Frustrated with lack of results

bryanboling

So, I have been working out and tracking my calories pretty faithfully for some time now, but I'm not really losing weight. I ride 14 miles on my bike every day at an average of 16mph (weather permitting) and track my calories. I wear a heart rate monitor that calculates my calorie burn at 1200-1300 depending on how fast I ride, but I try to not eat those calories back, that is, I stick to what MFP tells me I should be eating. My wife says she can see a difference, but my weight has stayed between 214 and 220 consistently. I know the scale isn't the problem because my wife consistently loses 1-2 pounds per week. We eat basically the same foods, she does Jazzercise every day, I bike. According to my HRM, my HR is staying between 135 and 145 bpm for the duration of the ride (about 55-60 minutes).

One of my problems is sleep. I work nights and go to school, AND have two small kids. On nights where I don't work, I do get a decent nights sleep, but when I'm working and sleeping during the day, probably about 4-5 hours tops. Sleeping more isn't an option right now. I've got two more years left of grad school and then I hope to have a more normal schedule.

The really frustrating thing for me is that almost all of my weight is in my abdomen. to look at a picture of me from the chest up, you'd never think I was overweight. Same goes for my legs. All that biking definitely has my legs in good shape.

I'll be honest, I love to ride, but I hate working out otherwise. I have very little free time and so I don't do much besides ride. My job is hit or miss as far as activity goes, some nights I'm on my feet all night long, some nights I barely move.

I'm afraid that my lack of sleep is playing a big role in all this, which frustrates me because I can't do anything about it.

Any suggestions? I'm not looking for a magic bullet, I'm putting in the work with diet and exercise, I just want something to push me over the top.

Thanks,
Bryan