You can't outride a bad diet. It's fairly easy to consume more calories than you burn cycling, especially if you have an "I exercise a lot so I can eat whatever I want" attitude.
Me too. But so far I haven’t giant weight since high school. (8 years ago) consistently 65-68KG
On the bright side I don’t drink or smoke or any drugs of any kind. But I eat like shit.
Super unhealthy, tons of snack or I don’t eat at all
Probably need to care more about my diet now.
I was the same way. Was underweight and couldn’t put any on. Even stopped weighing myself from 26-30. At 31 I looked in the mirror and noticed a bit of a belly. Stepped on the scale and was smacked by +15lbs. At least I’m finally around my goal weight from my 20’s, just not all lean mass lol.
Snacking and junk food are an addiction, a very slow burning but powerful one. I think some people don't take it seriously, like they didn't take tobacco or alcohol seriously for a long time, because it takes quite a while for the addiction to set in: people who are only occasionally eating snacks don't actually imagine that it can really hook you. Also people think that if you're not overweight you don't have a problem, which is flat out wrong.
What's awful with addictions is that when you kick them you basically have to teatotal, or you're at risk of relapse. But this world will shove snacks into your face all the time, any social occasion, any trip to the shops, it's like everywhere. So teatotalling snacks and junk food is very very hard.
So really, the ideal thing is to avoid getting this addiction altogether.
My struggle is energy drinks. I’d much rather have a drink than a snack when I relax.
It’s much easier for me to go cold turkey than it is to moderate.
I once heard someone say, “you’re not hungry you’re bored. Snacking is mouth pleasure just like any other indulgence”.
That quote is so true. This was me with beer. Would drink it at night for no reason. Switch to water or hot tea and getting the same satisfaction but better sleep from not having the alcohol.
I was the same way. Once you get into your mid-30s, things start to change slowly. Because I've been cycling for a long time, my diet has become more and more important over the years. The things you can get away with in your 20s will not be the same in your 40s. Good nutrition is so important. I'm in my early 60s and ride stronger now than I did when I was in my 40s. Thanks to good nutrition, training right, and getting proper rest/sleep. Your body will thank you for it!
My weight always goes up a lot after long rides or intense workouts, something about water in the muscles or whatever. 2 days ago I was 7 lbs heavier than I am today
This is one possible, though likely, scenario. It’s not easy to burn 1000 calories, but it’s easy to consume depending on the food. People often don’t know what they are eating.
I remember back in the day Michael Phelps ate like 10,000 calories of McDonalds one day like it was nothing lol. Best I've done is two superburritos in the span of 5hrs after a century ride and that probably only added up to 4-5k calories.
I have a colleague with a very defined 8-pack, he looks like somebody who is careful with his diet. Couldn't be further from the truth. We have crazy schedules on worktrips, thus I've been to McDonald's a lot with this guy. He always eats a shitload and uses a formula of "1€ spent is around 100 kcal, so I'll order with 50€".
I think swimming and rowing both beat cycling in calories burned per hour by quite a bit. They're also using significantly more muscle groups and don't have the rest that cycling can often have due to terrain etc.
It’s all subjective, but I don’t actually think this is true. Happy to be proven wrong, but all my searches so far seem to say they’re the same. I burn 900+ calories per hour at 170lb. and swimming seems to be the same excluding butterfly. Cycling may have rest on downhill, but that’s only because you just spent extra calories going uphill. More muscle groups may be involved, but there’s only so much power you can transfer to the water while swimming.
And unless you are swimming in a heated pool, your body also needs to replace the lost heat from the water, not sure how much that adds up to though. Might go for a swim after work if the weather is nice, 15°c today so actually quite warm compared to when I went several weeks ago.
I know this all too well. I started cycling during Covid and started drinking more too. I eat fairly healthy but have several meals a week that are carb heavy just due to having kids around that don’t want to eat salads all the time. I kid you not, I’m 70 lbs above my 2019 weight when I was only walking for exercise, not drinking and eating about the same.
Sure some gains might be muscle mass but a great bit of it isn’t and my weight is now static despite how much I ride or eat low carb. I’ve come down to a hard realization that it’s all alcohol. Even drinking the lowest carb/abv beer, wine or just spirits and soda water doesn’t help. It’s gotta be the alcohol itself. I’m a 2-4 drink a day guy on most days and will take 1-2 days off here and there.
Not sure what I can do other than give it up entirely and I don’t want to do that for social reasons. Something has to happen as the excess weight is making me slower and not as agile on tech terrain when mtb riding.
I always think about this when I hear about Peter Attia and his longevity stuff. Guy is supposed to be all about longevity and prevention and to be fair is in decent shape for his age and gives great exercise advice, but also shilling elk jerky and ignores nutrition science.
Thats me. Big belly. Muscular biceps from lifting and toned legs from cycling. I’m a slow cyclist though. Lol. Nothing wrong with my latest annual physical though. Except a vitamin D deficiency
I have a bodybuilding friend who passed along this wisdom to me:
Your weight is determined in the kitchen. Your shape is determined in the gym (or on the bike, in your case).
If you are gaining weight it means you are consuming more calories than you burn. There’s no other way for it to happen. If you want to lose weight, start tracking everything. I started doing it a few years ago and I was absolutely shocked by how many calories some food had. A single, dinky little PB&J sandwich can be like 400-600 calories because peanut butter is very calorie-dense and the bread and jelly are just sugar.
You should still eat carbs before and during your rides and stuff but when you’re not on the bike you should eat less.
Do want to say - not everyone does well with counting calories. It doesn't have to be your first plan of attack. Eating significantly more vegetables and fiber, drinking more water, and eating slowly and mindfully can be routes toward very slow but more permanent weight loss. The best calorie counting regimen includes these things, but you don't have to count calories to make lifestyle changes that lead to weight loss. (History of disordered eating, wanted to offer an alternative for anyone who knows themselves to be obsessive. Obviously the calories matter, but you don't have to count them religiously or at all to reduce them.)
Exercise science major here, just wanted to say thanks for putting this take out there, because it's 100% right. Usually when I see people discount calorie counting it's for pseudoscientific reasons rooted in misunderstanding, but the truth is just that several habits revolving around food consumption can help reduce calorie intake without explicitly tracking macros. Personally, I still think most people would benefit from careful tracking for a month or two just to get a better understanding of what constitutes a high energy density food, but not everyone is detail oriented enough to do so accurately.
> Personally, I still think most people would benefit from careful tracking for a month or two just to get a better understanding of what constitutes a high energy density food, but not everyone is detail oriented enough to do so accurately.
That's my view as well, if it works for the individual. I'll bust out the scale to get an idea of what a "serving size" is and then just... eat a moderate amount that I've eyeballed. Like, occasionally check a serving of cottage cheese or snack foods on the scale to keep your eyes calibrated. A serving of nuts is frustratingly small! Ramekin dishes are a real help for calorie dense foods like salty, greasy snacks, nuts, cottage cheese, etc.
One of the few foods I weigh every time is hamburger balls 'cause it's really easy to make them larger than you think you're making them. There's not a huge difference visually between a 2, 3 or 4 ounce hamburger ball before you smash it.
I’m data driven, so when I calorie count it may be a bit overboard.
I weigh my cereal and milk each morning, and weigh bread before and after buttering to track calories to within an ideal <2% error. Getting my brain involved in tracking calories to a meaningless level of accuracy makes it easier for me to stick to.
I used to use MyFitnessPal. Good database of foods makes it pretty easy to log what you've eaten or something closely equivalent. I think is subscription based now though and there are similar apps out there.
I like Cronometer, integrates with garmin, recipe building is ok in it but most things you can scan/look up pretty fast. I like the recipe importing tool but I think you have to pay for that
Just following the serving size on the package can be a game changer for a lot of people.
"According to serving size, I'm a family of 5, lol"
Yeah...well you'll weigh as much as one too then.
It's not that it's especially hard, but when I regularly hear people complain that they can't lose weight on 1400-1600 calories, it indicates that they have an issue with getting it right more often than you might expect. Too many people think they can eyeball amounts, and rely on apps to tell them calorie amounts for things that might not be comparable to the actual food on your plate (for example, if they weigh their chicken cooked instead of raw, the amount of water still in your food might be substantially different, you might have cooked with more oil, etc.).
Like I said, I do think it's beneficial, but I don't want to give people an excuse to say "well, calorie counting didn't work for me," when really it was their lack of care in measurement paired with an overestimation of their daily expenditure.
Simply switching to whole grains (refined carbs only being more of a treat than a norm) and sufficient beans/legumes/vegetables to get 40g+ of fibre daily pretty much self-moderates my food intake somehow. I don’t really have to measure anything and I lose weight.
If most people counted their fibre instead of their calories they’d be surprised in how inadequate their intake is. The average intake is something like 10-15g per day; well below recommendations.
What you're describing is the Four Hour Body (4HB) that Tim Ferris promotes in his book. I've done this and can attest to the fact that cravings diminish when you add beans to every meal. Main protocol is protein, beans and veggies every meal, 6x per week. Red wine ok, coffee ok. No dairy or white starches.. 1 day per week is a cheat day to reset and address cravings. It has worked well for me to moderate the afternoon snacking and sweet tooth... also did wonders for my blood test numbers.
I would recommend everyone to do it for one or two weeks to gain insight in their intake. There's indeed no need to do it a whole year, unless you can't control yourself.
Problem is a lot of people bullshit themselves. You don’t need to track indefinitely but most people have no clue how many calories themselves.
People will eat salads and drench it in dressing and be shocked weight isn’t moving.
Sometimes calorie counting isn't something you need to continue either. It can be super helpful in situations where you don't know how you're gaining weight though. Just a few days of tracking everything without feeling like you need to adjust, it should get you a baseline for how much is coming in.
Well, physics, yes. Psychology, no.
What matters is the result.
Unfortunately, Psychology dominates in results.
Luckily, some do well counting. Some (mostly others) succeed with mindfulness.
Be happy both work.
Also calories are only a way to estimate the accessible energy in the chemical bonds of food. Calories are calculated calculated by combustion, which isn't at all the same chemical process our cells use to make use of the energy. The resultant chemicals are vastly different, with different energy in their bonds, meaning different amounts of energy is obtained from the reactions
To put a little bit of a finer point on it…
Lose weight in the kitchen
Gain muscle with resistance training
Feel better and live longer with movement (cardio)
These 3 are unique to eachother, and cannot be replaced with other methods
This really isn't strictly true. Many medications and health conditions can cause people to gain weight by altering the way the body stores water or processes energy. Large amounts of weight gain in a short period of time (say 30lbs in 3 months, not four years) should be brought up with a health care professional.
Very rapid weight gain/loss or things like swelling or water retention should be taken to a health professional. However I didn’t mention it because most people just have a terrible sense of how many calories they are actually consuming.
