the value of weight loss

maryka

DavidJB wrote:

Whatever you do only try to lose 1lb a week or you'll just be starving and irritable and likely to binge on bad stuff unless you're very prepared and very disciplined.

FTFY

Seriously though, 1lb a week is sensible from a long-term perspective. You're looking to burn ~500 extra calories a day with that which is doable. More than that and you either need to ride a lot more or be super disciplined with what you eat, which is hard enough at the best of times, let alone in the dark cold winter.

poynedexter

DavidJB wrote:

Whatever you do only try to lose 1lb a week or you'll just be shedding muscle.

1lb a week would be spot on as i'm only looking to drop about 4 or 5 more. since my weight goes +/- 2 lb it can be hard to judge at times.

FWIW, i'm following an eating plan based loosely on this thinking of low carbs (especially added sugars) and higher fats.

http://www.dietdoctor.com/

plenty of veg/ salad, coleslaw, red/ white meat, fish, eggs, butter, full fat milk, cheese, natural yogurt (full fat) nuts, some starchy carbs (sweet potatoe, wholegrain rice), porridge oats,less fruit than i used to eat, dark chocolate.

i've cut right down on processed food where i can, especially breads, low fat yogurt, and wherever bad sugars lurk. but i still eat plenty, but definately less carbs more protein and fat.

so far its working and i have still have a sat night to eat a chinese and drink a beer!

weight loss about 1lb a week

celbianchi

okgo wrote:

More bullshit!

Any more for anymore people?

I like the cut of your jib. Some people post utter nonsense.

DavidJB

Sorry Rob are you saying (in your oh so ever polite tones) that losing weight too fast doesn't lead to muscle loss?

(Congratulations on getting 1st cat btw)

markhewitt1978

For dieting in general (not just cycling) it's always recommended that 1lb per week is the right speed to lose weight, allows your body time to recover, skin to tighten etc, anything faster can have undesirable effects.

okgo

DavidJB wrote:

Sorry Rob are you saying (in your oh so ever polite tones) that losing weight too fast doesn't lead to muscle loss?

(Congratulations on getting 1st cat btw)

Ha, apologies for the polite tone

I'm not saying that if couldn't happen, but to put a number on it probably is wrong,lots of people myself included could probably ditch 2-3 a week (for a few weeks) and not worry about losing muscle, and then of course we get back onto the debate on the first page about muscle not being the limiter to aerobic 'power' and if someone said I could ditch muscle I would, as most of my mass is unneeded muscle bulk.

Cheers, ill now which is irritating.

DeVlaeminck

okgo wrote:

Look at the effects of EPO, that tells you all you need to know about where 'power' in cycling is made, its not muscles, its in the blood!

And skinny climbers, what you mean like Pinnoti? Froome? Wiggins? Contador? All great testers and at their prime, are skinny gits. They all make as much power as Martin but he is more aero I understand...

Power is generated in the muscles, the blood is the means of transporting the oxygen and glucose the muscles require to function. OK I know you know this and I take your point but bigger guys generally are producing more power - if you look at the top testers very few are small - they may be relatively bulky (Martin, Cancellera) or tall (wiggins, Millar) but they definitely have a tendency to be fairly big riders - certainly on average.

FatTed

I think of it this way. If you aim to have an FTP of say" X"W/Kg then for every Kg you lose you need to produce "X" watts less riding uphill, On the flat its more your power to wind resistance.

poynedexter

a wee update.

its about a month or so out from the first race of 2014. training has been hit and miss because of the weather but with the turbo and dodging the rain its going ok.

starting weight was 10st4lbs, it dropped to 9st 9lbs and back to 10st 1lb with a 3 week xmas period the scales read 9st8lbs this morning.

the regeme has been quite straight forward. no potatoes, no bread, no pasta. 1 night off every 2 weeks for indian/ chinese blowout (pilau/ basmatti). little fruit, no sweets, choc, crisps, sweet drinks,no wine

plenty of veg, chicken, red meat, full fat dairy (cheese coleslaw nat yog milk), nuts, salads, saturated fats!, coffee. basically unlimited amounts of these.

timing of when to eat i feel has been key to the weight loss, controlling appetite, and avoiding blood sugar spikes.

how are your winter racing diets going?

overlord2

Day usually consists of

Porridge with skimmed milk, nuts, some golden syrup, 2 boiled eggs.

