Guest Article: Cutting Weight
Weight. There are few segments of the population more obsessed with it than cyclists, apart from teenage girls and young men hoping to be selected for the highschool varsity ballet team (wrestling). Our sport is unique in the respect that friction between road and rider doesn’t significantly increase or decrease with rider weight, meaning that the amount of weight we carry up and down hills directly reduces the amount of work we do, leaving more juice for going way more fasterer. That, and we wear spandex in conjunction with having high expectations of Looking Fantastic.
Based on what we’ve learned of him, Steampunk shares several genes with the elusive Sasquatch, and as such is a bigger (and hairier) guy than the typical cyclist. This year, he’s taken some pointers from the Spanish Meat Industry and gone to work dropping some kilos and has been kind enough to share his experience with us.
We caution you not to treat any of the following as any kind of medical recommendation. Steampunk is not a doctor, although he plays one on the internet. Before embarking on any diet/nutritional changes, be sure to consult a real doctor or someone who has more than “guesswork” and a sample size bigger than 1 to go from. Also note that Historians are about the last people you want to get advice from regarding anything not to do with things that happend in the (distant) past, particularly physical fitness and well-being; that can’t even agree on the past, which should be fairly simple to settle on because it already happened. Consider another nutritional study conducted by our very own Historian, Joshua, as further evidence of this.
Yours in cycling,
Frank
—
Looking pro is like searching for the Holy Grail: you need to be able to distinguish between your African and European swallows. This kind of attention to detail is something on which the Velominati pride themselves. But rather than a subtle upgrade on my bike, my recent progetto has involved upgrading the engine. Since the turn of the year, I have cut from 87kg to below 80kg while maintaining full piston power in the BFGs (take that, weight weenies!). Though still not in top condition, I’ve been blown away by the difference it’s made to my riding. I’m faster, stronger, and able to climb out of the saddle for longer, more intense periods. I love dancing on the pedals up steep hills. Say what you like, but this makes me look more pro (so sayeth I).
At the end of the day, no matter how slick bike, kit, three-point system adherence, etc., that gut bumping against the guns while you ride in the drops is going to be the first betrayal against looking pro (that, or the heaving lungs and the “tactical” decision to gear down). The soft mid-section does not a casually deliberate pose make. Put another way, the sleeker rider is more able to dish the V. While much of the Velominati rhetoric is about appearance, at the end of the day, I’ve read enough on these pages about the attention to performance detail. After a mucky ride, cleaning the chain is more important than polishing the frame. Performance.
So here’s my story””the short and the wide of it. I went through a breeding and blimping phase in the late 1990s. For good measure, my wife and I had a third child in 2008, almost ten years later. I’m a compassionate, new-age kind of husband (more fool me), and I put on close to 10kg for both of the first two. Older and marginally wiser, closer to 5kg for the third. At the peak of my powers””during grad school””I tipped the scales at 102kg. I stand 175cm. Claiming a muscular build only gets one so far. At that kind of weight, the weight of the bike is immaterial. Or, more to the point, shaving a few milligrams off the bike here or there is denial at best””more realistically, lunacy. Over the past decade, I have hovered around a reasonably fit 87kg without really making long-term reductions. Even this past fall, when good weather allowed me to ride consistently right into December, I couldn’t put a dent on lowering the scales.
Winter is not a friendly season. Not for the cyclist in Ontario, anyway. If being off the bike weren’t bad enough, it’s busy time at work, which means I’m an infrequent visitor to the gym. Off the bike and not working out is a bad combination as I am very good at putting on weight; winter becomes a desperate shill game of trying to sustain the fall weight””if not condition””and limit the amount of work necessary to get back into shape in the spring. But this winter has been different. Since Christmas, I have dropped more than 7kg. I’ll spare the pics, but I’m seeing cut abs for the first time since, like, forever. More importantly, the guns remain huge and the definition is awe-inspiring (so sayeth I). For an otherwise sedentary academic in his mid-30s, I’m pleased with the results. This with minimal exercise (on early January and February rides, I was reminded that while weight loss is good, it does not replace good fitness). But form is already on its way and easier to come by at a lighter weight. This might sound like the beginning of one of those late-night ads on TV: I’ve lost 7kg in 9 weeks while not exercising! How did I do it?
