Dr. Pfaffenbach joined us to answer some questions about cholesterol and the link to carbohydrates (VERY helpful insight), and a very practical discussion with specific macro targets to lose weight and keep it off. Hope you enjoy it, and if so, rate the podcast and share the episode with your friends!
// TOPICS COVERED
(00:00:00) Welcome!
(00:00:18) Discussing Weight Loss for Cyclists
(00:00:44) Trigger Warnings and Responsible Guidance
(00:01:52) Listener Questions: Brandon’s Dilemma
(00:03:45) Listener Questions: Ryan’s Frustration
(00:06:22) Understanding Cholesterol and Carbohydrates
(00:25:38) Complexities of Weight Loss
(00:37:17) Personal Experience with Lifestyle Changes
(00:37:55) Setting Realistic Athletic Goals
(00:40:15) Sustainable Weight Management for Athletes
(00:45:14) Importance of Protein and Fat in Diet
(00:48:48) Carbohydrate Management for Performance
(00:52:46) Tracking and Adjusting Nutritional Intake
(01:01:37) Seeking Professional Help for Nutrition
TLDR biology is not a math problem . If you can’t make it a lifestyle change, then it’s a diet and likely temporary. Even when you do make the lifestyle change it’s not going to be linear. Also be prepared to make adjustments when things aren’t working.
This has been one of the biggest changes for me. Learning when to fuel, how to fuel. Focusing on modulating my carbs, hitting my fiber goals, proper protein.
STOP FOCUSING ON DIETING, make small changes not exaggerated drastic changes. (Im looking at you 75 hard people)
Maybe I’m a dummy but I’m not sure that I came away with anything actionable
Like, what does “modulate carbohydrates” actually mean? How big should a caloric deficit be for weight loss? If I’m 180 lbs wanting to lose weight, do I eat for 175 lbs or 172 lbs, and how do I calculate what that means in actual food? What does a proper deficit look like? How do I know if it’s within range, and how do I know when to readjust. What apps are helpful for this? Why would I take photos of food? What do I do with this photo collage information? How long should one stay at each weight target before dropping lower? Weeks? Months? How do you know when to adjust?
Jonathan mentions he made “lifestyle changes over the last 9-10 weeks” that resulted in fat loss, but never explained what those changes were.
And poor Ryan - who is 185 lbs, trains 8 hours a week, and wants to be 150 lbs - was never mentioned again in the episode. What should Ryan actually do starting Monday?
After listening too it it wasn’t that much more in depth than some previous episodes with Pfaffenbach on.
My takeaway from this and other episodes was basically if you are 180 and want to get to 150, you eat like your 176 until you are 176. So you don’t do a specific deficit just calculate your macro intake for that goal, short term goal being 176. He seems pretty firm on your base intake for protein should be solid no matter what you are doing, so eat 1.4-1.6g (fixed I had Jonathons’ comment numbers) of protein per KG of body weight. Eat the fats you need to eat and then the modulate carbs just mean to be planning those 2 meals before a workout to make sure you are front loaded on carbs. If you are off a day don’t wolf down the carbs post ride, get your fat and protein in and your normal RDI (they said 120g) of carbs in. Then plan ahead for next work out and make sure your carbs are back up for those 2 meals prior. Also then fuel the workout.
The vagueness on the fats and carbs can be confusing when so firm on the protein intake. This is where I believe he was saying, before changing anything photograph your food for a week. The idea behind the photos is you won’t log everything or forget you ate an extra cookie, but if you take the pic you know. Obviously you can also forget to take the pic but this eliminates the scale and other intricacies of trying to accurately track calorie consumption. So now the week before you started you have a baseline via the photos and can figure out the calories from there. If what you were eating was causing weight gain, cut it back a little within the guidelines of eating that base protein, filling with fats and modulating carbs depending on planned workouts. If what you were eating was maintaining, cut it back but not necessary as much so you don’t end up under fueled.
Dr. Pfaffenbach tends to struggle with brevity when he’s on the show. Most people struggle when you put a microphone in front of them — it just goes to show the skills that @Jonathan has developed over the years. In this case it’s worse because he has so much to say and has to edit it down for us.
