The real reason why older cyclists struggle with weight (and the fix) 

Diet. Saved you five minutes.

On top of the calorie intake, don't forget about lifestyle changes. I have a three year old in my life. If I'm not sick, I'm about to become sick. If I have a free morning, it is quickly taken up by a trip to the park. I'm not complaining. Consistency in riding has sucked this year, so I've come to accept that I'm not going to be in my prime as a cyclist anymore. I've prioritized being prime as a dad...and good enough as a cyclist! 😊 Cheers and great video!

I’m a firm believer in you can’t out train a bad diet

You hit the nail on the head. The biggest push we have to do is to push away from the table. I’m 72 and always rode casually and 6-7 years ago,I got serious and dedicated as friends started getting sick and dying. I ride 30 miles a day and take every 4th day off as a recovery day. I was 6’ 190 lbs. I got down to 165-70 quickly by riding and eliminating bread, bagels, eating more fruit, snacking on popcorn in front of tv. Eliminated as much sugar as possible except for some dark chocolate. No late night eating. Just discipline and it worked. Btw about 5 years ago I switched from road hikes to recumbent racing trikes(Catrikes ) as I find them much easier on all parts of my body and much safer as balance can be an issue as one ages. I also do a century ride the last week of each month. It takes discipline and a little food denial.

nearly 55 years old, and in the absolute BEST physical condition of my entire LIFE! dropping weight week after week, despite heavy lifting multiple times a week. including upper body. i do every ride totally fasted. never eat before 3pm. calories consumed per day: don't care. i eat what ever i want. luckily i don't want to eat or drink junk. meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, seeds, nuts. and barely any bread or other process food of any kind. including sugar (that makes the biggest difference) tearing off PRs every time i go out. i'm eff'ing unstoppable

My riding buddy use to always say after a big ride “Just think, tonight you can eat as much of anything that you want”…He is considerably overweight now 😢

Started riding again four years ago. At 65yrs 6'1" went from 220lb to 180lb. Still had fat and man boobs. Cut out all refined sugars and carbs and lost the last of it, down to 165lbs now. I've traded my keg for a six pack. I don't count calories, I count protein and carbs.

Thanks! I’ve had a very good laugh, you’ve made a very good presentation of a real situation and I often find myself in it.

Thank you, helpful as I need to improve my eating habits 😊

I switched to a whole foods plant-based diet, and I’ve never had an easier time with weight management. And I recover faster from workouts, too. I’m 50 and recovering faster than I did in my 30s (due to less systemic inflammation in my body, the science says). I eat foods with low caloric density, and weight management is a breeze. And once I’d detoxed from processed foods, I discovered subtleties of flavour and texture that I hadn’t noticed before, so I’m enjoying my meals more than every before too. It’s been win, win, win for me!

Yep, hitting the nail on the head. My eating is good during the day but I have this night/sleep snacking thing that I need to get out of my system. Good video, liked and subscribed.

Great video that summed up my issue, under fuelling on my rides and then over eating of the rest of the day with sore legs the next day. Then with guidance from a top sports scientist fuelled correctly for each hour of riding in Girona with electrolytes and carbs, food,gels and bars on a long ride and wow what a diffidence.Energy all ride, not hungry on the bike and no over eating in the evening, and great legs each day.Great video, very well presented.

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to share this. Turnin’ 40 real soon. Its taken a LONG time for me to accept - and thereafter take action on - the fact I have absolutely been over eating for a long time. Videos like this help put it all into perspective. Thanks again!

Excellent video! Thanks.

Great video and how you can be overeating without realising, although i suspect many who do are fully aware of it (i know i am!). Life can get complicated and arguably in your 40s and 50s you have the maximum amount of push-pull demands and time constraints around you (career, ageing parents, growing kids etc.). Diet and exercise shouldn't, but often take more of a back seat. Cycling is a great baseline activity though if you can keep at it. Subbed 🙂

Love the 30% incline picture! I immediately recognized the spot from my holiday in Cornwall last year because I stopped there to take that picture myself. The climb itself was really not that hard if I recall correctly.

