I’ve been cycling for 5+ years now, and average 15-20 hrs per week during the year. For this upcoming season, I really want to optimize by body weight. I recently had a Dexa Scan done. 170 pounds, 12% body fat, (~300-320 FTP in race season). My goal is to get to 8% body fat.
I have been running a 500 calorie deficit for past 4-5 weeks, and am down 5 pounds. I weigh everything I eat, factor in KJ burn from my rides, etc. During this period, I’ve basically eliminated intervals cause they’re quite challenging. I do some tempo work, but am mostly just doing Z2 work. Not to outrun a bad diet (the calorie deficit happens off the bike, I’m still feeling minimum of 60g/hr).
My big question is around volume. I can handle high volume - always have. I’m currently hitting 16-20 hrs per week of Z2 + 1 day of tempo intervals. My question is… am I just wasting my time? It’s hard to build fitness during a calorie deficit, and I’m wondering if the same thing would be achieved on 10-12 hr per week if the calorie deficit is maintained in the same way…
I’ve tried big volume (15-25hrs) with a calorie deficit numerous times and it’s very effective for losing weight for me but it comes at a cost. Although I usually don’t feel too bad at the time, I almost always end up in hole of being sick or over trained.
Lately I’ve been taking more days off (from zero to 2 a week) and it’s been a game changer. I feel better and I haven’t lost any fitness that I can tell.
Thank you. That’s good feedback. I will watch that as I’m going through it! Just want to get the weight loss period over with so I can get back to training hard! But very hard to do both simultaneously…
A base of z2 can still do wonders. If your body is used to that volume but also with intensity, then it can be a bit of a break and lessen the stress that comes with the deficit. It can also be a bit of a mental break. If it’s an increase of volume then it can help illicit some gains once you add on intensity later on. Additionally, more volume will give you more room to eat which can help mentally.
There really is no negative unless you feel like it’s too much for your body under the deficit. As long as you are aiming for a 500 deficit it should be very doable and leave you in a great place once you add back in intensity and food later on.
Thank you. I appreciate the response. Agreed on having a little more calorie wiggle room during the day.
My HRV / sleep metrics / heart rate drift, and everything else look really good. Feel good overall. But was reading about how adaptations can be pretty hard while in a deficit, so I was just wondering if those additional hours I’m doing at Z2 are essentially “waste miles”. My hope is that no, and that I can get more fat adaptation, some mitochondrial density increase, etc.
The counterargument is that doing almost exclusively Z2 without adding other power zones into the mix will stunt your FTP growth. And calorie expenditure is proportional to your FTP.
The other factor is time: 18 hours is a lot for someone with a job, and if you could reduce it to, say, 12 and reduce your stress and/or increase your sleep while you are at it, it might be better overall.
Yeah, I don’t disagree on the FTP growth. My plan was to run the deficit for 6 more weeks until Dec 31, and go back to maintaining so I can have January - May for a build/peak phase. And just use October-December as base phase / weight loss.
By no means an expert, and without coming across as a jerk… If you’re averaging 15-20hrs a week and your body hasn’t already sort of “self optimized” I’d be looking at changing the other variables(food going in)… If you’re just looking to hit a certain number for the sake of a w/kg PR thats one thing, but I don’t know that I’d be looking to skimp on the inputs when you have the time for that kind of volume if performance is what you’re after.
Depending on your age, I think a masters age cyclist will struggle with recovery, fatigue, and illness trying to maintain 8 % body fat. If you are in your teens and/or 20’s it’s probably doable.
Another piece of anecdata: in 2018ish, I was a little below 12 % body fat (according to the Tanita scale in the gym I frequented back then) and was at 4.4 W/kg. When Covid hit, I decided to gain a tad of weight, and my training improved. I went up to 4.7 W/kg, could recover better, went proportionally faster on Strava segments, etc. even though I was around 15 % body fat.
At 12 % body fat, I’d optimize for performance on the bike rather than a relatively arbitrary body fat percentage figure, especially if it is below 10 %.
Those are just arbitrary numbers using inaccurate measuring devices. Everyone will be able to tell if they can drop weight and/or start losing performance from it. That line in the sand will be different for everyone and you won’t know until you try.
Keep riding 15-20 hours/week, do two serious (lotsa weight, lotsa volume) gym workouts a week, and stop restricting calories. You’ll lower your BFP. And your average speed too.