My takeaway was this:
Pick a next step weight not crazy far from your current weight. The example was 180lbs → 172lbs. Convert that weight to metric because science says fuck imperial units.
Eat 1.4 - 1.6x that kg value in protein a day.
Eat ~1x that kg value in fat a day.
Eat at least 120g of carbs a day (lol).
Whatever you have left you can use to generate a calorie deficit. Don’t go crazy.
Ah yes this is the amount he said later when saying how much to take in. Jonathan had said the 1-1.2 at some point and he acknowledged so that was the number that stuck. And for some reason the fat 1g per kg wasn’t in my notes.
If you went with 1.4 that would be about 1700 calories give or take for that goal, well for the 176 I did before when mathing. That probably isn’t too far off to have a small deficit built in for someone in that weight range.
I really enjoyed the pod. Kyle is great and always good value. One quibble though - g/kg for macro intakes and then every bodyweight measure was in pounds. I was driving so couldn’t do the conversions at the time.
The way I approach the modulating carbs thing is to look at my plan and what I have coming up. If i have 1 hr or less rides I eat my regular 120g carbs. If I have a longer/harder effort ride the next day i increase slightly (maybe i have a biscuit with my breakfast, french fries with my lunch ect). On the bike I fuel similarly, 1 hr or less easy? no extra carbs. hard but shorter effort? I have carbs before I get on. Long/hard ride? carb before and continue through the ride. when I am not actively stoke the fire, i stop dumping fuel in.
So right now i am sitting at work and have a simple 90 minute z21 ride after, I will eat a fiber forward, protein rich diet as appropriate. I will say no to the random extra carbs(donuts, pizza whatever). Ill eat something after work as i am changing into my ride clothes (probably a pop tart because they hit). After I ride ill have something with complex carbs and protein (today it will likely be a high fiber wrap with veggies and some chicken).
Basically, while we have static numbers for our protein and fat intake that is a ratio of our weight, carbs fluctuate according to what we are doing with them. and that is where we can make incremental changes that will bring a slight calorie deficit. emphasis on slight.
It’s funny when I began the season I thought to myself I’ll like to get to 165 lbs for cross season but didn’t go on a diet or anything. Just limited junk food.
Now I’m at 168 lbs and thinking how to hold at this weight, I don’t want to go below 165 lbs.
A topic not really covered in the podcast was body composition. Several years ago I wanted to get down to 155lbs (70.3 kg) from 165 lbs (74.8 kg). At my wife’s suggestion I decided to get a DEXA scan, which showed me at 8.4% body fat. I realized at that point that 155 was really out of reach for me, unless I lost some muscle mass. And, as I guy then my upper 50s, that didn’t seem like a great idea, so I adjusted my goals to just maintaining my weight.
Also, once you get a little older, the amount of grams of protein needed per day gets increased (according to some studies, at least, due to the increased difficulty for the body to absorb it) to 2.2 g per kg of desired weight, which thankfully translates to 1 g per pound, making the calculations much easier!!
I’d have to relisten but I’m fairly sure that it was discussed. He (Kyle) talked about how a person’s desired weight might be achievable (and I’m going from memory here) and a couple of examples he gave were big, dense bones and a large brain - relative to another person.
Does he mention anything about workout calories? Or is he simply talking about eating intuitively?
In my and I’m sure everyone else’s experience , there’s a difference between my total calories for the day on a 4 hour ride vs a 90 minute ride.(with or without intensity)
I listened to and then watched the podcast. I am not much wiser! Kyle is obviously hugely knowledgeable and a real enthusiast for his speciality but brevity is not his forte. It’s partly the fault of the medium which encourages open ended discussion and leaves questions forgotten and unanswered. Perhaps complex but hugely important topics like this should be scripted in some way, with headers, clear questions and answers, one flowing from the other as interviewer and interviewee do what they wanted to do here- to inform and educate a captive audience.
. If you can’t make it a lifestyle change, then it’s a diet and likely temporary. Even when you do make the lifestyle change it’s not going to be linear. Also be prepared to make adjustments when things aren’t working.