Bang on Simon. I am guilty. Managed to crack it last year. Then slipped again over the winter. Now I have regained some of my fitness it is time to be strict again. And yes, you definitely did a very very crazy thing! 👏

Good video, 57 myself and careful with what I eat and still struggle a bit as can't get below 100kg at 6'2''. The other thing is that cycling is actually quite efficient for a given distance. Think going for a long walk with a loaded backpack is better for losing some of that fat. Personally try and do both to use different muscles and a bit of gentle load training, can feel yourself working and feel the benefit when I get on the bike. Especially if its bad weather and I can't be assed to dress up or clean the bike after the ride, go for a walk instead with a loaded backpack.

I'm eating a packet of ginger biscuits while watching this. Skipped the workout today because it's a bank holiday ;-)

Cheers Simon. This is something we're all guilty of and an excellent reminder. I will try to be more mindful of this for sure!

Absolutely spot on, we all know what we’re doing wrong, but the practice is way harder than the theory. Great video. 🚴‍♀️🍕

Perfect advice, I for one had a thing after a massive ride would reward myself with food, it’s something I really need to work on

My wife has a masters in nutrition from her first career. Every time I would talk about diets like Atkins, etc., she would always say the same thing. It's calories in vs. calories out. That was always her starting point even if it she knew it was an oversimplification.

Another awesome and informative video. Keep up the great work. Cheers P.S. you probably have the most impressive cigarette arms I have ever seen (Aussie for UK arm tan lines)😂

Great video. I get 6 months of good weather riding and absolutely love the long, early morning weekend rides. But then I have a 12 hour battle with the refigerator. The shorter, weekday evening rides are much more beneficial to me for weight loss. As for the long weekend rides, carb replenishing on the bike helps for the rest of the day. But I really need to keep track of calories.

Great video! New subscriber here. When it comes to weight management a lot of people forget that the body works hard to maintain homeostasis. If you consume more calories than you expend, your body will store these calories. If you consume less, your desire to exercises typically decreases. Below are some points that relate to weight management that people may or may not know: 1. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) - how many calories your body burns to absorb and digest food. This can be positively influenced by prioritising Protein 2. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) - How many calories you burn at rest. This can be positively influenced by resistance training. 3. Exercise - Clearly essential for increasing energy expenditure and improving health 4. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis - activity you do that doesn't count as exercise. This can be confusing but things like walking up stairs, fidgeting, standing etc. 5. Satiety - prioritising foods that keep you fuller for longer (protein, fibre, whoefoods etc) 6. Ultra processed foods - Reducing intake of these foods is beneficial due to their typical high calorie, low nutrient profile, which can contribute to weight gain and poor health outcomes 7. Liquid calories - (other than around your cycling) minimising this can make a huge difference.

Spot on 👍🏻

Perfectly in step with the processed food industry’s messaging. A calorie is a calorie and the problem is our lack of personal discipline. Give Dr. Robert Lustig or Dr. David Perlmutter a few of your RU-vid minutes, it certainly makes things easier.

Yes, agree. Makes perfect sense. Not rocket science, not science based at all. It's about discipline. Mostly the thinking is bang on, one might feel that they owe themselves after doing the graft. Incidentally I used to buy into the benefits etc of a cheeky wee glass of red every other night, only one mind. Game changer for me was when I quit alcohol all together 3 years ago. Wow what a -ve impact that was having on my training looking back and I was completely oblivious to it. I'm 59 and btw keeping muscle mass is a v good plan. Good pres, well done.

Great video and advice..I probably don't eat enough during the ride and end up starving when I return...Today,that's going to change..

