So for the last 2 months I have been riding alot. Next year I am planing a trip to ride across county and I want to get BACK in shape. Before I started riding I weighed 265 Lb. Not light but that is what I am working at reducing. I use MapMyRide iPhone aop to track progress. In that last 2 months I have ridden 27 times and averaged almost 500 miles and 40K calories burned. included image.

So yesterday I rode for 4.5 hours and did 50 miles and 4300 calories burned. Today I step on the scale and I was 271!!! Up 6 pounds? Is my body freaking out at my longer rides and retaining more water or food? Last 2 months my legs have been getting bigger and cloths fit slightly looser, slightly not much... so I know some is fat to muscle conversion. But gain 6 pounds in 1 day my normal BMR is 2200 cals and I did an extra 4300 for a total of 6500 calories consumption. Yet my body gained instead of lost?

What is happening internally to cause this? Is my body in shock because I push it and retains everything? I eat the same types of foods daily in the same quantity so I was in shock to see 271.

Just make sure you aren't eating more in general since you started riding. Working out makes me really hungry heh.

Don't obsess over weight, just keep riding. Your metabolism will go through adjustment and eventually as your activity level overcomes your ingest of calories, you will lose weight. Over time with the activity, your metabolism can increase so general calorie consumption will rise and this also happens as you add muscle too.

Also, those calorie estimators are a bit hoaky, so they aren't the gospel.

Glad to hear you did the ride well hydrated or you became well re-hydrated after! A mere pint of water weighs about a pound. My weight fluctuates almost + or - 4 pounds --- way too short term to be anything but hydration and digestive system contents.

Don in Austin

I also started riding recently, my goal is a century in the mountains next summer.
In the 7 weeks I've been riding I've ridden over 700 miles, and I've lost 12 pounds. I use the Livestrong app to track my calories, the MapMyRide app to track my rides, and my heart rate monitor to estimate my calories burned. MapMyRide estimates about 50% more calories burned for a ride than my heart rate monitor. I assume my HR monitor is pretty close since I set it up with my profile.
Before I started using Livestrong, I over ate a lot. And Livestrong also shows the macro nutrient breakdown (Fat, Carbs, Protein) which nudges me to eat more protein than I might otherwise.

I guess my point is this - When I just rode a lot and ate a lot I didn't get the results I wanted. Once I started looking a bit closer at what I was doing, and acting accordingly, I started to get the results.

My weight will frequently increase after a hard ride. Partly you're holding water, and partly your muscles are swollen, or maybe that's the same thing. You'll probably pee a river tomorrow.

Most HRMs overestimate calories burned by at least 50%. I'm convinced that's in the design directive to the engineers. The simplest way to get calories burned is to weigh yourself. If you aren't losing weight, you're eating as much or more than you're burning, no matter what the HRM says. A good average to figure is 40 kcal./mile. I pay no attention to calculating either calories in or out. It takes time I could be better employing to exercise or do other things. I just weigh myself. 1/2 lb.-1 lb./week is a good goal. You miss that goal, try eating less. Wrap your head around the idea that hunger is healthy. Not being hungry is unhealthy.

The other thing you'll see is that your weight will fluctuate according to the glycogen content of your muscles, maybe 4 lbs. If you work out while not eating enough, you'll lose weight really fast for about 4 days, then plateau. Then you'll go to a party and eat and put it all back on: not fat, but glycogen. OTOH, glycogen is a good thing, because it enables you to burn more fat calories by riding harder for longer. So getting glycogen depleted all the time isn't the best thing. Better to cycle it: let it go up and down. Most folks do that on a weekly cycle. You're looking to see if your lowest weekly weight goes down or not. It should if you're doing it right.

That is good advice folks. I did some web searches today and found many people saying the same thing. I have not changed my diet at all and was eating enough to not go up or down from my 265. I assumed eating the same and adding lots of miles on my bike would equate to weight loss. But to find out that the apps double the amount sucks, 40cals / 1 mile will be my new goal and perhaps I should curb my intake.

