From reading this you strike me as similar to someone who has done the ‘traditional’ base approach. I.E. you have a built a steady state aerobic fitness but you haven’t stressed that, so your gains so far will be limited.
As above, SSB 1&2 are the plans for you, LV as also recommended above due to your injury concerns. Take a read here as to why Sweet Spot Base is the best choice for almost all athletes
If you can stay on top of your injury concerns you will see gains, that higher intensity work will also help boost your metabolic rate and hence help with fat burning, double win!
I think others have covered the training aspects in detail (my vote is with @mcneese.chad and others, follow a plan - you need a ton more intensity if you’re only doing 3-4 hours a week over the off season) but there haven’t been a ton of posts on the diet stuff.
If you’re currently at 225 pounds and think that a weight of 185 is achievable that is a massive change to your lifestyle.
As mentioned earlier - you should keep a food journal for at least a week. I co-sign with @willball12 on using MyFitnessPal to track things. You’re likely going to need to dramatically change your diet if you truly want to lose 40 pounds - there is not an easy way to do this.
Dropping ice cream for a month is a great start - but I’d actually suggest you do the food tracking and take a more comprehensive approach to evaluating your eating habits. Your calories are coming from a ton of sources, ice cream is just one. If you cut ice cream but replace it with an extra pat of butter on your bread you’re going to be surprised about how little things change.
Track everything you eat for a week and then figure out how you want to change your diet
Just another note of support. Changing food selection is hard. Esp cutting sugar! Sugar is known to release dopamine and endorphins, which is why people get addicted to it. You will fall back to eating it periodically. Try a SMALL amount instead. See if that cures the craving.
Get on a training plan. Others have talked about them.
This week’s podcast talked about someone w similar aches and pains. Have you listened to it? Great advice in it.
As a triathlete, you can still swim and run w the SS plan. But it is tough to get everything in. If you want to focus on cycling, do the SS low volume. Swim on the off days to let the legs recover (you will be surprised at how fatigue from intensity carries). Run 1x a week.
If you want to stay Tri focused do a low volume Tri plan. I think you will get more from the SS plans.
You MUST prioritize fixing the issues causing pain. Weight loss will help but is not a cure.
Lots of great advice above, not mentioned yet, but works for me…
Set a goal race/event to do for this summer or fall, that you will do no matter what. Better more, pay for the event and lodging if you have to travel. Truly commit. It’s more motivating to work towards something and gives purpose to your training. The generic “I want to loose weight” or “I want to ride faster” goal is difficult even for the most fit.
Then each decision you make, diet or training, is either working towards or against that goal. Put that goal on the wall in front of your trainer along with other motivating quotes. Put reminders in the kitchen, maybe on the fridge, that you have a race/event. Maybe even have a countdown that you physically have to change the days/number until your race/event. Put a sticky note on your bathroom mirror. You could benefit greatly using regular and consistent reminders to get your mind, motivation and cravings under control.
I do all the same things above working towards my “A” race. I’ve even changed my iPhone’s screen saver/background as a reminder for my big event. It constantly reminds me why I endure the suffering and sacrifices at times, because I know in the end I’ve done everything I can to reach my goals.
“Fate whispers to the warrior, YOU CANNOT WITHSTAND THE STORM, and the warrior whispers back, I AM THE STORM”.
Some brilliant advice given already so I can be somewhat flippant.
Just remember that most riders and TR users didn’t start off being fast and I doubt we’re blessed with fantastic genes or the ability to say no to all the tempting yummy stuff. Don’t lose sight of what you have and are already achieving.
You’re posts make me believe that you certainly don’t lack focus or the will to commit, it might simply be that you need direction. TR and this forum can certainly help there and I think 2019 could be a game changer for you.
I’m not the type to over analyse…my advice would be to make sure you are enjoying what you are doing before worrying about numbers.
This feels especially important with mental health issue and being a time crunched cyclist.
If you are enjoying what you’re doing then sweet spot is your friend. However you can get these gains by going out of fast Group rides with your mates.
Just to add to my earlier comments about eating habits - I really struggle with having a sweet tooth. When I am at my best I can avoid desserts etc but when I need something I will have diet coke (1kcal per can) or a low calorie jelly (the wibble wobble on a plate kind not preserves), or a hot chocolate (powder with boiling water) to scratch that itch rather than eat cookies/cheesecake/Apple crumble/custard/all of the above.
I came to say something along the same lines as @FatBoySlim. Fast Food is fine since its a necessity sometimes with a family - change it to a sandwhich shop and get a low cal one. If at McDonalds, get a McDouble with no Cheese. Only buy light ice cream and try to reduce the amount by 20%. You are going to buy it because of a kiddos, let’s be real. Eat smart, it becomes a habit - don’t binge on a fad diet. Small changes make big differences over time. All that said, it doesn’t effect your power on the trainer Listen to Coach Chad.