Clenbuterol was first synthesized in…
Well, I have been experimenting with supplements, but nothing that would ever run me afoul of the UCI or any other sporting body (especially the Spanish). More on that in a moment, but the emphasis has primarily been on revamping my diet. With a full family in the house, we eat well: sensibly, making healthy choices, not drinking too much, etc. I always thought that my standard diet was not just good, but really good. Starting on December 26, I cut carbs drastically out of my diet. Instead of cereal for breakfast, I switched to bacon and scrambled eggs. Instead of sandwiches for lunch, I switched to beans, meat, and salmon (lots of salsa and guacamole””strangely, this diet consists of much more cholesterol than my previous practice (eggs and avocados), but I’m stronger, fitter, and lighter). No bread. For dinner, while making rice for the kids, I switched to spinach, which really didn’t take long to get used to (especially as I watched the scale show a smaller number on a daily basis). In addition, I stopped eating fruit (high fructose) and cut out dairy. Fructose is exceptionally good at building and storing fat. Dairy: I don’t understand this one as well””milk has a low glycemic index””but it does have a high insulinemic index; I miss my cheese! The higher protein diet has resulted in my not feeling hungry between meals so much, but in those rare instances, raw almonds””not too many: these pack a massive caloric load!””do the trick. Six days a week, I adhere to the above religiously. One day a week, I binge. Big time. The danger with cutting so many carbs and sugars out of one’s diet is that the metabolism can slow, too. Spiking it once a week has the benefit of ensuring that I’m continuing to keep the metabolism high.
My lone concern with cutting so many carbohydrates was that it might inhibit my energy and performance on the bike. While the season is still young and I’m still finding my fitness””and haven’t yet had a chance to get in a ride of more than 60km””I haven’t felt slow or weak. If anything, I’ve had more energy. During intense exercise, it is also possible to take in carbs, since you’re burning them immediately, anyway. So, energy drinks and bars on the bike are still okay. We all likely suffer from any number of mild and undiagnosed food allergies (or annoyances). I can’t pinpoint it, but I feel much better with this diet, suffer from less stomach discomfort, and have more energy.
Then I started popping pills. I’ve begun a fairly standard regimen of Alpha-Lipoic Acid, green tea extract, and garlic””all powerful fat-burners. Four times a day. The last pill-popping stack of the day also includes Policosanol. Also, I’ve been taking extensive levels of Vitamin D. While 1,000 IU is the recommended daily allowance, I’ve been popping more than 4,000 IU a day, combined with Vitamin A & K, which help in Vitamin D absorption. Vitamin D is a wonder-hormone and worth more investigation””not just as a winter supplement. Chances are we all suffer from Vitamin D deficiency, and that can hurt our performance. Vitamin D is crucial in the creation of fast-twitch muscle fibers and overall physical fitness. Some studies also indicate that Vitamin D deficiency can be responsible for what appeared to be chronic injuries in athletes. I ride without a computer and decided not to get a series of tests and measurements taken for before and after comparison, but I regret that now. I’d be very interested to check BMI, Vitamin D levels, and cholesterol, especially.
The inspiration for the diet and supplements came from Tim Ferriss’s book, The Four-Hour Body. At first””and from a professional perspective””I was interested in the concept of self-experimentation and the difference between abstract theories and the practical experimentation he did. But I was also interested in the health and nutritional science behind it. There’s some interesting stuff here, not just on weight loss, but also on muscular development, endurance””hacking the body in general, as Ferriss puts it. Given the tone of the book, I don’t think I’d like Ferriss too much if we ever met. He comes across as too much of an egotistical alpha-dog; but for his former national kick-boxing championship title, I suspect I’d want to beat the snot out of him. But the kid’s done some interesting homework here. And my cycling is reaping the benefits at the moment. If you’d told me a year ago, I would weigh less than 80kg, I would have thought you were delusional. I was pretty fit at 87kg””I still carry enough upper body muscle for three Schlecks””and not particularly soft. But looking back, 7kg is a lot of extra weight to carry around. And for it to come off so quickly…
In all, so much of cycling is about tradition, ceremony, routine, and discipline. Being able to bring that praxis out of the saddle and out of the garage and into the other necessity in life (eating) is an exciting prospect that keeps me closer to the bike. As spring appears to have finally sprung around these parts, I already feel like I’m in early summer form.