It was just such a disappointment that after my longest ride of 50 miles, the scale the next morning was the hiest I had seen. Water retention, swollen mussels would explain it. At least I now kind of have an idea of what is happening internally after a workout.

Thanks.

Except that 4.5 hours of cycling is more like 2250 calories burned ... 500 calories per hour. Possibly even less than that.

And yes, there can be water retention after long rides, although it usually only comes into play after long rides ... i.e. centuries. However, it could happen on shorter rides.

At 265lbs he's likely burning a little more than 500 cal per hour, but yeah the 4300 for 4.5 hours of riding number seems really high. I rode 125mi in 8 hours (moving time) in July and my calories burned was just under 4K according to Garmin 510 (w/ HRM, speed and cadence sensors).

Anyway OP, I lost about 80lbs last year in about 8 months (without cycling at all) and the key wasn't exercise for me, it was controlling calories plain and simple. In my opinion it's *much* easier to burn off lbs by not eating as much than it is to burn off lbs via sweat alone. Moderate exercise is a great compliment to calorie deficits (I walked 2-3mi 5 days a week) but sweating alone rarely results in significant and maintainable weight loss.

I'd recommend you keep riding to get stronger *AND* focus on a calorie deficit based on your target TDEE. I'm 6' and 165 now and my TDEE is about 2400 calories a day. If I want to drop a few lbs, I'll intake 2100 or so for a few weeks while still riding my bike. Note this is a NET intake, not total, so on days I commute (22mi round trip) I typically eat 3000-3500 calories but subtract 800-1000 for my ride.

It's all really just math, I'd suggest a spreadsheet to track it all.

Perfect. This is what I was going to ask and you answered it. I know at 265 I burn more calories then a person who is lighter. The info that I had came from MapMyRide app that tells you what you lost on your ride based on your weight and time ridden. Now that I know it is off and hear what you say about a diet adjustment I will include that in to my day to day life. I was hoping I could just increase my workout and keep the diet but that seems to be out the window.

Thanks for the Data and info.

Maybe I'm the only one old enough to see this, But have you taken a #2 recently. My weight will drift up for several days, and then I blow out, and drop back down, sometimes below. AND NO, my digestive system is NOT NORMAL.

Glad to help. I tried the "just burn it off" losing weight many times before and I rarely dropped for than a few lbs before hitting the wall and no matter how hard I worked on the treadmill or elliptical, I couldn't lose any more weight. I figured I didn't have to change what I ate, I could just burn it all off with exercise and it never worked. :/

My last birthday I decided I was done trying to lose weight and was ready to actually succeed and my goal was to be at a healthy BMI by the time I was 40 (just 12 months away). Here was my very simple but effective plan.

1. Run a significant calorie deficit. For the first 3 months my average calorie intake after deducting exercise was just under 1400. This may be too low for some people so don't use this as a benchmark, do what feels right for you. If 1400 calories puts you in a place where you're not starving, awesome. If that number is 1700, that's awesome too, anything under 2,000 calories is likely going to start bringing your weight down.
2. Every day after my lunch (usually a salad at my desk), I'd walk around the buildings at work. These started as very short walks, 15-20 minutes and I'd get tired. By the start of the 4th month, these walks were 30-45 minutes and I'd feel less tired after. Later in the process I started seeking out longer walks on the weekend. My longest was a 10mi walk from my house to a beach and back.
3. Cut out french fries. For me this was a personal choice to give up something tangible as a way to remind myself that I'm going to succeed this time. It also made it easier to cut out my 4x/week fast food lunch habit. It was symbolic mostly, but I'm sure it helped calorie wise as well.

Only after I finished my weight loss and hit a low of 162lbs did I even buy a bike and start riding. Did a double century (2-day) ride in July from Seattle to Portland as a milestone ride.

