I got into biking because I wanted to exercise (both for mental/physical health) and because I just can't fit the gym into my schedule. In the process, I rediscovered that I love biking! I did a bit of research on biking and weight loss, and came across a bunch of contradictory or confusing information. I know weight loss is a touchy subject with a lot of people looking for quick ways to their problems. I'm currently about 247 lbs (down from almost 260). I'm 6'3", and I think a good weight goal is aroun 200 or 190.

What I do now: Basically i commute to work, and go for longer rides a few times a week. I keep track of how many calories I burn, and how much I eat, and try and leave a deficit (I use MyFitnessPal and Stava for this).

Why I'd like to change: I feel like I would benefit greatly from some form of structured routine. I have seen a few of these online, but I haven't really found much in the way of user feedback. I'm also looking for something that incorporates diet suggestions with rides. Several of the things I read online said you can encourage fat burn this way. There seems to be some disagreement between how to do this (some say eating before is crucial for weight loss, while others suggest not eating until after).

What I'm looking for: I'd like to hear what kind of training regiments have worked for you guys for weight loss (by which I mean going from an unhealthy weight to a healthier one) as well as dietary suggestions.

First of all, if you're relatively new to cycling, it is important to just build a base ... which you are starting to do with the commuting and going for longer rides. What kind of distances are you riding? Daily? Weekly? How often are you riding?

Secondly, for me, it helps to have a goal outside weightloss. I am in the process of losing weight, and cycling is part of that process, but I'm also "training" for some long distance events and a certain climbing challenge. So instead of just riding to burn calories in the hopes that I'll lose more weight, I'm riding for these events, which is much more interesting and motivating. And so I have something of a training plan for these events. That might help you as well ... do you have an annual century ride in your area, or something like that?

BTW - I am also on MFP.

Thanks for the input. I should have given more info about my current situation. I have been riding since... I guess mid May. I would say every day with some exceptions. My commute to work is about 2 miles. This ride is very easy for me, and I can do it and still call the day a rest day. Usually in the morning I will take a slightly longer route which is about 4 miles. I could extend this more or less indefinitely by taking a variety of trails. Depending on the day, I also carry about 5-15 lbs of stuff with me. I also bike to get groceries or visit the bike store (or both!). This is about a 7 mile ride round trip. I usually take my longer pleasure rides in the evening. These are about 12-13 miles. Strava claims I have 14.5 mph average, but my area has a lot of up and down hills so I can get some pretty high speeds going down those hills. I feel like I could probably do about 15-20 mile rides before I start hitting hard limits. There are a few spots where the lactic acid really builds up to a point where I just take a break, drink some water and eat some granola (the homemade variety).

As for races near me, there is one somewhat notorious century near me, the Mountains of Misery. They have a 104 mile century with 10,000' of climbing, and it it's famous for the 4 mile 16% grade at the very end. Honestly, at this point the idea of riding a century is just seems completely outside the realm of the possibility. I've never really been a very good athlete, however changing that is definitely something I am interested and open to.

Edit: Final potential missing piece of information. I ride a 1992/3 Trek 720 Multitrack (hybrid). I'm put a lot of work on getting it ridable again (it used to be my dads) and I'm not really considering another bike until after I get my PhD (hopefully 1-1.5 years).

Problem solved.

If you need structure, plan to ride your bike at a certain times and stick to it. Do yourself a favor and strive to eat healthy foods (fresh vegetables, unprocessed foods, no refined sugar) and don't get caught up in calorie counting, diets and other unhealthy obsessions. Do this and the rest will take care of itself.

At this point, I'd suggest just building up your distance (saddle time).

Keep one or two days as rest days ... you might stay with your basic commute. Then gradually increase your distance on the other days of the week. Also, one day on the weekend, ride 15 miles ... the next weekend try for 18 miles ... then 20 miles ... then 25 miles ... and so on.

I should note that I count calories not for the sake of counting calories, but so that I stop overeating. That's basically how I got to this point. Keeping a food log and seeing how many calories everything is was pretty eye-opening. I try not to get too obsessive about staying under the recommended limits.

As for diet, I'm mostly concerned with nutritional timing I guess. I'm not so much concerned with exactly what to eat as with when to eat what with regards to training (some stuff is obvious like eating a healthy source of carbs on the ride).

In my lifetime millions upon millions of people have managed to actually waste away and die (from starvation).... without the benefit of exercise. Somehow.... I think exercise might be optional (although highly beneficial) when losing weight.

I love cycling and welcome you to the numbers of us who enjoy the activity. And I can assure you (from my own experience) that cycling can burn a lot of calories. But I can also assure you (also from my own experience) you can't out train a bad diet. Cycling lots... will make you a better cyclist. Learning how to be a better eater.... that's a whole different discipline.

There are several apps out there. Most are free. They track diet and calorie intake. They are a great help and a good way to learn how to eat. I use the app called "Lose it!" but I think "my fitness pal" is more popular.

Thoughts on interval training one or two days a week?

After you've cycled 500 or 600 miles ... then you might incorporate interval training. But you're kind of doing that already if you're cycling up and down hills.

It sounds like what you are doing is working which is good, and you enjoy it which is even better. So I was only pointing out that it may be better not to fix it if it's not broken.

As far as timing it really depends entirely on the type and length of training. If you are talking about hours long rides at a slow-moderate pace it doesn't matter all that much, just make sure to get a minimal amount protein before and after so you're not burning up muscle. On the other end for 100% efforts such as intervals or weight training, ideally you would eat an hour before, then immediately after (90% protein, 10% complex carbs). The latter can be tricky if you are trying to loose weight at the same time. Personally I'd keep doing what you are doing until you reach your weight goal, then worry about intervals or timing your meals.

