Wednesday, November 10, 2021

I was the epitome of "you can't out run a bad diet" (or in my case, out bike)

I've always loved biking, but in the last year and half (April 2020), I've been biking more and more with working from home due to covid. For the last year, I bike on average 140-160 miles (225-260 km) a week. That is about 11 hours a week on a bike. I also walk 2-3 miles a day.

At first biking so much, I did notice some weight loss. I didn't weight myself at the time, but I could tell from clothes fit. As my biking continued, I gave myself "permission" to eat whatever I wanted. Surely what I was burning on the bike was more than I could eat, right? Wrong! Adding in chips or cookies as regular "snacks" stalled any weight loss and kept me stubbornly in the obese BMI range.

Yes, I was obese, exercising a crazy amount. Don't discount the ability or endurance of someone just because of their weight. I biked a century in April 2021 (100 miles / 160 km, 4000' / 1200 m elevation gain in 8 hours). But I was still obese because of my poor diet.

I finally got into CICO and started counting and controlling my calories. I still bike about 150 miles a week, but I have lost about 45 lbs through tracking and counting my food, staying within my calorie budget. I do value exercise, but I do not rely on it to keep my weight down. For anyone who thinks, I exercise so much, why aren't I losing weight? I would advise you to track calories. It's far easier to eat 1000 calories than to burn 1000 calories through exercise.

submitted by /u/OrangeFineEyes
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