Now I'm maintaining 165lbs and netting 2700 calories a day over the last 3 months. I ride an average of 100-150mi a week.

As someone who has lost the amount of weight you're trying to lose, I can tell you that it is totally possible and it's surprisingly EASY when you figure out the right combination that's right for your body and lifestyle. Don't give up.

Its good to hear these stories. I was attributing the "not loosing weight" to gaining equal mussel to fat loss weight. My legs are getting larger but diet will be key too. But I am glad I asked about the cal burn and should plan to knock of 50% of what mapMyRide says I lost.

Sammy J- I #2 daily. But the jump from 265 to 271 made no sense at first till it was explained. It seemed that the harder I worked out the higher the scale number is the next day. but inflammation and water retention. We'll see what happen in the next couple of days. Although my new Sella Anatomica seat arrived today and I want to ride tonihgt!

Weigh yourself every day at the same time. But don't worry about what the number is. Really.

Keep an average for each week. This is "interesting" data.

Keep an average for each month. This is a meaningful number that smoothes out the daily fluctuations caused by hard rides, weather, digestive, whatever. Mostly pay attention to the direction it moves from month to month, up or down.

A little bit more, perhaps ... but not much. Also, any calculations you make should be done based on your goal weight, not current weight.

Your 40k Calories in 2 months for 500 mi is probably closer to 20k. That is about 350 Calories per day. So now if you eat only an extra banana a day for all the exercise that leaves a 250 Calorie deficit. And then comes the big one, the uncertainty in all these numbers. The 20k could be between 15k and 25k, depending on wind and grade, the 2200 you mention can be easily 200 more or less. And your estimate of how much you eat can be also 200 more or less. That should give you an idea of why it is possible that your weight remained constant while you put in all that effort.

I am riding over 100 miles per week and my weight remains exactly constant. If I want to loose weight, I need to make an effort to eat less than my appetite. Meaning a slight feeling of hunger. So it is with your diet that you controll your weight. Even if you could drop weight by riding 500 Cal per day and maintain your diet constant, guess what would happen when you start riding less again?

I've experienced this a bit. Your clothes and your mirror will tell you what's going on for real but here are the two things I went through:

- Weight stayed the same, body changed. Clothes fit differently in a good way. I was gaining muscle and losing fat. I'm ok with this.

- Weight increased, body changed, clothes fit differently in a bad way. I was over-eating to make sure I was recovering and preparing for some long rides I had coming up. Fear-eating I called it. I've recently lost 75lbs and I gained 5lbs of it back because of this. Last week I got control of this am not back on a good track.

As has been mentioned the calorie calculators are shaky. You on a road bike in an aggressive posture will burn less than you on a hybrid sitting upright going the same speed.

A couple of things to keep in mind and this is in no way meant to be discouraging.

1. Online calculators for calories burned are so far off on a correct number as to be useless. While still no perfect, I have settled on a number that I account for as a "per mile" value. In my reading I received values ranging from 25-75 calories per mile, however I decided that in order to be successful in dropping weight I needed to lean towards the conservative side. I settled on 25 calories per mile for moderate effort and 30 calories per mile for high effort. Using this formula I would count the calories burned as 1250-1500 calories.

2. It does not take a great deal of food to completely undo the effort you put into a ride. You can exercise like a madman, but can quickly undo it in the kitchen. I am convinced that exercise has less to do with successful weight loss than what you fuel your body with. A 5 Guys burger and fries is about 1400 calories.

3. Write it down. Keep a food journal, lots of apps on the internet to do this but a pad and paper will do nicely. Be careful with serving sizes. We are horrible at correctly estimating what we put in our mouths. In other words you may think you are eating 1 serving, but in reality it is 2 (or 3...or 4....) It adds up quickly.

4. I was once told to "Eat like a King on the Bike and a Pauper when I am off it" - You have to fuel your body to ride. Under 30 miles I am able to stick to simply water and no change in diet... If I know I am going to be going in to 3 or more hours of riding I will start to take in calories at the rate of about 100 or so an hour. I may eat an extra bananna for the sugar and potassium.... But when I am done riding I will eat normally and not go overboard. The most extravagant thing I will do is drink a glass of ovaltine as soon as I am off of my ride.





