training a losing weight - any advice?
 

i'm training (following the time-crunched cyclist routine. interval training) and would like to drop about 10 lbs to reach my ideal weight. I'm not sure how to go about it since I don't want to deprive my body while attempting to build muscle.

any advice?

Losing fat is more important then losing weight. But if you are new to cycling you will likely do both as you build lean muscle mass. I'm not an expert on interval training but I do know that getting your heart rate high is more important then long duration. You will lose more weight climbing hills for 30 minutes a day then a 2 1/2 hour ride at moderate speed. Same goes for running. The most important thing I have learned from experience is pacing yourself so as not to let yourself get burned out fast and you lose the ambition to continue. Just get a steady routine going.

Try exercising on not very much energy (ie: empty stomach first thing in the morning), then eat some carbs and protein immediatey afterward, to help your body recover from what you just did. You won't perform as well on an empty stomach (well, duh...) but it will force your body into fat-burning mode.

I know losing fat while gaining muscle is tricky and hard to do, but it's possible if you control what and when you eat. Eat your protein when you're body is in a mode to recover and build from exercise, and control your calorie intake for the day. But don't starve yourself. If you figure out how many calories your body would use if you weren't exercising, just to stay the same weight, and then eat that, the extra calories you burn by adding exercise to the mix will help you slim down.

ps: I was 380 at my highest weight, and am around 270 right now, and falling slowly again

A 500 calorie deficit is about 1/7 pound in one day, not unpleasant when it results from 80 TSS, BikeScore, or the TRIMPS based equivalent riding, and will get you to 10 pounds total in 14 weeks riding 5 days a week.

The other approach is to just lose the 10 pounds first and then get fit. If you're looking at 2014 in terms of riding goals then taking 5 weeks off, losing 10 lbs (2 lbs a week is reasonable), then get riding. You'll have plenty of time to get fit for 2014.

Having said that I'm trying to lose weight and still ride. I was much more successful when I didn't ride but I also didn't have a choice - I was recovering from a fractured pelvis and couldn't ride for a few months. I lost massive amounts of weight and had my second best year ever, in 27 years of racing.

"Building muscle while losing fat" is difficult to do. 10lb should be easy, just clean up your diet and run a caloric deficit with hard cardio. Interval training burns a higher percentage of fat than sustained aerobics. Do you eat fast food or drink sodas? In order to know what goes into your food it helps to cook it yourself.

Now is the best time to lose weight. Most people are in an off season or base phase. Riding long, low intensity miles is the best time to lose weight because you don't need to fuel your work out.

What I would do, and am doing, is to focus on weight loss now, because it's harder to lose weight when you also have to eat to fuel the more intense workouts that come in the following phases.

Yeah. It's pretty hard to loose weight and build strength/fitness at the same time. Best to decouple them as much as feasible. Good book: Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes, by Ryan.

Cycling is largely an aerobic sport. Most people have more than enough strength but not enough endurance. As mentioned earlier, just adjust your diet so you have a small deficit (500 or so calories) and you'll be at your goal weight in 10 wks with no impact on your training.

Nothing, not even running, ever makes me as hungry as cycling. The struggle is to not eat back all the calories you have burned.

>>Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes

I'll check this out. I guess i should figure out how to count calories.

My diet is largely cleaned up. I don't do anything obviously bad in decent quantity - but i do cheat in small amounts. (A couple oz of coke after a hard ride, etc) Avoiding carbs has been helpful.

I need to figure out goals for eating less but without starving myself too much. Part of my problem is that i get HUNGRY. Any my body isn't completely wrong about what it needs - this 10 lbs what stands between me and ideal racing form. (I've verified my body fat percentage - i should be able to shed that)

I'm starting to study up, ask for advice, and figure out where i can trim calories without making myself cranky.

Thanks!

When I was cutting and ultra-hungy, I'd slam a full glass of water. I would also do the same prior to eating.

Ok, so bare with me on these calculations.