I jumped on my gym scale yesterday and 71.9kg at 6ft(also 53). Lost 11kg steadily over the past 3 years probably down to kicking the booze and focusing on wellness focus on sleeping and eating. Through my day I also try to walk and cycle everywhere - often I'm rucking a mile to the leisure centre with all my shizz. I have my go to functional snack meals pre and post training but don't calorie count. Treats are always available but it's healthy for the mind and body to say no a fare chunk of the time. BTW you did worry me with your post ride glutt Simon!!! 😁

I was one of your fat cyclists till 10y ago. Lost 17kg and kept it off. Prob is that you eat food less satiating per calorie. Pizza, crisps, chips and junk food fall into that category and too much carb leads that way. I'm 74 now and weight nailed for 10y.

Excellent video. Quite funny description of the (non) binge. Last spring I was 86kg @ 181cm. This bothered me as weight was on an uptrend and I'd recently had cancer surgery ( successful 🎉). Weight gain is associated with higher recurrence so for this and just general health I needed to do something. Changed my diet by radical dropping of simple carbs and sugar in my diet ie no more sweet snacks or crisps at all. No more bread as that was a staple in my diet, etc etc. And increasingly long rides. From April until October my weight dropped to around 71 kg!!!! Fast forward to now, over winter weight gradually picked up again too 76,,kg. Cycling more again with good weather and feeling stable weight around 74,kg. I am still mindful but do eat bread again albeit less. Mostly weekends when with my gf for some reason 😮 Snacking at home after rides are cashews and dried apricots when Feeling peckish

A friend of mine cycled 500 km with other randonneurs. They took several brakes to eat, drink or go to the toilet. At the end of the ride, all of them were heavier than at the start😄 because they were really chugging down food to make sure they had the energy for such a long ride.

So true but not overly obvious when you are doing it. The last time I went in for a physical, I was pretty fit, but my belly fat suggested otherwise, my blood tests showing that I had too much protein and fat in my blood and liver. Reflecting back on my diet, I realized it never really occurred to me previously that maybe eating 1 lb. of grilled sausage every other day as a *snack* along with bags of corn chips was probably not really necessary, lol. My doctor - not aware of my diet - didn't know what to tell me other than shrugging and saying maybe I should make veggies a larger part of my food intake.

I’m new to the channel, great stuff from what I’ve seen so far I’m new into cycling as I don’t have a bike as yet I’m training at the gym but I’m curious how or if there is a method to use to estimate the energy expenditure from my 1.5 hour moderate pace on stationary bike rides as I’m not needing to lose weight so I want to stay in maintenance

It’s all about diet for weight loss and exercise for fitness. This year I’ve stopped drinking alcohol and have cut out all processed food and cakes and any other junk like crisps and sweets. I’m 58 / 183cm’s tall and was 79kg’s in January and now I’m 72kg’s which is the lightest I’ve been since about 20. I’m doing about 14 hours a week on the bike and my power hasn’t decreased but I feel so much better. Before I got much stricter with my diet I just couldn’t lose weight no matter how hard I trained. Great channel by the way.

In 2022 I rode the most I've ever ridden in one year and also put on 10kg... Mostly because my weekends were exactly as you described. Fortunately I'm on my way back down now.

I’m 58 and lost 50 lbs about 5 years ago and kept it off (mostly). I find that portion control, measuring, and carbs are my biggest challenges. Coming off ankle surgery 8 weeks ago was tough with reduced exercise. But summer is upon us and the lbs are coming off. I allow myself one beer per week after our group MTB ride that ends at a taproom. Living at 6,400’ where every trail goes straight up means you really pay for the extra kilos.

During the ride today I was thinking about your video and you forgot to mention the bugs! I swallowed sooo many 😂. BTW thanks for the video, I had to re-asses what I eat. In hope I can shed some more lbs.

This is me 🙈 8 years cycling and been up and down like yo yo. I really need to take this advice

I really hoped you would discuss how to avoid after ride hunger or how to stop over eating after rides.

