[Joemero]

I'm getting back into cycling and seriously thinking about racing and would like to lose at least 15 lbs. I'm currently 190 lbs at 6'0" so as you can imagine, I'm feeling pretty heavy in my lycras. Ideally I would like to be at about 170 lbs by Sept, for a couple races that are coming up in my area.

Ok, besides the obvious "ride lots" is there any other advice i.e. diet that you all recommend I follow so I can get the lbs off?

 

[den bakker]

I'm getting back into cycling and seriously thinking about racing and would like to lose at least 15 lbs. I'm currently 190 lbs at 6'0" so as you can imagine, I'm feeling pretty heavy in my lycras. Ideally I would like to be at about 170 lbs by Sept, for a couple races that are coming up in my area.

Ok, besides the obvious "ride lots" is there any other advice i.e. diet that you all recommend I follow so I can get the lbs off?

eat less
seriously, it's energy burned versus energy consumed. There is no silver bullet.

 

[Andrea138]

Take your "normal" serving of food, then toss about 1/4 of it into the trash before you start eating.

 

[fsdork]

Take your "normal" serving of food, then toss about 1/4 of it into the trash before you start eating.

And/or adjust the ratio of veggies to protein/carbs on your plate. It seems a lot of north american plates are about 50% carbs (ie. mashed potato, rice, etc) and 25% each of protein and veggies. Ideally, you want to be closer to 50% veggies, and 25% each for the other two. IME, it's tough to gain weight eating a lot of broccoli.

 

[Andrea138]

Yeah- that's another good point- you could also get a similar effect by replacing the starchy/grain-based carbohydrates that you eat with veggies. They're much less nutrient-dense, so you get a lot fewer calories for the same volume of food (not to mention all the other good stuff that's in vegetables)

 

[thegock]

You won't die

from skipping one meal every week. Or by cutting out all desserts and snack foods. How many beers per week now? Cut it back by 2/3. Drink a glass of water before you eat.

 

[Joemero]

from skipping one meal every week. Or by cutting out all desserts and snack foods. How many beers per week now? Cut it back by 2/3. Drink a glass of water before you eat.

Quite a few beers, lol...thinking of giving up alcohol all together as well, since it spikes my BP too.

 

[JohnStonebarger]

Quite a few beers, lol...thinking of giving up alcohol all together as well, since it spikes my BP too.

Nothing wrong with giving up alcohol. On the other hand, losing weight will lower you BP too, so don't make yourself miserable.

I have my best weight-loss results with the portion control method. That and the motivation of racing again should do the trick.

 

[jlandry]

I asked this question here before and someone suggested cocaine. I took their advice and now i'm thin as a rail.

 

[ericm979]

You can probably cut out a lot of calories without much effort by paying attention to your consumption of sugar and alcohol.

Cut out beer except for special occasions. Then make it good beer. One good beer tastes a lot better than a sixer of Bud.

Cut down on sugar. Stop drinking soda, it's just empty calories. Cut down on processed food- most of it is loaded with sugar. Read the labels on your food. If sugar in any form (sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, maltodextrin, etc) is in the first four ingredients, put it back on the shelf and find something that isn't loaded with sugar. It may take some adjustment but you'll find that the low/no sugar versions often taste more like food.

If you drink coffee, don't put sugar in it. And don't drink the coffee drinks at *bucks etc- they are loaded with HFCS and fat.

 

[Hank Stamper]

It's always a good idea to clean up your diet but if you're just "getting back into cycling" and want to lose 15 pounds by September, unless you're coming into cycling from another similar activty or already pretty slim, I doubt you'll "need" to make any changes to your diet to acomplish that.

Have a good diet for the sake of having a good diet and train for the sake of training and the weight will take care of itself.

 

[Joemero]

It's always a good idea to clean up your diet but if you're just "getting back into cycling" and want to lose 15 pounds by September, unless you're coming into cycling from another similar activty or already pretty slim, I doubt you'll "need" to make any changes to your diet to acomplish that.

Have a good diet for the sake of having a good diet and train for the sake of training and the weight will take care of itself.

I have been a pretty avid cyclist and the most I was able to slim down was to around 180 when riding a lot. I just tend to hang around the 180-190 range despite training a lot. So I do think some changs in my diet would be helpful.

 

[jsedlak]

Eat less meat.
Cut out dairy (eggs, milk, yogurt)
Eat more veggies.
Eat more often with smaller portions.
Cook your own food, starting with whole foods as much as possible. (so you know what goes into it)
Eat your biggest meal in the morning and taper through the day.
Drink more water (if you aren't getting 8-10 glasses a day)

But at your weight and height, I would say that the drop from 190 to 170 is going to be tough to do by September unless you ride a lot.