What diet do you figure these jokers are following?
In all seriousness, if you have that last few kg’s to lose as I had always carried around the gut, get one piece of fitness equipment ( a pull-up bar). Then do two exercises (pull-ups and push-ups) 2-3 times a week. That extra muscle is burning calories 24/7 and your gut will melt away. Counterintuitive to add mass to lose it, but if you are over 35 and have a slowing metabolism you need to be doing some resistance training besides just pounding out the miles.
Oh yeah, one more Schleck photo for you.
All the calories are in the crumbs.
I could lose 3 kg, have a BMI of 22.5 (smack dab in the middle of normal) and still weigh 90kg. I’m focusing on reducing gravity.
Great article! Thanks for sharing. I too have shed a significant amount of wood, with a similar diet (albeit not as hi-tech with the supplements) but my rule is “NO WHITES AFTER 4PM” so for dinner, the Mrs. knows that I get more meat, spinach, other bio-flavinoid veggies (spinach with garlic, kosher salt and a touch olive olive in a wok, is the jam) and zero whites. I went from a husky 175lbs to 155 in 2 years. My 40k went from 57+ change to 54+ change. My climbing. This is where it’s taken off. Last season I would do the Masters race and get popped going uphill or in crits suffer at the tail. This season I now stack the Masters race (usually top 10) with the pro-am for a finish.
At last year’s state RR (3k of vertical gain) I was popped inside of 2 laps””this year, I buried the pin on every climb, chased down the skinnies and ended up 7th.
All b/c of diet and training at 5am before the kids wake.
Thanks for sharing steampunk.
Frahnk, the moment I saw USPS package I knew I was accepted as a KOTC. It fits better than a fur-lined jockstrap. As an obsessive myself I like the Velominati headed paper. Class. Anyhow, you can tell Steampunk’s an academic; why use one word when ten will do.
I’m not sure about your methods dewd, it’s all a bit Dr Frankenstein. I’m old school, eat less, train harder/smarter
Good article Steamy. I’ve been as high as 96kg in my life but since I’ve started cycling (again) I’ve been maintaining around 80kg but I would like to get to around 72kg. Last year I got close but got lazy over the winter. I’ve actually written off anymore weight loss for the summer because I ride so much that I usually want to eat the ass out of a horse and my intensity is such that I don’t burn much fat. But I’ve vowed that I’m not going to put on any weight over the winter. In the last five years I’ve pretty much figured out my body and if I just sit on the trainer and spin 3-4 days a week in Zone 1 the fat melts off. So the plan this fall is spin easy and resistance training. I’m two different people from the waist up and the waist down. The legs are totally ripped with zero fat on them. The upper body is a different story of moobs and dunlops (my tummy’s dunlopped over me britches). Hopefully this will change.
I’m interested in your Vitamin D theory as I’ve read similar things and heard about a guy that takes like 10k IU a day. But I think @Karolinka is on the right track too. I’ve quit stressing about what I eat. I pretty much eat what I want because I know that I ride enough that I’ll burn it off. If I eat too much I ride more so it’s win-win.
Just showed that pic to the missus. She physically recoiled and said “eeeew”.
I just told her, as I typed, she’s been quoted here. Her reply: “Well, it is creepy.”
Lots of interesting comments and ideas in here. Good on the lot of ya!
MrBC – We’re exactly the same size, kind of funny. I too eat a fair amount of carbohydrates & am not interested in any sort of drastic diet change. I agree that you can eat a lot of carbs if you are doing a lot of exercising. I try to eat most of mine in the morning and taper off throughout the day though. And, I’m still kind of young. The carb effect issues might be more severe as one ages, I suppose. I also think how one’s body burns fuel and works depends on how you’ve treated it over time. If you been an athlete for many years and always eaten well you are going to be different than someone who has only been training for a few years and only recently gotten wise to eating better.
Karolinka – awesomeoness! I like the philosophy you shared a whole lot. I think that is the key with most things – listen to your body. That takes training in itself, but is very, very true. I’m going to meditate on this for awhile and see if I can work it into my routine a bit. The eating until you are no longer hungry, not stuffed is crucial.
mcsqueak – right on! As much as I get tired of cyclists talking about eating, weight, and food intake, it is much better than a weight weenies discussion over a $2k wheelset.
