Weight Loss

lfc_westy

Hi im 17, 6'2 and 86/7 kg. I need to loose weight. Im not obese and i dont have much visible fat.. my BMI is near perfect in my eyes and im not exactly slow on the bike. I know i can get a lot faster if i can loose weight to get around 75kg. Ive tried everything but the last time i only managed around 79kg .. then had a growth spurt which added the 2 inches on my height.

i do longer rides around twice a week to burn fat, i do intervals to increase speed and power and i race around 2 times a week either in a local time trial on tuesday with a BC crit on the weekend.

I am now looking at supplements ( oh yeah i do have a healthy balanced diet ) which can aid weight loss. I saw this http://www.wws.co.uk/cla-1000.html which has Conjulated Linolenic Acid present.. I study biology at school and i understand the mechanics of the fatty acid and how it works but i just want to know from the masses if it actually does work.. another product on their website called thermaBurn contains Siberian ginseng which also has similar properties..

I just wish for some advice on buying and using these products to help me drop around 10kg without having to starve myself.

Much Appreciated,
Dan.

mattshrops

unfortunately i dont believe any of the slimming products work.

the best way for you to lose weight is to use an online(free) calorie counting website. yes it can be laborious and dull OR you can stay overweight. Livestrong worked for me, and ive seen other people post to the same effect.

just as there is no magic speed trick the same applies to weight loss. Hope it works for you.

Pokerface

Eat less. Does the trick every time.

danowat

Don't fall into the trap of assuming its weight holding you back, its not unheard of for people to do that, lose weight, and go slower.

Best thing is forget the snake oil weight loss products, concentrate on training harder / smarter, which will help with the weight loss, and make you faster, so win-win.

bearfraser

BMI=bollocks , use some snake oil !!!!

Rooner

And you are only 17!!! You will carry on growing and 'filling-out' for a couple of years yet. Best thing to do is look at calories as the other guys have said. Start keeping a food diary - yep, dull I know, but it will work. You need to make sure that not only are you not overeating rubbish fatty foods, but you are eating enough 'good' stuff as well, particularly as you are likely still growing.

There are plenty of internet sites that will give you a formula for how much you should be eating, add on what you expend exercising and that should do the trick. If you need to loose some weight at some stage, cutting 3500 cals off your weekly diet equates to a 1lb weight loss a week, a sensible amount.

As the others said, the products out there are sold to people who want to 'get it fixed quick', and it doesn't work.....if it did work how come there are SOOOO many people overweight? Surely they would all take a magic pill....

Less calories + more exercise = weight loss

simple maths!

Chip \'oyler

I shed 10 kilos this year through training smarter (via a coach) and reading this book

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Racing-Weight-M ... 1934030511

I didn't follow the book religiously but there are enough pointers and info in there to really help with your diet

Zoomer37

My missus reckons you should always 'think slim'.

She's 18st though so that doesn't work to well.

shockedsoshocked

For your age and height I certainly wouldn't worry about your diet at the moment. If you're training and racing regularly you're more likely to hinder your performance than anything. Took a team mate of mine nearly a year to recover from restricting his diet thinking he needed to lose weight whilst increasing his training load. Got him sorted and year or so down the line he's riding for Wales.

kamil1891

Pokerface wrote:

Eat less. Does the trick every time.

Very, very true

I was almost in the same situation as you, the only difference is that I'am 19 and 6'3'' and "officially" started road riding in May (I've been into cycling all my life but had a break for 3 years after emigrating to the UK). At that moment I was 86kg. In middle of June I've took into consideration what I was actually eating (too much rubbish to be honest) and after moving back from eating mcdonald's and pizzas more than few times a week and eating when I was simply bored the scales now show 78kg, and I can still drop a little bit, but I don't think I will feel well at sub 75kg. However, I don't have any specific diet and don't think it's so necessary until you consider what is good for you and what will give you energy

Summarising, I am more than happy at the moment because I have lost weight and also increased my performance especially in going uphill (my usual rides include at least 3,000 ft up to even 8,000ft if it's a >100km), would't talk about averages but I'm happy and I hope I will start racing from next season and hopefully get somewhere

lfc_westy

Thankyou for all the help and advice guys, Also Kamil, i too can up up hills fairly quick, i came "nd in the Michaelgate challenge hill climb last year during the lincoln GP when i was Youth A ... But yeah i will watch what i eat and try and track my calories and ill look into that Book Chip , thanks again !