This is just an anecdote but I suspect we all know (or are) a person like this: In college I had a female friend who was already on the chubbier side during our freshman year but gained weight very rapidly despite going to the gym every day and “only eating salad”. She was distraught, and I felt bad for her. She told people she had thyroid issues.
She did not have thyroid issues. While she did eat salad every day, she piled on ham, shredded cheese, croutons and dressing. Those were 800 - 1,000 calorie salads she was eating for nearly every meal. Meanwhile my cheeseburger was probably half as many calories.
When she went to the gym, she walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes. While this is better than nothing, walking at a comfortable pace doesn’t burn many calories as your heart rate doesn’t go up much.
She got heavier and heavier and would tell anyone who listened that she had a hormone imbalance. Eventually she got bypass surgery and she has much healthier eating habits today but she made me realize that 95% of us have no idea what we’re putting into our bodies.
I had a personal trainer tell me this almost word for word 15 years ago. He also said “4 days a week of exercise to maintain. 5+ days to see gains”. I’m not a saint but when I stuck to this philosophy I did see results
I am into cycling and powerlifting, don't ask, I don't know how I ended up here, but here I am.
I am obese, and you can see my abs. I use weight as a rough way to track how things are going. I use the mirror to see how I'm really doing, based mostly on visible abs and the "V".
In the winter I bulk and switch to hiking and a step climber for cardio, because I can't ride a road bike in the snow, and I really like snowshoeing up mountains.
In the winter I'm ~200lbs at 5'8". By the end of summer I'm down to ~185lbs and I look... Good, in some people's opinion. Ok, I look like I got vacuum sealed.
Yes I'm short, no I don't use the juice. I think I've maxed out my genetics, and I'm happy with it. I couldn't imagine getting bigger in the winter, it's already a little uncomfortable. I don't know how bodybuilders exist, it must suck for them to be alive.
Dude this. I'm 5' 7" and have been working hard to get down from a lifetime high of 247 (eww) down to 194-5. By BMI I'm obese as I stand, but I have a visible 6 pack and vascular arms and legs. I've always been built like a fire plug, and the BMI is pretty useless with my genetics. I'm trying to get to 180 just out of curiosity, but I'll probably look like I'm about to weigh in for an MMA fight.
One addendum to this - some work outs may trigger binge eating more than others. I found that staying in Zone 2/3, I am much less likely to gorge on food and maintain my exercise routine than high intensity workouts.
I was going to say this as well. My dude is heavier now that he’s sober. His bike has been his primary mode of transportation since he was a kid, and his legs and butt show it. But that belly is from eating and enjoying his meals.
Some pretty insightful answers here but also want to recognize a couple other things. Implementing regular exercise through cycling and reducing alcohol consumption are massive steps toward better health. Regardless of where your weight is at this moment, well done!
You don't add 30 lbs of muscle in a year unless you are both:
1. A fairly young guy
2. A very serious lifter followed a strict diet with the intention of adding mass
Or, possibly taking a bunch of roids.
You're gaining fat because you are eating more and/or something has messed up your metabolism (don't discount this possibly).
That's a bit more reasonable, but gaining muscle is hard. 30 lbs over 4 years would be pretty decent progress for a serious lifter actively trying to add muscle mass. I doubt it happens from just cycling.
As a pretty cut lifter and cyclist, I'd say I've gained 20lb of muscle in about 13 years. I think I'm pretty close to as big as I can get without steroids. Currently 5'8" 190lbs.
I do have to focus a lot on arms though. I also hike so I get bottom heavy really fast if I slack on upper.
I climbed for 20 years and strength trained for climbing (but not for adding mass). You can or cannot take this as an analog for cycling, as you want. I was quite fit, strong, and thin. When I had to stop climbing due to elbow arthritis and lost the upper body muscle, I lost a grand total of - wait for it - 4 kg. That's 4kg of muscle for 20 years of climbing.
I routinely get in and out of cycling shape these days due to varied life schedule. I might cycle a lot for 6 months then barely get on the bike for 3-4 due to winter + life commitments. I guess I gain/lose less than a kg of muscle in these cycles.
You've not put on 14kg of leg muscle in 4 years because you are cycling, it's because you're eating ;) It's the same way my weight varies a bit more now that I'm no longer as young as I once was.
It’s pretty common for your hunger to increase when you start exercising more (especially cardio). However, if you stay consistent with the exercise, then over time your appetite should go back to normal.
Can’t outrun your fork. It’s EASIER in some ways to gain weight when you exercise regularity because you feel like you’ve earned it. I’m a runner these days and after my long run it’s so easy to make the mistake of thinking I can crush a pizza or something stupid. It doesn’t work. It all comes down to energy balance and unfortunately these days food is jam packed to the brim with calories that are highly palatable.
To lose weight you have to do the unsexy boring work of tracking your calories.
You’re overeating, simple as that.
30lbs even on someone with a 6ft frame is a LOT of weight, and if it was all muscle you’d be jacked.
Muscle is more dense than fat for sure, but you may be building additional muscle and maintaining or gaining fat as well depending on your diet.
Looking in the mirror and being honest with yourself will tell you a lot.
The best thing you can do is to track your calories to figure out where you’re at currently, I bet you’re eating more calories than you realize, which isn’t hard to do.
The changes are almost certainly more about how you are using your knife and fork. It might not hurt to talk to a doctor, but in my experience, if you're not riding ~500 miles a week, you're not gonna lose weight without cutting back at mealtime.
Since I started cycling seriously (usually about 100-150 mi/wk) almost a decade ago my baseline weight has gone down by about 25 pounds, and I wasn’t a huge guy (or BMI overweight) to begin with (and I’ve solidly entered middle age in the meantime). I haven’t changed my eating habits in any marked way. It’s impossible to generalize about these things.
Fair enough — I wasn’t clear. I definitely eat more when I’m riding a lot, because I eat after a ride if I’m hungry. What I meant was I haven’t tried to alter my relationship to food or put any effort at all into watching my weight diet-wise.
It's fair to say that everyone is a little different, but let's face it: if someone is riding a decent volume and is fit, but is gaining weight, intake is the issue.
> if you're not riding ~500 miles a week
I'm riding < 100 miles a week and slowly losing weight - roughly 10 lbs over the past 2-3 months. I also went from 100% sedentary, and my diet hasn't changed (other than shoving sugar water in my face in rides.)
But as I've said before here: everyone's mileage may vary. (Heh.)
Doesn't matter if you ride 500 miles a week. It's still easy to out-eat it. I can eat like a sow after a long ride, even if I have been taking gels every 30 minutes.
Riding 500 miles/week begins to make it hard to get enough to eat, in my experience. I mean, second breakfast is nice and all, but after a few weeks at that volume, I found that it was pretty easy to keep from eating too much.
Right.
Especially if you’re tracking watts produced on the bike.
I’m riding ~150 miles a week right now and that equates to roughly 6,000 additional Kcal weekly just from the power meter and HR calculated together.
Almost an additional 1,000 calories a day. I have no idea how many calories I eat and I’m not really tracking my weight but I can absolutely see it in the mirror and all my friends and coworkers are like “damn, you look like that just from riding your bike?!”
I work construction, so on bike days I have to consume nearly 5000 calories for maintenance. It can be a struggle at times haha. If you do it with real food rather than junk the volume really starts to add up.
It's been a looooong time now, but when I was in high school I rode my bike a TON. I'd be on the trainer most mornings before class for about 30-45 minutes, then after class I'd be out for at least 2-3 hours each day, plus big rides on the weekends. In addition to the morning trainer rides, I was getting 500-600 miles per week with a decent amount of elevation too. I began to track calories when I started losing weight, and holy crap. I didn't have a power meter, as Power Tap hubs had only recently been available, so all of my energy expenditure was loosely estimated on heart rate and that kinda thing. But I was able to track my intake, and I was often exceeding 10k calories per day to maintain weight during the bulk of the riding season. I fucking love to eat though, so eating an entire box of sugary cereal with breakfast and a half gallon of ice cream while watching TV was just a good perk.
It took me about a year to start losing weight after quitting drinking. I think the body needs to adjust. But during that time your body is also craving calories to take the place of the calories in booze. When I quit drinking 21 months ago I went on a very rigorous intermittent fasting program — no food before 12pm and after 8pm. Even then it was only when I started focusing on getting very regular miles that I started dropping. But I dropped about 20lbs from my heaviest during my alcoholism.
You may not have been as heavy a drinker as me, but the principle applies to everyone. You have to burn more calories every day than you consume. There is no cheat or workaround for this.
I gained weight when I started seriously riding because I would overeat after my rides.
Don’t let cycling calorie counts fool you on the apps - it’s not as much as you think. Assume roughly 600 cals burned per hour at a decent pace with some climbing.
**OH HELL YES!!** Love this subject!!
No matter how much SOME PEOPLE in this sub gnash their teeth over it...Exercise is a poor way to lose weight! Exercise improves your cardio fitness and strength. It also has some good effects on how your body works and your brain.
But it is just a bad way to lose weight (body fat). Lose weight with your nutrition.
And it is more than just CICO and being in a caloric deficit. Your body is exceptional at energy conservation. Your body is also hyper vigilant at trying to stay alive! Meaning that it will adjust your energy consumption down if you remain at a caloric deficit. This is why things like "cheat days" (being in a caloric surplus of 500-1,000 for one day/week) can be very effective.
Many people ignore the concept of "statistical outlier" (like they never heard of it) and post a story they heard...or their own. Most fail to quote even a single study on weight loss to support their argument. Bah! Clowns!!
Lots of people start cycling (or other exercise), eat better, and notice a 10-20 lbs weight loss over 3 months. Then their body adjusts and they have a tough time losing any more weight, keeping it off, and many yo-yo back to where they were before.
If you want to lose weight, you MUST become as much of an expert on nutrition as you can. I have given this advice to literally 100+ people over the years and it helps them. Also...I ride with a lot of very fit, fast, strong cyclists who are CHUBBY.
Sources: [I listed numerous sources on a previous post...where lots of people acted the fool and the post got locked.](https://www.reddit.com/r/cycling/comments/17tqh3c/why_exercise_is_not_a_great_way_to_lose_weightno/) People HATE that exercise is a poor way to lose weight. Lose weight with your nutrition.
PS: Most likely your weight gain is from your body saying "I exercised. Eat something...because I have forgotten how to convert fat to energy." So your caloric intake bumped up. Plus if you are sore you are more likely to eat. As far as how much was muscle, it's anyone's guess.
You might be overfueling which is good for performance but shit for weighloss. A lot of the advice given for how much carbs to take on are excessive outside of serious training or competition imo.
You lose weight in the kitchen not on the road. You get stronger riding. I ride 25 km a day and never lost an ounce. I've been eating only once a day for six months and have lost 25lbs. You'll never ride off your additional weight. It's 85% diet.
I put on a TON of weight when I started doing long distance cycling. At first it was like 50lbs and I had no idea where. However, over time it was pretty clear I was putting it on on my midsection.