You just described my weekend 🤣

Love it - need to do it now !!! Dolomites in 2 weeks so hopefully no wine or Pizza there post ride 🙄

Nailed it.

Excellent vid, new sub :) At 64 I'm guilty of the same offence of overeating after a strenuous ride, thinking "my metabolism will keep cooking long after the ride is over". Evidently wrong. But I am improving in terms of discipline with both junk carbs and booze. As a lifelong fitness addict (road bike, MTB, flatwater kayak, cross country & alpine ski, gym weight training) I'm not really overweight, it's been rock steady @ 180cm/90kg for many years, but IMO it's been rock steady about 5-7kg above where I'd like to be. You really have to put in the time understanding your own physiology as well...i.e. my nonsensical "BMI" value suggests I'm morbidly obese, you have to ignore these moronic metrics invented 100 years ago that lump 5 billion people into "groups"! Cheers

You know that makes sense but I think it’s a bit more complicated than that. The biggest issue I see is that many cyclists go tempo to threshold with their riding and end up over carb loading and then having to eat lots after. Zone 2 riding needs far less imbibing of carbs as you burn up fat stores. I try to always put in 4-6 hours of zone 2 each week and I’ve never had a problem with weight. The big rides will always be all over the place but if all you do is ride hard, you’ll inevitably have issues. Alcohol is a killer though. Stay away from that as it’s pure calories and on top of what you eat.

I think it's the increasing difficulty of maintaining a training regime as you age, and family obligations, work events and nagging injuries keep you off the bike. Once you miss a few workouts it's a real setback but you still have to eat for other life events, too. Yes, there are metabolism issues, too. I don't need nearly as much food as I did when I was younger.

87 years old, 5:10, 135 pounds and out on my bike every morning for an hour and a half ride at 5:30 this time of year here in Southern Arizona. This is a 16 mile ride total, out for 8 miles with a 750 foot climb, then 8 back. Then off to LA Fitness for an hour of weight training, and then usually 18 holes of golf or a hike for an hour. I've generally never gained weight, maybe up a few pounds once in a while, but I can quickly get it back off. Same waist size 30 as I had in High School. Your body tells you when you have eaten enough; you don't need to eat until you feel full. Would I like a pizza, sure, but I know that it isn't good for me. A second glass of wine, OK, but I will feel it in the morning. I never eat out; too much good food here at home. Mostly, I don't think it matters so much what you eat, but how much. And exercise is probably the most important part of keeping fit, especially as you get older. I've outlived two wives; I'm not proud of that, but it is just a fact. 💁‍♂

I’m turning 60 in two months. Currently 193cm and 91.6 kg. I started more serious riding 10 years ago and have completed a bunch of MTB and several road races and my weight has fluctuated a few kg from time to time but not too much. Right now having challenges with body fat and I’m pretty sure it’s all carb related. 😢. I love breads and sweets. Training for one last big MTB event of 75km in the fall. I think as you get older those longer events tend to have some negative impacts but I enjoy the challenge. Just finished a races series of 8 races and finished 12 out of 46. Bonked bad on the last race and lost a few spots. Weight training appears to be a key item over excessive endurance or cardio.

Other 'trendy' at the mo tings. Fasting an carnivor! Not great for endurance sports I know but, As a new 50 yr old I can only loose wieght when I fast (mon to thursday, eat when I want but same amount at the weekends.) any opinions

Mm yeh thinkin about it in recent years my most successful weightloss year was when i did 2 or 3 rides a week of 2hrs each , i would only take an apple and one snack bar . Now i have got into 4hr to 8hr rides , that invloves buying loads of carbs err sweets for the big ride , often i eat most of the sweets the night before , then buy some more on the ride 😅. As a result ive definitely struggled to lose any xmas weight this year as my calorie intake for my longer rides before during after is outstripping the 1000s of calories i burn 🔥 i havent managed to adjust yet , still trying to decide what bag of sweets i prefer 🙂

