I am 6 ft tall and weigh 190 lbs give or take. I want to drop 15 lbs but don't want to lose the strength I have gained. Any tips from trainers or coaches or anyone else who has been down that road? My goal is to be at 175 lbs and I would like to see that in 4-6 weeks. I have completely changed my diet but want to know if there are any supplements or anything I need to add to help me get there. I am training 1hr 30 minutes 3 days per week on my trainer and then long rides on the weekend 50-60 miles.
Trying to drop weight and not drop muscle for Crit racing
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Ride more, eat less.
Don't try to lose weight too fast. If you go slow you won't lose much mucle; go fast (larger calorie deficit) and you will.
I find that 1/2 lb per week doesn't seem to hurt my power. But I'm already well under 10% bf. If you're not then 1 lb/week might be ok. That's a deficit of 500 cal/day.
Supplements make you lighter by removing money from your wallet. They don't work. Eating healthy and controlling portions is the proven way to lose weight.
Some people like to count calories. I have a hard time with that since I make a lot of my food from scratch which makes accurately counting calories incredibly tedious. So I go by feel. It works for me.
Don't try to lose weight too fast. If you go slow you won't lose much mucle; go fast (larger calorie deficit) and you will.
I find that 1/2 lb per week doesn't seem to hurt my power. But I'm already well under 10% bf. If you're not then 1 lb/week might be ok. That's a deficit of 500 cal/day.
Supplements make you lighter by removing money from your wallet. They don't work. Eating healthy and controlling portions is the proven way to lose weight.
Some people like to count calories. I have a hard time with that since I make a lot of my food from scratch which makes accurately counting calories incredibly tedious. So I go by feel. It works for me.
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I'm at a similar number, 2.4 lbs/in, and didn't lose any muscle when I dropped down.
The easy way to lose weight is to cut back on carbs. If you can keep your daily intake to 100g or less, and fill up on protein and veggies, you'll drop fat and retain muscle.
What's in your new diet?
The easy way to lose weight is to cut back on carbs. If you can keep your daily intake to 100g or less, and fill up on protein and veggies, you'll drop fat and retain muscle.
What's in your new diet?
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+1 to everything ericm979 said.
I'm 6"2", 190-195lbs, and could easily lose 15-18 lbs, but have decided to heck with it this time, I like this extra bit of chunky & am keeping it for two reasons: 1) at 53, I don't give a ratsa## about always being near the front at every ride, and 2) my legs are seriously getting stronger, lol, carrying around this extra weight. I know if I ever leave Belgium for good, which is going to happen probably in the next 5-8 years, the weight will come off like water off a turtle's back (if you like an occasional beer, this is totally the wrong place in the universe to be). But my big advice to you is to lose weight in the late fall and thru winter. It's easier, in my opinion, as you're riding a lot all summer and your muscles need the food. In the winter, when riding is less and more nuanced (read: slow, steady) you can safely drop weight without dropping an ounce of power. In the summer, you might risk going after both if you start on things now.
Good luck, and don't forget, chew, chew and chew some more, make everything a curdball from hell in your cheeks. You will quickly tire of food, lol.....
I'm 6"2", 190-195lbs, and could easily lose 15-18 lbs, but have decided to heck with it this time, I like this extra bit of chunky & am keeping it for two reasons: 1) at 53, I don't give a ratsa## about always being near the front at every ride, and 2) my legs are seriously getting stronger, lol, carrying around this extra weight. I know if I ever leave Belgium for good, which is going to happen probably in the next 5-8 years, the weight will come off like water off a turtle's back (if you like an occasional beer, this is totally the wrong place in the universe to be). But my big advice to you is to lose weight in the late fall and thru winter. It's easier, in my opinion, as you're riding a lot all summer and your muscles need the food. In the winter, when riding is less and more nuanced (read: slow, steady) you can safely drop weight without dropping an ounce of power. In the summer, you might risk going after both if you start on things now.
Good luck, and don't forget, chew, chew and chew some more, make everything a curdball from hell in your cheeks. You will quickly tire of food, lol.....