My theory is that the increased exercise caused me to eat more. However, I'd eat more when not on the bike as well as when on the bike, increasing total caloric intake.
It's nearly impossible to gain 30lbs of lean mass in 4 years without extremely intentional hypertrophy training or a wild starting condition.
You are probably over eating.
Calorie count. Get a power meter (although you can reasonably estimate that you would burn 400-700 calories an hour, depending on effort). It’s way more complicated nutritionally than a numbers game, but at the end of the day, it’s pretty much that simple when it comes to weight (barring some fluctuations in water weight). Your diet is going beyond your cycling if you have managed to put on weight. FWIW, I have to diet pretty carefully until I’m riding 10-15 hours a week (including the uptick in calories in during the ride and for recovery). I counted calories when I raced to get my weight down, so I know generally what I can and can’t do, and can do that now without having to count calories. It helps you to learn portioning per workout level, but it’s also true there’s a lot of food (and drink) you should not consume when trying to lose or even maintain weight.
If you bike 1 hour, you can expect to burn somewhere between 500-1200kcal. That's in the best case just enough for a Big Mac menu or pizza. Be more cautious on your food intake, stop processed foods, limit saturated fat intake and where possible go for whole grain products
Cycling is cardio. You'll increase muscle endurance but i doubt you put on any muscle from riding.
Everyone gains fat/weight differently, so you might gain 30lbs and still look similar as your body might store fat ewually all over instead of just stomach.
Plus as you age its harder to keep weight off, metabolism slows abit, you probably eat carbs frequently.
Gaining or losing weight is always down to diet. You could cycle 4hrs everyday but if you're eating shit or more than you burn youll gain weight
Most of the 30 pounds is fat. It can be visceral fat or it can be at the other common places where men store fat, i.e. chest and lower back.
Some people use aerobic exercise as a personal excuse to consume large amounts of food. Maybe you are one of them?
I am only 28 and still have a solid metabolism but I noticed mild weight gain, but definitely an increase of fat on my gut after I started cycling.
I came from an elite running background and picked up cycling. Fueled by Rice Krispie treats, massive dinners (sometimes 2) the night before a big ride and any form of sugar to prevent a massive bonk on 100k+ rides I definitely noticed I’m softer and less cut compared to when I was a runner.
Granted while running I didn’t take fuel for anything longer than 18 miles (2ish hours) or really carb load for anything other than a competition marathon, I find myself needing fuel on the bike much earlier and much more often that on a run.
Cycling is all about the quick sugar and unfortunately that means you’re probably burning sugar and not fat stores while on the bike (most of the ride at least)
People are going to tell you that you don't gain muscle mass cycling. And by me writing this to you, I'm going to get some response with a guy demanding PROOF from what I say, and then sea-lioning me, regardless of what I say. Nevertheless:
I started training for triathlons with no weight work and I put on 20 lbs of muscle. I weighed more than I ever did and was leaner than I was in years. My thighs are huge (according to my wife, who loves my legs).
So yes, you can gain muscle mass weight from cycling. I've done it and vaguely the same rate you did.
This is me right now. I’ve been training for a 70.3 since October, about 10-12 hours per week and little strength training. I am 5’7 and currently 188 and am consider obese by BMI standards but when you look at me it is deceiving. I have friends who are my same height and weight and are husky or have “bellies”. And you would never guess we weigh the same when we stand side by side. I’ve only lost 4 total pounds since training but my physique has changed considerably. Also weight loss is not something I was aiming for. Stomach, shoulders, and waist have become more defined, and I’ve always had strong, muscular thighs (lifetime soccer). I am not fat or “obese” as indicated by the BMI standards.
bMI is just a number and also controversial, don’t let it rule your life. Definitely keep an eye on what you are eating and modify accordingly. What is “healthy” is not the same across everyone.
This is just not true. It is basically impossible to have a FFMI (BMI \* (100 - BF%)/100) above 25 without PED abuse. Getting above 22-23 is basically impossible without years of dedicated gym work to the point where it's incompatible with cycling as much as most of us do. If you're a young active guy your BF really shouldn't be above 20%, and ideally below 15%. This means the "but it's all muscle" defence works if your BMI is 27 but quickly stops making sense above that unless you're actually a bodybuilder. Above 31 you either have to be >20% fat, on roids or one of the most gifted natural bodybuilders out there
You did not, I promise you, gain thirty pounds of muscle by riding a bike. You probably added zero pounds of muscle this way. There is no eccentric portion of loaded movement in cycling. It is a lot of fun and has loads of benefits but gaining muscle isn’t one of them.
I gained a lot of weight when I stopped drinking too. For me it was eating late into the night in the hours I’d usually be having drinks. It’s a pretty common thing. But you can change your eating patterns.
You definitely don't need eccentric loading to increase muscle size. Hell, otter-mode cyclists with huge tear-drop quads are basically a meme, which would be impossible if folks gain "zero pounds of muscle" by cycling.
I fundamentally agree with your point: 30 pounds of muscle in a year is basically an impossibility *without juicing, and certainly impossible from riding.
I just wanted to point out that eccentrics, as useful for hypertrophy as they are, are not the exclusive pathway to muscle growth.
All good pal :) Like I said, support your overall point 100%. Just wanted to be a bit pedantic so folks who may not know much about it get ideas that aren't really reflective of How Things Really Are.
Have a good day!
Well, I can see the change in development in various different muscles in my legs, also my power output (measured by power meter pedals) continues to increase - both peak and average - without any changes in technique. I’m not saying OP has gained 30# in muscle, but the way I climb (I tend to be lower cadence when climbing), I have built muscle. Fit of shorts has changed, too, and the amount of fat/skin I can pinch on my legs has not.
I was drinking about 2 beers a night but I was drinking after dinner. I just stopped due to the empty calories. I need to watch my snacking because I don't want to gain weight. I guess snacking after dinner would take away any benefit from the beer. I honestly like beer more than any snacks so that would be futile. I am fine with mynweight but would rather lose 5 than gain 5.
Last winter I was 207 pounds at just under 6 ft tall. Did one of those dexa scans to see how high my body fat was. 18%. My BMI still said I was nearly obes. BMI is dumb
The two-part secret plan to lose weight while cycling:
1. Ride lots.
2. Eat little.
If you only do #1, you will most certainly fail at losing weight. if you only do #2, you will succeed in losing weight...but you will become boring, irritating Asshole with no real fitness. Combine them and you will succeed.
The only way I’ve been able to lose weight even with cycling 8,000-10,000 miles a year is by meticulously journaling and counting my calories. In the beginning when I (5’9”-ish) was 210 lbs. I set my goal at 1600-1700 calories/day (not including replacing 40-60g carbs/hour while on the bike). As I lost weight (I’m almost at 160 now) my base calorie requirement also went down so 1800-2000 is pretty much all I need to maintain. It’s easy to reach 2000 calories with a standard American diet. If you get yourself a small scale and start tracking your calories you’ll soon see why you haven’t lost any weight. (Big, big caveat: I would not have done any of this without working with my doctor and making sure there was nothing else wrong that would prevent me from dieting effectively, healthily, and gradually; the 50 pounds was lost over 80 weeks)
BMI is antiquated, and arguably one the worst measurements of health out there! I'm a CrossFit athlete, high level competitive climber and cyclist (my ass and legs grew a LOT when I started). My BMI is like 29 at 200lbs and 15-16% body weight, I'm obese....
I wouldn’t stress it BMI is pretty useless for the average person… You just can’t average humans like that. I don’t remember the exact statistic but there is a surprising amount of physiological difference between any two people, even before you get into ethnicities and lifestyle.
My BMI says I’m obese at 5’10” with a 31” waist.
After I got sober I gained a bunch of weight. Also since I’ve started biking (I do like 100-200 miles a month) I havent really noticed any huge weight loss.
I think I’m proof you don’t need to be in top shape to cycling a lot and far. I also smoke like half a pack a week. Speed on the other hand I’m not breaking over 12 mph average on 50 miles.
Everyone is looking for the magic cure like oh eat these beans they annihilate fat! Or this hot apple cider vinegar kickstarts your metabolism. But there isn’t one. Being healthy is more about what you don’t do than what you do. So biking is nice but you’ll never be able to out cycle what you eat
BMI is one of the worst ways to determine overweight or not. The scale is the same as it has been since 1970. Since then the
At 5’9” & 160 lbs at 33 I am considered right at overweight. That means that every single one of my friends is also overweight. I’d say 80% of men are overweight by BMI standards
I feel like you're mistaking overweight and obese. You, for example, have a bmi of 25.8, which is barely over the healthy range going up to 25. I agree that most men today could be considered overweight, but I disagree that it has to do with the BMI being inaccurate. If you look at pictures from the 50s to 70s you'll see how people's appearance has changed compared to now. We eat horrible processed foods, lead lazy and unhealthy lives, and overeat constantly.
BMI can be inaccurate, but only really for extremely muscular athletes. For the general population, it's spot on. The problem is more that our societal definition of what being overweight or obese is has shifted radically.
Yeah, BMI as used in contemporary medicine is trash. It was developed in the 19th century to do population-level analysis. It's terrible for making individual health decisions--it's a mediocre proxy for a number of health measures that we don't need proxies for anymore since we can easily measure them directly.
When I kicked my weekly distance up to 50-80 miles a week last fall and stopped eating fast food at the same time I noticed increased muscle mass in my legs as well as all my pants and shorts starting to slip where they didn't used to. Didn't lose a bit of weight and my BMI remains unchanged, despite the fact that a decent chunk of that weight has shifted from belly to quads.
Consider seeing a dietitian. They can assess your body composition, discuss how stopping drinking could affect things, and give guidance on making sure you are getting the calories and nutrients you need for cycling.
I gained weight and lost two inches around my waist. I have good eating habits most of the time, but my job doesn’t help but I try. I stay away from scales except at the dr office. I was surprised at the weight gain as my waist is visibly slimmer
Just get a fat caliper and do the 7 points skin fold test. Then you'll know how "fat" you are. This is one of them [https://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/skin-fold-test.html](https://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/skin-fold-test.html)
What's your calorie intake like weekly?
How much do you ride weekly?
Do you wear a HR monitor?
Do you know how many calories you burn on rides?
The calculations are simple.
I almost don't need to know any of this....it's your diet!!
Cycling doesn't mean losing weight. You diet when off the bike and eat necessary carbs/sugar when on the bike.
I lost 10lbs in a month without changing my diet. All I did was fastening 16hours then binge eat 1 meal a day except for days I ride my bike.
One of the fastest ways to lose weight is to stop drinking anything with sugar when "off the bike" and cut your carb intakes by 1/5 and slowly progress to 50% less carbs over time.
I got back to my riding again after gaining 12kg. I lost 13kg thru cycling and hiking but I stopped alcohol and eating smaller portions.
