cyclists - i keep getting fatter and fatter

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Cinflo58
Cinflo58 Posts: 326 Member
I cycle 80-180 miles a week at 12-20 mph and it makes me so hungry that i overeat at night. 2 months ago I added core work and strength training with a personal trained once a week to improve my core and to be more balanced and now i am putting on inches and still not losing weight. I know it's all my diet and i just started journaling again. I only have 10 lbs to lose
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  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    I feel your pain.

    After a good long run or ride I'm ravenous too, sadly we can still pack on the pounds (as they say, you can't outrun your fork) Logging your food is a good start, aim for a modest deficit (maybe to lose half a pound a week) as you still need to fuel those rides!
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    Log your food as accurately as possible eating back 50-75% of your exercise calories and you will lose.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    It's odd but cycling, even long distance, doesn't make me particularly hungry despite large calorie burns.

    Strength training is the opposite, low calorie burn but very hungry.

    When I'm cutting weight I tend to have a mixture of maintenance days and deficit days to keep my energy levels high but still achieve an overall weekly calorie deficit.
  • DTrain351
    DTrain351 Posts: 37 Member
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    I bike too but I only go 50 miles a week. Try this, eat light before your ride. Then snack lightly while you ride (ie, granola bar or energy product). Then after the ride have a meal. For my 50 mile ride I can burn 3000-5000 calories depending on terrain and cadence. I consume about 300-500 calories before my ride and about 400-500 calories during. Afterwards I resume normal eating according to my plan. If I'm hungry late night I consume a casein protein drink and that fills and holds me over til the next morning. My goal is to drop body fat and maintain muscle or maintain my weight. You shouldn't be starving after your "after ride meal." Eat normal and avoid feasting at night...easier said then done:)
  • Highlandengel
    Highlandengel Posts: 2 Member
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    Build up of muscle will add to your weight too.
  • JoshuaMcAllister
    JoshuaMcAllister Posts: 500 Member
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    I think you've answered your own question, if it was even a question and not a statement. If you've been riding and in calorie surplus because you're not tracking you'll gain weight, monitor calorie intake and ride you won't add weight, relatively simple logic.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,865 Member
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    One of the reasons I have been tracking my calories in some form or another for the past 20+ years is so that I know I am fueling my long distance cycling adequately without going overboard.

    Estimate calories burned while cycling low-ish ... I use the formula 100 cal/5 km of cycling ...
    Eat only about 75% of those calories back ...

    And you should start noticing a difference. :)
  • Marycycles
    Marycycles Posts: 48 Member
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    I find running surpresses my appetite but cycling will make me feel like I'm starving! Try to eat foods that will fill you up like fiber and protein and opt out of that fudge sundae you think you deserve.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
    edited May 2016
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    sijomial wrote: »
    It's odd but cycling, even long distance, doesn't make me particularly hungry despite large calorie burns.

    Most of the time, cycling doesn't make me very hungry. Especially long distance cycling, it tends to suppress my appetite. But most people take it a little easier on a distance ride, so they don't limp to the finish. It's the shorter, really intense rides (like when I do hill repeats, or a beer league race) that make me hungry. Some people want to go all out all the time and it might be what's going on here?

    My theory is that anaerobic work is what makes people really ravenously hungry. You deplete your muscle glycogen, your body demands you eat (carbs) so it can be replenished.
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
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    Cinflo58 wrote: »
    I cycle 80-180 miles a week at 12-20 mph and it makes me so hungry that i overeat at night. 2 months ago I added core work and strength training with a personal trained once a week to improve my core and to be more balanced and now i am putting on inches and still not losing weight. I know it's all my diet and i just started journaling again. I only have 10 lbs to lose

    The culprit will be in the bolded statement.

    It's all about eating at maintenance to maintain your weight, or eat a a deficit to lose weight. Track and log exactly what you eat (and be brutally honest about it) to see where all the excess calories are coming from. Also, don't trust any of the gizmo's you use for calculating how many calories you burned on your ride. Most all of them are wild axx guesses and we tend to underestimate what we eat and overestimate how much we burned.

    Brutally honest blog here answers all your questions.

    After a long ride, snack on high volume, low calories things. A huge pile of veggies in the Wok after a big ride will provide lots of nutrients and volume without so many calories.

    With only 10 pounds to lose, expect 10 - 20 weeks to shave that off while riding at the volume you are riding and still fueling yourself properly.
  • 2011rocket3touring
    2011rocket3touring Posts: 1,346 Member
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    If your adding inches in the right places, then perhaps you should concentrate more on tracking measurement and not weight.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    DTrain351 wrote: »
    For my 50 mile ride I can burn 3000-5000 calories depending on terrain and cadence.

