Lots of Cycling and Little Weight Loss
Comments
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I'm not 100% convinced that you can apply kcal burned exercising on top of your Harris Benedict adjusted BMR. In any case you need to net of that which would have been burned anyway. But the more I think about it, the more I'm thinking the HBE takes account of the activity? Am I wrong - does anyone know?
i.e. exercising 3 - 5 times a week vs zero adds (BMR * 1.55) 7700kcal to a 2000kcal BMR rather than 2800 (BMR * 1.2) for zero. This comes to an avg net of 700 per day. This sounds a lot just to take account of EPOC and increased lean muscle mass? Could it be accounting for the actually exercise too?
I thought I understood this - but now think I don't0 -
TDEE ignoring other activity = 2,100kcal
So to lose 1lb per week take 500kcal off that = 1,600kcal
Reckons 1,500 from cycling and he wants to "eat back" and generally it's recommended to eat back 1/4 to 1/3rd so lets say 1/4 which is 375kcal.
Which gives a daily consumption target of 1,975 (or 2,000kcal near enough).
So my back of a fag packet almost made up, figures suggest he's eating 700kcal a day too much, 2,700kcal when it should be more like 2,000kcal0 -
diy wrote:I'm not 100% convinced that you can apply kcal burned exercising on top of your Harris Benedict adjusted BMR. In any case you need to net of that which would have been burned anyway. But the more I think about it, the more I'm thinking the HBE takes account of the activity? Am I wrong - does anyone know?
i.e. exercising 3 - 5 times a week vs zero adds (BMR * 1.55) 7700kcal to a 2000kcal BMR rather than 2800 (BMR * 1.2) for zero. This comes to an avg net of 700 per day. This sounds a lot just to take account of EPOC and increased lean muscle mass? Could it be accounting for the actually exercise too?
I thought I understood this - but now think I don't
I calculated the TDEE based on sedentary activity (office worker - which I am) - if I include the exercising activity in the caluclator it gives me a TDEE of 3,500.
With this model I am looking at a deficit of about 800.0 -
TimmyVee wrote:I calculated the TDEE based on sedentary activity (office worker - which I am) - if I include the exercising activity in the caluclator it gives me a TDEE of 3,500.
With this model I am looking at a deficit of about 800.
Thing is all these are just rules of thumb, estimates for the 'average' person doing a normalised thing. In the end you have to go from experimental evidence, and you've already gathered that evidence in the form that you're not losing weight. Therefore one side of the in vs out equation is wrong.
Therefore it comes down to more cycling or less food.0 -
markhewitt1978 wrote:Therefore it comes down to more cycling or less food.
That's the way it looks - thanks a lot for your inputs. Much appreciated.0 -
My story.....may offer a non numbers based view.
When I first started cycling I dropped from 14 to 13 stones. I rode 2500 miles per year but still drank beer, sugar in coffee and didn't watch what I was eating too closely. I dropped a trouser size 36-34".
Last year I rode 5000 miles and only just dropped from 13 stones to 12 stone 10lbs.
In Jan 2016 I stopped drinking beer, cut out added sugar in coffee etc and started to eat sensible portions. I'm now 11 stones 11lbs and a 32" trouser.
Things I've learnt over the last couple of years cycling:
- After an initial hit the high mileage benefit will reduce
- You need a sensible diet......I used to think I can eat what I want as I'll burn it off
- Calories on Strava and Garmin are generally wrong
- You need dedication to maintain your rides and hold off eating hidden calories....beer etc0 -
AllezAllezAllez wrote:I'm now 11 stones 11lbs and a 32" trouser.
Hey I'm exactly that weight today. But I'm wearing 36" trousers, so I expect you're taller than 5'6"!0 -
All of this is too complicated and won't be practical on a day-to day basis. The simple answer is to get up, have an expresso, ride to work fasted, go through to lunch on water/coffee then eat sensibly for lunch (protein, moderate carbs plus fruit/veg) and dinner. Healthy snacks etc are fine. You will find it's much harder to over-eat if you condense the time available to you in which to eat (ie an 8 hour window) when I was doing this for weight loss I found it hard to squeeze in 3 meals as I was always full. I often got to the end of the eating window (8pm) having only eaten twice but not being hungry. At weekends you can eat more normally if you like. The weight will come off due to a combination of exercise and calorie restriction from the fasting. If you find it too hard to fast after the ride to work then a pint of milk mid-morning but it won't have the same weight loss benefits as fasting until lunch.0
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Camcycle1974 wrote:All of this is too complicated and won't be practical on a day-to day basis. The simple answer is to get up, have an expresso, ride to work fasted, go through to lunch on water/coffee then eat sensibly for lunch (protein, moderate carbs plus fruit/veg) and dinner. Healthy snacks etc are fine. You will find it's much harder to over-eat if you condense the time available to you in which to eat (ie an 8 hour window) when I was doing this for weight loss I found it hard to squeeze in 3 meals as I was always full. I often got to the end of the eating window (8pm) having only eaten twice but not being hungry. At weekends you can eat more normally if you like. The weight will come off due to a combination of exercise and calorie restriction from the fasting. If you find it too hard to fast after the ride to work then a pint of milk mid-morning but it won't have the same weight loss benefits as fasting until lunch.
