Cycling UK Forum

I remember when I was a nipper, coming back from long weekends with the CTC, maybe covering 80/90 miles a day and then emptying my mother's kitchen. I would readily eat two or three meals to my brother's one. This was fine till I was about 16 (I was ten stone dead) but after that the weight just piled on. My first job there was a lot of sitting about and very repetitive work. I reckon I probably put on about 3 stone in two years. Of course I was cycling less, but even when I got a better job which was more physically active, I could not shift the weight and put on another two stone by 20.

Since then I've been on all sorts of eating regulation plans, and have managed to keep my weight static around 12 stone.

Do you think cycling encourages over eating and poor eating habits? I know I was really addicted to chocolate and sweet drinks, and cider at that age.

I'd say yes, especially when you get home. The good feed is a reward, and you just have to put back all that energy you've used.

I'm still keen on the cider, but the sweet tooth has been tamed. I'm sure I read that you have to do a tremendous amount of miles if very hard intensity to actually overcome the exertion/food intake barrier and actually lose weight from cycling? True or false?

JerseyJoe wrote: ↑9 May 2024, 8:41pm I'm still keen on the cider, but the sweet tooth has been tamed. I'm sure I read that you have to do a tremendous amount of miles if very hard intensity to actually overcome the exertion/food intake barrier and actually lose weight from cycling? True or false?

You won't directly lose weight from cycling in the long term, its what and how much you eat that will do that. Sure cycling won't hurt but eating less is the only surefire answer.

over the past 10 to 20 years I have needed to be careful how much I eat, and too many puddings and cakes has always led to excess weight, so even though I'm knocking ou 6 or 7 thousand mile a year I still need to be careful with how much I eat

However something interesting happened over lockdown, my mileage doubled and for whatever reason my metabolism seem to go back to what it was when I was young. Basically no matter how much I ate I just stayed thin, folk kept asking if I had been ill because I looked so thin.

The extra miles I was doing in no way could have accounted for my non stop eating

So is there a point with exercise where your metabolism changes ? it seemed to with me.

It's clearly different for different people.

When I started cycling a few years ago, and built up to perhaps 80-90 miles per week, I wasn't eating significantly more. For me, the answer to your original question is no, cycling does not encourage over eating.

Because I wasn't eating more, but was burning a lot more calories, I lost a significant amount of weight. After 2-3 years, due to injury and other issues, my cycling mileage dropped to 'very little'. My eating habits didn't change, but I put all the weight back on.

Pebble wrote: ↑9 May 2024, 11:25pm over the past 10 to 20 years I have needed to be careful how much I eat, and too many puddings and cakes has always led to excess weight, so even though I'm knocking ou 6 or 7 thousand mile a year I still need to be careful with how much I eat

However something interesting happened over lockdown, my mileage doubled and for whatever reason my metabolism seem to go back to what it was when I was young. Basically no matter how much I ate I just stayed thin, folk kept asking if I had been ill because I looked so thin.

The extra miles I was doing in no way could have accounted for my non stop eating

So is there a point with exercise where your metabolism changes ? it seemed to with me.

I understand where you are coming from! I think extreme exercise definitely changes something in the body, or switches something on that has lain dormant. We did a walk in the Dolomites about 8 years ago, I was with a younger generation (my son's friends) and they wanted to carry on for another 4 days (100km) I just thought sod it, I'll do it! This was on top top of about 80km walked previously on the same trip. I did notice that when I came back I was absolutely ravenous for about two weeks, could eat what I wanted and never put on an ounce. This lasted for about 2 months, when I reckon my metabolism probably reset itself to normal. I did feel great for 3 months though

Very good post.

All exercise including cycling works on the brain so it tells the body to be good.Bikes are efficient so burn little.Keep two 3/5 kg weights and watch TV on your sofa and work out.
When your young metabolism tick over means you can eat anything.Not so when older.Chocolates burgers etc affect the brain and gut bacteria to reinforce one message.Feed me rubbish.

