Cycling within a Calorie Restricted Diet

It is long past time for me to drop some weight.  On Monday of this week, I started logging food calories with a 1500 calorie per day goal (plus whatever calories I burn while riding).  For the first 4 days of this week, my net calorie intake has been about 1100-1200 calories.  I’m starting to notice this on the bike.

First, it doesn’t take as much effort to increase my heart rate.  Burning fat is less efficient than burning carbohydrates and I can feel how my body is working on this.  Today, for instance, I struggled uphill on the way to breakfast.  I had to chase down the 10 other riders after climbing the steepest hill.  With all my miles in the bank and a lot of group riding, I know the best places to close that distance without a tremendous amount of additional effort.

(One clue is to continue to power through downhill while the rest are coasting.  At the very least, begin the power stroke just before the bottom of the hill so that you have extra momentum and speed through the transition from downhill to uphill and some of the gap will be closed.  Another is to continue the power stroke as the rest are slowing for an intersection.  They will clear the intersection for you and you will gain some on the group.)

I also noticed that I was sweating more than I expected.  It wasn’t really all that warm, only about 70° F, but there was a steady flow of sweat down my face.  That may have had to do with higher humidity, but some of it is this calorie restriction I’m operating under.

The thing that I notice most when I’m on a calorie restricted diet is that my thinking is a little muddled.  I have to work harder at focusing on the task at hand.  I have a tendency to mentally drift.

There were 12 on the ride and seven of us continued through to breakfast.  It was good to have Jack with us for part of the ride.

Following the regular breakfast ride, I continued on despite really wanting to quit.  I went to the airport observation park and back, logging 43.5 miles on the fixie.  I wanted to log many of these miles because I have a wedding rehearsal dinner this evening, and there will be many easy to consume calories at that event.  Now I have a daily limit of 2,700 calories.  Will it be enough?

With how I felt today, I’ll have to remember to increase the calories a few days before my next 200k.  I won’t want to go into such a ride in the kind of deficit I’m feeling now.

This Ride: 43.5 miles
Malaria Campaign: 1,300.3 miles
Funds Pledged: $650.15
Contributed in support: $1,587.60

Total = $2,237.75