New to the forum and I need help with my bike commuting and eating

(Richard Dort) #1

Hello all,

My name is Richard. I am pretty much a lifelong cyclist. In my youth, I even did sport class MTB racing. I moved to Bowling Green, KY already struggled with my weight and got massive allergies having never had them before in my life. To the point that if I did one road bike ride in the spring I’d be sick for a week and a half. MTBing seemed OK, but still, I gained more weight. I now have my allergies under control with medicine and a mask I have to wear when I bike commute or do yard work. Last fall I was successful with the Keto diet and lost 15lbs over 4ish months. The biggest thing I noticed was that I was no longer as irritable. But then the holidays hit, and I fell off the bandwagon. I think I have kept it low carbish, but have had a horrible time getting back on and most of the weight cam back. Also, this fall my wife and I found out we were pregnant. So carbs have been just showing up to my house. Little Richy is here with us now, so hopefully people (and my wife) will stop showing up with carbs to taunt me.

Anyway, the stats. I have been commuting 4.4 miles one way to work and back about 4 days a week for the last 2 months. I haven’t lost a pound. My BMI is 31. But my resting heart rate has been steadily dropping. I am 41, and when I started my FTP was 124. It is now estimated at 150, but I have an FTP test in my calendar for over a week from now to see for real. I have a powermeter and Training Peaks and have worked out a more sensible training plan than what I started with for the first month. I have a quasi-goal of doing a cyclocross race in November. Not sure how in the wife is as she met me long after my racing days. But we’ll see.

Does anyone have any eating strategies they can suggest? Fitness is my primary goal, but the fact I have been working my tail off for 9-10 weeks and I have no weight loss to show for it is starting to weigh on me. And I usually don’t eat until I get to work. I have been trying to intermittent fast, but where I have been eating so much junk food I decided I needed to worry more about cutting the carbs and getting fat adapted, if not get into ketosis.

Ideas? Thoughts? Tips?

Thank you again,
Richard

#2

Hi @Richard_Dort - welcome! And yes, I can offer some thoughts from my perspective of a very fit cyclist who was very recently obese and is now at a reasonable weight.

Your cycling and fitness is immaterial. At least as it pertains to your weight. You are probably at fairly low risk of heart disease and diabetes. You are likely a very fit fat guy. I was.

If you want to lose your excess weight, it’s all about what you do and don’t eat. Your entire post was about your activity and training levels. It doesn’t matter. Good that you can commute 4.4 miles. Your cardio fitness is probably great, but you won’t lose weight until you focus on your eating. Your cardio fitness is probably great, but you won’t lose weight until you focus on your eating. Your cardio fitness is probably great, but you won’t lose weight until you focus on your eating.

Sorry to be so repetitive on eating, but your post was so focused on your activity that I felt I needed to counteract it. Your activity is irrelevant. Your activity is irrelevant. Your activity is irrelevant. Your activity is irrelevant. Your activity is irrelevant. Your activity is irrelevant. Your activity is irrelevant. Your activity is irrelevant.

To lose weight, focus 100% of your attention on what you eat. Stop snacking. Stop recovery eating. Stop rewarding yourself with food. Eliminate carbs. Eliminate sweeteners, artificial or natural. Get serious and focus on what works.

Stop working your tail off. Stop eating to sabotage your weight loss. And KICK BUTTOCKS on your cyclocross race in November when you are at fighting weight.

(Richard Dort) #3

Haha, thank you for the focus. A few things though. As my allergies cut my activities down dramatically I lost a lot of fitness. My FTP should be well over 200. Although my resting heart rate shows I am definitely getting fitter. Also, there is a history of diabetes in my family. And I have always felt I’ve been closer than I want to be. But the doctors have never seemed particularly concerned. I am also looking for eating scheams to help keep my hungar under control.

(Jane) #4

What do you eat (and when) on a typical day?

(Jane) #5

Also what is FTP?

I’m an old computer nerd so it means file transfer protocol to me :smile:

#6

Hey @Janie – I think FTP is Functional Threshold Power, measured in watts (?) If @Richard_Dort is over 200, that puts him in the Beast category, way out of my league. For me to throw down 200 watts, I need to be chased by a bear.

@Richard_Dort - the reason I’m so adamant on the eating business is that I personally fell into the trap of becoming obese while highly active. I was the fittest fat guy in California. Also, I participate in the Fitbit online community, which has quite a few people who report being obese while working out for hours per day. They are (and I was) desperate to do anything to lose weight. Except look at their eating.

As to diabetes, I was pre-diabetic, but no longer (A1c went from 6.0% when I was fit and fat to 5.2% now). I believe the improvement was 100% due to what I ate, leading to sustained lowering of my insulin. I believe that while my weight loss coincided with my pre-diabetes reversal, it was not the cause.

Regarding schemes to control your hunger, if you go Low Carb High Fat, your hunger will diminish. Also, it helps to not “scratch the itch”. The less you snack, the less hungry you will become. Also, I found artificial sweeteners to be a trap that increases cravings.

