Music_Doctor

I eat about 1400 calories a day, and everyday bike for 60 min, usually around 12-14 miles an hour (all on surface streets, i live in florida and it is impossible to find a mountain). Will this amount time let me see weight loss results, or should i up the time to maybe 2 hours a day?

forum*rider

Depends on how you are riding, are you working hard at it or going at a leisurely pace?

I think that you would loose some weight though. 1400 calories a day? Dang, that is NOT alot of food! I eat like 4000+ calories a day

C_Heath

ur body burns 1500 cal per day just living. If u are taking in 1400 and riding then yes, your deficit will cause around 1 lb a week loss.

seely

Dude 1400 is a mistake. You NEED more than that. The FDA guides are complete BS, and based on someone who wakes up, sits up in bed, and then goes back to sleep. Their guides are horribly unrealistic. What happens when you starve your body (as you are doing) is your body goes into a conservation mode, so to speak, and adjusts how it burns the "fuel" according to your intake. If you aren't putting enough in, its basically going to eventually slow down your metabolism. That is why people on diets initially have a dramatic weight loss, followed by very slow weight reduction. Your body adjusts to your diet. What you want to do is take in calories but watch what you eat. Lean protein + carbohydrates are good. Avoid trans fat, alcohol (is processed directly to fat), and saturated fats. Don't kill yourself just to look thin... your body will start to feast on your muscle mass before long too.

recursive

Maybe increase the time, but definitely increase your calorie intake as others have said. My diet isn't very consistent (working on it) but I am sure I average at least 3000cal/day, and I've lost weight since I started riding. I do avoid fatty foods and empty calories, but certainly don't have a strict diet.

bpohl

I think that upping your ride time to over two hours could cause some serious bonking if you're only eating 1400 cals per day. Your glycogen stores, I imagine, would already be pretty low from not getting enough carbohydrate (unless all you're eating is CHO). If you want to keep your cals that low, I'd say you should throw in some days of shorter, higher intensity workouts.
Regardless, if you're ridng an average of 13 (13X35 cals per mile= 455) miles a day, seven days a week(455X7=3185), you're burning almost a pound per week. However, that assumes that you're eating the amount that your basal metabolic rate would require. I imagine that you BMR is quite a bit higher than 1400 cals per day, depending on gender, age, fitness level, etc... Because of that fact, you may see more of a dramatic weight loss than what I just wrote would lead you to believe.
I lost my weight in a very similar fashion. I always pushed as hard as I could. You'll find that your body will start demanding that you eat more if you're going to do longer rides. Just be careful that you don't go out too far and bonk and have no way home. That's really scary. Always carry plenty of food with you, even if you don't think you need it. You may just be very glad that you have it.

FXjohn

I ride 50 miles all the time without food.
Unless you're a diabetic, what is the worse thing that's going to happen to you?

H23

It might be better to not focus on numbers such as your weight, calorie intake, speed, and distance.

Instead focus on maintaining a steady simple exercise program and eat sensible (no junk food).

Looking at one of your previous posts, you claim to be a 6 foot tall 13 year old, so I doubt anyone other than a physiologist really understands what must be the intense changes going through your body now.

bpohl

Well, from his post, I assumed that he was a fairly new rider. Seasoned riders, like you and me, can ride 50 or more miles without food and never bonk. I'm just thinking that if he goes out for one hour, then turns around for his hour home, what if he bonks 10 minutes into the return? You're talking about a long, miserable return trip, if he can make it at all. Just trying to give good advice.

FXjohn

I see your point, I wasn't riding anywhere near as far as what I do now when I was his age.
10-15 miles seemed like a long ride.

bpohl

Woah~ did we just agree on something? This warm, fuzzy feeling is the best birthday present I've gotten all day! Truly a special day.

hehe, I still think you're an a$$hole (J/K)

FXjohn

Happy Birthday, bpohl, you redneck...

Git R Dun


Heh heh Just messin with ya man

Just noticed you have a similar bike to mine, I have a 7700 FX

bpohl

Heh, thanks ya damn city slicker!
Yeah, couldn't quite spring for the 7700 at the time. I still ride my 7500 a lot. It's totally dorked out with grocery sack panniers, a trunk, lights, mirrors, bar ends, and all that fun stuff that you'd probably never throw on your road bike. It's still a fine bike for its purpose. Are you riding your 7700 that far? That would be impressive! I think I've taken my 7500 for 50+ once or twice, but certainly couldn't go any longer.

Take care,

-Bryan

seely

Wow if he really is 13, 1400cal/daily is terrible... you definately need more calories during adolescence and growth spurts... otherwise you are doing your body a huge disservice.

Pat

Well, as pointed out above, 1400 cal/day is a pretty restricted diet. It isn't terrible but if you are going to restrict yourself that much, you need to be very careful that you get all the nutrients you need.

On top of that, you are exercising. Exercise generally burns carbohydrates and fats. It burns more carbohydrates then fat at higher intensities.

I was wondering about your talking of upping your time to 2 hours. The big mistake most dieters make is wanting fast results. It usually takes a long time to lose a pound of fat which is 3,500 calories. Losing weight quickly usually requires very extreme measures that no one can sustain. So when the dieter gets off of the diet they slip back into their bad old ways and gain the weight right back. It is the rapid regaining of weight that is the major problem with most diets. So losing weight faster only adds to the problem.

Generally, I lose weight by upping my exercise time, eating enough carbohydrate to fuel it, and getting rid of as many of the junk calories as I can without driving myself crazy. That is a combination of diet and exercise. The nice thing about exercise, is it gives me something else to track besides weight - fitness, miles covered, avg. speed, maximum speed, speed of hill climbing, all sorts of stuff so I feel like I am making progress even when the scales are not responding. Another thing is I generally do not track weight as much as I track the thickness of my fat deposits. I don't really care much about how much I weigh, what I care about is how much fat I have and where.

Now someone said that you are 13 and 6' tall. Hooo boy that really changes things. Adults have an easier time losing weight because our bodies are in pretty much a steady state. At 13, you are almost certainly getting hit with hormone changes, constant lifestyle adjustments, dating, having your muscles try to catch up with your frame and so on. A very restricted diet and exercise is quite a bit of stress to your system to add on top of everything else.

Also I am concerned that you could hurt yourself. Exercise tends to reduce your carbohydrate stores. Your brain and nervous system can only burn carbos and not fat. So your body will get carbohydrates somewhere and if you don't get enough in your diet, it will get them by converting muscle to carbohydrates. That is how people die in extreme diets. Their bodies rip into their heart muscles. You really should consult a nutritionist about this whole thing. You could end up doing yourself more harm then good.

beansent

Dude you're too young. Eat whatever you want and then ride hard.

sm266

I restricted to 1200 calories for the better part of a year. In this time, I lost 40 pounds, but my rides sucked. I didn't have the energy to keep up and I spent most time on the bike miserable. Now, I've regained 20 pounds, and I'm much stronger. I think the food restriction and low body weight really hurt my rides. I just didn't have enough to fuel anything more than a few weight workouts.

BostonKate

Please see a nutritionist! 13 is way too young to be restricting caloric intake so severely, especially when you're riding so hard. Active teen boys require about 2800 calories a day to fuel growth and maintain all the physical systems that are exploding in the adolescent years, as well as fueling all the riding you're doing.

Underfueling your brain also means that school becomes a lot harder than it has to be.

Biketo120

Eat healthy and ride for enjoyment! The rest will follow.

Enjoy your life!