I've been doing more serious cycling for a while now, and hubby just bought me a bike computer for my birthday.  Used it today for my 65-mile group ride, had 3800 ft of elevation gain and an average speed of 15.8, so I'm feeling pretty good about that.  Also learned that I burned 2300 calories, and that gives me a little pause.  I am really focusing on good protein and water intake after that (and used Hammer and Cliff Bars during ride), plus trying to bump up calories with good fats, but I really think it would take me a few days to eat 2300 calories (I'm not a tracker, so not sure).  Weight is dropping very slowly, but workouts have really increased in intensity over the last 3 weeks, so I'll keep an eye for any faster drops.  Any advice from seasoned athletes would be appreciated.
thanks,
Jenny

nutrition is extremely important as you increase endurance activities, unfortunately, a lot of it will be trial and error and looking at empirical results.  i would take the calorie counters (even on the bike computer and HRM based) with a grain of salt, most are a blunt instrument based on averages, everybody burns calories at a unique rate.  keep up the good work, 65 miles at around 4K of elevation gain around 16MPH is very impressive!

Very impressive, I'm 3 months post op and I'm very interested to know the path you've taken to get to where you are now!

Hi Mom78,

Wow, you are doing an AWESOME job.  Congrats...do you feel wonderful?

I've been a bicycle commuter from Bainbridge Island, WA to Seattle via ferry for about 6 1/2 years (started at a weight of about 244, lost (gasp) a total of 7 pounds from cycling over the years.  Because I live and work on hills, and get down to sea level for ferry, I have gotten lots of leg strength from biking up hills as an obese person. If you are new to cycling, this is a great time of year to get started. Go slow, stay comfortable-but-always-pushing a little. Increase time on the bike by no more than 5 to 10% at a time, stay at that level for a while, then push up again.   My surgeon group includes fitness counseling as part of their 2-year follow-up program. I really credit the strength training I’ve done as making me strong as a cyclist.  I started out doing 10 push-ups from a standing position against a kitchen counter, crunches with legs in the air—10 reps of left, center, right crunches, front and side planks, plus a couple of other things. I kept upping intensity as I gained strength (doing these every other day), and now I’m up to 2 sets of 15 reps regular push-ups, 70 reps of the l,c,r crunches, minute-plus planks, plus a few other things. I believe strongly that core strength is a lot of what is making me so strong on the bike.   A huge part of me taking up distance cycling is that I was invited to cycle with a group of women that ride every Sunday. From there, I’ve branched out to 3 other riding groups of differing speeds/intensity levels. I get so much out of biking with a group, and it keeps me enthused and excited for my Saturday and Sunday rides. Plus, a lot of those bike guys are cute (jk, hubby comes with me!!!).   Hope this is helpful, and that you find cycling as rewarding and physically conditioning as I have. Best, Jenny