Originally Posted by
conspiratemus1
Don't over-estimate the energy expenditure it takes to bike-tour. It's no more demanding than what used to be common occupations in the days before most jobs were done sitting down.
That's surely true, but these days many of us do have those sitting-down jobs, especially those of us posting on internet forums in the middle of the day. It's certainly easy to over-estimate your calories, but it's also possible to do the opposite. Bike touring may not compare well, calorie-wise, to day in the mines, but it sure uses up more energy than a day of printing up your TPS reports. I've been tracking my calories pretty carefully over the last year in an effort to get back to a healthier weight. I track what I eat and what I burn. On a day when I bike over 30 miles, I can eat almost 3 times as much as on a non-biking day and still lose weight. It's a pretty drastic difference because on a non-biking day, I pretty much do nothing.
Even so, there are more variables to consider. I've only been tracking calories in/out for a year, but I have about 3 years worth of weight data that is interesting. Each year for the past three years, I've taken at least one bike-camping trip of a week or so, on my own, because my wife does not camp, and I've taken a trip of week or so with my wife, my aunt, and my uncle staying at hotels or BnBs (and typically riding shorter days). Thanks to my weight data, I can see that I come back from my self-supported tours 3 to 5 pounds lighter. And I come back from those credit card tours 1 to 3 pounds heavier.
So how your touring can make a big difference, at least for me. If I could take a month off for a self-supported tour, I could probably eat whatever I wanted and be at my goal weight at the end of it. But if it's one of my wife's, BnB tours, I better pack some clothes that are one or two sizes up, because I'll need them by the end of the trip.