I'm using this right now...Get Lean Now! -Beginner/Intermediate | TrainingPeaks
I've lost about 10lbs so far while building my mileage and performance.

Do you have recommendations for good sources for fast protein?

Just because you fell in love with cycling doesn't mean that you should quit and give up going to the gym...To burn fat and loose weight you also need to include regular anaerobic workouts such as strength training and sprinting intervals. Don't rely only on aerobic workouts such as cycling and other forms of cardio to loose weight. Strength training helps you to build and preserve muscle tissue while loosing unwanted fat. Lean muscle mass actually helps to burn calories.

Whey Protein Isolate is the fastest digesting protein.

Strength training is good for other aspects of fitness, and longer (ideally 7-10 minutes) anaerobic efforts will make you faster, but aren't necessary for weight loss.

I lost my first 60 pounds without ever staying hungry just riding easy Friel Z1/Z2 base miles. Conversely when I worked up to two Z4-Z5 days a week, two tempo days, and had just one easy day my weight stabilized after dropping just 20 pounds, about 45 pounds over what it is now.

Efforts below your aerobic threshold are excellent for loosing weight because up to 80% of the energy comes from your fat stores instead of depleting your glycogen which makes you hungry leading to more food intake.

While you can ignore the resulting hunger, that's likely to catabolize both fat and muscle.

One pound of muscle only uses 6-10 Calories a day.

I generally go for milk w/ protein powder, sardines, tuna or nuts. Protein bars are good on the go if it's not too hot, just check the label and look for something around 30g protein and low sugar. Be aware that many so-called protein bars are actually nothing more than $3 candy bars. For fastest absorbing, you can't beat plain milk.

That's a little, maybe a lot, misleading. It depends on what that pound of muscle is doing and what it has been doing for the past 48 hrs. It also ignores the effect of body composition on metabolism and hormones.

Strength training and sprint intervals keep you metabolism elevated for up to 36 hours or more after the workout. This means that your body is burning calories even when you're resting and doing nothing. Weight loss has a lot to do with the persons metabolism. Aerobic workouts just don't elevate your metabolism the same way as anaerobic workouts do.



And that's a good thing, because the more lean muscle tissue somebody has the more calories they will burn, even when sitting a doing nothing... The less lean muscle tissue a person has the less calories they burn and the more likely they are to gain fat.

This mantra is often quoted and it's true that your metabolism will be elevated but if you look at the actual extra amount of calories burned it isn't very high and it's easily offset by the additional hunger that often comes with higher intensity workouts.

Ignore this advice. The absolute last thing you want to do before a hard, high intensity interval workout is eat 1 hr before. You can get away with eating close to ride time for a low to moderate ride but for high intensity work it's unnecessary and you'll cause yourself undue suffering.

Also, ignore the 90% protein after a ride when you're looking to primarily replenish carbs. This is optimized with a 4:1 ratio of carbs : protein.

It all depends on the intensity of the ride/workout...If it's a low intensity ride/workout then the body is using mostly fat and not much glycogen for energy... A 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein will only lead to a possible weight gain since the person hasn't even used their glycogen...In this case more protein and less carbs would be more ideal.

^ Yes. After an easy ride, all I'll have is 15g whey protein in water, no carbs. I use Optimum Nutrition Gold, mostly because it seems good value. I go through a lot of it and cost means something to me. I have to have gone hard enough to burn some glycogen before I'll put carbs in my recovery drink. Even then I won't do it unless I plan to also ride the next day.

One thing that works for everyone who's tried it is riding without eating before or during, and riding steadily below VT1, which is the point at which your breathing rate begins to increase rapidly. It may take some practice, but it's certainly easy to ride like that for 2 hours with no issues, once you get used to it. Some people go out for 4 hours like that, but that's a bit hair shirt for me. In general, as long as you only eat 1/2 the calories you burn on a ride, you'll lose weight nicely by riding more. Where people get into trouble is eating back more calories than they expend because riding makes them hungry. Riding makes them hungry because they haven't conditioned their fat-burning system though sufficient low calorie easy to moderate riding.

If it's a short easy ride you don't need any carbs or protein. If it's a long easy or moderate intensity ride you'll be burning plenty of carbs. There are no real conditions that require an excess of protein to carbs. Most riders trying to lose weight like the OP don't need anything after a ride and should just eat a normal balanced diet. Under no conditions do they require a 90% ratio of protein to carbs.

It's a very small percentage of people that would have anything left in their stomach one hour after a small to medium size meal. Obviously if you are one of those sensitive people you might want to allow a little more time, or could be you don't get enough fiber.

Think you missed something, this was specifically for after very high intensity training (not simply going for a ride), which would be much shorter in duration. Also note that people generally get fat from eating sugar and the OP is trying to continue weight loss, so eating more sugar doesn't make any sense. It's not about replenishing carbs, it's about building or preserving muscle while losing weight.

Rubbish. No one digests a meal in 1 hr and no athletes eat a meal 1 hr before an intense workout. My guess is you don't do high intensity workouts or race.

I didn't miss anything. The OP doesn't need massive extra quantities of protein even for high intensity rides. And he's not going to be building muscle on the bike. The guy wants to lose some weight not become a track sprinter. If he does end up dropping another 60lbs some of that is naturally going to be muscle as he is going to be carrying 60 fewer lbs around.