Wow, people are so different. I can't imagine getting by on a regime like this.0 -
Alex99 wrote:Wow, people are so different. I can't imagine getting by on a regime like this.
Whereas I was just thinking this was a good idea! Especially on 5:2 fasting days. i.e. Don't have breakfast until noon, small snack in the afternoon then dinner. Easier than having breakfast at 8.30am then a long stretch to 6pm for dinner.0 -
markhewitt1978 wrote:Alex99 wrote:Wow, people are so different. I can't imagine getting by on a regime like this.
Whereas I was just thinking this was a good idea! Especially on 5:2 fasting days. i.e. Don't have breakfast until noon, small snack in the afternoon then dinner. Easier than having breakfast at 8.30am then a long stretch to 6pm for dinner.
I'm not saying that it's a bad idea at all. Just that I might die if I tried it. :?0 -
My opinion is keep cycling with some intervals and visit a Gym 2-3 times per week and exercise your upper body
if you add more muscles = better metabolism = more fat loss0 -
Alex99 wrote:
I'm not saying that it's a bad idea at all. Just that I might die if I tried it. :?
haha
. Lots of people think that about the likes of going for a bike ride before you've had breakfast, not only is it possible and won't kill you, it does you good too 
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G M wrote:My opinion is keep cycling with some intervals and visit a Gym 2-3 times per week and exercise your upper body
if you add more muscles = better metabolism = more fat loss
This is exactly what I am going to do. I cannot cycle anymore than I am. I am going to try and drop some more calories out of my diet - keep cycling about 190 miles a week, and do some upper body work outs 3x a week.
Even if I don't lose more weight I am going to be one fit mutha fudger.0 -
In any case you still have to net off calories burned doing nothing from any burned exercising - so when strava says you're buring 500kcal an hour, you are only up approx. 400kcal.0
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diy wrote:In any case you still have to net off calories burned doing nothing from any burned exercising - so when strava says you're buring 500kcal an hour, you are only up approx. 400kcal.
It depends how Strava shows the figures. Some show only that extra burned through exercise, some show the exercise + BMR. Which I think is the wrong way to do it, you need to know how much extra the activity has burned, much less relevant to the total used during the time.
I have Endomondo set up to show calories burned as I walk, I've just set it away without going anywhere, and it's busy counting up the calories about 5 per minute, which is a bit disappointing.
That can be a big issue if you're exercising for several hours. It's including your BMR, then you're including your BMR on top, you're double counting.0 -
This time last year I was in the middle of a weight loss effort. All I did was count calories and cycle a lot. I lost 2 stones in 11 weeks. You can read about it in this thread.0
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Have you tried eating less? I find it works for me.0
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bobones wrote:This time last year I was in the middle of a weight loss effort. All I did was count calories and cycle a lot. I lost 2 stones in 11 weeks. You can read about it in this thread.
Interesting seeing my own posts from that thread. Bemoaning the lack of cycling through the week - fixed through turbo trainer mostly. And my snacking in the evening - still one of my biggest issues.0 -
bompington wrote:Have you tried eating less? I find it works for me.
I have lost 35 kgs since March 2014 - just hit a bit of a plateau. I am going to finish this year with 7,000 miles cycled (if all goes according to plan) and would like to drop another 10 kgs in the process. A lot of the advice in this thread has been useful, some not so much.0 -
markhewitt1978 wrote:bobones wrote:This time last year I was in the middle of a weight loss effort. All I did was count calories and cycle a lot. I lost 2 stones in 11 weeks. You can read about it in this thread.
Interesting seeing my own posts from that thread. Bemoaning the lack of cycling through the week - fixed through turbo trainer mostly. And my snacking in the evening - still one of my biggest issues.
Discovering Zwift this winter has also made a big difference for me. Last winter I did hardly any turbo work, because I hated it so much, which contributed to my weight going up in the first place. Now, since November, I've done 1400 "miles" on Zwift which has helped massively in keeping my weight at a decent level. I got a Vortex Smart for Christmas and I've been using Sufferfest videos sync'd to Zwift workouts to keep things interesting.0 -
bobones wrote:Discovering Zwift this winter has also made a big difference for me. Last winter I did hardly any turbo work, because I hated it so much, which contributed to my weight going up in the first place. Now, since November, I've done 1400 "miles" on Zwift which has helped massively in keeping my weight at a decent level. I got a Vortex Smart for Christmas and I've been using Sufferfest videos sync'd to Zwift workouts to keep things interesting.
