Nutrition/Calorie Intake for weight loss while Cycling

SionnachOghma

Not sure if this is better off here or on the Health boards, but here goes.

I took up cycling to and from work back in September. I'd already lost a fair bit of weight and wanted to keep it up and get in proper shape. It's been slow going, mostly due to my own laziness when it comes to evening meals - there have been a lot of nights when I just decide to go to the chipper rather than cook what I left out.

Now that I'm finally trying to get on top of the diet side of things, I'm a little confused. I've tried looking up sites and apps online about a recommended calorie intake given my weight/height and the amount of exercise I'm doing if I want to lose weight at a safe pace, but I'm not sure about the results I've gotten. The amount they say I should be eating seems way too high.

I'll start with my own stats: I'm 26 years old, 5"9', and weigh 12st 7lb (a hair under 80kg). My cycle to and from work is about 18.5km each way, and I complete the trip in just under an hour.

A tracker app I downloaded gives me a basic recommended intake of just over 2,100 calories based on questions asked when I was setting it up. Thing is, when I key in my cycling for the day in the tracker, the number jumps to well over 3,000. Does this seem very high to anyone else?

Lumen

It's probably not that far off.

My commute is 14.5km each way and consumes around 700 calories. I'm 69kg.

If you scale that up a bit based on distance and weight you get about 1000 calories.

Cookie_Monster

are you female, cos 2100 seems low otherwise?

My GPS says I burn 800-1000 kcal an hour when out cycling. So it could be reasonable enough. Even if I take that as a massive over recording and half it, 500 and hour would be about 800-1000 to cover 18.5 each way.

petethedrummer

Just do your commute everyday and stop going to the chipper so often. Bring your own lunch to work as well. You don't need a complicated calorie tracking system if you just eat less junk and do the cycle everyday.

You're don't sound grossly overweight if you're 5'9 and 12st 7lb so you don't need to worry about losing weight too quickly. That's for huge people.

SionnachOghma

Lumen wrote: »

It's probably not that far off.

My commute is 14.5km each way and consumes around 700 calories. I'm 69kg.

If you scale that up a bit based on distance and weight you get about 1000 calories.

Nope, male.

The numbers for what I'm burning seem accurate. I just never assumed that that meant I should be eating enough to make up all that difference. I'm a bit of a glutton when I want to be - and I often want to be, as evidenced by the fact that even with the cycling almost every day my weight has more or less remained static.

But I've been adding up what I have been eating the past couple of weeks that I have been avoiding the take-aways et al. I'm far from starving myself, and to my mind I seem to be eating plenty, but I'm not coming in at anything close to the 3,000 mark.

My total yesterday was around the original number of 2,100.

Cookie_Monster

bear in mind you will build leg muscle up when starting off cycling

muscle is denser than fat, so you may be losing fat at the same time as building (less amount) muscle and not losing any weight as a result...

Beasty

About 800 calories an hour for me (100kg or so including bike and all the paraphanalia a carry round with me) when putting some effort in, 600 when taking it easy (the Garmin 800 is much more accurate than the 705 for measuring this - it's pretty much in line with the energy output recorded by the Joule)

smacl

My guess is that there are a enough extra variables involved (e.g. hilly vs flat terrain, weight and type of bike, your fitness level etc...) that it is not worthwhile guessing the calories you burn on your commute based on what other people burn on theirs. If you really want to know, pick up a heart rate monitor, and record your hear rate levels during your exercise period. Most will come with some software to let you know roughly how many calories are burning, and many also come with planning software for weight loss goals. Getting real time feedback from a HRM can also help you control how many calories you are burning (or how many you need to burn if you are planning to sneak of to the chippy later).

fat bloke

You could start by saving yourself a lot of time and hassle, costly monitors, and tedious calorie counting...

and just stop eating chips.

TinyExplosions

fat bloke wrote: »

and just stop eating chips.

That's like asking someone to stop breathing!