Oli – what kind of biscuit?
Great article Steampunk!
Sweet!
@Marcus
heheeeee, that’s the funniest thing I have read in a while. ++!. You funny boyeee.
I’m with Marcus; all things in moderation, beer included.
Steamie, good post. This weight thing is an issue for all cyclists so it’s fun to have a post to wind everybody up with. Keep shedding those kilos.
alright, i know everyone has been curious of victoria pendleton’s dieting tips. i mean, just look at her. what does she eat to ride as good as she looks?
oh, those snacks are naughty…
@Xyverz
Um. No. Carbs, then fats, then proteins. He has more energy because he is eating fewer carbs so he is burning fat. Fat is a longer burn than carbs (which run from CocaCola to buckwheat pasta). He also has more stored fat than stored carbs. Eventually, he’ll get lean enough to the point that he must take on carbs during a ride or he will begin to burn protein (muscle).
@heath
+1. But next time do the right thing and post up some photos of Victoria. Like this. And this. And also this. And even this.
@Marcus
This.
I’ve lost 18kg and kept it off for 1.5 years doing exactly as Marcus described. Eat less calories than you burn. Simple math.
@Marcus
oh audrey, i mean, oh victoria, i mean…oh, toast!
Not sure if this has been listed yet – as I haven’t gotten through the whole thread yet, but this is an interesting explanation of many of the things we’re discussing here:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/eating-fat-staying-lean/
Personally, I’ve been pretty slim for a few years now, but still at 180lbs I’m a full 13 pounds over my 167 pound racing weight when I was at the top level. I don’t think I’ll ever regain that without the level of sacrifice I made then, which aside from careful diet management also included 3-4 8 to 12 hour workouts per week during the ramp-up to peaking.
I’ve lost about 10 pounds just by not drinking so much and cooling it on the portion size. Also, I’ve been doing core exercises which has helped promote lean muscle mass on my abdomen and increased metabolism reduced fat the ol’ pouch. Simple does it.
Love the idea of Vitamin D, though – especially as a dude living in Seattle.
@all: Thanks for the interesting responses. Lots to chew on (bad pun). A few observations based on the comments so far.
1. This was more a report on what’s worked for me rather than some dictate on how everyone should lose weight.
2. One of the delightful features of this diet is that I’m not counting calories, which means I’m spending a lot less time angsting over whether or not I can eat another almond or whatever. No counting and less worrying about calories in vs. calories out. Which, frankly, is more work than most of trouble ourselves with.
3. I also neglected to mention that anything goes while on the bike (as Jarvis pointed out, for a longer ride) carbs are a good idea. I’ll typically take an energy drink and a number of fig newtons on any ride that’s likely to last a couple of hours. This nutritional plan is limited to off-the-bike practice.
4. I think a big part of the calories-in/calories-out dogma obscures how we create muscle and fat. What the nutritional plan calls for is avoiding glucose spikes so as not to kick the insulin reaction into overdrive (which is what helps us to build and store fat). So this is more complicated than just the number of calories we’re consuming.
5. We seem to be on the cusp (in N. America, anyway) for a mainstream revolution of how we analyze and understand fats. About a decade ago, we woke up to trans-fats. But now we’re learning more and more about how monounsaturated fats, etc. aren’t all equal (I now cook””very happily indeed””with macadamia and coconut oils, which I would never have used before). The obvious conclusion remains, though, fats made by nature are much better than fats made by humans (ie. natural foods > processed foods). But there are some interesting (and significant) findings between various forms of “good” fats and health, fitness, and testosterone production, which””if pro racing bans are anything to go by””is also important to good cycling.
6. One downer is that my V jersey is looking a little loose around the middle. I still have a 41″ chest, so I’m not sure I can scale down to a L. This is a shame.
@zalamanda: The piece was about trimming weight, not words. When I tell my students/colleagues that I’m really fucking smart and they should just trust me, they don’t and I’m forced to expand. The abridged version of the article above is: “I lost weight; I’m kind of pleased about it.” This seemed less interesting and, besides, Frank pays by the word.