Also, listen to your body. IT will not fail to tell you if what you are doing needs to be adjusted.

From reading this thread, it appears that most wouldn't disagree with this. But I question whether this is a correct statement.
Can someone explain why HRMs would grossly overestimate calories burned, considering they calculate using weight, gender, Max HR and of course beats per minute during the ride. I assume they aren't spot on, but I can't imagine they'd be less accurate than "about 500 calories per hour..." My HRM calculates about 700 calories per hour depending on how hard I ride.

I've used my HRM for calories burned and the Livestrong app to calculate calories consumed and I have lost about 2 lbs. each week (I don't want to lose more than that).

My somewhat cynical take is that in modern device design, marketing has the last say, not engineering. And marketing wants you to have a very positive feeling toward their device. Hence the high burn numbers. Makes you feel good about your exercise, rather than disappointed, doesn't it? That said, it seem obvious that different marketing departments will have differing views on this subject, and thus some devices will be more accurate than others.

And be that as it may, your body is the very best computer for calculating calories burned and taken in, and it has the last word.

You should also note that if you're trying to estimate the calories burned from exercise (for calorie "budgeting" purposes) you should subtract your resting metabolism rate. For example, if you cycle an hour and estimate that you burned 500 calories, you should subtract the number of calories you would have burned anyway by resting. There are formulas and calculators on the web that will estimate this value. If your resting metabolic rate is 100 calories, cycling only increased your calories burned by 400 calories.

So this morning I stepped on the scale and it has been 3 days now since the ride. I was down to 261 this morning and even thought I weighed my self yesterday morning and was 10 pounds heavier at 271. I have been eating the same quantity of food everyday and I am just amazed that my body can retain 10 pounds of water and weight of inflammation and other factors that come from a hard bike ride.

Lesson learned.

Thanks.

I have to relearn this occasionally. I was on a business trip recently and had to eat dinner out. The restaurant had calorie counts next to each item on the menu. I was trying to be very strict about my nutrition and calories, and some of their lowest calorie entrees were 1,400 calories. Salmon, rice and vegetables, 1,400 calories. Grilled chicken salad, 1,190 calories. It was crazy. My dinner budget was about 600 calories, so I had soup and house salad for about 790 calories. That was the best I could do.

I usually gain 5 pounds after every century. It takes me 2 or 3 days to get back down to my normal weight.

Over the past 10 years, I've learned to treat calories burned in cycling purely as "icing on the cake". I look at them, sure, but I don't consider them part of weight loss. Over the past 10 years, I've gone from 270 to 225, and ridden probably over 50,000 miles, but it wasn't due to cycling; it was from learning to eat better. I weigh myself every day, and don't worry about daily fluctuations, since I can go up or down by up to 5 pounds in a single day.

The number of calories burned has been discussed to death in this and a ton of other threads. The only thing I could add is that I've found the Garmin 500 to be by far the most conservative. My longest rides, around 110 miles, never result in more than 3,000 calories burned, or around 30 calories per mile. If I go slower, say at the OP's rate (around 11 mph), I register around 20 calories per mile, because I'm not working nearly as hard.

As for fat to muscle conversion, most things I've read say that this is usually overblown as well. It makes us feel better if we don't lose the weight we think we should to say, "Oh, well, we've got more muscle, and muscle weighs more." But people who do a LOT of strength training have to work like mad to actually build muscle, assuming they're not using drugs. In two months, you're undoubtedly feeling stonger -- not because you've created new muscle, so much as your existing muscles are getting much more efficient.

That totally depends on how the 500 Calories estimate came about. If it comes from estimating the amount of energy required to propel the bike it would not include the resting metabolism and you would not need to subtract the 100 from it.