a lot depending on activity and circumstance.

Weatherby

I am curious. How do you know how many calories?

I do the salad bar at work. I have no idea how many calories are in there. How would I know.

Do people actually weigh out every morsel of food that passes their lips?

Rowan

I don't know what my calorie intake is each day. My weight scale is the indicator of whether how the calories in versus calories out equation has worked each day.

I also wouldn't have a clue about how many calories I would take in and expend on any of the randonnees and centuries I have done. I can count on one hand the number of times I have bonked out of all those rides. However, I do know when I have not eaten enough and need to top-up, and whether I have eaten too much and have to endure several hours of lead legs and a bloated feeling.

wolfchild

There are websites that have information on the amount of calories in various types of foods. All foods at the grocery store even bulkfood section also have labels with nutritional info. I don't count my calories every single day, because I know exactly what I am getting based on the types of food and the amount of servings I eat every day.

Machka 

1. Which websites do you use?

2. How much time do you spend entering your food on the days you do count?


I have used FitDay, MyDailyPlate, and a beta program my University gave those who attended a particular class. And with all of them, I could end up spending half an hour or more each day finding the foods I ate and entering the information. I would use them for about 3 weeks, but then I couldn't be bothered anymore. I couldn't help but think that there had to be a better way.

I would like to start using a calorie calculator again ... but I don't know whether I can be bothered with how much time it takes up.

bbbean 

No scale, but with practice, you can get pretty close. I try to overestimate calories consumed and underestimate calories burned. 2 years of weight loss and 6 months of maintenance tell me I've gotten pretty good at it.

BB

bbbean 

How much time and effort is it worth to hit your goal and stay there?

I spend about 5 minutes after each meal entering foods. Well worth the results.

Machka 

Half an hour a day (or more) entering information is too long.

As I recall, one of my issues with the programs I used was that I was re-entering information every day. My food intake up to dinner time is quite similar every week day. For example, I have a banana just about every day for morning or afternoon tea during the week.

I couldn't understand why I couldn't just enter all the food I eat on Day 1 and then copy it for all subsequent weeks. Then if I occasionally ate something different, I could go in and make those changes.

Most recently, I've started experimenting with an Excel spreadsheet where I can do just that.

The B

I've never felt like calorie counters were accurate enough to say, and I've also found that even if I run pretty huge deficits, I still don't lose weight. Given that I ride a LOT, as well as hike, climb, and run, I've given up on the whole bull**** caloric expenditure science in general. My belly fat absolutely defies all natural laws, therefor they must be bull****.

:-)

Rowan

Define "a LOT", and how much alcohol do you drink each week?

Machka 

The other issue I had with these calorie counters (and I've noticed Nutrition Data has started to go this way too) is that they are very North American (and in particular US) based. So they'll have the calories for food from US specific fast food places, or US specific products ... and their emphasis seemed to be on packaged food.

The first couple times I tried them, I was in Canada and the last time I tried I was in Australia (still am) ... and it was impossible to find the packaged food I ate, and even somewhat difficult to locate certain unpackaged foods in the list. So I had to manually enter all the details about my food and try to save it. But half the time it wouldn't save so I'd have to do it all over again each day.

The last time I used one of these calculators was probably about 4 years ago ... so I hope they've made some improvements since.

wolfchild

I've used NutritionData.com, I've used Caloriecount and FitDay...But it's not really necessary to go on internet to check these things, because most foods at grocery stores have nutritional labels. If I buy a jug of milk or yogurt or eggs at the grocery store they all have nutritional labels, no need to spend a lot of time on internet. Even when I shop at a bulk food store each bin has a nutrition label on it....Now the government over here wants to make it a law for all restaurants, including fast food places to have a calorie count on every food item that they sell, they hoping that people will choose lower calorie foods to reduce obesity rates.

pakossa

Doesn't seem to matter how much I eat. Usually get 3,000 - 5,000 calories a day. I'm still skin and bones.

The B

150-200, generally ~180... and I'm usually riding hard. I actually don't drunk any alcohol, but I do drink a lot of creamer, and sometimes even put coffee in it. I'm sure that's my kryptonite, if it's anything.