    I would keep an eye on those numbers if you eat them back. That seem grossly overestimated.
  • RollTideTri
    RollTideTri Posts: 116 Member
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    Hornsby wrote: »
    DTrain351 wrote: »
    For my 50 mile ride I can burn 3000-5000 calories depending on terrain and cadence.

    I would keep an eye on those numbers if you eat them back. That seem grossly overestimated.

    Maybe a little high, certainly not grossly overestimated. He's talking about 50 miles. 3-4 hours of continuous exercise. 3000 calories definitely isn't out of the question
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
    edited May 2016
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    I didn't notice that. Those numbers are crazy. A 50 mile ride comes out to about 1,800 kilo-Joules for me every time, measured with a power meter. Example:

    https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1116892278
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,865 Member
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    Hornsby wrote: »
    DTrain351 wrote: »
    For my 50 mile ride I can burn 3000-5000 calories depending on terrain and cadence.

    I would keep an eye on those numbers if you eat them back. That seem grossly overestimated.

    Agreed.

    I use the formula 100 calories for every 5 km. 50 miles is about 80 km ... or 1600 calories.


    If DTrain351, you are successfully accomplishing whatever you wants to accomplish, then great ... but if you find you're gaining weight or having trouble losing, you might want to drop those calories burned in half or less.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    edited May 2016
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    Hornsby wrote: »
    DTrain351 wrote: »
    For my 50 mile ride I can burn 3000-5000 calories depending on terrain and cadence.

    I would keep an eye on those numbers if you eat them back. That seem grossly overestimated.

    Maybe a little high, certainly not grossly overestimated. He's talking about 50 miles. 3-4 hours of continuous exercise. 3000 calories definitely isn't out of the question

    I would say grossly based on experience but could be off. I know I'm lucky to burn 1200 on a 50 mile ride and that's at a 21+ average. I can agree to disagree though. Just something for them to watch.
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,070 Member
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    That's how I gained weight!! I was riding about 80-100 miles per week and it was making me ravenous. I was not tracking calories and eating calorie dense foods. I started tracking calories, strength training and cut my cycling back to just a couple of days a week and I was able to make major changes in my body composition. I cut back the cycling more from weather/wind issues, but it was probably a good thing. I will probably pick it back up more during the summer, now that I am logging and know what to eat to provide proper fuel without going overboard.

    After a long ride, snack on high volume, low calories things. A huge pile of veggies in the Wok after a big ride will provide lots of nutrients and volume without so many calories.

    With only 10 pounds to lose, expect 10 - 20 weeks to shave that off while riding at the volume you are riding and still fueling yourself properly.

    ^^This!!!^^ High volume food for snacks.
  • RollTideTri
    RollTideTri Posts: 116 Member
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    Hornsby wrote: »
    Hornsby wrote: »
    DTrain351 wrote: »
    For my 50 mile ride I can burn 3000-5000 calories depending on terrain and cadence.

    I would keep an eye on those numbers if you eat them back. That seem grossly overestimated.

    Maybe a little high, certainly not grossly overestimated. He's talking about 50 miles. 3-4 hours of continuous exercise. 3000 calories definitely isn't out of the question

    I would say grossly based on experience but could be off. I know I'm lucky to burn 1200 on a 50 mile ride and that's at a 21+ average.

    the 5,000 is definitely out of the ballpark. 3,000 is probably a stretch too now that I think about it. I'm 190 lbs. and 50 miles takes me a long time, and even I would have a hard time hitting 3000
  • glevinso
    glevinso Posts: 1,895 Member
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    DTrain351 wrote: »
    I bike too but I only go 50 miles a week. Try this, eat light before your ride. Then snack lightly while you ride (ie, granola bar or energy product). Then after the ride have a meal. For my 50 mile ride I can burn 3000-5000 calories depending on terrain and cadence. I consume about 300-500 calories before my ride and about 400-500 calories during. Afterwards I resume normal eating according to my plan. If I'm hungry late night I consume a casein protein drink and that fills and holds me over til the next morning. My goal is to drop body fat and maintain muscle or maintain my weight. You shouldn't be starving after your "after ride meal." Eat normal and avoid feasting at night...easier said then done:)


    The bold is highly unlikely. Likely way less than half that.
  • ConicalFern
    ConicalFern Posts: 121 Member
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    I have a banana and 250ml of semi-skimmed milk as soon as I get in - I find this does a pretty good job of keeping my appetite down for the rest of the day.