Nutrition, recovery and feeling hungry

Hibbs

Hi all,

I need to lose 5 kilos or so of spare tyre for racing but I don't seem to be losing anything at the moment. I don't really know how to balance losing weight with ensuring I get sufficient recovery, and I've urged more towards recovery than weight loss. Is there a time when it's safe to cut the calories, eg on a rest day, so that recovery won't be affected? I'm one of those skinny types who find it hard to build muscle so the last thing I need is my body going catabolic on me!

Thanks

Hibbs

rake

if you are skinny, why do you need to loose 5 kg? :? :?

Alex_Simmons/RST

It requires an exceptional sustained calorie deficit for muscle protein catabolism to occur, fears of that occurring are way overblown (and probably fall into the cycle training myth basket).

Just eat a bit less than you are now. For some, that means small changes to portion sizes, or removing one or two non-essential item from the diet (e.g. alcohol) and/or changing some items to lower calorie alternatives.

One method to assist is to keep a detailed food diary. The mere act of recording what you consume may well provide sufficient incentive to change.

Hibbs

rake wrote:

if you are skinny, why do you need to loose 5 kg? :? :?

Skinny people can carry excess fat too. And after a few years of eating what I liked when I liked, the weight has started to stick.

alex_simmons/RST wrote:

It requires an exceptional sustained calorie deficit for muscle protein catabolism to occur, fears of that occurring are way overblown (and probably fall into the cycle training myth basket).

Just eat a bit less than you are now. For some, that means small changes to portion sizes, or removing one or two non-essential item from the diet (e.g. alcohol) and/or changing some items to lower calorie alternatives.

One method to assist is to keep a detailed food diary. The mere act of recording what you consume may well provide sufficient incentive to change.

Ok, great, thanks. You do hear a lot about muscle catabolism, but given your comments then I won't worry about it so much and suspect it's as much about selling protein drinks than anything else.

I've tried the eating less thing, but then I get start to feel weak whenever I have a harder training session and bonk after about an hour, so I've gone back to maintaining the calorie intake. I'll try cutting down on the rest days again and not worrying so much about catabolism. Thanks Alex.

shockedsoshocked

I could stand to lose about 10kg excess (actual fat). When asked the physiologist/coach about what happens if I feel hungry, he said deal with it! It will inevitably happen.

I did manage to lose 6kg between October and when it started snowing in december (promptly put it back on as I got on the beer and the cake and didn't touch the bike till the snow cleared). The hardest part was the mental aspect and not giving into temptation to eat biscuits and crisps for instance. As Alex said, cutting out non-essentials is certainly the key. For me I told my parents not to buy any of the food I'd be inclined to snack on (biscuits, crisps, chocolate) and also cut out bread.

Good luck with it anyway!

bigpikle

I switched to a low GI diet and cut out 90% of my alcohol intake, and after 6 months of regular running and riding I had lost 40lbs - easy

I found low GI meals prevented cravings and hunger pangs. After a couple of days I had no issues with feeling hungry! Amazing how diet changes in WHAT you eat can play such a big role in how you feel about food. No issues with energy for training either, as I successfully trained for and raced a half marathon and did my base triathlon training.

Good luck.

neeb

I'm in the same situation, naturally skinny with fast metabolism so get weak if I don't eat, but probably have a spare 3kg or so I could lose. I wouldn't try to cut down on food before, during or after a ride if my body was telling me to eat, but I'm sure there are things I could skip at other times. I've got a weakness for having a small bar of chocolate for "desert" immediately after lunch... That needs to go...

leehellcat

+1 for the food diary. It helps you to see which parts of your diet are contributing the most to your protein, carb and fat intakes.
Personally I lost 3.5 stone by reducing my alcohol intake, and spreading my food more evenly. Rather than having 3 meals a day, I tried to spread it so that I ate the same food, but in small portions every 2-3 hours. It is supposed to stop the sugar spikes, and also reduce the hunger sensation.
Mind you I still eat like a horse. These days if I go out for a chinese and a few beers, I just make sure to find a few extra bumps in the road next time I am out on the bike !
Last year I had a 5Kg swing from winter weight to summer weight. This year, I seem to have the same, but I must be carrying more muscle as the summer weight is about 1.5kgs heavier than last year. Either that or I am lazy and eating too much. :oops:

Garz

Sounds about right lee.

Lady Venom

+1 for little and often, I graze otherwise I get intolerably hungry and then just eat and eat and it's usally crap, whereas if I graze I'll snack on healthier items such as fruit/nuts etc.

skinarelli

The hypnotist Paul McKenna conducted a weight loss experiment on tv over several weeks about a year ago. I remember one of the tips he gave people when the hunger pangs struck.

He suggested that people should first of all question whether their body was "actually" hungry or just thirsty as dehydration can have the same effect on the stomach's feeling.

He recommended that people should drink a glass of water when the hunger pangs struck and then wait 15 minutes. If the hunger feelings was still there, the body was indeed hungry. If the feeling stopped, the body was just in need of watering.

simon_e

Skinarelli wrote:

people should drink a glass of water when the hunger pangs struck and then wait 15 minutes. If the hunger feelings was still there, the body was indeed hungry. If the feeling stopped, the body was just in need of watering.

I'll second this. Most people aren't adequately hydrated and the need for water is easily confused with the feeling of hunger.