Originally Posted by
radroad
I've lost about 5 lbs this year. I've done very little riding. Maybe once or twice a week, tops. The weather doesn't help, and I'm being smart recovering from tendonitis.
Oddly enough, I lost zero weight riding 100-150 miles a week last year while car-lite. This year in just a couple of months, I've lost 5 lbs effortlessly. Here's the thing. When I ride regularly, I allow myself to eat more. I eat foods that are higher in fat. Net result: zero change in weight. This year, I'm riding a lot less. However, I'm more careful with what I eat. I figure, since I'm not riding very much, I can't afford to eat snacks or larger meals. The downside of course, is that I'm not as strong of a rider, but that's also obviously due to my recovering from tendonitis, which can take months.
Conclusion: exercise makes me stronger, but it's not making me any skinnier. Ironically, less exercise makes me skinnier. Psychologically, exercise that makes me sweat leads me to believe I've worked harder/burned more calories than exercise where I don't sweat like hiking, walking or weight training.
Interestingly, the forms of exercise where I don't sweat much may be much more healthy since they are all weight bearing forms of exercise. I'm not sure what the future holds as far as how much riding I do. I still enjoy riding obviously, but disappointed it hasn't worked out as far as weight loss.
For reference I am currently 165 lbs, but my "ideal" weight is closer to 150 lbs, my weight in college.
Weight loss occurs when you create a calorie deficit over time. Your body can throw up some road blocks to resist; lower the metabolism for awhile, that sort of thing, but over time, the key is to create a calorie deficit reliably, every week, and most days of every week.
You can create a calorie deficit by moving more, or by eating less, or both. For me, cutting out boredom grazing in the weeknight evenings, and instead going for a 15-25 mile ride, along with a longer ride on Saturday, I lost about 35 pounds from April through January, and leveled off at 32 down from my peak of 212. Leveled off because over the cold months I've been doing more weight training and less cardio work (less riding, for sure). So I'm seeing that flab continue to recede, but my weight came up a little in February.
That you lost no weight riding 100-150 miles per week indicates that you were not creating a calorie deficit. As you pointed out, you were allowing yourself more food. The mindset that I took when losing my weight was when confronted with a doughnut, bag of chips, or other tempting snack, consuming it would not help me get up the steeper hills around my area with less pain and effort. Not consuming it would help. Easy decision ant that point, because the hills around here are pretty difficult and I recognize that I need all the help I can get.
Maybe cycling just wasn't motivation enough to forego a portion of the calorie intake. But believe that if you layer back in 100-150 miles per week of riding, but only increase your caloric intake by another 100 to 200 calories per day from where you're currently at, your weight loss will accelerate and your fitness will improve (so long as you avoid repetitive stress injuries). This is because at 18 miles a day you're burning at least an extra 500 calories per day. If you live in hilly terrain that number climbs fast. Lets say you currently have a 500 calorie per day deficit, which results in losing a pound per week. Now add 125 miles of riding, but eat 200 calories more. That creates an additional 1700 calories per week of deficit. So instead of losing a pound per week, you'll be losing about 1.5 pounds. Maybe that's not a sustainable goal. Maybe your consumption goes up a little more. Fine, so you lose 1.25 pounds per week instead of 1. Either way, you're healthier for your efforts.