You are not the first to talk about this. One of my good friends has a power meter on his bike, something I would love to get my doctor to prescribe for me so I didn't have to pay for it but that's not going to happen, and he went on the Paleo diet before last race season to get into better climbing weight. He said that during the weight loss period he simply felt down on power. His Power meter comparisons on his Garmin site seemed to prove his point. I am discovering the same thing. I have dropped 17 pounds since June 21 and the coach has adjusted my carbs on the days I ride and pushed them up compared to my off days when I walk. She has also but me in zone training and doesn't want be out of zone 2.5 if at all possible. For me that is 151-157. As long as I am in fat burning mode I can ride a long way. I just can't ramp it up into anaerobic for any period of time.

I am looking forward to reaching goal and starting the rebuilding part of this lifestyle change. I have received some encouragement about this realizing one of my coaches was a long distance cycling tourist in Europe and just might understand my needs as a cyclist. Meeting a group of them at the Furnace Creek 508 in 2011 has shown me that as a whole they can teach me a lot about a lifestyle change.