Paceline 2022 Weight Loss Challenge

[booglebug]

For me, I’ve always had a goal of 1-2 lbs per week, if I starve to lose more per week I just eat it all back. My goal is 12 pounds in 12 weeks

[steveoz]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

For sure. The ONLY time I drink, or even crave soda is when i'm on a long hot ride and know my body is hurting. An ice cold coke is like a magic bullet in those circumstances.

generally speaking soda is so sweet is makes me nauseous to think about drinking just sitting on the couch or something.

There's a vending machine on a golf course that's on my bike route - an icy cold Coke from there is the ultimate bonk-buster!

[steveoz]

When it is all said and done, after all the hyped-up marketed diet plans ,all the fancy concoctions whirled in blenders and all the self starving the one consistent, magic bullet to weight loss remains - cut sugar and processed carbs.... it has always worked and always will. It's the discipline to stick to it that fails...

[booglebug]

Originally Posted by steveoz

When it is all said and done, after all the hyped-up marketed diet plans ,all the fancy concoctions whirled in blenders and all the self starving the one consistent, magic bullet to weight loss remains - cut sugar and processed carbs.... it has always worked and always will. It's the discipline to stick to it that fails...

Well said

[tripmaster]

My goal is to get from 178lbs to 160-165 lbs. I got a TFL strain and then gout which kept me out of CX season, so I went from 172 during track to 178.

Did a couple things - started tracking all my meals w MyFitnessPal, which syncs to TrainingPeaks, Garmin, etc. It made me much more aware of what I was eating.

My general plan has been:

Interval days (threshold-anerobic) dont stress about eating but don't get into caloric surplus

Endurance days: use those days to maximize caloric deficits. Drink a chocolate milk/skratchlabs recovery drink when I get home right away for recovery and blunt hunger. Eat a small meal. Live with a little peckishness.

Never let myself get REALLY hungry. Better to snack on cashews, guac and blue corn chips, then really get ravenous.

Try not to eat a lot for dinner - rather eat larger amount during day, while metabolism is higher.

Just hit 169.5 after about 2.5 months, that's about 1lb a week which seems maintainable. Gonna reward myself tomorrow with some french onion dip and potato chips (after 3h endurance ride!)

[adub]

Originally Posted by tripmaster

My goal is to get from 178lbs to 160-165 lbs. I got a TFL strain and then gout which kept me out of CX season, so I went from 172 during track to 178.

Did a couple things - started tracking all my meals w MyFitnessPal, which syncs to TrainingPeaks, Garmin, etc. It made me much more aware of what I was eating.

My general plan has been:

Interval days (threshold-anerobic) dont stress about eating but don't get into caloric surplus

Endurance days: use those days to maximize caloric deficits. Drink a chocolate milk/skratchlabs recovery drink when I get home right away for recovery and blunt hunger. Eat a small meal. Live with a little peckishness.

Never let myself get REALLY hungry. Better to snack on cashews, guac and blue corn chips, then really get ravenous.

Try not to eat a lot for dinner - rather eat larger amount during day, while metabolism is higher.


Just hit 169.5 after about 2.5 months, that's about 1lb a week which seems maintainable. Gonna reward myself tomorrow with some french onion dip and potato chips (after 3h endurance ride!)

Great advice for someone that does a moderate volume of cycling!

[tripmaster]

Yeah - today was a zone 2 endurance ride, 3h5min, and this is my caloric profile for the day. MyFitnessPal measures in kilojoules...

Steak!

[Clean39T]

Almost two weeks in, how's everybody doing?

I'm at 4.4-lbs down as of this morning relative to Jan 1, and about 10-lbs down since early December. I can see and feel the difference - and that's giving good motivation to keep going.

I've had 2-3 pretty high volume weeks of training and am suffering a bit this week with tired legs though - my VO2-max workout yesterday I had to pull back 10% to get through the final three minutes of my third 4-min interval (3x4min at 110%-FTP). I'm thinking some of the tiredness is due to riding outside over the weekend and pushing too hard on some climbs - the rest is just cumulative fatigue. I'm going to keep the volume up this week and do my next interval session outdoors so I get "credit" for the VO2 climbs..

MyFitnessPal has been a big help. Being able to see what you are taking in and how that compares to your TDEE plus Exercise calories burned ensures you don't go too high or too low. I have it set at a 750kcal deficit as baseline and have been consistently at or a few hundred under that on a daily basis. I'm going to try adding 100-200kcal of additional fuel during workouts and see if that helps with fatigue too.

Keep up the good work everybody!

[tripmaster]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Almost two weeks in, how's everybody doing?

I'm at 4.4-lbs down as of this morning relative to Jan 1, and about 10-lbs down since early December. I can see and feel the difference - and that's giving good motivation to keep going.

I've had 2-3 pretty high volume weeks of training and am suffering a bit this week with tired legs though - my VO2-max workout yesterday I had to pull back 10% to get through the final three minutes of my third 4-min interval (3x4min at 110%-FTP). I'm thinking some of the tiredness is due to riding outside over the weekend and pushing too hard on some climbs - the rest is just cumulative fatigue. I'm going to keep the volume up this week and do my next interval session outdoors so I get "credit" for the VO2 climbs..