@Cyclops: I want to look into Vitamin D more. I’ve since stopped taking massive doses of it (until I get tested to find out where I’m at), but am still taking the RDA in spite of the sun finally making an appearance. I’ll report back when I learn more. Also, too, your body-type description is what I’ve been fairly familiar with when looking at myself in the mirror (several years playing top-level soccer). But nothing like this. The guns were granite, but now they’re carved granite. I really didn’t think I had anything to lose, but veins, sinews, muscles are very evident.
@RideFit: Bang on. Without the sporting results (congratulations) that’s what I’ve been experiencing. While I’m not counting the calories, the discipline has been critical and it’s starting to show up on the bike more, too.
@harminator: Beer on Saturdays. As with anything else. My wife works in a fine chocolates shop, so chocolate is a big part of Saturday. My wife and I tend to get through a bottle of red each week, too. But you could also just plug this into the “all in moderation” wisdom that a number of responses have hinted at.
@Steampunk
“My wife and I tend to get through a bottle of red each week, too. But you could also just plug this into the “all in moderation” wisdom.” That’s not moderation. It’s ascetism! (Even if you meant (as I suspect you didn’t) a bottle of red each.) I think I know how I could most easilt lose another kg or two …
@Steampunk
Thanks for the write up Steampunk, and congrats on the weight loss! What it all is is becoming closer to attainment of the V, which you are. We aren’t all going to tread the same path to achieve what we want, so chapeau and enjoy.
Nailed it, brother.
G’phant :
Wow, awesome on the fitness increase!! So you cut out beer ENTIRELY? Huh.
Heh heh heh! ;)
My original response to your response was more or less serious, not that I advocate meals of beer… at least not over long periods of time… But non- jesting, your jest got me thinking seriously… what ABOUT beer? or wine? or Jameson (my drug of choice)?
One could argue, alcohol is a toxin (very much so), and a psychotropic drug, how could anyone seriously say a body would truly “want” (as in “need”) that?
Eh. My answer is: LIGHTEN UP! and also: I don’t have all the answers, what, am I Kikiwikipedia.com? (OCD people/nearby campers (of which I’m one) out there, full recycled joke disclosure: yes, I confess I used that – Kikiwikipedia.com – in one other comment here. Somewhere.)
I guess I look at alcoholic beverages the same way I do yumyums full of empty calories. In my view, my brain and psyche and enjoyment of life are all part of my body… and totally denying myself a shot of good sippin’ whiskey (which means Mr. Jameson, I’m a one man girl and that’s the best man I’ve found yet) in the evening, or some wine with a meal, or hunk of daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark chocolate every once in a while is nonsensical.
And yes, you really DO “need” those things (in my humble opinion) because they make you happy! (this is all within reason, of course). If you deny yourself all the fun stuff, that’s when you get into trouble (I think) — it just makes you crave it more; psychologically you are punishing yourself for no real reason.
I think we were put here on earth for absolutely no reason at all. It’s up to us to enjoy ourselves (among other things), and that includes the enjoyment of the finer comestibles… if you are riding a fair amount/good intensity or generally pretty athletic in whatever way and aren’t in college, you’ll eventually hear your body say “ok, one was enough, thanks!” and then it won’t ask for another for quite a while.
Eventually. It was weird when it happened to me. I won’t talk about college/immediate post college days (mostly because I can’t remember much, too many brain cells killed off… not helped by later non-alcohol related brain damage from crashing head first all the time). After that required period of hedonism, I wasn’t a huge drinker by any means, but I’d go through cycles of, say, partaking of a couple of beers (ahhhhhh Mackeson, Mackeson; wherefort art thou, Mackeson (Triple Stout)??? F’ing Whitbread Brewery stopped selling it in the US, that’s where. Sigh.) maybe a few times a week. I don’t remember over how long a period or exactly when it happened, but eventually it went: I’d think hmmm how about a nice creamy stout, yum… I’d have one or two sips and I don’t know, it just felt WRONG. Tasted wrong. But mostly felt wrong, like, um, I was drinking a toxin or something. Oh, right…
Anyway, that didn’t and doesn’t happen all the time, I’m not a teetotaler. But it happened enough. These days I just don’t WANT a good beer, or wine, or whiskey very often. However, when I do, or rather my bod does, and I hear it (the bod) correctly, OH MAAAAAAAAAAAAN is it good!!!
