Lots of Cycling and Little Weight Loss

webboo

I suspect it's not your 1500 Cals a day that's the issues. It's the added calories you eat that you are basing on perceived excursion.
Weight watchers used to allow you extra points I.e. Food for exercise now they don't .
If you are only riding for an hour or so stick to 1500 don't add anything. You are on a diet remember. If you go out for 4 hours eat normally.

markhewitt1978

3 Emondas. Yup that's how I measure my weight loss too. My bike weighing notionally 7.5kg or so I've almost lost twice the bikes weight!

mxmike1991

Look into interval training. I know it's difficult if you are commuting. Heart rate monitors are a must have , I have a polar m400 such a great training tool!

svetty

Just for info I allow 300 calories per 10 miles on average. Sure it's more on hills, less on the flat but for me works out pretty well. YMMV as always...........

Mccrear

quick update (if anyone cares!) - upped the miles a little (additional 5 a day and extra 40 miler) and kept cals as close to 1500 as poss... and seems to be working (lost 2 llbs this week). started using HR zones on way home (the moring cycle in i do fasted so will maybe introduce that if i need to, but do feel a bit "burst" on rides in tbh) and can feel a difference when i am consciously pushing myself for concentrated periods rather than for the whole ride. Let you know how it goes.

markhewitt1978

Good stuff, 2lb is a good amount to be losing, you don't want to be losing much faster than that really.

kawaspresso

Last year I adopted a high carb low fat low protein diet and no refined sugar products. In 2 months I lost 10kg, I was 85kg for 177cm, I'm now 70kg for 1 year without gaining weight again.
And if loose weight I just eat a little bit more protein.
My rule is I eat unlimited quantity of carbs.

RichardSmart

You'll be putting on muscle while burning fat at the same time - You should notice that your legs get stronger, and once your legs have got to their biggest, the larger muscles will burn more fat as you cycle. Along with the cycling, why not try some upper body exercises as well - that way you will be able to burn even more fat - a bigger engine (usually) needs more fuel to run at the same speed as a smaller engine...

poynedexter

the body is very good at regulating fat storage, fat loss, energy levels, etc. calories are important but no more important than hormones. if you eat more calories over time than you need you will gain weight and depending where those calories come from and when you eat them, will affect the rate of gain or loss.

i would recommend coming to a fat loss period from another angle. eat slightly more for a few weeks and monitor your weight. then, if you are gaining, start to reduce calories but cut down on the empty low nutrient foods and drink. go slowly and find out where your tipping point is. be aware that if you merely dive in and reduce calories, your body may respond by cutting your energy levels as it want to rebalance the scales. if you are a regular cyclist you will want to feel full of energy on the bike, and you want to match this with food around your cycling.

you don't need to go high fat low carb, low calorie, low fat etc, just eat slightly less than your expenditure over the long term and you will lose fat. you dont have to be strict, just consistant over time. the worst thing you can do is to restrict to the point where your BMR slows down and you lose your zip, energy drops and your mood and weight loss halts.

more dieting wont work, it will fail eventually. a healthy metabolism will cope with short periods of overeating without adding fat. a restricted BMR will react by gaining fat easily.

its also very hard to live, saying i'm not eating this or that anymore. give you body what it needs to perform and then nip it back slightly over time.

Sleeper Service

I don't know if this has been posted, and I can't be bothered going through nine pages to find out, but I was told to use between 30 and 40 Kcal per mile as a calorie burn, because the formulas used by online calculators, fitbits, etc are massively overestimated.

Seems to be working pretty well so far after a month of grinding my gears.