Calories burnt ?

[Bianchi boy]

My wife wants to lose a stone. She cycles average 3 - 4 times a week, for 3 hours a ride, average 10 - 12 miles per hour on the flat. She's 5ft 3" and weighs 10 stone, 47 years old. Calories burnt : Strava says one thing, and cycle computer says another. She just wants to know how many calories she can consume per day to lose 2lb a week. Any thoughts ?

 

[Bianchi boy]

Thanks Mort, that's an avenue she will definitely consider .

 

[ColinJ]

My wife wants to lose a stone. She cycles average 3 - 4 times a week, for 3 hours a ride, average 10 - 12 miles per hour on the flat. She's 5ft 3" and weighs 10 stone, 47 years old. Calories burnt : Strava says one thing, and cycle computer says another. She just wants to know how many calories she can consume per day to lose 2lb a week. Any thoughts ?

Why doesn't she just eat a bit less and see how much she loses, then if she hasn't lost as much as she wants to, cut down even more?

It always surprises me that people go by the calories to try and calculate an expected weight loss when they can directly measure the actual weight loss!

To answer your question though, I reckon that amount of cycling would burn about a pound of fat, as long as she does not eat or drink more than she was before she started the cycling. That means she would need to lose the other pound by restricting calorie intake, which is 3,500 calories, or a 500 calories a day reduction. Since she probably needed about 2,000 calories a day to maintain her weight, that would mean eating/drinking about 1,500 cals/day.

It might be better to aim a bit lower and lose 1.0-1.5 lbs/week. 2 lbs/week is doable, but I think slower is better because the changes required are more sustainable.

 

[Jody]

Since she probably needed about 2,000 calories a day to maintain her weight, that would mean eating/drinking about 1,500 cals/day.

Sounds about right. I am 5'5, 11st and my fitness pal puts me down for 1500 cals to lose 1lb a week. It adds your ride calories burned to your daily total if linked with strava so you can keep an eye where you are. I reckon strava is fairly accurate on calories burned. I have seen some apps where it's way overestimated.

 

[bozmandb9]

I disagree. If you ingest 1,500 calories in a day, when you go for a three hour rise, it's quite possible that you've burned all of your 1,500 on the ride, leaving nothing for living (I.e probable basal metabolic rate of around 1,300 calories) , either that, or you're in massive calorie deficit. Yes, in a perfect world you'd be burning fat, but those figures look too extreme to me.

 

[ColinJ]

I disagree. If you ingest 1,500 calories in a day, when you go for a three hour rise, it's quite possible that you've burned all of your 1,500 on the ride, leaving nothing for living (I.e probable basal metabolic rate of around 1,300 calories) , either that, or you're in massive calorie deficit. Yes, in a perfect world you'd be burning fat, but those figures look too extreme to me.

I did suggest that it would probably be better to lose the weight more slowly. I saw a recommendation to lose no more than 1% per week, which would be 1.4 lbs for someone weighing 10 stone.

Yes, someone cutting down on the calories and riding that many miles a week will be in massive calorie defecit - that is what they are trying to achieve in order to lose the weight!

I often ride 2 to 3 hours without eating extra food, even on the 2 days when I eat less than 1,000 calories. I ride at higher speeds than those mentioned and do lots of hills. I am definitely burning a lot of fat and evidently still have energy available for living!

 

[RitchieJoe]

I'd start with a deficit of around 300 calories, get her to weigh herself once a week and to do so first thing in the morning in her underwear (jeans etc obviously contribute to the weight on the scales). If she religiously monitors her caloric intake, levels of exercise etc and records them you will both be able to review her progress then tweak the approach for optimal results.

 

[bozmandb9]

I did suggest that it would probably be better to lose the weight more slowly. I saw a recommendation to lose no more than 1% per week, which would be 1.4 lbs for someone weighing 10 stone.

Yes, someone cutting down on the calories and riding that many miles a week will be in massive calorie defecit - that is what they are trying to achieve in order to lose the weight!

I often ride 2 to 3 hours without eating extra food, even on the 2 days when I eat less than 1,000 calories. I ride at higher speeds than those mentioned and do lots of hills. I am definitely burning a lot of fat and evidently still have energy available for living!

I guess it depends on your starting point, but those figures sound extreme. Here's some advice I just lifted:

We never recommend losing more than 1-2 pounds/week and therefore your calorie deficit should not exceed 1000 calories/day unless there are unusual timeline circumstances. The calorie deficit number is the difference between your food intake and the calories you burn, and therefore the greater the deficit the faster you lose weight. But that’s the problem: everyone’s in a hurry. Large deficits are generally not sustainable, and can be unhealthy if you don’t supplement your diet properly. Not to mention that if you do reach your goal using a very low calorie diet, the journey will be miserable and you will probably end up rebounding for your own sanity.

That said, the more overweight you are the greater the deficit can be if time is an issue. But the slower you lose it, the greater your chance of long-term success. Additionally, you don't want to lose lean body mass (LBM/muscle) while losing weight. Unfortunately, during “traditional dieting" for weight loss, you lose both muscle and fat (1/4 muscle) unless you supplement and weight train. BUT even with weight training you can't lose any more than .7% of weight/week without losing muscle. For example, a person weighing 200 lbs can lose 1.4 lb/wk (750 calore/day deficit). BUT they must supplement at least a daily multivitamin and mineral (MVM). The greater the deficit the more you need to supplement, meaning a MVM and pre/post workout formula is necessary to sustain LBM during dieting. Just make sure to fit your pre/post snacks into your allowed calories for the day. Maintaining or increasing LBM during weight loss helps you to burn more calories, feel better, avoid plateaus and reach your goal sooner. If you want to lose weight very quickly, but safely, use our Sharecare Fitness Application located under the Coach tab; click here for access: http://www.sharecare.com/home/coach