Originally Posted by
bruce19
1) At age 70 ...
2) Since April I've been riding 2-3 times a week for 70-80 miles ...
3) A couple weeks ago I was down to 188 lbs. Encouraged, I began keeping track of food intake and have been consuming 2,000 cals. a day on average. I've also done some good rides where I burned 2-3,000 cals. The result? I've gained 2.5 lbs ...
4) Can I quote absolutely accurate numbers? Probably not. ...
5) It's also been 5 days since my last ride. It was a fairly strenuous one. About 50 miles with 3200 ft. of climbing, most of which was in the first 30 miles. So, is it still water retention? ...
6) I went out for a ride with my gf yesterday. It was only 24.5 mi. with approx. 1300 ft. of climbing. The climbing is basically in the middle of the ride so it does slow you down. We finished at 14.4 mph but more importantly my legs ached and I felt tired the entire ride.
1) Sorry but ... you won't have the same results as you would if you were 20.
2) Good ... but not much of a calorie burn.
3) Estimate high on the calorie intake (actually you can get a pretty accurate idea if you weigh and measure you food and log it into a site like MyFitnessPal). Estimate low on the calories burned.
And it's only been a couple weeks? That happens. Weight loss takes time. Weight loss is not linear. Weight loss does not happen exactly when we think it should. Lots of things affect weight loss such as ... exercise, the amount of sodium in our diet, the amount we drink, the weight of the food we eat. Food and beverages have weight.
4) You can tighten the accuracy up a bit.
5) Could still be water retention ... especially if you ate and are still eating foods high in sodium.
6) That happens. Especially after not riding for 6 days. But it probably wouldn't hurt to increase your carbs. Remember, when it comes to weight loss, only calories count.
And google "the starvation mode myth".