1,200 miles since October for me. Really makes a big difference that I can start doing 'cycling' with about 5 mins prep and then, importantly, stop and be ready to see to baby / child within about 60 seconds.0 -
Fiist well done, IMO you are doing most everything right. Second you *have* lost a lot of weight and recently lost another 3kg. As your body adjusts to the intensity the weight loss becomes less rapid so what you observe is fairly normal. You body is "designed" to defend weight during periods of starvation for evolutionary reasons. That said, thermogenesis dictates weight loss will continue slowly (try this calculator to play around with how fast https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/index.html) . If you want to loose weight faster you need to up the calorie deficit further which you may not be willing or able to do. Its usually far easier to up the deficit from diet than by exercise especially as you are commuting an impressive amount per day already. Don't forget you can try other activities for weight loss eg football, running, swimming...group sports are particularly effective for motivation. Being really careful with intake will be another important factor as already mentioned. You are doing well not badly!0
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Alex99 wrote:markhewitt1978 wrote:Alex99 wrote:Wow, people are so different. I can't imagine getting by on a regime like this.
Whereas I was just thinking this was a good idea! Especially on 5:2 fasting days. i.e. Don't have breakfast until noon, small snack in the afternoon then dinner. Easier than having breakfast at 8.30am then a long stretch to 6pm for dinner.
I'm not saying that it's a bad idea at all. Just that I might die if I tried it. :?
You wouldn't. A person can survive for weeks without food, we are talking 16 hours! It may take some time to adjust to but it's effectiveness at shedding unwanted fat cannot be underestimated. It's possible to shift lots of body fat without exercise but as we are on a cycling forum I have put the IF into that context, to be used as a tool to shed fat. Fasting has many other benefits, we are not designed to be constantly processing food which is what the mainstream fitness market would have us believe. Recently I did a training block of rides in Norfolk, all of which were done fasted. 2 hours max but it really was a non-issue. I would come home, shower then a leisurely breakfast ( I was on holiday). I lost 2kgs over the course of the week which helped for the hilly sportive I was doing the following week. Try it, what do you have to lose?0 -
G M wrote:My opinion is keep cycling with some intervals and visit a Gym 2-3 times per week and exercise your upper body
if you add more muscles = better metabolism = more fat loss
This is true but the extra calorie burn from adding 1lb of muscle ( hard to do consistently) is negligible. A drop in the ocean.
As a cyclist why would you want loads of muscle anyway? Far better to drop fat directly through manipulating calorie intake at it has no functional benefits.
Look at body builders. They have loads of muscle but are only really lean around competition time through dieting. Surely if their metabolisms were that efficient they would be lean 100% of the time?0 -
ajmitchell wrote:Fiist well done, IMO you are doing most everything right. Second you *have* lost a lot of weight and recently lost another 3kg. As your body adjusts to the intensity the weight loss becomes less rapid so what you observe is fairly normal. You body is "designed" to defend weight during periods of starvation for evolutionary reasons. That said, thermogenesis dictates weight loss will continue slowly (try this calculator to play around with how fast https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/index.html) . If you want to loose weight faster you need to up the calorie deficit further which you may not be willing or able to do. Its usually far easier to up the deficit from diet than by exercise especially as you are commuting an impressive amount per day already. Don't forget you can try other activities for weight loss eg football, running, swimming...group sports are particularly effective for motivation. Being really careful with intake will be another important factor as already mentioned. You are doing well not badly!
Thanks for this - greatly appreciated. I had been dodging the scales for the last few of weeks due to the lack of progress, but today I checked and they had gone down another 0.9 kgs. I agree on your points about it getting harder. I am going to watch the cals, add some upper body weight work, and to keep cranking out the miles.
Thanks again.0 -
TimmyVee wrote:bompington wrote:Have you tried eating less? I find it works for me.
I have lost 35 kgs since March 2014 - just hit a bit of a plateau. I am going to finish this year with 7,000 miles cycled (if all goes according to plan) and would like to drop another 10 kgs in the process. A lot of the advice in this thread has been useful, some not so much.
35 Kg is a mighty impressive weight loss.0 -
35kg is indeed mightily impressive. I've noticed quite the difference just getting 10kg off, 35kg must be transformational.0
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markhewitt1978 wrote:35kg is indeed mightily impressive. I've noticed quite the difference just getting 10kg off, 35kg must be transformational.
It was transformational. I have had to donate to charity every item of clothing I have twice in the last two years - and people I have known for years that I haven't seen for a while hardly recognise me.0