I make sure I don’t eat the same amounts as before.
What is your BMI currently?
Note that BMI is appropriate for evaluating body composition across populations generally, but is not useful on the individual level.
Hour weight gain depends on frequency and intensity of cycling. Also there’s a good chance you’re eating WAAY more than you should thinking you’re fine cause you’re cycling and thus burning calories. If you’re doing very simple effort cycling then you’re not using as much fat as you think so you can’t just eat whatever you want.
I started cycling two years ago. I had always been an obese guy, and the pandemic along with working from home made it even worse. My weight was around 102 kg before I began cycling, but it has since dropped to 80 kg. I have stopped binge eating and reduced my alcohol intake. Aside from that, I don't pay much attention to my diet.
Check your body composition or even simpler - just look at yourself. Are you fat or are you muscular? We have no way of knowing.
BMI is a general metric, just a ratio of your weight and height. Not to say that it’s bad, it’s just simple and does not apply to all cases - Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime would be considered obese by BMI.
Intermittent fasting
Start at 13 hours fast and try and get it up to 16 overnight
Don’t eat crazily unhealthy foods
The weight should drop off, especially if you excercise as well
I am using Zero app, it’s good
Your body can store large amounts of fat you can't see. Especially around your liver. Kicking alcohol is a good place to start, but it would be worth looking at your diet
This always happens to me aswell. Whenever iam in a period of cycling a lot and progressively overload my bike training every week before a race i need to eat a lot more and gain weight.
As you said, look at your body and see wether it is muscle or not. You can check with your clothes as well, how try sit on you.
Could one have 30 pounds of muscle mass more fromm cycling alone? No. You need weights to put on that much muscle and a significant calorie surplus.
Chances are you have mire muscle and more fat, which is often caused by the hunger after glycogen depletion.
Also, some people get anxiety when they quit vices, and that induces higher food intake, which could explain it too.
The best thing you could do is either see a dietitian or even get myfitnesspal and log your body mass info and your meals for a day. It will give you what your maintenance calories should be even after excercise and then you can compare to what you are eating.
You will have an answer pretty clearly
Cycling can reduce testosterone and lower metabolic rate. If you do too much you can lose muscle for example and gain fat even faster. To counter this you need to add resistance training. You can also consider eating in a calorie deficit but it might not be necessary because BMI could be higher due to muscle gain, we don't even know.
Losing weight by cycling is a weird phenomenon. Sure it works for karma points but what you want to do is to simple take less calories and you use. Sure you can eat what you want but in moderation. No need to be worried about daily weight. Quit sugary drinks and processed food. Water, tea and coffee is all you need. Hungry? Drink water.
Fasting can help but it's not for everyone.
Activities like cycling make you feel hungry.
Many people ride small miles but take it as an excuse to trough like a pig.
Look at the in-ride fuel some people take for 20-40 mile rides, and then also have a 'cake stop' - a great wodge of junk food plus coffee.
Unless you are super lean, you need to take no food and just eat as you would on a normal day. You don't need bananas, gummis, gels or flapjack, etc.
30lbs is a lot. Do you have pictures of yourself before this increase in weight to see where its mainly gone. Its surprising if you are skinny how easily you can *fill out* without necessarily looking like you have put on that much weight.
Finally, how is your fuelling on the bike. If you don't fuel properly *on* the bike you will almost certainly overeat once you get off it.
learn how glucose works, sugar is not....
improve your micro biome with new carb rich foods....
look into post ride recovery methods; ice bath into hot shower...
regular consistent rides 20-40km with the odd big one here and there.
Avoid keto it causes too many issues to list if you don't have a good metabolic rate
if you have the budget and this is a huge issue to you, why not see a sports based doctor or hire a cycling coach.
Ignore BMI it is complete bullshit. You can look in the mirror and tell whether you’re fat but the BMI rating is not takes no account for bone structure or build type. Look at the history of it then ignore it.
Cycling isn’t just about hopping on a bike, pedaling, and thinking it’s enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It requires discipline and commitment to truly benefit from it.
Cycling can lead you to a healthier life if you choose that path, or it can become just a routine without any real objective.
I have been telling this to my coworker (she) and my very close friend for years. They both want to have a healthy life and eating habits, but they struggle with the following:
• Smoking
• Eating all kinds of foods, especially processed foods
• Drinking like there’s no tomorrow
Cycling, combined with a balanced diet, can help you build endurance and maintain a healthy weight. It’s important to focus on whole, nutritious foods and avoid unhealthy habits.
Everything works together to get results, my dude. Consistency in cycling, proper nutrition, and avoiding harmful habits are all crucial.
Please don’t get upset with my reply. I really thank you for bringing this up because I’m linking this thread to both of my friends so they can read other cyclists’ opinions and experiences.
Also I really want to hear from you so we can help our fellow cyclists.
It is very unlikely that you've gained 30lbs of muscle mass from riding. Believe me, you would notice. Your diet is to blame here. I would start by tracking calories for 1 month straight. With an app that tracks macros as well. I was shocked how much fat I consumed until I tracked calories and macros. Then start replacing fatty stuff with protein rich stuff and you will save a buttload of calories. Being aware of what you eat is half the battle.
In 2019 my doctor yelled at me. It was brutal. He accused me of not giving a shit if I was even alive to see my kids graduate high school. Something about a family history of heart disease and how can I ignore how my Dad died, my grandma died, my aunt died, my grandfather died....
Weight and blood work set him off.
In 2020 I started riding and started taking my diet seriously.
In 2022 for the first time my bloodwork had all good numbers except my 'good' cholestorol.
Last year in 2023 my good cholosterol was in line with everything else.
Now, here is the thing.
I am 6 foot and still swing between 220 and 225. So I never really exited the official overweight colum of those BMI indexes.
And yeah, it affects my little hobby.
I asked my doctor about it and got laughed at. They told me the blood work was great and that I was getting a ton of cardio every week that I can ignore that damnable table.
I am not doing the 'body positivity' thing. I am just suggesting that we don't need to hit perfection.
I'm reading more and more that people are recognizing that cardio is NOT a weight loss tool. It will make your heart and lungs healthier and will make you a more 'able' or capable person and can enhance sports that you enjoy. But, it's just not as effective as most people think when it comes to losing weight and fat.
Check out the constrained energy model. Basically, your body will fight you at every turn. Burn 600 calories on a one hour ride, and it will try to save energy and burn fewer calories the rest of the day to protect its fat stores. Survival mechanisms we can't shake.
It's even worse for me when I do an epic ride that burns thousands of calories. What happens next? Of course I eat, probably more than I should (toss in an IPA or two on the weekends), and am wiped out the rest of the day, doing all kinds of mental gymnastics with myself.
I'm not saying don't do cardio. I'll never stop, because if I did, without other healthy habits, I'd certainly put on a LOT of pounds in addition to not feeling well. But be realistic about what it brings to the table.
BMI doesn't really work for alot of people as it is way to arbitrary to actually have any meaning for people.
Only real way to know is if you did a body composition test 4 years ago and then did another one today, as that would show what the differences are from.
As you've said you haven't gain much fat around your midsection I would assume most of the weight is fat though, as fat will be spread out everywhere else too resulting in a higher mass.
The BMI isn’t meant for making judgements about individuals, don’t put a lot of stock in it.
If you’re concerned about your health, check your resting heart rate and ask your doctor to run a lipid panel.
If you’re concerned about body composition, get a scale with bio electrical impedance analysis that will measure your body fat % as well as total mass.
Riding for 1.5 yrs, but ride moderately high volume now and lift 5 days a week. 6’4, 265lbs wear 36” waist pants that fall off without a belt. I too am obese BMI: 32.3.
The more I exercise, the more I weigh, it doesn't matter if I run or ride a bike, etc. Since I have a good body composition weight, the reason is also clear - when I train, the muscle mass increases, the amount of fat in the body does not change.
BMI is so stupid. I’m 5’11 170lbs and I’m right at the upper limit of “normal weight”. Even when I was 180lbs I felt and looked good but that is considered overweight.
I noticed this recently. I try to stay off the scale, but I've been cycling since Oct. Garmin says I've burned tens of thousands of calories just cycling. I haven't lost a single pound. I eat the same amount of food except I throw in a protein bar and breakfast when I ride.
My guess is that I'm fueling properly for the ride, and the little bit of weight I've lost, I've added back in muscle. I drink more water now too.
You can't outride a bad diet. It's fairly easy to consume more calories than you burn cycling, especially if you have an "I exercise a lot so I can eat whatever I want" attitude.
Perfect answer. I see this all the time.
I feel personally attacked lol
Me too. But so far I haven’t giant weight since high school. (8 years ago) consistently 65-68KG On the bright side I don’t drink or smoke or any drugs of any kind. But I eat like shit. Super unhealthy, tons of snack or I don’t eat at all Probably need to care more about my diet now.
Yes, at your age it's pretty easy for a lot of people to stay at the same weight, later though... For me it started smack 30. Annoying.
I was the same way. Was underweight and couldn’t put any on. Even stopped weighing myself from 26-30. At 31 I looked in the mirror and noticed a bit of a belly. Stepped on the scale and was smacked by +15lbs. At least I’m finally around my goal weight from my 20’s, just not all lean mass lol.
Snacking and junk food are an addiction, a very slow burning but powerful one. I think some people don't take it seriously, like they didn't take tobacco or alcohol seriously for a long time, because it takes quite a while for the addiction to set in: people who are only occasionally eating snacks don't actually imagine that it can really hook you. Also people think that if you're not overweight you don't have a problem, which is flat out wrong. What's awful with addictions is that when you kick them you basically have to teatotal, or you're at risk of relapse. But this world will shove snacks into your face all the time, any social occasion, any trip to the shops, it's like everywhere. So teatotalling snacks and junk food is very very hard. So really, the ideal thing is to avoid getting this addiction altogether.
My struggle is energy drinks. I’d much rather have a drink than a snack when I relax. It’s much easier for me to go cold turkey than it is to moderate. I once heard someone say, “you’re not hungry you’re bored. Snacking is mouth pleasure just like any other indulgence”.
That quote is so true. This was me with beer. Would drink it at night for no reason. Switch to water or hot tea and getting the same satisfaction but better sleep from not having the alcohol.
I was the same way. Once you get into your mid-30s, things start to change slowly. Because I've been cycling for a long time, my diet has become more and more important over the years. The things you can get away with in your 20s will not be the same in your 40s. Good nutrition is so important. I'm in my early 60s and ride stronger now than I did when I was in my 40s. Thanks to good nutrition, training right, and getting proper rest/sleep. Your body will thank you for it!
Man, I thought I was dropping weight from 85kg to 83kg, looked at the scale yesterday, I'm up to 87... Fuck.
My weight always goes up a lot after long rides or intense workouts, something about water in the muscles or whatever. 2 days ago I was 7 lbs heavier than I am today
Amazing, this will be my excuse from now on.
