Reducing body fat whilst training

stueys

I'd like to see if I can get my body fat down and lose maybe 1 or 2 kg. Although I've successfully lost weight before and know some of the tricks I've not tried to control my diet whilst training before. Essentially I don't want to dilute training benefit by not eating properly, so I'd like to eat enough to support muscle growth whist burning some fat. Easy huh

So I'm 1.88 metres tall, 77.5kg and currently 13.8% body fat (according to my Tanita scales). I'm never going to be skinny as I've a classic build, I.e relatively broad up top and V shaped.

What I'd like to do is hit 10% body fat and maybe see if that gets me down to 75kg (no idea if it will).

Any ideas or suggestions on how I can do that without impacting training/recovery? Cutting fat down significantly was about the only idea I had.

richa

Stueys wrote:

77.5kg and currently 13.8% body fat (according to my Tanita scales)...

What I'd like to do is hit 10% body fat and maybe see if that gets me down to 75kg (no idea if it will).

Should do. 13.8% to 10% is 3.8% of 77.5 = 2.9kg loss = 74.6kg.

grazza_e

I have gone through the same challenge. In the end I read a book 'racing weight' which was fairly useful.

Long story short, most research supports that losing weight requires a calorie deficit. You aren't trying to lose an awful lot, and given you want to stay strong, you would probably want a fairly small deficit. Note that's net calories, i.e. you have to account for your training. It isn't a perfect science, even just trying to figure out calories burnt on a 4hr ride can be difficult, I just trust my garmin, but you do have to be careful you aren't over-counting exercise.

Anyway, you can do this the more 'geek' way and use an online calorie counting tool (i've used myfitnesspal before) - this will work out your basic metabolic rate, and you add food eaten / exercise done etc. Or you can just do this by feel, i.e. if you know your diet fairly well when you are stable, just cutting a little could well do the trick. I generally use the tool every now and then for a couple weeks but most of the time I can stay on track without it. Others just lose weight naturally, but I find it helps.

stueys

Which makes sense. I've used myfitness pal before and like it. I'm slightly dubious about the garmin count though, I use a HRM which is supposed to improve accuracy but that's telling me I burnt 2,800 calories riding on Sat and Sun. Which is great but somewhat surprising......

Any views of nutritional mix?

grazza_e

Stueys wrote:

Which makes sense. I've used myfitness pal before and like it. I'm slightly dubious about the garmin count though, I use a HRM which is supposed to improve accuracy but that's telling me I burnt 2,800 calories riding on Sat and Sun. Which is great but somewhat surprising......

Any views of nutritional mix?

Agree on garmin, i'm never quite sure, I figure if you use it for a while, along with counting calories and you see the right results you will figure how much you can trust it.

On mix, the more i've read, the more I think as long as you are in a healthy range you are fine. I used to believe in the 'low fat' diet, but I recently read a couple of studies that showed athletes eating 30% of calories from fat outperformed those on 16% (this was in terms of endurance).

Ranges i've seen quoted (book mentioned before) recommend 20%-40% fat, 10%-25% protein and 40%-80% carbs, there is no magic formula and somewhere reasonably within these ranges shouldn't hurt you. The more I ramp up long rides I move more towards carbs, when i'm taking time off bike or a slow period I cut back on carbs quite a bit, to be honest that's as much to get my total calories down as it is to change the mix. You mentioned gaining muscle, which might mean you are hitting the gym etc. so maybe more protein an idea.

I'd focus as much on timing as mix. If you focus on getting down some protein and carbs immediately after exercise in form of recovery drink / meal etc. your mix should adjust reasonably well based on how much you are training, without having to think about it too much.

danlikesbikes

Quick way I found last year when I wanted to loose a bit of weight.

1) Get some scales and weigh your food - you'll be surprised how much you could be overeating
2) Eat fruit when you feel hungry & swap out some of your allocated food for fruit
3) Salad add in as much as you can with meals and cut out some veg from your meals
4) Green tea - drink 2 litres a day, acts as a appetite suppressant (common ingredient in diet pills)
5)Cut out processed food's stick to simple proteins such as chicken & fish. We have loads in the freezer & I take it out in the morning for the nights meal & a bit more for the following days salad. Chuck in some garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper & a few dried herbs and leave in the fridge. Get home & cook eat with salad and the parts thats left goes in tomorrows salad to take to work.
6) If your finding yourself hungry as a snack go for rice cakes with a choice of a bit of nutella, peanut butter, almond butter, speculoos (current fav) cottage cheese, low fat cheese spread.
7) Make soup - veg stock & roast veg e.g. squash, pumpkin, tomatoes, carrots + blend and eat. Ditch the bread roll & add some cooked lentils, or if you don't like the texture of lentils add them before blending it will thicken your soup and you won't be able to notice the taste.

If your sensible and reduce your calories & cut out a load of the "hidden" fats in processed foods you will find that you loose it at a sensible but safe rate without impacting your training/racing.

keef66

"7) Make soap - veg stock & roast veg e.g. squash, pumpkin, tomatoes, carrots + blend and eat."

I'm hoping you meant soup

danlikesbikes

keef66 wrote:

"7) Make soap - veg stock & roast veg e.g. squash, pumpkin, tomatoes, carrots + blend and eat."

I'm hoping you meant soup

:oops: Edited & changed

Duncanandthemachine

Good Luck!

I'm 190cm (6'3) and by your description a similar shape to yourself. I dropped form 80kg to 75 for the Etape.

I'll share my experiences in a moment, but I'll begin with a Sean Yates quote that got me though 4 months of weight loss "be prepared to be f**king hungry all the time".

The otehr guys are right, its all about moderation. I dropped my morning porridge from 40gms with 300ml milk to 30gms with 200ml (semi skimmed). I didn't snack on anything that didn't grow on a tree, I ate tesco tomato and lentil soup evey day at work for lunch (no bread!!!) and then I reduced my evening portion size by perhaps 10-20%.

Its very possible, takes enormous motivation and if you manage it you will listen to women complaining about weight loss in a totally different way

stueys

Sigh, so consensus seems to be that calorie counting is the way to go.

I've fired up myfitnesspal and kicked off this morning. I'm trying for a 250kcal defect a day and will see how that goes, I suspect I'll need to fine tune to ensure I don't lose any muscle and power.

Thanks all for the advice.

danlikesbikes

Stueys wrote:

Sigh, so consensus seems to be that calorie counting is the way to go.

I've fired up myfitnesspal and kicked off this morning. I'm trying for a 250kcal defect a day and will see how that goes, I suspect I'll need to fine tune to ensure I don't lose any muscle and power.

Thanks all for the advice.

Tried to use that myself but I'll be honest it lasted about 2 days then I gave up on it. As long as you know what weights a portion makes up from either recipes or if say a cereal then just work it out from the rear of the box. If your exercising and eating healthily by cutting out the processed & high fat foods it will slide off easily.

Herbsman

grazza_e wrote:

On mix, the more i've read, the more I think as long as you are in a healthy range you are fine. I used to believe in the 'low fat' diet, but I recently read a couple of studies that showed athletes eating 30% of calories from fat outperformed those on 16% (this was in terms of endurance).

Link♣please?

jgsi

Best incentive when you dislodged the fatplodge is to spend some loolah on Paul Smith jeans . ok I cant afford 150 quid but I did push the boat out for Jeff Banks straight cut in 32 waist.. more my price bracket.
I havent been in 32 waist jeans for over 20 years.