The solution is to eat what you like BUT INCLUDE LOTS and lots OF SALADS AND VEG AS WELL ON YOUR PLATE.
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I ride Brompton,Hetchins 531

+1 for the greens and salads. When I was younger I wouldn't touch em, now I can't get enough and it definitely improves my eating habits and digestion.

JerseyJoe wrote: ↑9 May 2024, 8:41pm I'm still keen on the cider, but the sweet tooth has been tamed. I'm sure I read that you have to do a tremendous amount of miles if very hard intensity to actually overcome the exertion/food intake barrier and actually lose weight from cycling? True or false?

What's an exertion/food intake barrier?

foxyrider wrote: ↑9 May 2024, 10:33pmYou won't directly lose weight from cycling in the long term, its what and how much you eat that will do that. Sure cycling won't hurt but eating less is the only surefire answer.

This just isn't true though, is it.

Below is a copy of my records from 2009 which was during a period when my weight dropped from 86kg to 69kg. The top trace is my weight (the dualled section on the right is where I bought a new scale to compare against the old one), and the next one down is my calorie intake. Below that is my energy balance: the amount I eat minus the amount I burn, and at the bottom are my weekly exercise hours (both cycling hours, and total hours including walking).
Note how, apart from a brief hiatus where I was eating a calorie excess during the summer tour, my weight was consistently falling even early in the year when my calorie intake was rising. All that's required to lose weight is to maintain a calorie deficit, and you can do that by either reducing your calorie intake or increasing your exercise. In the first 21 weeks, my calorie intake was increasing, but the weight loss continued because I was maintaining the same energy deficit as my exercise hours tripled.

Pebble wrote: ↑9 May 2024, 11:25pmThe extra miles I was doing in no way could have accounted for my non stop eating

Evidence? Where's your data? Show me you daily calorie intake, exercise hours, and weight for the periods in question.

That's s very convincing chart, I'm going to download it and study it at leisure!

I used to visit northern France frequently to cycle and after a while it occurred to me that really, all I was doing was pedalling from one town to the next and stopping off at the nicest looking patisserie in each...

Of course it’s true that weight is governed by energy in vs energy out, but I don’t read the question to be about that, I read it to be about whether cycling encourages over-eating, put another way does it lead to a tendency to take in more energy than one burns?

I have a feeling that, under some circumstances it can, and I think those circumstances might be when you make calls on the body’s energy stores that it is unused to.

The first thing I noticed when I started “proper bike rides” again after nearly three decades of short commutes, family rides and the odd jaunt, was that it made me insanely hungry, tempting me to eat way in excess of energy burned. After a bit, that settled down, balance was achieved, but I do notice that if I have a prolonged period of very little cycling, then go up again to a decent amount, the same thing happens. Once “back into it”, my food intake returns to its ordinary level, and I then slowly loose weight: a good weight for me is 75kg, which goes up slowly 78kg if I’m lazy, and down slowly to 73kg if I’m very active.

Possibly one thing to note is that muscle efficiency is likely to increase as you increase the amount of exercise, and so you can do more miles/hours on the same amount of food.

Allegedly...

axel_knutt wrote: ↑12 May 2024, 5:24pm

Pebble wrote: ↑9 May 2024, 11:25pmThe extra miles I was doing in no way could have accounted for my non stop eating

Evidence? Where's your data? Show me you daily calorie intake, exercise hours, and weight for the periods in question.

theress not much data - but I did 12,500 mile that year, normally I would do 6500. So an extra 6,000 mile, that,s an extra 16.4 per day, if we attribute 35kcal per mile (which is probably high) then that would only be an extra 574kcal per day. which is nothing

I was eating ridculous amounts, wife is a baking fanatic and bored at home she was baking every day, the puddings I was having eating every night would be 1000 kcal, and then there was the cake. I seemed to be eating non stop and not putting on weight - it was like being a teenager again