dannwilliams

I had a good winter season. I focused on my weight and was able to drop about 15#. I want to drop 10 more. But it seems I have also lost some of my cycling power and strength. It may be just spring, and my cycling conditioning is what it is like every spring. But I just feel a little weaker and less motivated than years past. I have a lot of rides plans for the year and am a little concerned about meeting those goals. One of the goals is ACA Bike Travel Weekend, June 3-5. I planned a bike overnight with my sister and hope I will be good to go.

Has anyone else gone through this? And if so, how did you get back on track?

Thanks,
cyclingdann62

tg16

Yes. I still have to be careful. What worked for me was to adjust my diet based on the books by Matt Fitzgerald, "Racing Weight" and "The Racing Weight Cookbook." I consume my carbs in the morning and at lunch. At night, when my body is needing to begin repairing muscle and such, I consume protein and vegetables. I find my energy is up and I have better recovery. I also switched to a better quality Bourbon and Scotch.

dannwilliams

OldsCOOL

I wont lose weight during winter for the reason it's better for me to lose while in the riding season. I did ride mountain bike in the snow 2-3 times each week of the winter. Last summer I managed to trim 25lbs during a normal riding schedule and didnt lose power at all. Rather, I gained speed each 5lbs I lost. What works for me is to get through spring conditioning first, then cut weight.

Wildwood

If winter weight loss is primarily from dieting you may lose power. If weight loss is from increased exercise/work-outs you should theoretically be stronger, all other health aspects being the same.

edit: My personal experience came last summer when I worked as a seasonal wilderness ranger for USFS. Lost 20 lbs backpacking 4 days/wk for 15 weeks. During those 15 weeks I didn't get on the bike more than 1X/week for gentle "recovery" rides. At the end of summer (even with the reduced 'time in th saddle'), I was a much stronger rider. Alas, most of the weight returned over the winter, gotta stop that late night snacking

Terex

Don't focus on weight, focus on power. I never focused on losing weight - I focused on increasing power, and the weight dropped off on its own.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yes, you may lose a little power with weight loss, which you'd notice on the flat in a headwind. However your power to weight should be better, which you'd notice because you'd be climbing faster, so it's a good trade-off. If the latter is not the case, then you lost muscle instead of fat. We olders really have to work out hard and eat plenty of protein, considerably more than our younger selves, to keep muscle during weight loss. Or to keep muscle w/r to time in any case. When I'm trying to lose weight, I ride a lot and do heavy weights twice a week, everything to failure once a week. 10 hours/week total works best for me.

If I get off track, I do as I just suggested, starting with a lot of base work on the bike and one hard ride/week, plus the weight work. Takes me about a month of that to get the power back.

digibud

Something is off kilter in your training. I'm not expert but if you look at a naked pro bike rider (not fun) you'll see the skinniest things that can still walk and most of their legs look very unimpressive. Losing weight isn't the issue, it's more a matter of losing it while training properly. I can say that with confidence because I really have no expertise in the field at all.