Diet consists of Turkey, chicken and fish, no red meat. Eggs, and lots of green vegetables. Trying to stay away from breads and pastas all together. Do eat some rice now and then. Also drink quite a bit of milk for protein. I want to clarify would like to start racing the crits in 4-6 weeks, want to loose as much as I can between now and then but total goal is 175.
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Yep, that sounds like a pretty good plan. I'm on something similar and never suffer any energy shortfalls. I also eat potatoes, legumes and fruit in moderation.
I think wheat in its many forms--pizza, pasta, bread, bagels, etc--are tough for most people to give up. If you can stick with that, however, you'll lose the weight.
I think wheat in its many forms--pizza, pasta, bread, bagels, etc--are tough for most people to give up. If you can stick with that, however, you'll lose the weight.
You are probably already getting enough protein with all the meat, no need to drink milk too. You will need some carbs for cycling, especially if you want to race. Some triathletes do well on a ketogenic diet but the intensity needed for road racing pretty much rules that out.
You should not worry about losing weight to race and you should start racing now. You'll probably get dropped but it won't be due to the weight. Don't let that discourage you, most of us got dropped in our first races.
You should not worry about losing weight to race and you should start racing now. You'll probably get dropped but it won't be due to the weight. Don't let that discourage you, most of us got dropped in our first races.
Don't eat anything before you ride, if you ride early in the day. If you are going on a longer ride, bring some gels or food. You're body has at least an hour of glycogen stores, so consume something after that. It's kind of like starting a road trip with the gas tank pretty empty. Consuming caffeine is also supposed to help make the switch from sugars to fat smoother and occur earlier.
I'll echo some of the advice already given.
The racing/riding season is not really the time to push for weight loss. You're riding more this time of year and need the calories.
If you still want to lose fat, then you should scale back your goal to 1/2 to 1lb. per week. Severely limiting food intake, particularly during the riding season, is a very difficult regimen to maintain. A more modest program geared toward long term gradual weight loss is more likely to be easier to continue.
Race regardless of your weight. As has been said, many of us got dropped in our first races-I was dropped in the first ten races I entered and remember that number well.
I agree with the suggestion to ride for the first hour without having "topped off your tank" before heading out the door. If that's before breakfast, you'll lower your intensity for the ride. If it's after work, you can probably ride hard for that first hour. Then eat some road food. This trains your body to burn fat as a fuel rather than the recently metabolized carbohydrates.
The racing/riding season is not really the time to push for weight loss. You're riding more this time of year and need the calories.
If you still want to lose fat, then you should scale back your goal to 1/2 to 1lb. per week. Severely limiting food intake, particularly during the riding season, is a very difficult regimen to maintain. A more modest program geared toward long term gradual weight loss is more likely to be easier to continue.
Race regardless of your weight. As has been said, many of us got dropped in our first races-I was dropped in the first ten races I entered and remember that number well.
I agree with the suggestion to ride for the first hour without having "topped off your tank" before heading out the door. If that's before breakfast, you'll lower your intensity for the ride. If it's after work, you can probably ride hard for that first hour. Then eat some road food. This trains your body to burn fat as a fuel rather than the recently metabolized carbohydrates.
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Your plan is very aggressive for weight loss vs. time (8% of current weight over 5 weeks), and wanting to retain your performance. It can be done, but it's pretty tricky, and requires some careful monitoring of both your consumption and performance. It can be done without losing appreciable strength, even though you will lose a significant amount muscle protein in the process. However, unless you're a big sprinter, you can retain sufficient strength such that you won't sacrifice much in the way of power to weight ratio. If half of your weight loss is adipose tissue, and half were muscle protein, you'll need to maintain a calorie deficit of ~ 1,000-1,100 Cal's per day. The keys will be adequate but not excessive protein, and the intensity of your training vs. the carbs you consume. You will need to become both a nutritionist/dietician and a performance coach.
