What I was trying to say earlier – and failed in a rush – was that you have to subtract BMR/Hour from the kj total from your training session to get a more accurate view of what to add to BMR.
I’m 52, six one, 155. My measured BMR is just short of 1600 cal – so call it 1600 for the sake of easy math.
Yesterday I did a 2 hr session on the trainer (no 96-degree heat after a full day of work for me, thanks), doing 1700 kj worth of work.
If I concluded that I needed to eat 3300 calories (Imagine I had been in bed all day, so just BMR), I’d be about 100 calories on the high side. Why? Because that measure of work the rider does in the lab – you did 1700kj, so when we factor in gross metabolic efficiency, you burned ~1700 calories – includes the rider’s BMR/Hour. So, you have to subtract BMR/Hr from the KJ total to get a more accurate figure, otherwise you overestimate energy demand (FItzgerald gets into this in Racing Weight).
With my BMR/Hr of ~67 calories, I should knock off about 140-150 (because BMR is higher when awake than asleep) calories from that 1700. Call it 1550.
It’s a small thing, but if you’re always 100 calories or so over because you’re not accounting for BMR/Hr during the training session, well, that’s why you’re not losing any weight even though by your math you’re maintaining a deficit, or why you’re slowly gaining weight even though you’re training regularly.