MyFitnessPal has been a big help. Being able to see what you are taking in and how that compares to your TDEE plus Exercise calories burned ensures you don't go too high or too low. I have it set at a 750kcal deficit as baseline and have been consistently at or a few hundred under that on a daily basis. I'm going to try adding 100-200kcal of additional fuel during workouts and see if that helps with fatigue too.

Keep up the good work everybody!

The advice I got was don't expect to be crushing your threshold+ workouts and try to lose weight on the same day. Either you wanna be well fueled for effort+recovery or you flag a little. My coach's first question when i check in w her on diet is, how's your energy?

My own progress has been good, though i find the fluctuations in my weight to be puzzling... i hit 169.5 for a couple days, popped up to 170.2 for a few despite some good deficit days, then today down to 167.8. I know, I should look at trend over time...

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by tripmaster

The advice I got was don't expect to be crushing your threshold+ workouts and try to lose weight on the same day. Either you wanna be well fueled for effort+recovery or you flag a little. My coach's first question when i check in w her on diet is, how's your energy?

Yep, I've been walking that tightrope of underfueling off-the-bike and trying to adequately fuel on-the-bike (and just before) to support my workouts. It works fine for sub-threshold work up to about 2 hrs or so on the trainer.

My target has been being ready for a heavy training week and vacation in the hills outside LA in mid-Feb - but with the Omicron situation, who knows if that is going to happen. If I pull the plug on that trip, I'm just going to transition to full-on base mode for another month or so while getting the weight off, and then work on pushing up my FTP Spring/Summer while not in an intentional kcal deficit. With the hills here, I don't really have to worry about overly detraining my threshold+ system - any outside ride is going to include 5-10min efforts in the upper zones, even with max discipline of trying not to push too hard.

[tuxbailey]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Almost two weeks in, how's everybody doing?

I'm at 4.4-lbs down as of this morning relative to Jan 1, and about 10-lbs down since early December. I can see and feel the difference - and that's giving good motivation to keep going.

I've had 2-3 pretty high volume weeks of training and am suffering a bit this week with tired legs though - my VO2-max workout yesterday I had to pull back 10% to get through the final three minutes of my third 4-min interval (3x4min at 110%-FTP). I'm thinking some of the tiredness is due to riding outside over the weekend and pushing too hard on some climbs - the rest is just cumulative fatigue. I'm going to keep the volume up this week and do my next interval session outdoors so I get "credit" for the VO2 climbs..

MyFitnessPal has been a big help. Being able to see what you are taking in and how that compares to your TDEE plus Exercise calories burned ensures you don't go too high or too low. I have it set at a 750kcal deficit as baseline and have been consistently at or a few hundred under that on a daily basis. I'm going to try adding 100-200kcal of additional fuel during workouts and see if that helps with fatigue too.

Keep up the good work everybody!

Not so good. This will be a year long effort with some ups and downs.

[5oakterrace]

Since Dec. 17 I dropped 6.2 but my weight can vary 2-3 pounds from water so I keep that in mind. Goal is 190 by June 1. I see it as a lifestyle change. No sweets. No junk. Wheat bran chips for snacks. More salads.

On rollers - a few longer rides I get zapped of energy after 60-90 minutes.. Goes with the territory.. I push too much into that kind of misery and I will lose motivation. So I dial it back or quit. Trying to add sit ups and push ups for strength (I am 65). Set a weekly goal of a pound. The long view is key for me. Big event in August.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by tuxbailey

Not so good. This will be a year long effort with some ups and downs.

Take some pressure off yourself. Don’t get too bogged down in the numbers. It’s really not helpful.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by 5oakterrace

Since Dec. 17 I dropped 6.2 but my weight can vary 2-3 pounds from water so I keep that in mind. Goal is 190 by June 1. I see it as a lifestyle change. No sweets. No junk. Wheat bran chips for snacks. More salads.

On rollers - a few longer rides I get zapped of energy after 60-90 minutes.. Goes with the territory.. I push too much into that kind of misery and I will lose motivation. So I dial it back or quit. Trying to add sit ups and push ups for strength (I am 65). Set a weekly goal of a pound. The long view is key for me. Big event in August.

Really smart post. One bit of advice: the “old-fashioned sit-ups” (the kind where you attach your feet under a bed or something) have really fallen out of favor. Too many people use their lower back muscles to generate the movement instead of their ab complex. Try planks instead. Push-ups are fantastic. Do them with your arms wide to utilize your core.

[5oakterrace]

Thanks for that on sit ups. I keep feet off floor with knees bent. More of a crunch. Do not know if that is best way to do it though. And planks.... I had two back surgeries and planks screw me up. Even with push ups I do them with knees on ground, keeping my body straight just screws up the back. I feel kind of limited but any time I have ventured into strength training, my back makes me regret it. So it is leave well enough alone. But I gotta do something as I get older.