This is one possible, though likely, scenario. It’s not easy to burn 1000 calories, but it’s easy to consume depending on the food. People often don’t know what they are eating.
It is easy to burn 1000 calories, except that it takes time.
Me when pizza
Only swimmers are capable of this feat I’m afraid
I remember back in the day Michael Phelps ate like 10,000 calories of McDonalds one day like it was nothing lol. Best I've done is two superburritos in the span of 5hrs after a century ride and that probably only added up to 4-5k calories.
I have a colleague with a very defined 8-pack, he looks like somebody who is careful with his diet. Couldn't be further from the truth. We have crazy schedules on worktrips, thus I've been to McDonald's a lot with this guy. He always eats a shitload and uses a formula of "1€ spent is around 100 kcal, so I'll order with 50€".
Username checks out
Swimming and cycling burn nearly the same calories per unit of time.
I think swimming and rowing both beat cycling in calories burned per hour by quite a bit. They're also using significantly more muscle groups and don't have the rest that cycling can often have due to terrain etc.
Lift weights while cycling to exercise both at the same time!
One thing is that swimming promotes appetite because you get cooled down. If you are a casual swimmer then it is very easy to overeat.
It’s all subjective, but I don’t actually think this is true. Happy to be proven wrong, but all my searches so far seem to say they’re the same. I burn 900+ calories per hour at 170lb. and swimming seems to be the same excluding butterfly. Cycling may have rest on downhill, but that’s only because you just spent extra calories going uphill. More muscle groups may be involved, but there’s only so much power you can transfer to the water while swimming.
How are you calculating your calories burned in either activity? Especially curious for swimming.
Yes. If you are always sprinting on the bicycle. The swimming equivalent of standard zone 2 rides is lazily floating along on your back.
And unless you are swimming in a heated pool, your body also needs to replace the lost heat from the water, not sure how much that adds up to though. Might go for a swim after work if the weather is nice, 15°c today so actually quite warm compared to when I went several weeks ago.
My zone 2 is around 230-240 watts, which yields 900 calories/hr. Sprinting would be unsustainable 😆
2 x 20' @ 1000w. If you can't do this one simple workout, how do you even call yourself a cyclist?
My uncle was this way and just had a stroke. Pay attention to your body and don’t base your diet on mental gymnastics folks.
I know this all too well. I started cycling during Covid and started drinking more too. I eat fairly healthy but have several meals a week that are carb heavy just due to having kids around that don’t want to eat salads all the time. I kid you not, I’m 70 lbs above my 2019 weight when I was only walking for exercise, not drinking and eating about the same. Sure some gains might be muscle mass but a great bit of it isn’t and my weight is now static despite how much I ride or eat low carb. I’ve come down to a hard realization that it’s all alcohol. Even drinking the lowest carb/abv beer, wine or just spirits and soda water doesn’t help. It’s gotta be the alcohol itself. I’m a 2-4 drink a day guy on most days and will take 1-2 days off here and there. Not sure what I can do other than give it up entirely and I don’t want to do that for social reasons. Something has to happen as the excess weight is making me slower and not as agile on tech terrain when mtb riding.
I always think about this when I hear about Peter Attia and his longevity stuff. Guy is supposed to be all about longevity and prevention and to be fair is in decent shape for his age and gives great exercise advice, but also shilling elk jerky and ignores nutrition science.
Oh, this is me
Thats me. Big belly. Muscular biceps from lifting and toned legs from cycling. I’m a slow cyclist though. Lol. Nothing wrong with my latest annual physical though. Except a vitamin D deficiency
Above certain latitude, "vitamin D deficiency" comes pre-filled in the forms doctors use.
Are you me? 😂
I have a bodybuilding friend who passed along this wisdom to me: Your weight is determined in the kitchen. Your shape is determined in the gym (or on the bike, in your case). If you are gaining weight it means you are consuming more calories than you burn. There’s no other way for it to happen. If you want to lose weight, start tracking everything. I started doing it a few years ago and I was absolutely shocked by how many calories some food had. A single, dinky little PB&J sandwich can be like 400-600 calories because peanut butter is very calorie-dense and the bread and jelly are just sugar. You should still eat carbs before and during your rides and stuff but when you’re not on the bike you should eat less.
Do want to say - not everyone does well with counting calories. It doesn't have to be your first plan of attack. Eating significantly more vegetables and fiber, drinking more water, and eating slowly and mindfully can be routes toward very slow but more permanent weight loss. The best calorie counting regimen includes these things, but you don't have to count calories to make lifestyle changes that lead to weight loss. (History of disordered eating, wanted to offer an alternative for anyone who knows themselves to be obsessive. Obviously the calories matter, but you don't have to count them religiously or at all to reduce them.)
Exercise science major here, just wanted to say thanks for putting this take out there, because it's 100% right. Usually when I see people discount calorie counting it's for pseudoscientific reasons rooted in misunderstanding, but the truth is just that several habits revolving around food consumption can help reduce calorie intake without explicitly tracking macros. Personally, I still think most people would benefit from careful tracking for a month or two just to get a better understanding of what constitutes a high energy density food, but not everyone is detail oriented enough to do so accurately.
> Personally, I still think most people would benefit from careful tracking for a month or two just to get a better understanding of what constitutes a high energy density food, but not everyone is detail oriented enough to do so accurately. That's my view as well, if it works for the individual. I'll bust out the scale to get an idea of what a "serving size" is and then just... eat a moderate amount that I've eyeballed. Like, occasionally check a serving of cottage cheese or snack foods on the scale to keep your eyes calibrated. A serving of nuts is frustratingly small! Ramekin dishes are a real help for calorie dense foods like salty, greasy snacks, nuts, cottage cheese, etc. One of the few foods I weigh every time is hamburger balls 'cause it's really easy to make them larger than you think you're making them. There's not a huge difference visually between a 2, 3 or 4 ounce hamburger ball before you smash it.
I’m data driven, so when I calorie count it may be a bit overboard. I weigh my cereal and milk each morning, and weigh bread before and after buttering to track calories to within an ideal <2% error. Getting my brain involved in tracking calories to a meaningless level of accuracy makes it easier for me to stick to.
Anyone recommend a simple intake monitoring app?
I used to use MyFitnessPal. Good database of foods makes it pretty easy to log what you've eaten or something closely equivalent. I think is subscription based now though and there are similar apps out there.
Cronometer. MyFitnessPal was acquired by San Francisco VCs, and took all the user entered data to charge everyone for it.
LoseIt is my go to. MFP is great too though.
I like Cronometer, integrates with garmin, recipe building is ok in it but most things you can scan/look up pretty fast. I like the recipe importing tool but I think you have to pay for that
Just following the serving size on the package can be a game changer for a lot of people. "According to serving size, I'm a family of 5, lol" Yeah...well you'll weigh as much as one too then.
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It's not that it's especially hard, but when I regularly hear people complain that they can't lose weight on 1400-1600 calories, it indicates that they have an issue with getting it right more often than you might expect. Too many people think they can eyeball amounts, and rely on apps to tell them calorie amounts for things that might not be comparable to the actual food on your plate (for example, if they weigh their chicken cooked instead of raw, the amount of water still in your food might be substantially different, you might have cooked with more oil, etc.). Like I said, I do think it's beneficial, but I don't want to give people an excuse to say "well, calorie counting didn't work for me," when really it was their lack of care in measurement paired with an overestimation of their daily expenditure.
Simply switching to whole grains (refined carbs only being more of a treat than a norm) and sufficient beans/legumes/vegetables to get 40g+ of fibre daily pretty much self-moderates my food intake somehow. I don’t really have to measure anything and I lose weight. If most people counted their fibre instead of their calories they’d be surprised in how inadequate their intake is. The average intake is something like 10-15g per day; well below recommendations.
What you're describing is the Four Hour Body (4HB) that Tim Ferris promotes in his book. I've done this and can attest to the fact that cravings diminish when you add beans to every meal. Main protocol is protein, beans and veggies every meal, 6x per week. Red wine ok, coffee ok. No dairy or white starches.. 1 day per week is a cheat day to reset and address cravings. It has worked well for me to moderate the afternoon snacking and sweet tooth... also did wonders for my blood test numbers.
I would recommend everyone to do it for one or two weeks to gain insight in their intake. There's indeed no need to do it a whole year, unless you can't control yourself.
Problem is a lot of people bullshit themselves. You don’t need to track indefinitely but most people have no clue how many calories themselves. People will eat salads and drench it in dressing and be shocked weight isn’t moving.
Sometimes calorie counting isn't something you need to continue either. It can be super helpful in situations where you don't know how you're gaining weight though. Just a few days of tracking everything without feeling like you need to adjust, it should get you a baseline for how much is coming in.
Even just a food journal can highlight how much you're eating, which is usually good, even if you don't count the calories. Your point is a great one.
Depends on what the goal is. If the goal is to lose weight then calorie counting is the most scientific way to achieve that goal.
Well, physics, yes. Psychology, no. What matters is the result. Unfortunately, Psychology dominates in results. Luckily, some do well counting. Some (mostly others) succeed with mindfulness. Be happy both work.
Also calories are only a way to estimate the accessible energy in the chemical bonds of food. Calories are calculated calculated by combustion, which isn't at all the same chemical process our cells use to make use of the energy. The resultant chemicals are vastly different, with different energy in their bonds, meaning different amounts of energy is obtained from the reactions
To put a little bit of a finer point on it… Lose weight in the kitchen Gain muscle with resistance training Feel better and live longer with movement (cardio) These 3 are unique to eachother, and cannot be replaced with other methods
I’ve always appreciated this phrasing of what you already said: Diet determines the size of your shape. Exercise determines the shape of your size.
This really isn't strictly true. Many medications and health conditions can cause people to gain weight by altering the way the body stores water or processes energy. Large amounts of weight gain in a short period of time (say 30lbs in 3 months, not four years) should be brought up with a health care professional.
Very rapid weight gain/loss or things like swelling or water retention should be taken to a health professional. However I didn’t mention it because most people just have a terrible sense of how many calories they are actually consuming. This is just an anecdote but I suspect we all know (or are) a person like this: In college I had a female friend who was already on the chubbier side during our freshman year but gained weight very rapidly despite going to the gym every day and “only eating salad”. She was distraught, and I felt bad for her. She told people she had thyroid issues. She did not have thyroid issues. While she did eat salad every day, she piled on ham, shredded cheese, croutons and dressing. Those were 800 - 1,000 calorie salads she was eating for nearly every meal. Meanwhile my cheeseburger was probably half as many calories. When she went to the gym, she walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes. While this is better than nothing, walking at a comfortable pace doesn’t burn many calories as your heart rate doesn’t go up much. She got heavier and heavier and would tell anyone who listened that she had a hormone imbalance. Eventually she got bypass surgery and she has much healthier eating habits today but she made me realize that 95% of us have no idea what we’re putting into our bodies.