As a 59 yr old cyclist and a runner who has gone from 250 pounds to just under 160 pounds in the last 11 years, I can totally relate because I actually gained weight when I started increasing my distance. I was afraid that I was going to put all my weight back. I want to quickly point out two things. Firstly, the amount of calories that Strava or your GPS watch says that you burned is always higher than the actual. Secondly, I noticed that in your diet you went through on the typical Sunday after your ride it was a lot of carbohydrates, but these carbohydrates did not come from unrefined grains , legumes and vegetables. The carbs you consumed were empty carbs and not high-quality ones. I am a big believer that carbohydrate centric diets are essential for distance runners and cyclist, but they have to be good carbohydrates. Yes I still have my butter tart mid ride, I will never deny that social aspect of the ride with my friends however, I make the better part of my day to eat vegetables and other good sources of carbs.

I'm 52! And I've been struggling with overweight for a long time. I'm 1,85m tall and until last month weighted 90 kg . After a virosis which caused me diarrhea I lost about 1kg. So after I recovered I started being more aware on caloric deficit, eating less (but with quality) and training more, especially on Z2. I cut on bread, cakes and the like. Yesterday I checked my weight, 87kg!!!😊 In 4 weeks. So I think a good diet and training are key to fight extra undesirable fat.😅

For me it's been fueling a whole lot more during the ride that's helped keep my after ride food cravings at bay. Went from a couple random power bars, maybe, on a 60 mile ride to fueling ~200 cal / hour any ride over 1.5 hours and now I don't need heroic willpower in the evenings, which is nice since I don't have any willpower.

I could not lose weight past a certain point, even though I was cycling, upper body exercsing, intermittent fasting. I then lowered my carbs and went on a Keto diet and it worked weight is gradually coming down to my desired goal. For carbs on the bike don’t seem to need them, as body seems to be more efficient burning fat. On long rides I take some MCT powder, and if I need some carbs, I take some raspberries or strawberries that naturally give me some carbs ready to burn up on the bike. I am 66 best shape for quite a while.

I definitely see your point. Overeating can definitely be the culprit, but metabolism does not work as calories in and calories out. Study the data learn about the Metabolic Vulnerability Index (MVX). The data is out there.

So the thing was from 55 to 60 I was riding with friends about 70k on a relatively flat course. I carried gels when I remembered, and usually went through about two litres of water. We never stopped half way through the ride and headed off for Pizza, another 12k to the pizza shop where I was ravenous. So a pizza, my precious, a stack of water, coffee and usually a 300ml bottle of Coke. Then ride back to a friends place, a shower and a 3 hour drive home with lollies in the car. Get home, fang whatever was in the fridge and then crash. I never lost weight, but maintained the weight I was, about 14kg over optimal. But you see, I am diabetic and I only ever burn the fuel in my blood stream, so no fat reserves which leads to the ravenous outcome at the end of the ride. I did a controlled low carb high protein diet once. By controlled I mean a dietician managed my food intake. I spent 8 months with low energy, headaches and lost about 13kg. All while still riding , at the time commuting to work and busting out sprints behind buses and the like. Any time I had a cheat moment the headache went away, and I was jumping out of my socks. But I didn't go onto the next phase in the program because I never quite hit the target weight and I popped out like the Pillsbury Doe Boy. So my advice to people is, bearing in mind the commentary from above. If you are burning calories but not seeing the loss, see your GP because this happens before Diabetes kicks in and they can fix you up if you have the indicators. By the way, a second thing to bear in mind, if you do drop weight and look lean and mean, see to the mind of your partner. He/she sees you hit fighting weight looking very attractive and he/she may feel threatened. It was something my dietician pointed out she saw a lot of when men, in particular lost the soft edges.

