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Is your current weight frozen in time?

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Is your current weight frozen in time?

Old 05-29-11, 09:32 AM
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Is your current weight frozen in time?

Yes, 2 years ago I weighed 268, now I weigh 215. Yes, I eat mostly the right things. Yes, for the last year I have averaged 140 miles weekly.....BUT....my 215 pounds seems to be absolute bottom!
I am 5'11" barefoot and look quite trim (except a stupid soft belly) but it seems that, no matter what I do, my weight is fixed at 215....I feel that if I could get to 190, it would be a quantum leap in my cycling performance, especially for climbing!
Has anyone else experienced this "downward plateau"? I am not willing to reduce my food/nutrition intake given my intense exercising regimen. BTW, I am 64 years old (and keep up with the 40 year olds). Should I shut up and just be who I am and enjoy our wonderful sport?
Love to hear any opinions. Raydog
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Old 05-29-11, 09:55 AM
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I have almost exactly the same problem, except that I'm stuck at 223 at 63 years old and 5'11". I'd almost be happy to have your problem!
I also have a b*#&@ch of time on hills, though I do pretty well everywhere else, for my age.
Sorry, can't give you much advise -- just sympathy.
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Old 05-29-11, 10:20 AM
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I've been stuck at for a while now, I know that I have to reduce calories further to keep losing weight.
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Old 05-29-11, 10:41 AM
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Sounds like you need to decide if you're happy with your weight or not. You say you'd like to be lighter, but you're not willing to eat less to get there. I understand the concerns over dieting while still trying to fuel your body for performance, but I'm not sure there's a solution that satisfies both sides of the equation. You may have to choose one over the other, and learn to live with the decision, whether that's doing what you're doing now and staying at 215, or eating less until you get to the weight you want, at which time you can focus more on performance fueling.
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Old 05-29-11, 12:24 PM
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You've read my mind. 6'2" 214 for 2 months. When I go back to 1800 cal/day after 2 days I feel weak and am ravenous. The good news is my strength is back up to where it was at 300 lbs and my distances on the bike have shown steady improvement. I think I have 10 lbs of fat on my 36" waist. It's going to take a very careful approach to what I'm eating and when i eat to lose it. Haven't figured it out yet. I do know that the guys that are talking about eating during a ride are absolutely correct. I'm taking some Fiber One Original with me on any ride longer than an hour. I'm now finishing strong and not exhausted. I get weird looks from people when I say I want to lose 10 more lbs but they don't ride.
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Old 05-29-11, 12:25 PM
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Originally Posted by CraigB
Sounds like you need to decide if you're happy with your weight or not. You say you'd like to be lighter, but you're not willing to eat less to get there. I understand the concerns over dieting while still trying to fuel your body for performance, but I'm not sure there's a solution that satisfies both sides of the equation. You may have to choose one over the other, and learn to live with the decision, whether that's doing what you're doing now and staying at 215, or eating less until you get to the weight you want, at which time you can focus more on performance fueling.
Well said, my immediate issue is that I'm going to Colorado on June 15 to ride the Tour of Colorado (7 days, 36,000 ft of elevation, about 500 miles) so I'm not going to make any nutritional changes at this point in time. Maybe that ride will knock off 5-10 pounds anyways!

I'd probably be OK with the way I am now but I ride with a lot of folks 20 years my junior, and much lighter, so I need to optimize my capabilities on the hills (when I work out at the gym and pick up a 25 lb. dumbell, I realize what a benefit it would be to shed that much ballast!).
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Old 05-29-11, 12:34 PM
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Yeah, it has been for the last year or so.

And it's the same for me, I know I could lose more, but I don't want to cut too much out of my diet for fear I won't have the "juice" to keep going. I ride two or three days a week (will ramp that up as the weather continues to improve and as my commitments - coaching t-ball - begin to decrease) and I'm running as well, though I'll probably run less as I start to ride more.

I'm 6'3", 270 currently, down from somewhere between 300 and 310. My goal for the end of the summer is to be down to 250. Ideally I'd like to get down to around 220 and stay there.
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Old 05-29-11, 12:59 PM
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Been stuck at 192. for a year and a half and loving life.
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Old 05-29-11, 03:27 PM
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Originally Posted by sinclac
Been stuck at 192. for a year and a half and loving life.
That means you have TWENTY THREE less pounds to lug up mountains, given if we were in similar condition.....that's the weight of a whole other bicycle including water!
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Old 05-29-11, 03:54 PM
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Am there right now. When I started riding, I did a 6.6 mile loop every morning before I go the kids up. I dropped 25lbs pretty quick and have been stuck where I am since. It doesn't seem to matter what I do, my weight doesn't really change. Over the winter I had an almost 2 month stretch where I didn't get on my bike and I didn't gain any weight. Now, I am doing 15 miles in the morning (at a much higher speed than I did the 6 miles) plus mountain biking most weekends and am still the same weight even though I am not eating more than I did over the winter. If anything , I am watching what I eat more now.
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Old 05-29-11, 04:19 PM
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Originally Posted by raydog
That means you have TWENTY THREE less pounds to lug up mountains, given if we were in similar condition.....that's the weight of a whole other bicycle including water!
True but my point is that your body knows where it needs to be, I'm 6' 54Yrs and my weight wants to stay around 190-192 the doc told "Your done" don't worry about any more.
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Old 05-29-11, 05:07 PM
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Do you have a sedentary lifestyle aside from the biking (like a desk/computer job)? Do you eat a lot of carbs? You may need surprisingly little food because you sit around all day. The best way is to use a food log, see where you can eat less calories. Like the other poster said, you have to make a decision if you really want to keep losing.
Cut bread and sugar from the diet, that helps as well. Remember carbohydrates are instant body fuel and you want to burn the fat not the carbs when you ride.
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Old 05-29-11, 05:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Aquakitty
Do you have a sedentary lifestyle aside from the biking (like a desk/computer job)? Do you eat a lot of carbs? You may need surprisingly little food because you sit around all day. The best way is to use a food log, see where you can eat less calories. Like the other poster said, you have to make a decision if you really want to keep losing.
Cut bread and sugar from the diet, that helps as well. Remember carbohydrates are instant body fuel and you want to burn the fat not the carbs when you ride.
No, when I'm not riding I'm working out at the gym or building something outside (garden, etc.). You're right about the carbs though, I could pull the reigns in a lot more re: what and how much I eat.
The fact is....if I do this Tour of Colorado in two weeks and have no problems with the 12k passes, etc., I'll not feel that being 215 is such a burden! My blood pressure is 96/68 and have, I think, really deep endurance so we'll see!
BTW, thanks to all for sharing about yourselves. Raydog
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