Also note that being an incredibly low weight isn't always beneficial. If you have lost the weight too fast and your body hasn't adjusted, you may see a power decrease. Be sure to focus on fitness rather than your weight, and keep weight as a secondary objective.

Having a cold beer after a tough ride won't kill you, but consistently drinking and eating junk food will seriously cut into your efforts. Ask me how I know... I have a serious sugar addiction.

 

[petalpower]

Eat < Burn.

I use a app. for my iPhone called Lose It. It really makes tracking your calories fun and easy.

 

[InfiniteLoop]

How old are you? What is your normal activity level? Is your job sitting or active? I've been where you are (well, I'm 5'10 and was a bit heavier than you).

Start tracking every bit of your nutritional intake (I use dailyplate.com). Every Popsicle, glass of water, m&m, etc. If you're an average American you'll be surprised how much you overeat EVERY day. I use to average about 3400/day. You need to change your lifestyle, not just go on a diet for a few months. Yo-yo weight ain't good for your heart.

An average adult male over 30 needs about 2100 calories per day if moderately active. Any more than that adds pounds. If you want to loose weight about 1800 per day is the ticket for loss of about 1-2 lbs per week. If, on top of your other activity, you ride 18 miles in 1 hour you've burned about 600 extra calories (800 burned - 200/hr normally burned during day), which for me means I can eat about an extra 300 calories (so 2400 to maintain, 2100 to loose). Why only 300? Not totally sure, but I'm becoming convinced that caloric burn calculations are high, at least for me. Whatever my Garmin says I burned, I cut in half and subtract 200 to determine what I can eat over 2100 (remember that calories are energy so starving yourself to death ain't good either - you need to eat enough to be able to workout.)

After you've lost the weight and maintained it for a few months you don't necessarily need to track things in detail all the time but it doesn't hurt to do so for a week or two once a quarter if you feel like you're slipping a belt hole.

 

[Joemero]

How old are you? What is your normal activity level? Is your job sitting or active? I've been where you are (well, I'm 5'10 and was a bit heavier than you).

I'm 37, turning 38 next month...thanks

 

[ptfmb71]

I am 38 and come in at around 142lbs 5-9
The way I lost weight was to go in my house and get rid of all the "bad" stuff. I drink protein shakes instread of a full dinner at night a couple times a week. Try not to consume refined sugars and up the veggies. Given my lifestyle I have to eat out quite frequently...so I will always order Steamed veggies or fruit instead of fries/rice/pasta. I used to lick the plate clean now I always leave part of my food there. I love crap food and when someone brings in Ice Cream I take a small spoonful and it takes care of the craving. It's a mythotical lifestyle...but the biggest change is:
Don't let your emotions control your eating habits. Most people say "oh I just had a good workout...so I can eat that double burger and fries" or "I had a bad day so I need to make myself feel better by eating this cake (excuses)" you need to say "I just had a good workout now more than ever I need to take advantage of the workout and eat better"

 

[Joemero]

I am 38 and come in at around 142lbs 5-9
The way I lost weight was to go in my house and get rid of all the "bad" stuff. I drink protein shakes instread of a full dinner at night a couple times a week.

Do you drink those protein shakes with water or milk?

 

[InfiniteLoop]

Something else I thought about while riding. Giving up alcohol is fine, but perhaps better is moderation. All things in moderation; food, alcohol, sex, ... We've been back and forth between the states and Europe. Our kids began drinking wine with dinner at about 11 (watered down a bit until they were maybe 14. Soon after 16th birthday came a trip to a local pub for a pint. I think each got slightly drunk once after heading off to uni and that was it. I have a glass of wine with dinner just about every night and maybe once a week I'll have an after dinner port or scotch. No more than that both for avoiding calories and simple common sense.

My nutritionist is big on not giving up everything. She says to ALWAYS eat 3 full meals everyday (approx 600 / 900 / 600 calories) and, like ptfmb71 said, have a little bit of dessert. Many nights we stop by the local ice cream shop and get small kiddie scoops of chocolate. They use to laugh when I said about 3/4 of a kiddie scoop until one night they said something and I pointed to the gal walking out the door and said "I don't ever want to waddle like that." Now they have the 'No Waddle Scoop' on the menu which is 3/4 of a kiddie scoop. This is part of my 600 calories for dinner.

 

[Ventruck]

Sleep-in when/as much as you can. Lack of sleep is detrimental to weight loss (or so I hear), and sleeping in yields less hours in day (assuming you return to bed at your regular time) to really get hungry. I don't think many have such a "luxury", but say, a sleep-in, ride, dinner, sleep routine for a weekend. Can also try things to occupy your mouth: licking peanut butter off a spoon, sucking on hard candy, etc.

Self-calorie/weight analysis is the best way to manage your food intake, although sometimes there's a point where you can get lost because of an occasional inconsistency.