(more or less the same for sweet stuff… though I swear there have been a couple of times where for months and months I craved peanut butter M&M’s, or some other something; I’d actually eat the damned things for meals – only when hungry, stop when not hungry – and I felt fine, didn’t impact my lean muscle mass vs. fat TOO much, or my riding… and then the craving just disappeared)
@Karolinka
http://www.themacallan.com/home.aspx
@G’phant
And yes, I did cut out beer entirely. Went from two Heinekens a night to none. For 40 days. (Hoist by mine own petard in explaining Lent to the kids …) It was truly awful. But it broke the habit. I still drank wine, but not as much. However, and this is the real point, I think the main factor was a more general mental one: I was exercising again, and seeing the good it was doing me, and feeling better about being healthy, and wanting to see continued progress and live in a way more consistent with that. So, apart from the beer, the other dietary changes (no desserts, more salads and fewer sandwiches for lunch, etc) seemed natural and normal. As Minion says, we aren’t all going to tread the same paths. But those who get bitten by the bug find that the paths they tread all point in a remarkably similar direction.
minion :
I must confess to a little snickering, imagining SWMBO constantly monitoring ipad use in bed…
Uh, wow, thanks for the thanks, and, well, you’re welcome. The pleasure is mine. I still can’t believe I’ve found a group of people who actually READ. Especially my hyper-parethesized stream of consciousness drivel.
I’ll tell ya what Kind: The FAST, HOT, and SEXY only-set-of-their-kind-in-north-central-florida Kind, as far as I know! In my humble opinion. No really, aren’t they the mack?? I looooooooove them! (I loooooooooove my whole Ride! It’s relatively new, for me).
They’re Industry Nine (made in North Carolina, USA, amazingly enough), “Ego” wheelset, all manufactured and ano-d in house; clinchers, 1450grams. 30mm deep aluminum (oh, excuse me, “niobium enhanced alloy,” ffffffttttt lol) rims (they had “super-ego” carbons available), nipple-less bladed spokes threaded into low profile hubs with intermediary ss piece at hub allowing adjustment. The work on the hubs is AMAZING, they are gorgeous pieces of machinery, proprietary stuff inside as well as out (check out this tour or their facility, shows everything SOOOOOOO cool: http://www.bikerumor.com/2010/06/02/industry-nine-factory-visit-how-their-hubs-are-made/ )
What I have are actually their first stab at road wheels, I think 2009 (they’d been around for quite a while doing mtb etc). I suppose you could say they’re a little overpriced ($950 msrp) and blingy; you can get lighter for less etc. But the work is exquisite.
However, they’ve now revamped their road wheels to standard straight pull bladed spokes (though they’re the pricey Sapim X-rays), outside nipples on rims (same rims I have)… they’re still priced the same, weigh the same as the originals ($950, 1450 g for set)
There was some slight pooping about some problem with the T spoke ends/rims of the originals, like I have, some hefty riders were somehow or other pulling them apart (it may have been one incident, possibly two, but it’s like shark attacks, the way it made news).
Also the engineering needed to make bladed spokes work with I9’s signature hub-threaded design was a friggin’ lotta work (and is one of the things I like – it looks way cool) for them, took a long time (they’ve always been famous for crazy lead times… but they really care about their work).
And my understanding is that King of the Wheel Universe Zipp Wheels engineers declared spoke nipples at the rim didn’t really have a significant effect on aerodynamics, so now everybody is back to original straightforward rim nipples (where else can you say nipples so many times completely innocently? heeheeheeeheeheeheeheee!).
I’m a beast (lol j/k) but at 5’7″ 125 lb unlikely to tear wheels apart; they’re pretty damned light and stiff and the whole bike leaps out from under me by psychic command. And the wheels look hot and match my frame purrrrrrrrrrrfectly. I got no complaints.
(the quick releases are Salsa coz they were a better matching red; the cog set is a Dura-Ace block — which I’m sure all Velominati know is pronounced “dur-ah’-chee”)
The equivalent wheelsets Industry Nine makes now are the i30 and i35 (http://www.industrynine.net/i30). Eh. Still great quality, but I can’t help it, I just like the gagetry (industrial yet still sleek) of the originals.
