Originally Posted by
eugenek
I think it would help to log all your food at least for a week or two, so that you know where your calories come from. Check out
www.loseit.com. And yes, it means that you have to get a food scale and weigh everything that didn't come pre-packaged.
Do make sure to eat a lot of veggies and greens. You didn't mention alcohol. Do you drink alcohol? If you do, you have to account for that as well, there's a lot of calories in beer and wine.
How often do you have long rides (2 hours or more at once)? Is it just on weekends? In that case, you can load up on carbs the day before the ride and the morning of the ride, eat a hearty balanced dinner after the ride, and try to maintain a restricted diet, shooting for 1500 calories/day, the rest of the week. If you can stick to that plan, you'd be losing 10 pounds per month, which is at the high end of what's considered safe.
This is wonderful, exactly what I asked for, thank you so much. I've been doing long rides steadily, maybe one a month on average, for years but they've been urban pootles well under 10 mph. Fun, and certainly good exercise, but not vigorous by any means. The 2010 club rides were the first structured rides I've done and I really loved it. I want to continue, but sensibly, given my age, weight and high BP. Your advice is a big help; i like your plan for fueling the rides and that was exactly what I had planned....I mainly just goofed when I didn't carb up the night before last weekend's ride.
PS - no, I barely drink alcohol. I average maybe a few beers one or two weekends a month, if that...
Originally Posted by
chasm54
Losing 9lbs per week is ridiculous, no wonder you felt weak.
If you go onto a low-carb diet you are quite likely to find yourself unable to sustain intensive efforts of any great duration. But that isn't necessarily a problem, if you have the time for long rides. In my experience, riding for longer at lower intensity has the advantage of burning the same amounts of calories as a shorter, harder, effort without producing quite as great an urge to overeat afterwards.
Personally, though, I wouldn't go in for any fancy diets, or exclude any food groups - not even carbs. I'd accept the pain of having to count calories, work out my base metabolic rate (there are calculators on-line) and from there I'd be able to work out the balance between consumption, and exercise, that should enable me to lose a couple of pounds per week. If a couple of pounds per week doesn't sound like much, trust me - what you are trying to do is make changes that you might be able to sustain, and in any event, how good would you feel about yourself if in six months time you'd lost 50lbs?
Forget about sports nutrition. Eat a balanced diet. You aren't entering the Tour de France.
Thank you - very sensible advice.