Frites are tasty, and euro!

fat bloke

Well I've always found one of the best things about cycling was that I didn't really need to watch what I ate at all. If you do enough miles the weight will come off. Because you're burning up so many calories on the road, your appetite will grow substantially as well, but all the cycling based sweeties - gels, bars, drinks etc - actually have the effect of turning me away from sweets when I'm off the bike, so I tend to eat pretty well.

I remember doing a sportive last year, My Leinster I think it was and afterwards, visiting an auntie, who had apple pies and swiss rolls etc etc out. The very thought of something sweet and sugary turned my stomach. I was happy out with good old healthy savoury fodder.

Stop going to the shaggin chippy and instead buy food that you'll be more inclined to cook. Buy some fillet steak and put it marinating in your fridge in some olive oil and garlic. Or have your own burgers ready to fry/grill. Make pesto and cook pasta. Buy vegetables like asparagus, broccoli and spinach - stuff that cooks in a couple of minutes. Get a slow cooker and have stews and stuff burbling away and ready to eat for when you get home. -If you have fast, easy to cook stuff there ready to go, that you can have ready in less time than it takes to go to the chipper, then you'll be less inclined to go for the batter sausage etc. If you're opening your fridge to a bag of spuds, a bag of unpeeled and unwashed carrots, and a whole raw chicken.... well, the cod 'n chips is always going to win there innit.

victorcarrera

How light do you want to be and why.
At your current height and weight I would say not to loose more than 2Kg unless you want to be a pure cycling climber.

Here is what I do.
Half portions works well if you are dining with others or family as you don't need to cook or prepare separately or have them worry about your mental state.
Don't buy anything that has more that 5% fat in it.
Fruit and chilled water between meals.
Drinking water burns lots of calories as it has to be heated before passing it.
It can take a few days to get used to resisting the urge to eat when you initially feel hungry. This was key for me.
Weigh yourself first thing every morning, it helps to focus the mind.
Remove the chipper and similar from the favourites list.

setanta159

If you want to lose weight just stop eating But seriously I would just watch what I eat and when I feel the urge for a burger I'll eat something else (healthier) in its place. Recently read Chris Boardman's 'Complete Book of Cycling'. In it he mentioned his regime for weight loss or when he needed to be at his optimal weight. Now I wouldn't recommend it but for his morning rides he would skip breakfast and didn't touch any food (whilst on the road) for the first 45 minutes. I think if I did that i'd be wrecked fairly quickly and to be fair he doesn't recommend it but says it was effective.

kennyb3

victorcarrera wrote: »

How light do you want to be and why.
At your current height and weight I would say not to loose more than 2Kg unless you want to be a pure cycling climber.

Yeah because 5'9 77kg lads are pure climbers.

77kg is slightly overweight for a 5'9 lad unless they are made of muscle. I should know, im 72kg and amnt skinny, more average weight. Id say pure climber is more down the 67kg route and less

fat bloke

setanta159 wrote: »

If you want to lose weight just stop eating But seriously I would just watch what I eat and when I feel the urge for a burger I'll eat something else (healthier) in its place. Recently read Chris Boardman's 'Complete Book of Cycling'. In it he mentioned his regime for weight loss or when he needed to be at his optimal weight. Now I wouldn't recommend it but for his morning rides he would skip breakfast and didn't touch any food (whilst on the road) for the first 45 minutes. I think if I did that i'd be wrecked fairly quickly and to be fair he doesn't recommend it but says it was effective.

There was an article on this in cycling weekly or similar advocating this method of weight loss.

Skip brekkie and go for a spin - make sure to drink water and electrolytes, and not to go too high intensity, and not for too long -45mins to an hour iirc.

Not sure what the science behind it is. You'd imagine if you did that, then you'd end up eating like a rabid ravenous dog when you got back home, whereas if you had a light breakfast and went out and did the same 45 minutes, you'd only eat lightly when you got home. So net calories in and net calories out would be the same.

You could try it though. Maybe pack your breakfast in your bag, cycle the 18k into work on an empty stomach, and eat when you get into the office.

niceonetom

TinyExplosions wrote: »

That's like asking someone to stop breathing!

