I mean, if you need to force your body to burn fat as an energy source, then you're going to feel tired, since fat burning isn't as efficient as sugar buring, right?

I've been noticing that on my daily rides, I usually start to poop out after about 1 hour and 15 minutes. It's starting to get annoying.

I too am trying to lose some weight through riding. I tend to feel a little worn out on most days, but I try to think of it as my body being used for what it was meant for, rather than as a weight to keep my couch from getting too lonely. It does get a bit annoying sometimes, so I take a day off to recover. I think that eventually your body gets used to all the exercise and starts to feel great, but I haven't gotten there completely. Someday soon though I am sure.

Make sure you eating healthy and getting everything you need. Also, remember that in low intensity workouts your body uses fat for fuel, and in higher intensity workouts your body uses the glycogen stores in your muscles and liver. Carbohydrates are what produces the glycogen so I make sure I get enough of those to fill my muscles with fuel. Getting carbs afterwards is good, too, because around 15 minutes after your workout you have the chance to reload up to something like 300% of the glycogen in your muscles.

But yea, make sure you're getting all the stuff you need to fuel your body!

I am also trying to loose weight.

How are you tracking calories in Vs calories out?


I use my computer, you can use web based fitday.com or buy their software.

I find that if I don't eat every calories I burnt the day before I run out of energy too (and I usually don't since I am trying to loose weight) but lately that hasen't been a problem 'cause I only get to ride every other day right now.

I've only been doing this for a month but.. The first week, before I made any adjustments tomy diet, I was also pooping out after an hour or so.

The second week I began having a light meal before rides, and having part of an energy bar when I began to feel tired. I also make regular stops and drink Gatorade or some other electrolyte enhanced fluid.

The change was amazing. Not only was I able to double the distance but my energy level increased - and I'm not trying to consume every bit of food in sight when I'm done I'm eating a bit more but the calories from eggs, bread, bananas are much more effective than what I was eating previously. I've only lost 6 pounds in the first month but it seems to be a good start.

Stacy

I use web data, and weigh everything with a small counter-top scale. I also use the web to estimate exercise calories. Then I use an equation that considers my resting calorie needs and will show me how mch I can eat and still have a 500 calorie deficit.

Because I've been afraid of cheating, I usually estimate the numbers to show I'm eating more than I actually am. But now I think it's making me too tired.

Maybe I should try like Stacy said and eat a little while on the bike, and a little less off the bike.

But it seems silly to eat something on the bike if it's only a 90 minute ride!

Well our bodies are all different so you may be running out of energy after an hour or so on the bike.

Just remember to eat some carb-rich foods before and after you ride. I started doing this and the difference is night and day. I can stay on the bike for twice as long as I could without properly fueling myself. I don't know how you eat, but I can say that if you really want to get results and maintain good physical fitness you need to be willing to make a lifestyle change. I no longer eat any junk foods like chips, cookies (except for when I go to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with the relatives ), cake, ice cream, etc. I have stuck to this and kept up riding every day and I feel very good and am dropping body fat and gaining muscle.

That's a lot of weight! It's at least a sack of potatoes! Congratulations.

Well, you know at first I noticed the energy drain during my dawn rides - I would just eat an apple or banana and drink about 16 ounces of water and then get on the bike. But yesterday I noticed the energy drain in the afternoon, after lunch. But come to think of it, I only ate a bunch of veggies and some nuts, so maybe my sluggishness was due to not having eaten carbs.

What do you eat to get your carbs? Pasta? Bread? Oatmeal?

I don't know maybe I'm just getting tired. Another weird thing is that I always notice it going up a hill. Like all of a sudden I'm thinkin, "Holy CRAP this is steep, I'm never going to make it," and my legs feel like they don't want to move. (Then its granny gear to the rescue!)

I get them through breads and just about anything else with carbs in it. Breakfast cereals, breads, etc.

I usually have a meal around an hour and a half before I go riding. I also take in a good bit of water to get hydrated, and then drink around a cup of water every 15 minutes on the bike.

I know how you feel about the climbs. About half way through I think I can't make it, my legs are burning, but I just keep pushing. Once I make it to the top I've got time to regroup and next thing I know I'm right back at it climbing again.

From what I have read, people can store about 2000-2500 calories of glycogen. When you exercise really hard, you burn pretty much nothing but glycogen. There are various estimates for how many calories one burns per mile but mine is close to 50. So using that, I would suffer glycogen depletion after 40-50 miles of very intense riding. That is assuming, of course, that I had my glycogen stores at max. when I rode.

Now when you ride at lower intensity, you burn a mix of fat and glycogen with increasingly more fat at lower intensities. I think the fat burning may require a certain amount of conditioning. The human body seems hard wired to horde fat as a protection against that famine coming up (which does not come because we live in the land of Big Macs). So I think in people who are fairly out of shape or do not do much aerobic activity, their bodies may just burn glycogen.

Now I have lost weight surprisingly fast cycling. I went on a two week tour once in the Rocky Mountains. We did 70+ miles per day with 4,000+ feet of climbing per day. We also camped so there was quite a bit of activity with lugging ones stuff from the truck and setting up the tent and walking to the showers, and walking to eat, and walking to go to the bathroom and so on.

I had some extra weight on me so I decided to see if I could lose a little weight. I figured that each day's activities would come close to depleting my glycogen so I ate as much complex carbs as I could (fruits, vegetables, starches, even some candy). I did avoid fatty foods and I went light on the meat.

I felt fine the whole trip. I did not have any problems with fatigue or pooping out on climbs. I generally did not push it really hard on climbs because I never knew when they would end and I wanted to keep something in my legs. However, I did get into a feel climbing competitions with other riders on the tour so I did push at times.

I got home and I was amazed to find that I had lost 10 lbs in 14 days and from the change in my waistline it was all fat. So one can lose a lb of fat per day, just watch what you eat and do a ridiculous amount of exercise.

There were people who gained weight on the tour. They not only ate the breakfast, lunch and dinner provided on the tour and they added an extra lunch usually consisting of the largest cheeseburger in town, with a stack of fries, with a huge soft drink followed by a large hot fudge sundae. So even if you do a ridiculous amount of exercise, you can trump it by consuming a ridiculous number of calories.

I think the mistake most people make is not eating enough carbohydrates to replace glycogen stores.

I went to a spa once with my brother though. The diet there had a very low fat content and a very high fiber and carbohydrate contend. I tended to get very sleepy in the afternoon. My brother claimed that we were not getting "enough fat" and combated this by going out and procuring and devouring a small greasy hamburger in the afternoon. He might have been right.

Try slowing down a little. You probably don't get pooped out after 1 hour and 15 minutes of watching TV. That's because it's low effort. Somewhere in between there is a effort level that would enable you to ride longer. How much longer do you want to ride, anyway? If it's over 2 hours, there is good advice in some of the other posts regarding nutrition.
Tom

Well, actually daily rides take between 75 and 90 minutes, so I'm getting tired towards the end. I think it's a lack of food in my stomach.

Make sure the Carbs are quality carbs with a low Glycemic Index number. This will mean that it will take your body longer to digest and the food will also release slowly and steadily into the blood stream to help fuel your body during the ride. For morning rides, I really enjoy oatmeal, but have recently found steel cut oats in the organic section of the grocery store that take longer to digest and fuel me longer on my rides. I add a little pure maple syrup, blueberries and some Rice Milk (I don't drink cow puss) a small egg on the side and I can get through a metric century with the fast Saturday training ride with just that or a gel when we do a lot of hills.

Also, many equate carbs with grains or flower products. An excellent source of carbohydrates can also be found by eating vegetables, and if possible, uncooked veggies.