Wake up call received

Received some grim data this morning about my internals, deep down I knew it but seeing the numbers really made me realise I have to take some action.

I had a body scan on an Inbody 720 machine (this is a research grade machine with 98% accuracy compared to a Dexa scan, superseded now by the 770, they’re not cheap ~ £15,000) and I basically need to shed about 11kg of fat :astonished::astonished::astonished:.

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I’ve had the same feedback after my two dexa scans. 28% body fat @96kgs. Need to get to about 84kg. Mostly visceral fat around the organs, the worst kind and the hardest to shift. Good luck :facepunch:

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This is done in the kitchen

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That’s about 150 hours worth of cycling, now that doesn’t sound too bad…

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Have you got a plan of attack?

407,000 kj :grin:. What surprised me is that it gave me an estimated BMR of 1795, 54 year old male, 178cm

Stop being a pig. 46yr old, 185cm. Naturally big build. Can go the gym and get muscle gain without trying so I’ve chosen the wrong sport :slight_smile: BMR 2400, so plenty to work with.

But seriously, I have tried everything and I’m close to my wits end. But on the other hand I’m down 20kgs from a bad time in my life, so there’s that.

Matt Fitzgerald’s Endurance diet book was great for eating the right foods, I saw such a massive gain in performance and a change in body shape that looks leaner, but I actually gained switching to that way of eating.

At the end of the day it’s calories in vs calories out and I try need to find the balance between fuelling workouts and creating a deficit. Going into off season literally this week so I’m going to try a lot of zone 2 style work with the focus specifically on creating a calorie deficit and not chasing performance.

That’s a really bitter pill to swallow when I’ve got an FTP of 260 and I really want that 300w. I’m a data driven person.

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If you saw a change in body composition and an increase in power maybe you should stick with that?

I’m down 20 pounds over the last two years by eating healthier and training more seriously. Last winter I counted calories and dieted during a base miles block and I lost maybe 3 pounds which then came back so quickly. I should have lost 10-15 by the calculations

At 54 those last 15 pounds just seem impossible to loose. And I’m not willing to starve myself or try to train on 1200 calories per day.

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And there’s the dilemma, realistically the best assistance I can give the fat loss drive is continue with the resistance training I was doing earlier in the year, do some good 2 hour fasted rides and really nail down my nutrition, I’m under no illusions it’s going to be a very difficult process.

TBH with the lack of racing I’ve been primarily been training to try to up my FTP so I subsequently use more kj over the winter. What a nightmare (all of my own making I accept)

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If the Endurance Diet was working, read through his Quick Start Guide. The diet stuff is similar of course, but I think there are a few temporary changes in there. The workouts aren’t performance driven but focused on weight/fat loss. There are easy rides, and a fasted ride but also some other things to help encourage fat loss.

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+1 for the Endurance Diet. I’m not even half way through the book and already sold on the overall philosophy. Get rid of the “easy” stuff which, for me, is added sugar and low-quality snacks. (This thread has many good suggestions in it.)

Secondly, add weight training if you’re not already doing it. There’s a fair amount of science that correlates lifting to weight loss.

Finally, do those endurance rides fasted if you can. If needed work up to it. At least for me, once I get going, any initial hunger pangs I feel go away after 15-20 minutes plus drinking water.

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To reduce the intra-abdominal fat ditch alcohol and fructose (so table sugar, high fructose corn syrup). I’d say go low-carb for best results, but that’s a big ask, and no reason not to start with less restrictive intervention. Also make sure you’re getting enough sleep and manage life stress as these can also be blockers. On the bright side, when you get it right this fat is the first to go. Which is good because it’s also the most metabolically unhealthy.

As far as measuring progress… take waist measurements as opposed to obsessing over the scale. Weight could stay the same, but lose 4+" and that’s huge progress.

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Thanks for the contributions here, it’s what I was hoping for and has just affirmed what I had in mind.

  1. I was doing the 5-3-1 weights programme earlier in the year, i will pick this up again

  2. I’m not concerned with overall mass.per se, i doubt i will grow much muscle, I just want the internal fat reduced

  3. Interestingly I took along my own Nokia scales to compare them with the high end kit they had. My scales overestimated fat mass by 10%, lean mass was just 2kg out, 62 compared to 60 and water mass was even closer.

  4. I know that the BMR figure can only be an estimate given the method of measuring.

  5. One of the TrainerRoad “improver” series podcasts also mentioned the Endurance diet book but I read some reviews which put me off buying it, they made it sound like it was basic advice which I guess most of us know but don’t always put into practice.

Congrats! That is awesome and gives me hope :slight_smile:

@Johnnyvee thank you for posting that, it’s pretty inspirational and you’re so right about the being kind to yourself. I’m UK based and between 96 and 06 I was a police officer, I have to be honest it really messed me up more than I ever realised, terrible shifts, poor eating, self imposed high stress levels through constantly striving to do a good job, it was on the verge of destroying me really, luckily I saw the signs and got out.

I was aware of that other thread so will tag it for updates.

Thanks.

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I’d describe it as common sense, which is not as common as one might wish. Having a set of rules/guidelines to follow for a few weeks to adjust how you eat can make a huge difference in successful, long term change.

I checked it out of the local library. Maybe that’s a solution?

Unless you do it continuously…that would suck!