Frites are tasty, and euro!

Eating frites is NOT euro.

Stomping up cobbled climbs while drunk Flaanders farmers scream at you as they eat frites is euro. It's not a trivial difference.

OP, stay out of that chipper. You know this already. You too, Tiny. :pac:

victorcarrera

kennyb3 wrote: »

Yeah because 5'9 77kg lads are pure climbers.
77kg is slightly overweight for a 5'9 lad unless they are made of muscle. I should know, im 72kg and amnt skinny, more average weight. Id say pure climber is more down the 67kg route and less

And Cadel Evans is 5ft 9in and 67Kg 10st 6lbs.
What relevance has that to the OP or the post.

SionnachOghma wrote:

I took up cycling to and from work back in September. I'd already lost a fair bit of weight and wanted to keep it up and get in proper shape. It's been slow going, mostly due to my own laziness when it comes to evening meals - there have been a lot of nights when I just decide to go to the chipper rather than cook what I left out.

TinyExplosions

niceonetom wrote: »

Eating frites is NOT euro.

Stomping up cobbled climbs while drunk Flaanders farmers scream at you as they eat frites is euro. It's not a trivial difference.

OP, stay out of that chipper. You know this already. You too, Tiny. :pac:

The idea of frites is euro, never mind the eating or not....

I really need a niconetom fridge/chipper guardian, so every time I'm tempted a disembodied voice goes "not very Tiny are you fatty?"

kennyb3

victorcarrera wrote: »

And Cadel Evans is 5ft 9in and 67Kg 10st 6lbs.
What relevance has that to the OP or the post.

And telling him to stop losing weight at 77kg at 5'9 is relevant how?

kennyb3

Anyway as others have said the OP doesnt need to obsess with claorie counters, apps etc (although they can be useful). ride more, eat better = happier healthier OP

victorcarrera

kennyb3 wrote: »

And telling him to stop losing weight at 77kg at 5'9 is relevant how?

Very. He is in his first year!

kennyb3

victorcarrera wrote: »

Very. He is in his first year!

Read your own post again and come on - dont go below 77kg unless you want to be a pure climber -never heard such rubbish in all my life. Yeah because if he gets to 74kg he ll be the envy of all wannabe climber and emaciated.

The OP came on asking for help with a weight loss issue and you are telling him not to lose more than 2kg.

Re it being his first year - let whatever weight comes off, come off. Encourage him to cycle more, join a club.

Dont think i ve ever heard a cyclist tell another cyclist dont drop down to 75kg you might become a skinny climber

Oldlegs

SionnachOghma wrote: »

26 years old, 5"9', and weigh 12st 7lb (a hair under 80kg).

Wow - OP asks for some guidance on Cycling & Diet as part of a healthy lifestyle and then loads of posts come back with target weight comparisons for competitive athletes (and emaciated climbers). Rarely see a pro cyclist who actually looks healthy.

Cut down (not out ) on the chipper, try to increase fruit & veg intake, drink more water. Some core-exercises (sit-ups, crunchs, stretchs) to get a bit of tone. Get out for non-commute spins and enjoy the exercise.

If you are aiming for 2012 Olympics - too late , if 2016 Olympics - too old

Seriously, enjoy the exercise and the healthier eating options are likely to follow (with a little encouragement). You are much more likely to get healthy and stay healthier if you enjoy yourself rather than it feeling like a chore.

You might end up being heavier (with more muscle) or you could end up being lighter. Focus on getting healthier and feeling more energetic. Your weight will be a byproduct.

victorcarrera

kennyb3 wrote: »

Read your own post again and come on - dont go below 77kg unless you want to be a pure climber -never heard such rubbish in all my life. Yeah because if he gets to 74kg he ll be the envy of all wannabe climber and emaciated.

OK, Read it, and the OP's. Op is not a competitive cyclist, is approx a 20Kph commuter, has already lost much weight and now wants to get fit.
This is why I asked the question.

victorcarrera wrote:

How light do you want to be and why.