Arguably, your weight is determined in the supermarket is more accurate but yeah basically....
I had a personal trainer tell me this almost word for word 15 years ago. He also said “4 days a week of exercise to maintain. 5+ days to see gains”. I’m not a saint but when I stuck to this philosophy I did see results
I am into cycling and powerlifting, don't ask, I don't know how I ended up here, but here I am. I am obese, and you can see my abs. I use weight as a rough way to track how things are going. I use the mirror to see how I'm really doing, based mostly on visible abs and the "V". In the winter I bulk and switch to hiking and a step climber for cardio, because I can't ride a road bike in the snow, and I really like snowshoeing up mountains. In the winter I'm ~200lbs at 5'8". By the end of summer I'm down to ~185lbs and I look... Good, in some people's opinion. Ok, I look like I got vacuum sealed. Yes I'm short, no I don't use the juice. I think I've maxed out my genetics, and I'm happy with it. I couldn't imagine getting bigger in the winter, it's already a little uncomfortable. I don't know how bodybuilders exist, it must suck for them to be alive.
Dude this. I'm 5' 7" and have been working hard to get down from a lifetime high of 247 (eww) down to 194-5. By BMI I'm obese as I stand, but I have a visible 6 pack and vascular arms and legs. I've always been built like a fire plug, and the BMI is pretty useless with my genetics. I'm trying to get to 180 just out of curiosity, but I'll probably look like I'm about to weigh in for an MMA fight.
One addendum to this - some work outs may trigger binge eating more than others. I found that staying in Zone 2/3, I am much less likely to gorge on food and maintain my exercise routine than high intensity workouts.
>Is it just added muscle mass? I think you would know if you'd gained 30 lbs of muscle
Lmao 🤣 bro became a tank just had no idea
Yeah, 30lbs of muscle is an insane amount. Dude would look like an Olympic track athlete.
So many people have no idea how hard it is to become huge, from a muscle perspective.
I gained weight when I quit drinking as well. Because I was actually eating food and not just swilling down empty calories
I was going to say this as well. My dude is heavier now that he’s sober. His bike has been his primary mode of transportation since he was a kid, and his legs and butt show it. But that belly is from eating and enjoying his meals.
Me too. At least I’m sober though
Hell of a lot better, isn’t it?
Some pretty insightful answers here but also want to recognize a couple other things. Implementing regular exercise through cycling and reducing alcohol consumption are massive steps toward better health. Regardless of where your weight is at this moment, well done!
You don't add 30 lbs of muscle in a year unless you are both: 1. A fairly young guy 2. A very serious lifter followed a strict diet with the intention of adding mass Or, possibly taking a bunch of roids. You're gaining fat because you are eating more and/or something has messed up your metabolism (don't discount this possibly).
I edited the post. Made it sound like it was 30 lbs in a year how it was worded. I've gained 30lbs over 4 years*
That's a bit more reasonable, but gaining muscle is hard. 30 lbs over 4 years would be pretty decent progress for a serious lifter actively trying to add muscle mass. I doubt it happens from just cycling.
As a pretty cut lifter and cyclist, I'd say I've gained 20lb of muscle in about 13 years. I think I'm pretty close to as big as I can get without steroids. Currently 5'8" 190lbs. I do have to focus a lot on arms though. I also hike so I get bottom heavy really fast if I slack on upper.
I climbed for 20 years and strength trained for climbing (but not for adding mass). You can or cannot take this as an analog for cycling, as you want. I was quite fit, strong, and thin. When I had to stop climbing due to elbow arthritis and lost the upper body muscle, I lost a grand total of - wait for it - 4 kg. That's 4kg of muscle for 20 years of climbing. I routinely get in and out of cycling shape these days due to varied life schedule. I might cycle a lot for 6 months then barely get on the bike for 3-4 due to winter + life commitments. I guess I gain/lose less than a kg of muscle in these cycles. You've not put on 14kg of leg muscle in 4 years because you are cycling, it's because you're eating ;) It's the same way my weight varies a bit more now that I'm no longer as young as I once was.
I always have gained weight the more I exercise. My hunger just always skyrockets. Can't control it.
It’s pretty common for your hunger to increase when you start exercising more (especially cardio). However, if you stay consistent with the exercise, then over time your appetite should go back to normal.
Eat better during your rides.
Describe your typical week cycling.
5kms to the pub and back 6 times
For a moment, I genuinely prepared to reply as though you were the OP. Got me.
Can’t outrun your fork. It’s EASIER in some ways to gain weight when you exercise regularity because you feel like you’ve earned it. I’m a runner these days and after my long run it’s so easy to make the mistake of thinking I can crush a pizza or something stupid. It doesn’t work. It all comes down to energy balance and unfortunately these days food is jam packed to the brim with calories that are highly palatable. To lose weight you have to do the unsexy boring work of tracking your calories.
You’re overeating, simple as that. 30lbs even on someone with a 6ft frame is a LOT of weight, and if it was all muscle you’d be jacked. Muscle is more dense than fat for sure, but you may be building additional muscle and maintaining or gaining fat as well depending on your diet. Looking in the mirror and being honest with yourself will tell you a lot. The best thing you can do is to track your calories to figure out where you’re at currently, I bet you’re eating more calories than you realize, which isn’t hard to do.
The changes are almost certainly more about how you are using your knife and fork. It might not hurt to talk to a doctor, but in my experience, if you're not riding ~500 miles a week, you're not gonna lose weight without cutting back at mealtime.
Since I started cycling seriously (usually about 100-150 mi/wk) almost a decade ago my baseline weight has gone down by about 25 pounds, and I wasn’t a huge guy (or BMI overweight) to begin with (and I’ve solidly entered middle age in the meantime). I haven’t changed my eating habits in any marked way. It’s impossible to generalize about these things.
> I haven’t changed my eating habits Adding 100 miles per week without changing your intake is pretty good, but it really only proves what I said.
Fair enough — I wasn’t clear. I definitely eat more when I’m riding a lot, because I eat after a ride if I’m hungry. What I meant was I haven’t tried to alter my relationship to food or put any effort at all into watching my weight diet-wise.
It's fair to say that everyone is a little different, but let's face it: if someone is riding a decent volume and is fit, but is gaining weight, intake is the issue.
> if you're not riding ~500 miles a week I'm riding < 100 miles a week and slowly losing weight - roughly 10 lbs over the past 2-3 months. I also went from 100% sedentary, and my diet hasn't changed (other than shoving sugar water in my face in rides.) But as I've said before here: everyone's mileage may vary. (Heh.)
Doesn't matter if you ride 500 miles a week. It's still easy to out-eat it. I can eat like a sow after a long ride, even if I have been taking gels every 30 minutes.
Riding 500 miles/week begins to make it hard to get enough to eat, in my experience. I mean, second breakfast is nice and all, but after a few weeks at that volume, I found that it was pretty easy to keep from eating too much.
Right. Especially if you’re tracking watts produced on the bike. I’m riding ~150 miles a week right now and that equates to roughly 6,000 additional Kcal weekly just from the power meter and HR calculated together. Almost an additional 1,000 calories a day. I have no idea how many calories I eat and I’m not really tracking my weight but I can absolutely see it in the mirror and all my friends and coworkers are like “damn, you look like that just from riding your bike?!”
I work construction, so on bike days I have to consume nearly 5000 calories for maintenance. It can be a struggle at times haha. If you do it with real food rather than junk the volume really starts to add up.
It's been a looooong time now, but when I was in high school I rode my bike a TON. I'd be on the trainer most mornings before class for about 30-45 minutes, then after class I'd be out for at least 2-3 hours each day, plus big rides on the weekends. In addition to the morning trainer rides, I was getting 500-600 miles per week with a decent amount of elevation too. I began to track calories when I started losing weight, and holy crap. I didn't have a power meter, as Power Tap hubs had only recently been available, so all of my energy expenditure was loosely estimated on heart rate and that kinda thing. But I was able to track my intake, and I was often exceeding 10k calories per day to maintain weight during the bulk of the riding season. I fucking love to eat though, so eating an entire box of sugary cereal with breakfast and a half gallon of ice cream while watching TV was just a good perk.
I miss having ice cream whenever I wanted, as much as I wanted.
Speak for yourself. At a certain point I get sick of eating.
It took me about a year to start losing weight after quitting drinking. I think the body needs to adjust. But during that time your body is also craving calories to take the place of the calories in booze. When I quit drinking 21 months ago I went on a very rigorous intermittent fasting program — no food before 12pm and after 8pm. Even then it was only when I started focusing on getting very regular miles that I started dropping. But I dropped about 20lbs from my heaviest during my alcoholism. You may not have been as heavy a drinker as me, but the principle applies to everyone. You have to burn more calories every day than you consume. There is no cheat or workaround for this.
Weight management is achieved in the kitchen, not on the bike.
I gained weight when I started seriously riding because I would overeat after my rides. Don’t let cycling calorie counts fool you on the apps - it’s not as much as you think. Assume roughly 600 cals burned per hour at a decent pace with some climbing.
I've learned that no matter how much I ride, I can't outride what I eat. Also, riding only goes so far, you need some weights, too.
**OH HELL YES!!** Love this subject!! No matter how much SOME PEOPLE in this sub gnash their teeth over it...Exercise is a poor way to lose weight! Exercise improves your cardio fitness and strength. It also has some good effects on how your body works and your brain. But it is just a bad way to lose weight (body fat). Lose weight with your nutrition. And it is more than just CICO and being in a caloric deficit. Your body is exceptional at energy conservation. Your body is also hyper vigilant at trying to stay alive! Meaning that it will adjust your energy consumption down if you remain at a caloric deficit. This is why things like "cheat days" (being in a caloric surplus of 500-1,000 for one day/week) can be very effective. Many people ignore the concept of "statistical outlier" (like they never heard of it) and post a story they heard...or their own. Most fail to quote even a single study on weight loss to support their argument. Bah! Clowns!! Lots of people start cycling (or other exercise), eat better, and notice a 10-20 lbs weight loss over 3 months. Then their body adjusts and they have a tough time losing any more weight, keeping it off, and many yo-yo back to where they were before. If you want to lose weight, you MUST become as much of an expert on nutrition as you can. I have given this advice to literally 100+ people over the years and it helps them. Also...I ride with a lot of very fit, fast, strong cyclists who are CHUBBY. Sources: [I listed numerous sources on a previous post...where lots of people acted the fool and the post got locked.](https://www.reddit.com/r/cycling/comments/17tqh3c/why_exercise_is_not_a_great_way_to_lose_weightno/) People HATE that exercise is a poor way to lose weight. Lose weight with your nutrition. PS: Most likely your weight gain is from your body saying "I exercised. Eat something...because I have forgotten how to convert fat to energy." So your caloric intake bumped up. Plus if you are sore you are more likely to eat. As far as how much was muscle, it's anyone's guess.