Oops, one last item. Probably telling you what you already know – your cycling performance will take a hit if you go Keto and burn fat, particularly in hills and sprints, and particularly in the beginning. If you want to be competitive in November, you might consider remaining a carb burner, eating low carb to lose weight, but not full-blown Keto.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #7

Happened to me. I’ve cut out the artificial sweeteners and have been slowly but steadily losing ever since. I didn’t think I was reacting to them!`

@Richard_Dort Dave has lots of good advice, but I believe you actually do have time to become fat-adapted between now and November. Your performance will take a hit during your adaptation, true, but it should return once you are fat-adapted. Of course, it’s up to you to decide whether winning the race or sorting out your metabolism is the priority, and of course I’m not speaking from experience, since I get all the exercise I need by jumping to conclusions. :grinning:

Probably best to listen to Dave, after all.

(Richard Dort) #8

Thank you for all of the replies guys! Yes FTP is Functional Threshold Power. Basically how many watts you can sustain for an hour At 6’2" a 200 ftp is anything but a beast. Years ago, it was closer to 300w. Which sounds awesome until you compare those numbers to professionals my size. But I am currently at only 150w. To give the uninitiated an idea there are many hills I have to put out 300w just to drag my fat carcass up in the easiest gear.

Anyway diet. Its late and I need to go to bed. So I’ll write about this part later. Also, know that I work retail and my schedule is literally all over the place. So I’m fighting not having a regular eating schedule too. I will say that I have been trying to keep the carbs down, but failing. And since the baby has finally got here that is becoming easier.
I did make some fat bombs yesterday. These should help.

I am curious about getting fat adapted though

(ianrobo) #9

Hi Richard, you are complaining that weight has not dropped but this has and that sure sign of fitness. I know for us the Power/ratio is key but your body will find it’s own level, for example measured your waist as well, what’s happening ?

as for food the only real way is to go low carb and find foods and meals you love to eat … and that means you have to experiment

(Richard Dort) #10

Finally, I have taken a second to update. With some help from my sister-in-law during her visit, it’s been easier to eat keto meals. I have been making them for work, and my wife has been more engaged in not handing me carb loaded meals. Which has been a huge help. Snacks and soda have been the Achilles heel for me. But I feel the last week or 2 my meals have been on point. And I have managed to get to a point where I am not craving soda and chips as much. Mostly I had an ah-ha moment maybe a week ago and went to town making fat bombs. I pop one with caffeine in it before my commute and snack on them when I get to work. I have noticed that I am less hungry and it easier to get full. I had been fasting from when I ate before bed until after I get to work. But I have quit that because my schedule is all over the place, and I am not into starving myself. I generally though, have a good sized snack sometime after I get to work. Either right away or on my first 10-minute break. Then I eat lunch on my lunch break. Then I would also snack on my second 10, but I have been less and less hungry so that has been happening less. Then I eat when I get home. I am trying to get things down to 3 meals, with as little grazing as possible. I also did a fitness test on my bike and found out I had been overestimating the fitness number (my FTP) that effects the workouts I have planned. I was overtraining. So now I am recovering from that.

As far as my fitness levels. My resting heart rate will settle down to 55bpm while I’m sleeping on my rest days but then bounce up and settle again after workouts and low sleep nights. My FTP has only gone up 2 watts (124w to 126w) since December. But my 20 minute, 5 minute, and 1-minute power have been steadily progressing. Now, it’s hard to work on 1-hour power when your commute is only 23 minutes and you have a newborn at home. But I really thought I was going to see better progress. So if you are measuring an increase of fitness via FTP, then that is a solid no. As far as the waist, I cannot comfortably take in an extra notch on my belt. But the notch I am in is more comfortable. Now I literally just thought to check my Fitbit app, as I have a Fitbit scale. It is showing, over the last 3 months, a slow but steady decline in fat weight inverse to the increase in lean weight. Also, my fat % has been in a slow but steady decline. But I am not certain how accurate this thing is, but it is nice to see. To balance that out, over the last month I have been in a steady decline in w/kg measured at 5 sec, 1 minute, 5 minute, and 20 minute, which is not good. But, I am sure it is due to overtraining the last month.

I took the time to set my heart rate zones in my Garmin watch to reflect the zones Training Peaks has figured out for me. It hilarious. I spend almost all of my time in Heart Rate Zone 2, and an equal amount of time in zone 6 power wise.

I guess recapping, I was having issues with hunger and trying to stop the grazing. I am trying to get to 3 meals, or 2 meals and a snack a day. Fat bombs seem to be the trick I was looking for. And with a little more support at home, I feel like I am getting my eating under control and things are progressing more naturally. I did not start this with the intention of losing weight. My intention was to get more fit. But I also had no idea that after 10 weeks of bike commuting I would have lost no weight at all. It is depressing. Because of the heat of KY, I leave home an hour before my shift starts so I have a 1/2hr to cool down and change. And its a 1/2 hour home. I love it, but it is an extra hour over my normal commute time, and I feel like it is a whole lot of work with no pay off at this point. I also am having some issue with recovery, and didn’t know about suppliments I might want to be taking to keep my body in balance. Thank you.