Dont think i ve ever heard a cyclist tell another cyclist dont drop down to 75kg you might become a skinny climber

You are probably right about that. All this chat is making me feel fat, its a nice evening so I am going out for a spin.

dare2be

Game, set, match Victor....

Lovely array of cups

Oldlegs

victorcarrera wrote: »

You are probably right about that. All this chat is making me feel fat, its a nice evening so I am going out for a spin.

The fact that you felt it necessary to post a pic of your trophies in a thread about leisure cycling says enough for me

That said, jealous you are able to head out to enjoy the great spring evening. Enjoy

Lumen

Oldlegs wrote: »

The fact that you felt it necessary to post a pic of your trophies in a thread about leisure cycling says enough for me

We need more of this.

victorcarrera

Oldlegs wrote: »

The fact that you felt it necessary to post a pic of your trophies in a thread about leisure cycling says enough for me

That said, jealous you are able to head out to enjoy the great spring evening. Enjoy

Wrong. It was posted in response to a quote within the thread which questioned my ability to give advice to the OP. It was not me who took it there. ???

kennyb3

victorcarrera wrote: »

Wrong. It was posted in response to a quote within the thread which questioned my ability to give advice to the OP. It was not me who took it there. ???

In that regard, I still think your advice to stop at 77kg is completely wrong as this is borderline overweight and certainly not a 'sporting' weight let alone a skinny climber weight. In saying that I recognise thst you can be big and powerful on a bike. Best to draw a line under it from a thread point of view.

Nice throphies by the way.

Oldlegs

OT -> request for comments re. Cycling & diet
Comments -> target weight loss
Replies-> questioning target weight loss

Not sure anyone asked whether you had the credentials as a competitive cyclist (I'm jealous of those cups too).

OP, OT and comments all focused on Cycling for weight loss - not weight loss for competitive cycling.

Would love to get back on topic ....
Don't think that Cycling is the best exercise to lose weight, but IMO it is an excellent form of exercise to get healthy and stay healthy. Fro example, running can be damaging if unfit or overweight, swimming requires some technique before you can get the benefits of a 45-60 min session. Cycling provides an easy entry point into exercise and allows participants to develop as they want (plus all the gear you can buy )
People can lose weight with diets. People can only stay healthy with exercise. {Rant off }

shaungil

can I put both my rugby medals if we're putting up pictures of trophies? Be pretty bare otherwise......

ROK ON

My weight has gone from 112kg to 89 in 4 years due entirely to cycling.

I love all sorts of food and steadfastly refuse to diet. To be fair I would eventually like to drop to 80kg but that requires more discipline than I have been able to muster thus far.

Have a sensible weight goal and diet. Once you do a reasonable amount of cycling weight will drop away.
However I cycle a lot (14000k in 2010), the fact that I have not lost more weight should tell you that there are limits to exercise alone.
As a tip. Last summer I bought shorts and tops that were too small for me. I kept training until they fitted me.

nak

My advice would be to not focus on weight, everyone is different. I am quite heavy for a girl my size (5'4" and 60kg) and my husband is 5'9" and weighs the same as me - he's lean, but not skinny. I know people that are roughly my height and weigh the same as me who would look overweight.

Eat healthily, eat more protein, cut down on portion size and don't stress too much. At least you don't have hormones that want to keep the fat on your body.

kennyb3

ROK ON wrote: »

My weight has gone from 112kg to 89 in 4 years due entirely to cycling.

I love all sorts of food and steadfastly refuse to diet. To be fair I would eventually like to drop to 80kg but that requires more discipline than I have been able to muster thus far.

Have a sensible weight goal and diet. Once you do a reasonable amount of cycling weight will drop away.
However I cycle a lot (14000k in 2010), the fact that I have not lost more weight should tell you that there are limits to exercise alone.
As a tip. Last summer I bought shorts and tops that were too small for me. I kept training until they fitted me.

Fair play ROK ON thats some loss all the same and some amount of cycling last year. Love the last bit - i got a jersey last year which i felt was a bit revealing and vowed id look better in it this year - getting there!