Hub shell in production, I want to wear it:
(from the factory tour article mentioned above,
http://www.bikerumor.com/2010/06/02/industry-nine-factory-visit-how-their-hubs-are-made/ )
When I raced I was 76kg and at peak weight about four years ago I was 100kg. Calorie counting and a return to racing got me back down to 80-82kg in four months, then due to life getting in the way of the bike I went back up to 90kg the following winter.
Despite injury and children that has kept mile riding to less than 160km in that time, more by luck than judgement, over the last 18 months I haven’t put on any weight (it’s probably just that my muscle has converted to fat).
But I’m still a few months from peaking and could do with getting back down to 80-82kg and this is where I have the problem. For all the effort in maintaining a diet off the bike, tiredness and stress of fatherhood sees resort to snacks a little more than I’d like and so the weight is maintained not lost. The difference that would be made is to ride the bike, but that requires time and health, which are something I haven’t had much of recently.
Beer was the big cut, but the one thing that calorie control taught me was portion control. Having raced a trained pretty much all the time from the time I was a kid until 5-6 years ago, I’d never had to think about how much I was eating. The problem happened when I stopped riding the bike as much and I carried on eating as much as I’d always done.
G’phant :
HEINEKEN? That could explain a whole lotta problems. Blech. It’s like AMERICAN German beer. Be glad you gave it up, you deserve better!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Awesome! I can’t think of a better reason to explain why I am a staunch and regularly non-practicing ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-ex Catholic!
Amen.
harminator :
@Steampunk:
Right on!
Uh, well, no. I mean RE. the diet (as far as some mapped out plan you’re following). My GI systems terminates normally.
Just for another view (not of the termination of my GI system), see my posts above (42, 44, 72, I think) and like Steampunk I’m not saying it’s right for everybody, but after diet struggling and being at war with a body I didn’t trust, it worked for me, so it seemed worth sharing.
Right on, Homer. I mention that at length too, if you’re interested.
Ron :
To quote myself, because I should have gone to sleep hours ago and am running out of thinking juice – Uh, wow, thanks for the thanks, and, well, you’re welcome. The pleasure is mine. I still can’t believe I’ve found a group of people who actually READ. Especially my hyper-parethesized stream of consciousness drivel…
and I’m glad I’m not the only one around here who uses “awesome.” Not because it’s left over from… from… I have no idea what decade. But because of the real meaning of the word.
And boy howdy are you right about training to listen to your body. Or your grey matter. And time, too. All of that happened to me and/or was worked on over a long period; and a lot of it was worked on by “my elves” (subconscious, I guess, but I hate that word) — your head is gnawing on and digesting ideas, absorbing and changing, even when you don’t realize it. Which is nice to remember when it seems like you aren’t making any outwardly noticeable progress. Probably something is happening underneath.
(you probably got it, but eating until “not hungry,” AND eating only when you are actually hungry, AND, the one that was most difficult for me, eating what you “want.” which can take some work getting past baggage about what you want and why you want it!)
Cyclops :
Very cool. Less stress is a good thing. Yup.
@Steampunk
… this friggin’ topic has made me lose sleep put popped me up to a 1. Go me!
THANKS STEAMPUNK! In addition to thanks for sharing a great article!
Everyone has his/her ideal weight. Mine is around 62 kilograms (give or take a few kilograms, depending on the season). I’m such a lucky bitch that I don’t have to do anything to get to my ideal weight. (1,71 and 62 kilograms: I am one spanish steak from being Clenbutador)
@heath
@Marcus
@mcsqueak
Spot on, mcsqueak, heeheeheeheeheee! More power to Victoria. But those are some of the most hellaciously p-shopped pix I’ve seen – Were those really in FHM? Or did someone else create them as a joke? Sorry, I don’t pay attention to much news other than checking to make sure wwIII hasn’t begun in the homeland (which I’m not sure it hasn’t) and road racing spot checking — I missed Victoriapalooza. Jeez, talk about airbrushing, snort! All you have to do is go find some un FHM news photos.