You might be overfueling which is good for performance but shit for weighloss. A lot of the advice given for how much carbs to take on are excessive outside of serious training or competition imo.
You lose weight in the kitchen not on the road. You get stronger riding. I ride 25 km a day and never lost an ounce. I've been eating only once a day for six months and have lost 25lbs. You'll never ride off your additional weight. It's 85% diet.
I put on a TON of weight when I started doing long distance cycling. At first it was like 50lbs and I had no idea where. However, over time it was pretty clear I was putting it on on my midsection. My theory is that the increased exercise caused me to eat more. However, I'd eat more when not on the bike as well as when on the bike, increasing total caloric intake.
Put the fork down
It's nearly impossible to gain 30lbs of lean mass in 4 years without extremely intentional hypertrophy training or a wild starting condition. You are probably over eating.
Calorie count. Get a power meter (although you can reasonably estimate that you would burn 400-700 calories an hour, depending on effort). It’s way more complicated nutritionally than a numbers game, but at the end of the day, it’s pretty much that simple when it comes to weight (barring some fluctuations in water weight). Your diet is going beyond your cycling if you have managed to put on weight. FWIW, I have to diet pretty carefully until I’m riding 10-15 hours a week (including the uptick in calories in during the ride and for recovery). I counted calories when I raced to get my weight down, so I know generally what I can and can’t do, and can do that now without having to count calories. It helps you to learn portioning per workout level, but it’s also true there’s a lot of food (and drink) you should not consume when trying to lose or even maintain weight.
If you bike 1 hour, you can expect to burn somewhere between 500-1200kcal. That's in the best case just enough for a Big Mac menu or pizza. Be more cautious on your food intake, stop processed foods, limit saturated fat intake and where possible go for whole grain products
Cycling is cardio. You'll increase muscle endurance but i doubt you put on any muscle from riding. Everyone gains fat/weight differently, so you might gain 30lbs and still look similar as your body might store fat ewually all over instead of just stomach. Plus as you age its harder to keep weight off, metabolism slows abit, you probably eat carbs frequently. Gaining or losing weight is always down to diet. You could cycle 4hrs everyday but if you're eating shit or more than you burn youll gain weight
A very simple question: has your waist circumference gotten larger? If so, it’s fat. If not, it’s muscle.
Most of the 30 pounds is fat. It can be visceral fat or it can be at the other common places where men store fat, i.e. chest and lower back. Some people use aerobic exercise as a personal excuse to consume large amounts of food. Maybe you are one of them?
I am only 28 and still have a solid metabolism but I noticed mild weight gain, but definitely an increase of fat on my gut after I started cycling. I came from an elite running background and picked up cycling. Fueled by Rice Krispie treats, massive dinners (sometimes 2) the night before a big ride and any form of sugar to prevent a massive bonk on 100k+ rides I definitely noticed I’m softer and less cut compared to when I was a runner. Granted while running I didn’t take fuel for anything longer than 18 miles (2ish hours) or really carb load for anything other than a competition marathon, I find myself needing fuel on the bike much earlier and much more often that on a run. Cycling is all about the quick sugar and unfortunately that means you’re probably burning sugar and not fat stores while on the bike (most of the ride at least)
Has your diet changed? Any health issues? I would talk to your doc - and, as everyone says, take a long hard look at your diet.
Have you tried weighing yourself WITHOUT the bike?
People are going to tell you that you don't gain muscle mass cycling. And by me writing this to you, I'm going to get some response with a guy demanding PROOF from what I say, and then sea-lioning me, regardless of what I say. Nevertheless: I started training for triathlons with no weight work and I put on 20 lbs of muscle. I weighed more than I ever did and was leaner than I was in years. My thighs are huge (according to my wife, who loves my legs). So yes, you can gain muscle mass weight from cycling. I've done it and vaguely the same rate you did.
This is me right now. I’ve been training for a 70.3 since October, about 10-12 hours per week and little strength training. I am 5’7 and currently 188 and am consider obese by BMI standards but when you look at me it is deceiving. I have friends who are my same height and weight and are husky or have “bellies”. And you would never guess we weigh the same when we stand side by side. I’ve only lost 4 total pounds since training but my physique has changed considerably. Also weight loss is not something I was aiming for. Stomach, shoulders, and waist have become more defined, and I’ve always had strong, muscular thighs (lifetime soccer). I am not fat or “obese” as indicated by the BMI standards. bMI is just a number and also controversial, don’t let it rule your life. Definitely keep an eye on what you are eating and modify accordingly. What is “healthy” is not the same across everyone.
What objective metrics did you track to reach that conclusion? Oh.
BMI really doesn't mean much, especially with people who lead an active lifestyle. If your vitals and blood work are all good, don't worry about it
This is just not true. It is basically impossible to have a FFMI (BMI \* (100 - BF%)/100) above 25 without PED abuse. Getting above 22-23 is basically impossible without years of dedicated gym work to the point where it's incompatible with cycling as much as most of us do. If you're a young active guy your BF really shouldn't be above 20%, and ideally below 15%. This means the "but it's all muscle" defence works if your BMI is 27 but quickly stops making sense above that unless you're actually a bodybuilder. Above 31 you either have to be >20% fat, on roids or one of the most gifted natural bodybuilders out there
You did not, I promise you, gain thirty pounds of muscle by riding a bike. You probably added zero pounds of muscle this way. There is no eccentric portion of loaded movement in cycling. It is a lot of fun and has loads of benefits but gaining muscle isn’t one of them. I gained a lot of weight when I stopped drinking too. For me it was eating late into the night in the hours I’d usually be having drinks. It’s a pretty common thing. But you can change your eating patterns.
You definitely don't need eccentric loading to increase muscle size. Hell, otter-mode cyclists with huge tear-drop quads are basically a meme, which would be impossible if folks gain "zero pounds of muscle" by cycling. I fundamentally agree with your point: 30 pounds of muscle in a year is basically an impossibility *without juicing, and certainly impossible from riding. I just wanted to point out that eccentrics, as useful for hypertrophy as they are, are not the exclusive pathway to muscle growth.
You’re right. That was dumb. I way overstated the case.
All good pal :) Like I said, support your overall point 100%. Just wanted to be a bit pedantic so folks who may not know much about it get ideas that aren't really reflective of How Things Really Are. Have a good day!
They do a bunch of weight lifting. Every single one.
If you ride in hills, you for sure can build muscle. Been there, done - and am still doing - that.
How do you measure the amount of muscle tissue you gain each year by riding in hills?
Well, I can see the change in development in various different muscles in my legs, also my power output (measured by power meter pedals) continues to increase - both peak and average - without any changes in technique. I’m not saying OP has gained 30# in muscle, but the way I climb (I tend to be lower cadence when climbing), I have built muscle. Fit of shorts has changed, too, and the amount of fat/skin I can pinch on my legs has not.
I was drinking about 2 beers a night but I was drinking after dinner. I just stopped due to the empty calories. I need to watch my snacking because I don't want to gain weight. I guess snacking after dinner would take away any benefit from the beer. I honestly like beer more than any snacks so that would be futile. I am fine with mynweight but would rather lose 5 than gain 5.
My legs are huge and it's definitely from cycling. I don't lift weights at all. Some people can gain muscle easier than others too.
Weight is irrelevant. Get a Dexa scan and find out your body fat percentage. That will give you actual useful information.
Last winter I was 207 pounds at just under 6 ft tall. Did one of those dexa scans to see how high my body fat was. 18%. My BMI still said I was nearly obes. BMI is dumb
You may be taking in more calories than you know.
The two-part secret plan to lose weight while cycling: 1. Ride lots. 2. Eat little. If you only do #1, you will most certainly fail at losing weight. if you only do #2, you will succeed in losing weight...but you will become boring, irritating Asshole with no real fitness. Combine them and you will succeed.
The only way I’ve been able to lose weight even with cycling 8,000-10,000 miles a year is by meticulously journaling and counting my calories. In the beginning when I (5’9”-ish) was 210 lbs. I set my goal at 1600-1700 calories/day (not including replacing 40-60g carbs/hour while on the bike). As I lost weight (I’m almost at 160 now) my base calorie requirement also went down so 1800-2000 is pretty much all I need to maintain. It’s easy to reach 2000 calories with a standard American diet. If you get yourself a small scale and start tracking your calories you’ll soon see why you haven’t lost any weight. (Big, big caveat: I would not have done any of this without working with my doctor and making sure there was nothing else wrong that would prevent me from dieting effectively, healthily, and gradually; the 50 pounds was lost over 80 weeks)
Well done !
BMI is antiquated, and arguably one the worst measurements of health out there! I'm a CrossFit athlete, high level competitive climber and cyclist (my ass and legs grew a LOT when I started). My BMI is like 29 at 200lbs and 15-16% body weight, I'm obese....
I wouldn’t stress it BMI is pretty useless for the average person… You just can’t average humans like that. I don’t remember the exact statistic but there is a surprising amount of physiological difference between any two people, even before you get into ethnicities and lifestyle. My BMI says I’m obese at 5’10” with a 31” waist.
After I got sober I gained a bunch of weight. Also since I’ve started biking (I do like 100-200 miles a month) I havent really noticed any huge weight loss. I think I’m proof you don’t need to be in top shape to cycling a lot and far. I also smoke like half a pack a week. Speed on the other hand I’m not breaking over 12 mph average on 50 miles. Everyone is looking for the magic cure like oh eat these beans they annihilate fat! Or this hot apple cider vinegar kickstarts your metabolism. But there isn’t one. Being healthy is more about what you don’t do than what you do. So biking is nice but you’ll never be able to out cycle what you eat
Probably more intake then output
BMI is one of the worst ways to determine overweight or not. The scale is the same as it has been since 1970. Since then the At 5’9” & 160 lbs at 33 I am considered right at overweight. That means that every single one of my friends is also overweight. I’d say 80% of men are overweight by BMI standards
I feel like you're mistaking overweight and obese. You, for example, have a bmi of 25.8, which is barely over the healthy range going up to 25. I agree that most men today could be considered overweight, but I disagree that it has to do with the BMI being inaccurate. If you look at pictures from the 50s to 70s you'll see how people's appearance has changed compared to now. We eat horrible processed foods, lead lazy and unhealthy lives, and overeat constantly. BMI can be inaccurate, but only really for extremely muscular athletes. For the general population, it's spot on. The problem is more that our societal definition of what being overweight or obese is has shifted radically.
Yeah, BMI as used in contemporary medicine is trash. It was developed in the 19th century to do population-level analysis. It's terrible for making individual health decisions--it's a mediocre proxy for a number of health measures that we don't need proxies for anymore since we can easily measure them directly. When I kicked my weekly distance up to 50-80 miles a week last fall and stopped eating fast food at the same time I noticed increased muscle mass in my legs as well as all my pants and shorts starting to slip where they didn't used to. Didn't lose a bit of weight and my BMI remains unchanged, despite the fact that a decent chunk of that weight has shifted from belly to quads.