BostonB

'I ride road bikes,' he told TMZ. 'I wear Spandex and everything.'...

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1369901/How-My-Name-Is-Earl-star-Ethan-Suplee-lost-incredible-200lbs.html

michael196

I have gone from 16 stone in March 2010 to 13 st 3 today,( march 2011) so about a year all through cycling. Hired a bike while on holiday 1 year ago and just kept going all year untill this holiday. Entering A4 racing this year.

touching on a 40 waist in 2010, now 34 waist. Feeling 100,000,000 times better, more energy etc.

Mostly sportives during 2010.

for the OP, the app allowing you 1000 calories for ur commute ,to me seems fine.

I regulalrily burn 1000 an hour according to Garmin 705.

Would love to be down at the OP weight of 12st 7lbs.

I walked the major hills of the W200, in 2010, when i was about 15 stone, but expect to be ok on them in 2011 . Lighter lads still leave me on the hills, but I have a good descent and a good flats speed.

blorg

The Garmin 705 is not accurate. In particular, it does not take into account HR, as the algorithms to calculate calories from HR are patented. They licensed them for the 500 which I believe is more accurate, if still not perfect (none are exact unless you have a power meter.) As a rule of thumb you could halve the number the 705 provides.

Well done on that effort Michael, it is good going.

My own view on weight loss is that, if you have a lot to lose, it is easier to do through diet than cycling- or at least, that you have to keep a close eye on what you eat while doing the cycling to avoid compensating. Cycling will make you hungry and it is all too easy to eat too much on the bike, stuff yourself when you get back from a spin, etc.

But as an exercise, if you are not time constrained I don't think there is much better than cycling. There are few other exercises you can indulge in so much with a low risk of injury.

eoghan84

If you want to lose weight, then keep up the cycling but become disciplined about not eating crap food like chips - all that old fat/greese coating a high glycaemic indexed carbohydrate, ready to shoot your blood sugar up, with useless fats to mess with your system, its all evil stuff that promotes flab and that excess energy strain on the body that most of Ireland suffers from.

You can relax again about diet every now and then when youve reached your goal weight and if you're still exercising.

But for now just have a rule not to eat crap. No fry up breakfasts/porriage in morning, dont buy lunch have something in with you, cook up every night. Reduce alcohol intake. Basically cut out chippers and never trust any restaurant place as their soups/vegs are often doused with butter and salt.

pprendeville

was listening to an interview on radio this eve with Kevin Sheridan (bodysculpture.ie) and he said no food after 6.30 as the metabolism stops working after this time so food eaten from here on just remains in the gut. I'm a terror for eating late. going to give this a try and consciously get all my meals in before that time.

petethedrummer

Hang on, instead of embarking on something unsustainable that you'll end up giving up, why not just eat a bit less at night?

I know Helly Holmes didn't eat after 7pm, but she was an international athlete with probably extraordinary levels of self discipline. My Dad does this kind of thing and it works, but then the weight goes back on when he stops, cos its miserable.

chakattack

pprendeville wrote: »

was listening to an interview on radio this eve with Kevin Sheridan (bodysculpture.ie) and he said no food after 6.30 as the metabolism stops working after this time so food eaten from here on just remains in the gut. I'm a terror for eating late. going to give this a try and consciously get all my meals in before that time.

I was at a talk where a dietician (not nutritionist) said that this is bull****, especially for athletes. It's calories in vs calories out and it doesn't matter over what time span this is measured.

If you cycle a lot you're body will be looking for calories 24/7 and you just need a small calorific deficit to steadily lose weight.

It might be (slightly) useful for sedentary people but the effect is insignificant compared to the amounts a lot of us need to eat.

shamrock55

all this talk of food is making me hungry:D

kennyb3

chakattack wrote: »

I was at a talk where a dietician (not nutritionist) said that this is bull****, especially for athletes. It's calories in vs calories out and it doesn't matter over what time span this is measured.

If you cycle a lot you're body will be looking for calories 24/7 and you just need a small calorific deficit to steadily lose weight.