I miss the part of How to fix “over eating” after hard/long efforts. Is that in another video? Thx for your great videos 🚴🏻‍♂️👍

Hilarious. Loved this. I have a super slow metabolism. I am currently all with living on salad with little or no dressing and pedaling my legs off. Very slow reduction, very frustrating. Would kill for a mushroom Swiss burger with fries.

I rode 62 miles today and climbed 4,500 feet and did it on no breakfast and 2 cherry Bakewell tarts. 😊

I think also if your heart rate moves out of the 20%-80% of max heart rate which as I’m 58 is very easy to do, my body goes into fight and flight mode which means my body conserves fat rather than burning the spare tube around my waist. My 20-80% is roughly a heart rate band of between 96BPM - 136BPM ! At 58 that’s very difficult without ambling around at 10-15 miles an hour. Am I wrong?

in my thirties going into forties the biggest cause of putting on weight was I have kids. And a job. And a wife. I went from about 800-1000 miles a month to about 800-1000 miles a year. This lasted 20 years. I put on 25 kg, even though I was probably eating half as many calories. Kids are grown and out of the house, and I retired a year ago, while the wife still works. I have already ridden off 10 of those extra kg .

Most cyclists think that they can offset a single weekly long ride with pasties, beers, curries and red wine.

At 65 I'm finally realizing I can't go as fast, as many times per ride, as many times per week as previous decades. Thus I'm not putting out nearly as many calories.

Ride more, eat less. Problem solved. It gets harder as you get older (I’m 65 so can speak with some authority on this) due to reduced testosterone levels etc but ride more, eat less if you want to lose weight still applies.

We all know these facts, the difficult part is staying consistent due to culture / bad habits / socialising

The problem is that not eating enough after a ride can be dangerous and can break up consistency, which is very important. So, I prefer eating a bit more to make sure I can go out in good shape on the next rides.

The point is at 6 min in.....thank me later.

I retired at 55 and started riding 100 miles a week. I lost 20 pounds and I eat a lot of chicken, but also eat pizza, cookies, and lots of ice cream in Summer. I stay about the same weight without giving up the sweets and desserts that I like! Cycling is awesome! ❤🚴🏻‍♂️

Red wine is my weakness. I just have one glass, but then "just 1 glass" me wants another glass... and so on.

Thanks, nice, common sense stuff that needed to be made obvious. The ride makes it so easy to justify that little extra 'something'! Ice cream in my case!!

(chuckle) Imagine doing that over the weekend? Pfft! I do it every day. Discipline (and UC) is my biggest issue. When I raced in my early 30's I weighed 181 lbs at 6'-2". Now I'm at 197 and my goal is 185. That BEEN my goal for two years now. The lowest I've gotten is 194.

Cyclists mistakenly eat way more refined carbohydrates than necessary and therefore less quality protein and they don't do resistance training, so muscle and skeletal mass goes down. This recipe worked for me in my forties when I was trying to increase my power to weight ratio, but this isn't a good long term strategy. I became a skinny little wimp and then I discovered that life long endurance athletes who do WAY TOO MUCH cardio develop atrial fibrillation and have surprisingly high rates of cardiovascular disease. I stopped doing crazy cardio, ate more protein, lifted weights and everything fell into place.

My man’s pupils ! Trippy

My experience is that big efforts mean big appetite. I get something I call hot-hunger a kind of painful irresistable hunger after a big effort. In agreement with your premise, I have only ever (including as a slender youth like yourself) been able to lose weight by riding underfueled long slow hot rides and deliberately bonking*. Now in my 60's it's getting pretty extreme: no bonk, no weight loss at all. (*yes the other kind of bonking is good for you too, but no weight loss there sadly.) Yes I get hungry with this method, but not the agonizing hot-hunger. Cutting back alcohol, refined sugar and simple carbs is a given. No food on the bike, no sugar drink. Pan e agua, minus the pan.

can you do a video about tackling a 12 hour ride (indoors) with things like food intake. drinking, avoiding the wall. that sort of thing. I have done a 7 hour ride before but want to try to achieve the 10k calories in one day (which I've worked out will take me about 12 hours)

I honestly don't have a problem with dieting alone, but the trouble is social eating including family. This may be an excuse but as the kids have grown (currently 9, 11 YO), their liking for foods with a bit more taste, say pizza or pasta, hamburgers, or a even a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich, have grown which is understandable being active children that are growing up. Problem is, I'm not growing taller, just wider. Social gathering( I don't drink but it feels rude not to eat), office birthdays, coffee with a scone or croissant all add up.

