I am dismayed at how low my "maintenance" calorie intake is, at 50 y/o. Above 1800 cal/day, I gain weight. Somewhere around 1700-1800 cal/day is my maintenance level. That is even with daily commute, shopping, and errand riding - which admittedly is only about 50 miles/week, but I don't take it easy in the daily riding, I actually push harder than I do on "fun" or "exercise" rides.
This situation doesn't fit with any calorie burn calculator I've found online, and I don't really understand it. A few years ago I lost 30 lb (from 216 lb) by eating 1400 cal/day, which everyone tells me is too low, so maybe that wasn't great for my metabolism, but that was 2-3 years ago, so by now I think my metabolism "is what it is."
To gradually lose weight during the winter I will have to figure out how to fit interesting food and local Portland micro-brews into a 1600 cal/day budget. A daily pint of stout or IPA is about 200 cal, so that leaves 1400 cal/day for food. Well, cooking is one of my primary hobbies, I just will have to get creative about making interesting meals that are lower-calorie. I can't possibly go vegan; interesting food is too important to me.
I will also have to get in at least 3 to 5 few hours a week of reasonably hard, 600 cal/hour riding. That should be doable, with weeknight spin classes in the gym and some HTFU on the rainy weekends.
That is my plan!
Beer is my downfall too!
Heck I only have one or two a day but that makes it tough to lose weight. It does get tougher the older you get, lol.