You'll want something on the order of 125-150 g of lean protein per day total, divided across 5-6 portions of 20-30g each, with the higher amount on workout days. Anything more than that total or per porstion won't do anything constructive for you. On workout days make one of the portions (20-30 g protein) a post training recovery source, that's ~ 250-300 Cal's total consumed within 20 minutes of ending your workout, followed by a normal balanced meal 2 hours after. Every day make another one of the protein portions a late night snack before going to bed. Lowfat milk (36% protein, 10g / 8 oz), if you can deal with milk, and/or a quality whey protein source is a good here
Your glycogen stores total about 500 grams, or ~2000 Cal's worth of fuel. You can sacrifice some of this in the training period if you keep the intensity moderate, such that you can use a higher share of fat for energy vs. glycogen. The relative amounts will depend on the intensity of your training. To lose weight while preserving muscle you will be better served to lower intensity and train longer for a significant portion of your training effort (this means more total training time). You'll need to find the balance between low and high intensity efforts that works for you, and allows you to keep your high intensity power level up. If you don't overdo the glycogen drawdown you can restore the reserve sacrificed the day before higher intensity efforts. Since every gram of glycogen stored carries with it ~ 2.8 grams of water, 120 grams of glycogen used/sacrificed or restored will, in time after equilibration, yield a 1 lb weight change if hydration status is maintained the same.
Throughout all of this, keep the water flowing and maintain a well hydrated state as judged by urine color. This will retain your total plasma volume which is critical for performance and power delivery, and will help curb the appetite a tad.
Take detailed notes on effort, consumption and performance, track everything meticulously, and it can be done if you're really good. But it's neither easy nor fun.
Good luck!
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Good way to slow down your metabolism as your body gets wise to the reduced caloric intake and increased activity demands and starts holding on to all the mass it can.
The old school "eat less, exercise more" only works in the short term before the hormonal response kicks you in the rear. Pretty simply explained: Starvation Mode. Is Starvation Mode Real or a Myth? What Are the Symptoms? How Do You Beat It? | Metabolic Effect
OP: Careful monitoring of the composition of your diet, matching your energy expenditure with energy intake and making sure that intake is nutrient dense vs empty calories is a key way to change your body composition.
But honestly, what's wrong with being a 190 pound crit racer? I'd rather have the strength than the weight loss.
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Or be a 190 lb crit racer today, with a very reasonable, sensible, practical and safer goal of being a 175 lb crit racer in 4-6 months, instead of 4-6 weeks.
You dismiss "ride more eat less" then recommend the same thing.
If you'd read all of my post you'd have seen that I did not recommend "starvation" and in fact stated that running much of a defict would be detrimental.
Why do people like the OP ask questions and then disapear? Sometimes it feels like the same 10 people are having a discussion.
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True dat.
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500 calories is a fairly large defecit for a 2500 calorie diet. That's 20%. That's a lot.
And for the record, I don't recommend "the same thing" of "riding more and eating less." I recommend "riding more and eating more, to match how much extra energy you put out." To fill that void, instead of eating burgers and drinking beer, fill the extra caloric requirements with decent quality foods and you'll change body composition. So if you normally eat 2500 calories and burn 500 calories in a workout, you need to eat 3000 calories that day. High quality, nutrient dense calories should make up the balance, not cheetos and beer.
As said, running at a defecit for too long will cause your body to retard it's metabolism in a protective manner. You want to run a deficit? 100 calories or so. I've seen much better results that way.
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That would be another way to look at it, sure.
OP doesn't seem to be wanting reasonable, sensible, practical or safer, he wants immediate gratification.
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Yep....
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Well said!
There aren't any magic diets or formulas... Track your nutrition and set up a protocol that delivers the results you want... It's not all that hard, you will get used to it. And it will work. You can decide the weight you want to be and be it.... Just be patient and stick to your plan. A calorie is a calorie from a weight loss standpoint... Now, nutrients dense calories are best but if you are riding a lot you will need regular old carbs too. If you go for 1/2 to 1 lb per week you won't effect your cycling appreciably. And that pace won't have you flirting with starvation adaptations. Not at your current weight. .7g protein per lb of body weight, 5 servings fruit and veg every day, in a rainbow of colors... Pick your total calorie target and fill in the rest with whatever you like. And don't forget, a healthy relationship with food and eating is very important. Very...
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