Dinner something like Mackerel on toast

Tea blow out on anything usually sit fry veg with some chicken or pork or maybe a homemade curry. Ice ccream & banana and fruit.

For grazing - homemade flapjacks, nuts, banana, oranges.

And I try not to eat after tea which is the hardest part of all this regime.

Im pretty much the same as you but why are you going full fat dairy? Cheese coleslaw sounds like a fat bomb.

And on a ride I make sure I take plenty food because from bad experience dieting and exercise = massive bonk.

okgo

You're eating quite a lot!

overlord2

okgo wrote:

You're eating quite a lot!

My stomach doesn't think so. Think it comes in at about 2500 calories. But im pretty much taking off 1000 a day in exercise. Over 2-3 months means im loosing weight or at least loosing fat slowly which imo is the way to do it.

No beer, sugar drinks, crisps, cake, biscuits, chocolate and no snacking. Cut those out you are winning.

poynedexter

Overlord2 wrote:

Day usually consists of

Porridge with skimmed milk, nuts, some golden syrup, 2 boiled eggs.

Dinner something like Mackerel on toast

Tea blow out on anything usually sit fry veg with some chicken or pork or maybe a homemade curry. Ice ccream & banana and fruit.

For grazing - homemade flapjacks, nuts, banana, oranges.

And I try not to eat after tea which is the hardest part of all this regime.

Im pretty much the same as you but why are you going full fat dairy? Cheese coleslaw sounds like a fat bomb.

And on a ride I make sure I take plenty food because from bad experience dieting and exercise = massive bonk.

i guess it doesnt make sense, but i'm eating plenty of it. what i'm not eating is the carbs/ sugar. i hate the fact that low fat means added sugar in processed food.

mamba80

DeVlaeminck wrote:

okgo wrote:

Look at the effects of EPO, that tells you all you need to know about where 'power' in cycling is made, its not muscles, its in the blood!

And skinny climbers, what you mean like Pinnoti? Froome? Wiggins? Contador? All great testers and at their prime, are skinny gits. They all make as much power as Martin but he is more aero I understand...

Power is generated in the muscles, the blood is the means of transporting the oxygen and glucose the muscles require to function. OK I know you know this and I take your point but bigger guys generally are producing more power - if you look at the top testers very few are small - they may be relatively bulky (Martin, Cancellera) or tall (wiggins, Millar) but they definitely have a tendency to be fairly big riders - certainly on average.

I understood that in the long gone days of EPO (assuming they have gone?) the riders were on a lot more than just EPO, a cocktail of various types of steroids (amongst others) to build muscle, to get the full effects of the EPO.

there some guy - a journalist - in the states who took EPO only had very little effect, it was the steroids and the epo that got him the gains.

I find that putting ON a 1lb per week is very sustainable and easy to do, the reverse process is considerably harder.

ugo.santalucia

I don't race... my weight fluctuates between an all time best of 69 to an average of 72 to a bad 74 Kg. The difference is huge... it's worth about 15 minutes up a long alpine climb. Racing in a peloton it might be less evident, but carrying extra weight will not help you in any way.
The easiest and healthiest way to drop weight is to give up alcohol completely and ditch saturated fat and excessive sugar... eat plenty of fibre containing starchy food (oats, brown rice, bran, rye bread, quinoa and pulses like lentils and beans)

poynedexter

first open rr of 2014 for me this weekend. 8lbs lost, but could have been 10+ but for some weekend slip ups. we'll see how it goes, but its going to be hard to gauge any improvement based purely on weight loss. i'm hoping to drop a couple more pounds in the next 4 weeks.