It might be (slightly) useful for sedentary people but the effect is insignificant compared to the amounts a lot of us need to eat.

I tend to agree with this. calories in v calories out.

Anyway alot of people might do a spin after work for an hour, does their metabolism still stop then? Don't think so.

Not refuelling after such a spin is more detrimental.

Chips Lovell

pprendeville wrote: »

was listening to an interview on radio this eve with Kevin Sheridan (bodysculpture.ie) and he said no food after 6.30 as the metabolism stops working after this time so food eaten from here on just remains in the gut. I'm a terror for eating late. going to give this a try and consciously get all my meals in before that time.

chakattack wrote: »

I was at a talk where a dietician (not nutritionist) said that this is bull****, especially for athletes. It's calories in vs calories out and it doesn't matter over what time span this is measured.

If you cycle a lot you're body will be looking for calories 24/7 and you just need a small calorific deficit to steadily lose weight.

It might be (slightly) useful for sedentary people but the effect is insignificant compared to the amounts a lot of us need to eat.

I'd agree with chakattack. Your metabolism never stops, it speeds up or slows down. Nor does your digestive system ever stop. So food isn't just sitting there in your gut. Stopping eating at 6:30 is pretty daft too if you're not going to bed until midnight or so.

godihatedehills

It just depends person to person. If you're a demon for eating in the evening then trying to stop eating after a certain time could work wonders for you, the time when you're at your hungriest you'll be fast asleep in bed. For someone else it could be nonsense. Similarly exercise could be one person's secret weapon and it could be diet for someone else.

Lumen

el tonto wrote: »

Stopping eating at 6:30 is pretty daft too if you're not going to bed until midnight or so.

I think the point of stopping eating in the evening is that you don't notice the hunger when you're asleep.

shaungil

Niall Ronan the Munster Rugby player also professed to this change in working for him when he moved from Leinster.

IMHO it's simply a case of people just focussing on the eating habits a bit better and if they can stop eating after 6.30 then they're going to focus all day. In the evenings you're probably more likely to eat sh1te. But I guess eating just before bed means digestion is not as effective as peristalsis(sp) uses gravity too.

I must ask the OH as she has a PD in Nutrition. I remember her telling me about one of their lecturers and and how he argued any person with no underlying mediacal conditions could eat anything at any time and their body would adapt. To prove it he ate Thai green curry for brekkie for two weeks and by the end of the two weeks was fine. He'd probably argue eating nothing after 6.30 means nothing.

Lumen

Dieting is largely a mental problem, not a physiological one, since you can lose as much weight as you want by stopping eating, and the only thing preventing you from stopping eating is your mind.

Most diet strategies come down to tricking your mind and body into believing that you're eating enough when you actually aren't.

Obviously for elite athletes dieting needs to be done with care so as not to lose performance, but most people needed to lose substantial amounts of weight are not elite athletes.

Our natural state is one of food scarcity, so we have evolved to shove stuff into our faces whenever it's available.

Embrace the hunger.

blorg

Saw this the other day: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin.

Summary: exercise makes you hungry and a lot of people compensate by eating more.

I'd tend to agree with this; exercise is certainly useful but it is essential to watch your diet if you want to lose weight. The exception I think is if you are doing a very very large amount of exercise, you can do so much that it is next to impossible to replace the calories no matter how much you eat. But the amount is far greater than most people do, I think, maybe 15-20 hours a week minimum.

godihatedehills

blorg wrote: »

Saw this the other day: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin.

Summary: exercise makes you hungry and a lot of people compensate by eating more.

I'd tend to agree with this; exercise is certainly useful but it is essential to watch your diet if you want to lose weight. The exception I think is if you are doing a very very large amount of exercise, you can do so much that it is next to impossible to replace the calories no matter how much you eat. But the amount is far greater than most people do, I think, maybe 15-20 hours a week minimum.

Exercise helps you lose weight.

If you're arguing against that it must be for the sake of having an argument.

shaungil

Exercise allows you to eat more without putting on weight.