FWIW, I dropped about 45 pounds a few years ago. It took 12 months of myfitnesspal.com and working with a trainer. I’m about 138-140 now @ 5’10" (on a good day!).
Tracking my food with myfitnesspal.com was a critical part of learning new eating habits after 45 years on this earth eating American crap. Learning about my macros was easy in the books – but quite a different story when I walked into the kitchen. It took 12 months. Slow, steady, and permanent.
I tend to have a bit of an “all or nothing” personality when it comes to food. As an example, I went a year without a single diet soft drink only to go back to drink many a day. Ice cream same thing.
My best cycling performance was definitely tied to diet. Lets face it 25 lbs makes a huge difference on a bike!
That said I am going to take in the advice and add intensity in two parts.
My Zone 1 tends to be between 125 -1 75 watts. My easy work outs tend to be on the low end of that (125 watts). I am going to push average closer to the 155 watt mark (gradually building to it over a couple of weeks). I still want to keep Zone 1 in Zone 1 (as I can’t have every workout as a hard one).
My hard work outs tend to be in the 180 - 200 watts range. I’m going to work a upward progression on that one.
We’ll see how that feels over the next month or two.
This is my only advice: First, find a way to have fun on the bike. Enjoy it. Then place all the other training things in orbit around that central thing…having fun.
I would say that your focus should finding multiple activities that you enjoy, and to get faster on the bike I would…
Lose weight
Lose weight
Etc.
Then focus on getting faster on the bike.
I am currently 44 years old, 6’0 tall and 175lbs – 3 years ago I was 218 lbs. So I understand what you’re going through. When I focused only on cycling, my FTP went up but moving the FTP requires recovery. And recovery doesn’t burn calories. And that’s what you need to focus on. You will get SO MUCH FASTER by losing weight and simply maintaining your FTP.
The good news for you is that you sound like your aiming for a triathlon – so get swimming and running on the days your don’t cycle. Obviously you have to sort out your calf issues, but assuming you do . . . get after those.
Keep focusing on your core. Try and integrate push-ups and pull ups into the mix – something about weight bearing exercises (vs. using weights) seems to accelerate weight loss for me. I have no scientific evidence for that.
Like a lot people, I put on a few extra pounds around the holidays and am currently trying to normalize – so I’m sacrificing some cycling gains by running a bit more on my “recovery” days (currently in SSB LV2 myself) – because fat/weight loss is my priority. When I get down to 170-172lbs on a regular basis, I’ll put the focus back on cycling gains.
It’s really hard to serve too many masters – you need to pick a priority and focus on it. Much like an “A” race, weight loss needs to be your priority and sacrifice all other fitness goals in service of that. Once you nail it – focus on something else.
Good luck from someone at the end of the journey you’re on. Everything is better below 185lbs. Everything rocks below 175lbs
Your last sentence is true. But you can do a crap load of sweet spot rather than zone 1 (which zone system are you using??) In fact you should be able to do 3x 1-2 hour sweet spot workouts a week with no real issue. Sweet spot base low volume would have you doing 2x sweet spot and 1x under over session (more or less) per week. This is totally doable even if you havent done a huge amount of structured training.
If you want the progression two things are key 1) consistency and 2) progression. The consistency part is up to you. The TR plans will take care of the progression part for you once you follow the base–>build–>speciality route.
Im no doctor/medical profession but being approx 40lbs from what you consider a good/goal weight may have a lot to do with both your back and calf issues.
However there are other things to explore here:
Build your core. The “Core Advantage” book by Tom Danielson is excellent and filled with simple movements you can do in the comfort of your pain cave with no extra equipment.
Professional bike fit (if you have more than one bike get them both fit).
You may get some value from extra stretching and/or rolling. YMMV.
Lose that 40lbs! I know this is easier said than done… but you seem to have the right mindset to attain this one
Others have said it, but I’ll add my bit. Get your diet and weight under control and the rest will follow. If your goal was to be 185 lbs and you hit it, you can bet your power and endurance will increase while injury / illness will likely fade away. The final result is that you will be competitive and a 1/2 ironman will be on the cards assuming you’re healthy and incorporated the other sports into your training regime.
Good luck to you… oh, and I’ll add, if you follow a plant based diet you’ll not only see the pounds melt away but you’ll feel better and help the environment too.
Lots of good point. That said, I do and do not agree with some of this post.
Will I get faster by losing weight … 100%
Is losing weight the single biggest factor for me in doing that … likely yes.
However, I find that when I am driving to a goal like an event in sports I want to do everything I can, including weight loss. A motivation I don’t get from just wanting to be slimmer.
Plus there is all the other benefits like stress relief, clearing my respitory system, heart health, spending time with my daughter, etc.
Listen to Coach Chad.