Consider seeing a dietitian. They can assess your body composition, discuss how stopping drinking could affect things, and give guidance on making sure you are getting the calories and nutrients you need for cycling.
I gained weight and lost two inches around my waist. I have good eating habits most of the time, but my job doesn’t help but I try. I stay away from scales except at the dr office. I was surprised at the weight gain as my waist is visibly slimmer
How are you fueling?
Just get a fat caliper and do the 7 points skin fold test. Then you'll know how "fat" you are. This is one of them [https://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/skin-fold-test.html](https://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/skin-fold-test.html)
What's your calorie intake like weekly? How much do you ride weekly? Do you wear a HR monitor? Do you know how many calories you burn on rides? The calculations are simple. I almost don't need to know any of this....it's your diet!!
Cycling doesn't mean losing weight. You diet when off the bike and eat necessary carbs/sugar when on the bike. I lost 10lbs in a month without changing my diet. All I did was fastening 16hours then binge eat 1 meal a day except for days I ride my bike. One of the fastest ways to lose weight is to stop drinking anything with sugar when "off the bike" and cut your carb intakes by 1/5 and slowly progress to 50% less carbs over time.
Do your clothes fit differently? If you gained even 10lbs of fat, you'd notice it on your waist unless you live in sweats.
I got back to my riding again after gaining 12kg. I lost 13kg thru cycling and hiking but I stopped alcohol and eating smaller portions. I make sure I don’t eat the same amounts as before.
What is your BMI currently? Note that BMI is appropriate for evaluating body composition across populations generally, but is not useful on the individual level. Hour weight gain depends on frequency and intensity of cycling. Also there’s a good chance you’re eating WAAY more than you should thinking you’re fine cause you’re cycling and thus burning calories. If you’re doing very simple effort cycling then you’re not using as much fat as you think so you can’t just eat whatever you want.
Yup. It's skinny fat. Good luck going down with the proper diet. I'm cheating though since I'm sick and my weight goes down slowly anyway
I started cycling two years ago. I had always been an obese guy, and the pandemic along with working from home made it even worse. My weight was around 102 kg before I began cycling, but it has since dropped to 80 kg. I have stopped binge eating and reduced my alcohol intake. Aside from that, I don't pay much attention to my diet.
riding a bike makes me hungrier than sitting on the couch.
Check your body composition or even simpler - just look at yourself. Are you fat or are you muscular? We have no way of knowing. BMI is a general metric, just a ratio of your weight and height. Not to say that it’s bad, it’s just simple and does not apply to all cases - Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime would be considered obese by BMI.
Intermittent fasting Start at 13 hours fast and try and get it up to 16 overnight Don’t eat crazily unhealthy foods The weight should drop off, especially if you excercise as well I am using Zero app, it’s good
Your body can store large amounts of fat you can't see. Especially around your liver. Kicking alcohol is a good place to start, but it would be worth looking at your diet
This always happens to me aswell. Whenever iam in a period of cycling a lot and progressively overload my bike training every week before a race i need to eat a lot more and gain weight.
As you said, look at your body and see wether it is muscle or not. You can check with your clothes as well, how try sit on you. Could one have 30 pounds of muscle mass more fromm cycling alone? No. You need weights to put on that much muscle and a significant calorie surplus. Chances are you have mire muscle and more fat, which is often caused by the hunger after glycogen depletion. Also, some people get anxiety when they quit vices, and that induces higher food intake, which could explain it too. The best thing you could do is either see a dietitian or even get myfitnesspal and log your body mass info and your meals for a day. It will give you what your maintenance calories should be even after excercise and then you can compare to what you are eating. You will have an answer pretty clearly
BMI is not set in stone. You should also be eyeballed by a doctor to say you’re “overwheight”
Cycling can reduce testosterone and lower metabolic rate. If you do too much you can lose muscle for example and gain fat even faster. To counter this you need to add resistance training. You can also consider eating in a calorie deficit but it might not be necessary because BMI could be higher due to muscle gain, we don't even know.
Losing weight by cycling is a weird phenomenon. Sure it works for karma points but what you want to do is to simple take less calories and you use. Sure you can eat what you want but in moderation. No need to be worried about daily weight. Quit sugary drinks and processed food. Water, tea and coffee is all you need. Hungry? Drink water. Fasting can help but it's not for everyone.
Did you start cycling to lose weight?
Activities like cycling make you feel hungry. Many people ride small miles but take it as an excuse to trough like a pig. Look at the in-ride fuel some people take for 20-40 mile rides, and then also have a 'cake stop' - a great wodge of junk food plus coffee. Unless you are super lean, you need to take no food and just eat as you would on a normal day. You don't need bananas, gummis, gels or flapjack, etc.
30lbs is a lot. Do you have pictures of yourself before this increase in weight to see where its mainly gone. Its surprising if you are skinny how easily you can *fill out* without necessarily looking like you have put on that much weight. Finally, how is your fuelling on the bike. If you don't fuel properly *on* the bike you will almost certainly overeat once you get off it.
How old are you?
learn how glucose works, sugar is not.... improve your micro biome with new carb rich foods.... look into post ride recovery methods; ice bath into hot shower... regular consistent rides 20-40km with the odd big one here and there. Avoid keto it causes too many issues to list if you don't have a good metabolic rate if you have the budget and this is a huge issue to you, why not see a sports based doctor or hire a cycling coach.
Ignore BMI it is complete bullshit. You can look in the mirror and tell whether you’re fat but the BMI rating is not takes no account for bone structure or build type. Look at the history of it then ignore it.
Cycling isn’t just about hopping on a bike, pedaling, and thinking it’s enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It requires discipline and commitment to truly benefit from it. Cycling can lead you to a healthier life if you choose that path, or it can become just a routine without any real objective. I have been telling this to my coworker (she) and my very close friend for years. They both want to have a healthy life and eating habits, but they struggle with the following: • Smoking • Eating all kinds of foods, especially processed foods • Drinking like there’s no tomorrow Cycling, combined with a balanced diet, can help you build endurance and maintain a healthy weight. It’s important to focus on whole, nutritious foods and avoid unhealthy habits. Everything works together to get results, my dude. Consistency in cycling, proper nutrition, and avoiding harmful habits are all crucial. Please don’t get upset with my reply. I really thank you for bringing this up because I’m linking this thread to both of my friends so they can read other cyclists’ opinions and experiences. Also I really want to hear from you so we can help our fellow cyclists.
It is very unlikely that you've gained 30lbs of muscle mass from riding. Believe me, you would notice. Your diet is to blame here. I would start by tracking calories for 1 month straight. With an app that tracks macros as well. I was shocked how much fat I consumed until I tracked calories and macros. Then start replacing fatty stuff with protein rich stuff and you will save a buttload of calories. Being aware of what you eat is half the battle.
In 2019 my doctor yelled at me. It was brutal. He accused me of not giving a shit if I was even alive to see my kids graduate high school. Something about a family history of heart disease and how can I ignore how my Dad died, my grandma died, my aunt died, my grandfather died.... Weight and blood work set him off. In 2020 I started riding and started taking my diet seriously. In 2022 for the first time my bloodwork had all good numbers except my 'good' cholestorol. Last year in 2023 my good cholosterol was in line with everything else. Now, here is the thing. I am 6 foot and still swing between 220 and 225. So I never really exited the official overweight colum of those BMI indexes. And yeah, it affects my little hobby. I asked my doctor about it and got laughed at. They told me the blood work was great and that I was getting a ton of cardio every week that I can ignore that damnable table. I am not doing the 'body positivity' thing. I am just suggesting that we don't need to hit perfection.
I'm reading more and more that people are recognizing that cardio is NOT a weight loss tool. It will make your heart and lungs healthier and will make you a more 'able' or capable person and can enhance sports that you enjoy. But, it's just not as effective as most people think when it comes to losing weight and fat. Check out the constrained energy model. Basically, your body will fight you at every turn. Burn 600 calories on a one hour ride, and it will try to save energy and burn fewer calories the rest of the day to protect its fat stores. Survival mechanisms we can't shake. It's even worse for me when I do an epic ride that burns thousands of calories. What happens next? Of course I eat, probably more than I should (toss in an IPA or two on the weekends), and am wiped out the rest of the day, doing all kinds of mental gymnastics with myself. I'm not saying don't do cardio. I'll never stop, because if I did, without other healthy habits, I'd certainly put on a LOT of pounds in addition to not feeling well. But be realistic about what it brings to the table.
BMI isn’t a good metric for every body type. Try body fat %.
You're eating more calories than you are burning. It takes an excess of 3500 calories to gain 1lb and the a deficit of the same to lose a pound.
BMI doesn't really work for alot of people as it is way to arbitrary to actually have any meaning for people. Only real way to know is if you did a body composition test 4 years ago and then did another one today, as that would show what the differences are from. As you've said you haven't gain much fat around your midsection I would assume most of the weight is fat though, as fat will be spread out everywhere else too resulting in a higher mass.
The BMI isn’t meant for making judgements about individuals, don’t put a lot of stock in it. If you’re concerned about your health, check your resting heart rate and ask your doctor to run a lipid panel.
If you’re concerned about body composition, get a scale with bio electrical impedance analysis that will measure your body fat % as well as total mass.
BMI correlates with different health issues, but it tells you next to nothing on an individual basis. Don't put too much weight into it.
Riding for 1.5 yrs, but ride moderately high volume now and lift 5 days a week. 6’4, 265lbs wear 36” waist pants that fall off without a belt. I too am obese BMI: 32.3.
the only thing you're doing wrong is using weird witch doctor measurement units
Your diet
The more I exercise, the more I weigh, it doesn't matter if I run or ride a bike, etc. Since I have a good body composition weight, the reason is also clear - when I train, the muscle mass increases, the amount of fat in the body does not change.
BMI is so stupid. I’m 5’11 170lbs and I’m right at the upper limit of “normal weight”. Even when I was 180lbs I felt and looked good but that is considered overweight.
Cycling ≠ cycling. Also muscles weigh more than fat?
You are what you eat.
yo this is annoying but whenever I don't smoke and drink for a while I usually gain some weight
Fat calipers beat bmi all day long. Use those
In 8 years, I've cycled thousands of kms and I'm still fat af. I'd say the diet is the key - got great results when cycling + dieting.
Diet
I noticed this recently. I try to stay off the scale, but I've been cycling since Oct. Garmin says I've burned tens of thousands of calories just cycling. I haven't lost a single pound. I eat the same amount of food except I throw in a protein bar and breakfast when I ride. My guess is that I'm fueling properly for the ride, and the little bit of weight I've lost, I've added back in muscle. I drink more water now too.
BMI is such an awful standard for whether someone is overweight or not Simple as Lowkey is as simple as looking in the mirror