If Garmin tells me I burned 500 kcal during my one hour ride, is that on top of the calories I burn at rest or is it together with them? The reason I ask is because if it is together, I only actually spent 350 kcal on my exercise since my normal resting burn rate is 150 kcal per hour.

Refuse alcohol and sugar. Not eating after 18 till morning would also be hugely helpful. Not only bodyweight, but quality of life will tranform.

No problems here. Started at 47. In 2.5 months I lost 15kg and constant ever since. I started eating more.

I agree with you but it’s a fact that a person metabolism slows down with age so you have to be careful with what you eat.

Im 43 i dropped 7 kgs by running at zone 2 everyday for 2 months

Weight management is 80% diet and 20% exercise.

you forgot 2 include your basal metabolic rate which is in addition to your workout, presumably is around 1500 - 2000 kcal. Mine is 1394kcal, i'm only 5"6 1/2', i don't swallow energy gel while cycling. if i'm hungry, i stop for cafe break ie "real" food. Decided to stop energy bar / gel abt 8 years ago aft i "retired" from marathon running.

I never eat that much yet still it’s a struggle

Guilty. Good post.

That was funny but true. Chuckling all the way through.

100% right

Ride up hills if you want to burn calories. You don’t have to ride up fast, slow works fine, but you have to climb, you have to fight gravity! I’m a sprinter/puncheur, I hate riding up hills. I have a hill I ride on my mountain bike that takes 20min at 3mph. I don’t have to like it, I just have to do it.

People with more body fat survive longer in extreme conditions, so always be prepared like the boy scouts say

I rode 4,000km last year and I did not lose one kilo, still at 150kg, I watch what I eat, I don't eat sweets or junk food, no soft drinks, I only eat twice a day, big breakfast and tiny little dinner, but I can not still lose weight and I am 53

I think it’s more about not eating enough leading up to, and during your ride. That’s generally the reason for wanting too much after.

I am 64 and my first grandchild was born almost 2 years ago. While always being healthy I started catching every respiratory ailment he caught (I could not stay away from him -- too much fun!). I finally upped my zinc to 1000mg/day with 500mg Quercetin when I saw he had a sneeze or runny nose. That works to keep me ailment free and on the bike.

I never eat anything if I’m out for less than 3 hours. Quite often not even breakfast. Unless you’re really training hard or racing I don’t see the point in eating on rides if you’re trying to lose weight. I have a physically demanding job, never eat breakfast and often skip lunch. Going for a bike ride and refueling every hour is not a necessity.

170 cm/83-85kg here and i could not lose any weight in the last year at all. I tried diet and cycling 230-340km/week. I started 4 years before with 112 kg and lost a lot but stopped completely. I changed completely my diet especially the amounts. Only the sports let me to lose weight but only my muscles are growing. No weight loss at all. The fat is burning mainly in the areas where i use my muscles on me legs. That's all.

My problem is biscuits. Too many biscuits. And not enough sleep, requiring more biscuits to get through the day.

The easiest way that I've found to deal with excess weight, especially as an older cyclist, is to never gain it in the first place. I know that doesn't work for everybody, and I consider myself fortunate that it's worked out well for me.

I am 65, very slender all my life, also a cyclist all my life. To lose weight, look in the mirror on the morning and weigh yourself. If you are too fat, eat less!

keep me away from the fridge after a long ride !