I am 5'11" 180# 26 yo. male. A BMR calculator indicates that my current BMR should be approximately 1,800 to 1,900 kcal a day. From what I know BMR is while rest. This means it doesn't account for the extra activity of walking, taking a shower, thinking etc. that burns some calories too.

This is my plan then:

Daily food intake - 1,500 - 1,600 kcal.
average daily kcal burnt while cycling - 500
Miscellaneous calories burnt a day - 150

So if I do the above:

BMR = 1800
- food intake = 1500
+ Cycling cal burnt = 500
+ misc. cals burnt = 150
= Calorie deficit of 950 kcal a day.

950kcal * 7 days = 6650 / 3500 = 1.9 pounds a week.

Is this a healthy way to lose weight? I seem to be stuck at 15% BF and 179 pounds.

Does one burn more than the BMR on a typical day? Does the BMR change based on current weight?

Thanks,
Luis

lsberrios1, that looks reasonable. Just make sure you give your body what it needs to recover from all your exercise. That probably means eating your protein and carbs after your ride, so they help rebuild your body, rather than before it, where they'll just get burnt.

Loose weight, or build muscle. Pick one. That being said you can still get more fit, improve your aerobic capacity, improve endurance. Just don't expect to achieve maximum high end power.

I have lost 14 lbs. by just eating better foods. I eat alot of salads to get my vegetables with grilled chicken in it for the protein. I will still eat an occassional steak on the weekend or grilled fish. Keep away from sugars if you can and if you are big on carbs from your day to day training reduce them. If you race or compete you are aware of the carbing up prior. But everyday just steer away. Drink lots of water and if you're a soft drink drinker kill those right now.

I have to disagree. The more muscle you build, the more weight you CAN lose. Muscle is where the calories are burned, so weight work in the gym will pay big benefits in weight loss. Yes muscle is heavier than fat, but it doesn't have to put weight on you in the long run. Now if you are slim and are adding muscle, yes you will be adding weight. Who care about that anyway. It's not problem. But if you are exchanging fat for muscle, you will likely lose weight due to the amount of fat lost when a little muscle starts to do its magic.

To loose any significant weight you need to run caloric deficit. Can't build muscles on those. Now you might add some muscle mass, but not much. Mostly one can do is build endurance and aerobic capacity. Doing intervals or just high intensity exercise helps. It burns more carbs (and just more calories per time spent in general), which takes more energy to replenish, also "damages" muscles so that takes energy to repair and make stronger/better, plus metabolism goes up for some time after a high intensity exercise. The whole fat burning zone, is pretty much bull ****.

One long ride, one hard ride, one fast ride (per week). Big breakfast, big lunch, tiny dinner. Eat after you ride, cut out junk food, and no carbs in the evening. The end. (Oh. and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate). The only difficult part is finding 3 to 5 hours in the week for the long ride.

Yes on both. Beyond BMR you'll burn calories with exercise and NEAT. BMR will decrease as you lose weight.

Thanks for your answers. Right now I am barely losing any weight after a nice 17 pound drop in about a month and a half. I need to watch my mouth a little bit better and not only control portions but rather focus on the quality of food ingested. I can survive on 1800 calories of chocolate a day but chances are I'll have a harder time losing weight than if I eat grilled chicken and fiber. 165# here I come!!!!

i cut out grains and dropped 11 pounds in 2 months - like a paleo diet but with dairy and potatoes (gotta get them carbs to climb).

First you build the muscle, then you let it burn the calories.

Step 1 (I'll bet you haven't done it yet, but it's crucial): Find out how many calories a day you are REALLY consuming. I know, it varies, but log it for 7 days and average. If you don't know this, you're not starting off on the right note.

Step 2 - Account for workout burned calories

Step 3 - Aim for -200 to -500 calories per day while training. Again, you don't have to be super-anal about counting each and eveyr calorie - if you've done the 7 day food log, you should be able to cut out 1-2 items at dinner or snacks that will achieve it without math.