Tonymufc

At 17 years old I wouldn't even contemplate trying to loose weight. As someone else has already said for the next few years you're still going to be filling out and maybe even grow a bit more. For someone to advise you on how to loose weight IMHO is irresponsible. As long as you're training regularly and eat healthily then put the weight loss ideas on the back burner until you start hitting your early 20's. Just enjoy being young dude. (Sh1t I sound like a feckin old man.)

dgstewart

^^^ Agreed ^^^. At 17 you've got several years to go before you stabilise at a "natural" long term adult build. That doesn't mean just go eat what you want and not worry, but rather just focus on eating well and eating enough to fuel your general activity, riding and ongoing physcial development.

alexjones5

surprised no one has mentioned getting your body fat analysed.
I went to see Dr Gary Palmer (at Sportstest) earlier this year. Part of the testing was to measure body fat percentage. This will give you a much more accurate idea of your ideal, weight than BMI (which for athletes is a load of rubbish- according to BMI all the England Rugby team are obese!!).
There's no point losing weight if it's muscle, and therefore power, you're losing.
Rather than chuck your cash at supplements why not see a coach who can advise you of your ideal weight and how to achieve it?

alexjones5

surprised no one has mentioned getting your body fat analysed.
I went to see Dr Gary Palmer (at Sportstest) earlier this year. Part of the testing was to measure body fat percentage. This will give you a much more accurate idea of your ideal, weight than BMI (which for athletes is a load of rubbish- according to BMI all the England Rugby team are obese!!).
There's no point losing weight if it's muscle, and therefore power, you're losing.
Rather than chuck your cash at supplements why not see a coach who can advise you of your ideal weight and how to achieve it?

In_the_big_ring

lfc_westy wrote:

Hi im 17, 6'2 and 86/7 kg. I need to loose weight. Im not obese and i dont have much visible fat.. my BMI is near perfect in my eyes and im not exactly slow on the bike. I know i can get a lot faster if i can loose weight to get around 75kg. Ive tried everything but the last time i only managed around 79kg .. then had a growth spurt which added the 2 inches on my height.

i do longer rides around twice a week to burn fat, i do intervals to increase speed and power and i race around 2 times a week either in a local time trial on tuesday with a BC crit on the weekend.

I am now looking at supplements ( oh yeah i do have a healthy balanced diet ) which can aid weight loss. I saw this http://www.wws.co.uk/cla-1000.html which has Conjulated Linolenic Acid present.. I study biology at school and i understand the mechanics of the fatty acid and how it works but i just want to know from the masses if it actually does work.. another product on their website called thermaBurn contains Siberian ginseng which also has similar properties..

I just wish for some advice on buying and using these products to help me drop around 10kg without having to starve myself.

Much Appreciated,
Dan.

What's your body fat percentage? This will be a better indicator of how much you can potentially lose. You may just have a more muscular physique and the only way to weigh less is to lose muscle which would reduce your power.

The races you mentioned you do are short, high intensity races which would lend to larger muscle mass, and as everyone says, muscle weighs more than fat...

The supplements won't do all that much. CLA has been shown to help reduce body fat content, but the amounts lost are not great, but it could help lean you out (most studies however focus on women patient populations). Siberian ginseng won't help you lose weight, but its an adaptogenic plant so will help boost your immune system and help you recover faster after rides so I would recommend taking that as a supplement; in fact the Russian Olympic teams use it.

So in summary, without knowing your your body fat, its difficult to know how much body weight you should aim to drop. You are also young and likely to put on more weight as you fill out, so rather focus on dropping the fat, not your muscle mass. I would vote no on the CLA, but yes on ginseng, not for weight-loss purposes but for the recovery effects it offers. The best way to lose the weight is to carry on training like you are but eat correctly. Unfortunately that means eating the not so tasty foods. Look for the diets of body builders, they eat to support muscles and reduce body fat. Don't forget the hidden calories in drinks. Best to stick to water (and lots of it). Alcohol is a big no-no (not that you should be drinking as you're under age ). Alcohol not only contains calories, but also switches on metabolic pathways that promote fat storage.

gsk82

if you dont have much visible fat how come you're 8kg heaver than you were? if you dont have much visible fat there's no "only" about losing 8kg, thats the weight of a bike!

argonrider

Im 20 and am 5'2" and currently weigh about 7st 9oz and this year I have dropped 2 1/2 stone. basically just using the LiveStrong app to track the calories that i was taking in, at first you need to be honest, if you go over yoour calorie intake a day dont lie and make it less, its a good way to shock yourselve into seeing what you actually consume.

It also depends on what you are racing/riding, im so light because i spend 4 months of the year in the alps riding so i consider myself a bit of a climber, get me back in the UK on a flat course that needs that huge power output and i soon get blown outta the back of the group!

Nancy Luger

LOSE guys, It's lose. Lose weight. You can't loose weight!!! LOOSE is like when your shirt is too loose . . which is what happens after you LOSE weight.

Just a peeve of mine.

Dan - pay close attention to your diet/nutrition. It's all too easy to deplete muscle when losing weight. But as has been mentioned you're a bit young yet, your body is still developing. Just make sure you eat healthily and stay away from the saturated fats ie all the nice food like pizzas and burgers and curries!

FransJacques

Why do you really want to lose weight at 17? Are you being bullied?

peejay78

eat less, cycle more.

rebs

I picked up a virus 3 weeks ago. Nasty one also. Lost 10kg in 2 weeks.... I dont advise it though. First time I'm in the 60kg in a long long time!