Calorie intake vs output balance

Graeme Jones

I am not so sure that I'm getting the balance right. I was cleaning up my diet before I got the bike so have some habits that may need to be addressed. I have shrunk portion size to support weight loss from 16st 2lb to 13st 9lb or 226lbs to 191lbs. The last 8lbs have been supported by cycling and I still want to loose a further 8lbs.

My diet today was-
2 brown slices of toast
1/2 can beans
1 poached egg
1/3 pack of mushroom filled pasta
1/3 jar of pasta sauce
1 peach
1 banana
Beef paprika with carrot and sweet potato
Mr Kipling mini cake thing.

So after working it all out it came to-
1470 cals
165g carbs
74.5g protein

My first impression was shocked that I've not got near even 2000cals today and I was out for a 17 mile ride at a slow pace today as out with someone less physically fitter than me.

What do you think guys think I'm doing about 70 miles a week at about 15mph overall should I be aiming for 2000cals to maintain weight loss?

itguy2

Take a look at http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Then, if your serious, buy a heart rate monitor which will help you gauge how many calories your burning when exercising.

When you've worked out what your BMR calories are (ie the amount you need to maintain your current weight) then have a 500 cal/day deficit for 1lb/week loss, 750 for 1.5lb/week or 1000 for 2lb/week.

Remember to eat the calories you burn when exercising - ie if you burn 300 cals on a ride, then eat 300 extra that day than your normal dieting calorie intake.

If your aiming for muscle too then try to get 100g of protein / day also.

All this takes some work I know, but I have been doing it since Xmas and I feel great and have lost loads.

itguy2

Should have also said look at this http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calcu ... -equation/ after you've got your BMR value, as it will give you the right multiplier for your activity level.

I usually work mine out on x1.2 (sedentary) as I'm then eating the cals I burn when excerising on top, rather than including them.

dw300

itguy2 wrote:

Take a look at http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Then, if your serious, buy a heart rate monitor which will help you gauge how many calories your burning when exercising.

When you've worked out what your BMR calories are (ie the amount you need to maintain your current weight) then have a 500 cal/day deficit for 1lb/week loss, 750 for 1.5lb/week or 1000 for 2lb/week.

Remember to eat the calories you burn when exercising - ie if you burn 300 cals on a ride, then eat 300 extra that day than your normal dieting calorie intake.

If your aiming for muscle too then try to get 100g of protein / day also.

All this takes some work I know, but I have been doing it since Xmas and I feel great and have lost loads.

Not quite guys .. some of your energy comes from fat, some from glycogen, you only need to replace the glycogen.

As a rough guide, if its an easy ride, add about a quarter of the cals burned during exercise. Medium ride, add half, intense ride, add 3/4.

You want to burn the fat, but have a full complement of glycogen so your training isn't affected.

However my advice would be eat that many calories of a while, monitor your weight, energy, health and performance, and if anything is lacking, eat more. Even if you get to a point at which youre barely loosing any weight, you should continue to get leaner.

Graeme Jones

Cheers guys I guess it's trial and error. I don't feel lacking to be fair but id say today is a little less than normal. When I do 30+ miles at a higher pace I'm always hungry next day so I eat more of everything without going ott

GiantMike

Graeme Jones wrote:

blah blah blah...

Mr Kipling mini cake thing.

...blah blah blah

There's the problem right there. Are you a pre-menstrual woman or something? Feckin' cup cakes??

Next time have a cup of manly coffee and save the 150 calories.

On a more serious note, I burn about 40 cals per mile on a hard ride and about 25 on a gentler bimble (according to my Powertap which measures work done and converts it to calories). At 15 MPH I'd be averaging around 20-25 (5'9" and 75kgs). Might be a useful figure as a rough guide when you're calculating calories burned.

Good luck. Remember, hunger comes in waves.

itguy2

dw300 wrote:

Not quite guys .. some of your energy comes from fat, some from glycogen, you only need to replace the glycogen

Interesting - thanks for the info, I've learnt something new. So is it best to try to replace this with some form of low fat carb food/drink then, so as to not intake a fat/glycogen mix straight after exercise? Or is a protein shake better?

Still trying to get the hang of things myself!

dw300

itguy2 wrote:

dw300 wrote:

Not quite guys .. some of your energy comes from fat, some from glycogen, you only need to replace the glycogen

Interesting - thanks for the info, I've learnt something new. So is it best to try to replace this with some form of low fat carb food/drink then, so as to not intake a fat/glycogen mix straight after exercise? Or is a protein shake better?