I’m all for sexy photos, if you gots it, enjoy it. But I hate the way they actually outshaded her muscles for the non-cycling photos. She doesn’t even look like a cyclist in them, much less a track cyclist. Which would have been infinitely sexier (though of course they still look great). But that’s on my planet, lol.
Eat my dust, bad Victoria photos (not Victoria herself)!
Me, trying to reach chunk blowing stage, zero photoshopping:
Pulls up seat & awaits the comments (and lolling tongues).
I am envious of those people who are able to eat what they want
@Karolinka
I have identical twin boys. Love the way that personalities are far from identical.
Nice write up Steampunk about what has worked for you.
One sure way to get people commenting is to mention food, diets and weight loss/gain. Now all we need are the words Jenny and Craig to rear their heads…ooops.
and frank, those core exercises/strength are essential for us all. Not only do they do wonders for the abs and surrounds but, especially for us cyclists, they help to maintain a good posture when we’re off the bike. We do put ourselves into an unnatural position on the bike, so the core exercises will help to alleviate this. They make a huge difference to ones overall strength as well.
Baseball, baseball, baseball……
@heath
I seriously cannot believe that I just watched that whole clip! SOOOO painful (but I have to admit, i do envy their cadence ability!!! :)
@pakrat
What the hell is Tomeke thinking?!?!?!?!? Huge Rule #7 violation there (what an amateur–maybe that’s the reason he has “only” two wins this year).
Alright, kids. Lets try to keep it a little classy here and try to keep the posting of semi-nude photos to a minimum, folks. And if you absolutely have to post them, post them as a link so that when you scroll down the page, it doesn’t scan like a porn site.
I mean, lets keep it toned down at least to the point where we’re only looking over our shoulder at work because we’re loading a cycling site, not because we also think we might make our coworkers think it’s a nuddie site.
@frank
Did you get busted?
@RedRanger
It would seem so :-)
No, I look like I’m loading a nudie site. You look like you’re hosting a nudie site.
@frank:
(cc: @Blah, @RedRanger, @all)
Apologies for apparently being the proverbial straw. And/or crossing a line… I wouldn’t have posted my Betty Boop cutesey thing if I hadn’t thought it was well behind the line drawn by the Victoria spread, not to mention Comment 90 on The Keepers (and to be equitable, Comment 88)… I gotchya, though. But the belly dancing picture? Really. I belly dance for families in restaurants, little kids are some of my favorite and most enthusiastic fans! Seattle has gazillions of belly dancers… well, nevermind. This IS a cycling site, sort of, point taken.
Um, by the way, Comment 90 (and 88) on the Keepers is still there, Pater Censor; 90 is certainly over what appears to be the evolving line of propriety. Quick! I don’t want to get caught! Delete delete delete!
And while you’re at it, could you PLEASE get rid of mcsqueak’s legs (one hairy, one not OMG TMI TMI TMI TMI), also on the Keepers, — THAT pic violates more family values than I can count.
You know, if you all actually WORKED at work instead of surfing, getting caught at anything online might just be less of a problem ;-)…
(I KNEW that had to be how some of ya’ll had time to hang out here so much — ya do it on someone else’s time! Moochers!)
@frank
@RedRanger
@Blah
@all
… I actually thought the pic I posted of the I9 hub in production was way sexier than any of the un-classy line crossing pix. Personally.
Jarvis :
Sorry Jarvis, no crowds of lolling tongues :-( . Would have been amusing, but perhaps better this way.
Twins – Yeah, I can get into all sorts of trouble and just blame it on my evil twin! It’s great! I never understood why some people just had imaginary friends… if you’re going to be nuts, you might as well invent *useful* hallucinations.
@G’phant
Sorry to upset. With three kids in the house, one glass is all I can manage with dinner if I want to have the energy to get them to bed and then get some work done in the evening (somewhere between the second and third glass, I get very happy and very sleepy). We’ve just made the shift from Italian reds to French reds, though…
Word. That is the hottest thing on there, the wheels are fully sick! Thanks for the re – up on cycling stuff.
@minion
My pleasure, thank YOU! I love talking about awesome engineering and beautiful craftsmanship… especially when it happens to be on my ride, lucky me! :-)
Steampunk, Refer to Rule #5. Train harder and eat normally, but eat only good stuff and not too much. That diet will kill you eventually and then you won’t be able to ride at all.