Don't get me wrong, I know that the easiest way to lose weight is to limit calorie consumption. I also know that a buffet of 1800 calories going to a bike ride helps a ton.
I was in the best shape of my life, felt great and ate whatever I wanted without thinking about it. BUT I was spending 4 hours per day exercising.
Now I have a 6 week old baby and WFH... I manage a 30 minute Peloton a few times a week. Maybe. Even though I try to pay attention the pounds have crept on because there's so little margin for error on 1500 calories/day.
Calorie counting is no way to live, IMO. I miss the days of a long run and guilt-free cheese and beer after :)
But most people cycling 50 miles are not generating 300W continuously, and most people running for 2 hours are not doing a sub-7min pace for the duration.
ps. I have run for 2 hours at a sub-7 min pace, and cycled 50 miles at about 280W.
Also have lost a bunch of weight (or at least replaced fat with muscle) from just doing 10-15 minutes of PT exercises (strength training, stretching, and yoga) plus walking an extra mile or two per day.
I lost 80 pounds over the last couple years with riding average of 12 miles a day.
In my experience I'm not so sure about that either. I can't repeat centuries day after day when I am out of shape and need to lose weight. If one can, it's very unlikely he/she needs to lose weight.
For sure. But the discussion going on here (and in TFA) is the balance between weight loss via exercise and weight loss via lower calorie consumption.
Thinking on it, if food is,I eat it. Any pizza is a personal pizza, if you like pizza. :)
Still. Guessing most folks that can ride fifty miles are not overweight.
The details might differ some but the overall advice is the same.
If you want to lose weight, eat less.
If you want to be in better shape, exercise.
If you want to improve your health, change your diet (and probably exercise).
A big issue is that people conflate those three objectives.
Being skinny doesn't mean you're healthy and exercising doesn't mean you'll lose weight.
I exercise quite a bit and have always had an extra 10-15 lbs up until semi-recently when I put those three things together and quit eating so much. I still eat plenty of junk food and I've lost about 20 lbs and kept it off.
If you're unhappy with your weight, eat less. If that doesn't work, eat less. Some people might have an easier or harder time with that because we're all different but the advice is the same.