Still trying to get the hang of things myself!

Well .. this is assuming that you are still looking to get rid of fat. If you already at a level of bodyfat that you want to maintain then you'd probably want to do as you suggested.

Also, assuming the rest of your diet is nicely balanced, then the extra calories to account for energy burned training should just be carbs. You will absorb more straight after training, so that's not a bad time to eat your carbs, especially simple carbs if you have a sweet tooth. You'll also utilise protein better at that time too, the insulin you produce in response to the carb intake, will help get the protein to your muscles.

I don't know what to advise you as far as when and how much. Average adults replenish 25g/hr of carbs. Research says you can process 70-75g/hr during training, so I assume it that rate that carries over for a while, post training. But since everyones different, you just have to use all the guideline amounts and monitor your weight and performance and adjust off those observations to find what works for you. If you require performance, forego the weight loss for a few days prior to a race etc. If you want fat loss, keep the calories down a bit when you can afford your training intensity to be a bit lower.

Remember that a post ride recovery drink doesn't fully recover you. I think a lot of people think that that's all you need. If you burn through 1000 calories worth of glycogen during a ride, and take 75g of carbs post ride (300 cals worth) you still have 700 to make up. At 25g/hr (100 cals/hr) after that, it'll still take you a couple more meals to compensate. These are rough figures, it's just to give an idea of how long it takes. But if you didn't have a recovery drink or meal it could delay your recovery by a few hours. No big deal i hear you say, and for most it's not, but if you train hard every day, then those hours will matter and you'll want to make the most of them.

itguy2

So much to learn yet!

Thanks for the advice

bahzob

Ignore the stuff above about recovery and about eating to replace what you have burned on a ride. Its utterly irrelevant for someone only doing 70 miles a week.

These things are only a consideration for elite athletes who will do 2 hard sessions daily 5-6 days a week or multi-day stage races.

The average amateur even if doing semi-serious training does nowhere near enough work to need anything other than a well balanced diet to maintain weight or recover (excepting maybe if they schedule a hard session following a full on race day).

This is especially the case if the goal is to lose weight. The very last thing you should be doing is giving yourself an excuse to eat more.

In your case given the amount of weight you have lost already I'd advise continuing what you have already done and hard diet at < 2000kcal a day to lose the final 8lbs. Then spend a few weeks proving to yourself you can sustain this target weight. By all means cycle then but maintain focus on losing weight and don't give any consideration to what effect cycling may have.

Graeme Jones

I am going to up the intake slightly as I felt 'not myself' the next day as I believe I had dipped too far in to the red. Looking forward to hopefully 50 miles+ this weekend so nutrition and hydration will be key.

thiscocks

Don't up your intake, just listen to what bahzob said as its true.

Superbalicious

bahzob wrote:

By all means cycle then but maintain focus on losing weight and don't give any consideration to what effect cycling may have.

I guess there's a balance to be struck. Due to my work a I can't achieve even 70 per week at the moment, but I was initially of the opinion that I had to eat more to burn more. Now I just swap my branflakes for porridge if I'm heading out for a ride as, at the moment, my first aim is to loose weight (13st 7lb, 2 stone down, 1 to go).

As for the effect of cycling, I find that after a ride my weight levels off, or may even increase by 1/2 pound, for the next day or two, before I notice any weight loss.

ju5t1n

The pedant in me feels the need to point out that in the UK we spell lose with one ‘o’ and losing with one ‘o’ too!

Loose is the opposite of tight.

Graeme Jones

And your revived my thread to give us all a spelling lesson?

phreak

Graeme Jones wrote:

And your revived my thread to give us all a spelling lesson?

You mean 'you', right? Sorry, couldn't resist

mattshrops

phreak wrote:

Graeme Jones wrote:

And your revived my thread to give us all a spelling lesson?

You mean 'you', right? Sorry, couldn't resist

or did he mean "you've"

If you're going to be a smartass........

(checked 12 times for spelling and grammar errors)

jibberjim

mattshrops wrote:

(checked 12 times for spelling and grammar errors)

Grammatical errors



Not actually true of course, either are fine...

briantrumpet

jibberjim wrote:

Not actually true of course, either are fine...

Either is fine?