mulletmaster

You are all tiny! At 5 7 and 72kg I seem obese compared to numbers thrown about on here and yet much prefer hilly races than flat sprints! Lightest I ever got was 67kg when work colleagues were regularly asking if I were ill and needed time off and the mrs cracked up! Can't image another stone lighter than that.

okgo

Yes, 5,7 and 72kg is pretty heavy. To be properly thin at that height you'd be near 60kg.

mulletmaster

Not a mission I could get down that far. I've a 30" waist and 40inch chest so guess my make up isn't designed for high level cycling.

okgo

Moobs probably will come off if you ride more

mulletmaster

Haha wish it was as simple as that. Trying a new method out to shed a couple of pounds, will see how performance varies with that. I personally think on irish 1/2/3 races it won't matter a lot, some of the strongest riders are a lot more solid than me even. Only 1 race in the calendar springs to mind for pure climbers the rest are rolly/pan flat.

AK_jnr

During the season im 67kg at my lightest (5'9). I'm around 70 at the moment and I can feel it up the climbs. Still got a 6 pack so the mrs and her family think im ridiculous when I mention getting strict again with my diet.

celbianchi

AK_jnr wrote:

During the season im 67kg at my lightest (5'9). I'm around 70 at the moment and I can feel it up the climbs. Still got a 6 pack so the mrs and her family think im ridiculous when I mention getting strict again with my diet.

I think as a group, we as racing cyclists are a fairly obsessive bunch. People outside of this circle whom seem happy to waddle about seem to think keeping the weight down is an unhealthy thing to. UK society is getting fatter and fatter and those that have the discipline to keep their snouts out of the fastfood trough are FROWNED upon.

I'm pretty much down at race weight again with some sensibly managed net calorie intake since Xmas. Racing starts in 3 weeks for me.

175cm 65kg. I think I can lose another 2-4kg if I wish.

markhewitt1978

Meh I would be happy to get down to a healthy weight nevermind a 'racing' type weight.

celbianchi

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Meh I would be happy to get down to a healthy weight nevermind a 'racing' type weight.

What's stopping you? Use something like MyFitnessPal to log the calorific intake versus expenditure and set a realistic goal to lose weight over a number of weeks. It will give you a net calorie target and if you are honest with your logging of intake and expenditure you can't fail but to losde weight.
It is very simple. All these bloaters who say "But I can't lose weight" or "I barely eat anything as it is and I still weigh xxx".
I have no sympathy for people who can't use a bit of nous and will power (not you markhewitt1978) - but dieting failures generally. People can't or won't eductate themselves.

markhewitt1978

celbianchi wrote:

What's stopping you?

While I'm typing this I'm also eating a packet of crisps, so mostly that...

celbianchi

maryka

mulletmaster wrote:

Not a mission I could get down that far. I've a 30" waist and 40inch chest so guess my make up isn't designed for high level cycling.

okgo wrote:

Moobs probably will come off if you ride more

I think some body types just aren't ideal for some sports -- and short stocky people are probably the most disadvantaged! If you can't be tall (e.g., swimming) then at least be slight (e.g., cycling, running) but if you're neither then you've got a bit screwed in the genes department. Can't think of a single sport in fact where being short, stocky, and able to put on muscle easily is an advantage though at least that body type seems to come with robustness and resistance to illness (for me anyway). Maybe weightlifting at your weight category... certainly not wrestling or boxing though if you're short-limbed like I am.

Regarding those who complain they can't lose weight even after carefully monitoring calories in and out, I'd say a visit to the GP to rule out any invisible problems would be the next step.

Sir Velo

Maryka, being short, stocky and full of muscle is ideal for a prop forward in rugby. I think England could do with a few more; in fact most countries are on the look out for such types.

SV

overlord2

maryka wrote:

Regarding those who complain they can't lose weight even after carefully monitoring calories in and out, I'd say a visit to the GP to rule out any invisible problems would be the next step.

I'd say they need to visit the honesty clinic. Laws of physics dictate that energy isn't created out of nothing. So if you are not loosing weight you are either.

1. Eating too much
2. Not exercising enough
or
3. Both