Flatballer

So I'm having a little trouble with my diet since I've started riding more.

My calorie intake according to MyDailyPlate should be around 1850 to lose 1.5 lbs/week. On days when I ride, this is easy to do. I usually end up around 1200 or so (net) when I ride. Some days (like yesterday, when I did about 20 miles), my net was about 1100. I wasn't really hungry or anything, felt fine.

Today I don't have a ride planned. It's a rest day. I'm gonna go do some core and upper body work, but that isn't gonna burn many calories. Problem is, I'm hungry. I've been hungry all day. I'm already 60 calories over my limit for today, and I haven't even had dinner.

Is it o.k. to use some of those calories from yesterday that I didn't use then, today instead?

Almost every day I ride I'm well below my limit. But almost every day I don't ride (only 1 or 2 a week), I'm over my limit.

Is this o.k.? Am I doing something fundamentally wrong that is causing me to be so imbalanced?

Thanks

UmneyDurak

It will slow down your weight loss, but nothing major. Just don't go over by too much. Try eating more salads, fruits and vegetables. They tend to be somewhat filing and lower on calories.

UD

telebianchi

How long have you been working on the calorie deficit? I know when I got into this last summer, it took me a couple of weeks until I figured out how much, when and what to eat along with how much, when and what to exercise. If you've already eaten 1900 calories before you've had dinner, it sounds like you are eating too much for breakfast/lunch/snacks. So if you are new to this, maybe you just need to experiment a bit to find out what works for you.

I always planned for a 500/cal a day deficit for losing 1 lb a week. From what I have read, there shouldn't be any problems with your 750/cal a day for 1.5 lb a week. But if I understand your post correctly on days that you ride you are sometimes ending up with a 1200 calorie a day deficit? If so, maybe you are not eating enough on the days you do ride but your body is not complaining until your rest days. Another thought might be to just go for a 500/cal deficit on your rest days while keeping the 750-800 deficit on your workout days.

As for shifting calories from one day to the next, I do that with days that I am burning a lot of calories (750 or more) on consecutive days but not on rest or low-calorie burn days. So on a weekend where I get good rides in on both days, I might have a bigger meal on Saturday evening but then I do "shift" some of those calories to Sunday. I have nothing to backup why I do this but that's what has worked for me. It's probably more mental so I don't eat too much on rest days.

FYI: Last year I dropped 30 lbs in 6 months with each month losing a consistent 5 lbs. This summer I have slowly taken off another 5 while adding some muscle (at least the mirror tells me I've added some muscle).

Flatballer

Nah, you misunderstood. The 1850/day is what they recommend for me to lose the 1.5 lbs/week. On days I exercise, my net calories are somewhere around 1100-1200. This is 650-750 calories under what is already recommended for me to lose the weight. It's about 1300 calories under what it would be for me to maintain my weight.

On days I don't exercise, I'm sometimes 400-500 calories over the 1850/day. This is still around what I should eat to maintain my weight. I agree I didn't eat very smart for lunch today (I was in a hurry), but that's not the main question.

The main question was is it o.k. to shift "unused" calories from a hard day onto a rest day and use them then?

bikeCarrot

You should increase your calorise slightly on days you exercise. Your deficite on those days is too great and it's catching up to yo uon your rest days. Working out on such little calorise will lead to a serious burnout pretty soon, trust me, I did it to myself at the begining of the summer. I found that if I at a little more on workout days my muscles felt better and I still lost weight.

Jynx

yes as long as you are not taking from last week when you were 500 calories under and now go 500 over. Don't take from calories more then 24 hours old. So if yesterday you were 300 under and today you are really hungry add 300. But that means the next day you cant add anymore. Obviously try to avoid this in the first place though.

+1

Flatballer

Ok. Today is gonna be a lsd day. Gonna try and do 30 miles. I switched fo FitDay from MyDailyPlate on advice of my college team coach.

I had a big breakfast/lunch (all at once) earlier. 850 calories. I'm gonna let that settle, go for my ride in a little while. Then I'll have a big-ish dinner when I get back. And then a late evening meal. I'll see how this works.

The main problem I had was that I couldn't eat enough healthy food on days I was exercising. I just wasn't hungry enough.

C_Heath

www.tarheelblue.com

DataJunkie

How is your hydration? My doctor had me drastically increase my water intake. When you are full of water your hunger tends to go down. I am at 2100 calories a day to loose 1.5 lbs a week. I was having issues hitting my goal amount whether I rode or not due to the increased water intake. It has leveled off some now that I am used to that water intake.

Flatballer

Booo!

We're the red and white from State and we know we are the best, with our hands behind our backs we can take on all the rest... GO TO HELL CAROLINA, demons, deaks stand in line, we're the red and white from N.C. State, GO STATE!

Flatballer

I drink a lot of water. I carry a Nalgene everywhere I go. I drink around 70 oz on an off day, a lot more on a ride day.

DataJunkie

Have you tried instead of being well below your limit to eat your limit each day? On the days I do not ride I am fueling up for the days that I do ride. Otherwise, I end up on a roller coaster. One day don't eat nearly enough. The next eat way too much.
1850 seems a bit low to me.
I am 33. 5'9" 152lbs and mine is around 2100 to loose 1.5 lbs a week. I tried 1800 calories a day for a week and just about died. I also ride a minimum of 150 miles each week this time of year. No racing.