“Just fuel your workouts and your body composition will be what it needs to be”
While I do agree that creating a large calorie deficit on the bike is ill advised, saying that those who have weight to lose will just magically reach optimal body composition by training properly and eating “healthy” is terribly ignorant. Adding exercise to your routine will certainly help, but without being mindful of creating a calorie deficit over time, you won’t lose any weight. When someone asks for weight loss advice, I think it’s far more considerate to actually educate them on the requirements for weight loss to occur rather than glossing over the question and being vague in the name of avoiding promoting “diet culture”. Losing weight is not easy, but it is simple. You need a calorie deficit, you will be hungry at times, and it will adversely affect your performance. There are more sustainable and enjoyable ways of going about it, but at some point, it won’t feel good, and that’s ok. Preparing people for the reality of losing weight is far more helpful than pretending your body magically reaches optimal body composition without conscious effort.
With all this said - questioning whether someone actually needs to lose weight is valuable. I am not arguing that all cyclists need to look like GC riders, but if someone wants to lose weight for the right reasons, providing actionable advice is the compassionate thing to do.
This one always gets me a bit when I hear it on the podcast. That’s not how things work.
I’m now on a healthy weight but I’ve been (massively) overweight most of my life. Thrust me, I can and will out eat my ± 7000Cal burned (a week) on the bike if i just eat when I feel like it.
I get this. Whether you have a off the shelf plan you purchased, an AI machine feeding you workouts, or a personal coach giving you daily workouts, there is always a time when the plan needs to be adjusted. But I see so many times on this forum where someone fails a workout or two and wants to throw it all away, find a new plan or design their own plan. And usually, their plan doesn’t have the intensity needed.
So it is a lazy way of saying it, but sometimes people do need to take a rest day or two after that failed workout. Realize that this is a learning moment of finding your limits, then HTFU and FTFP.
Yeah, if I had hair I’d want to pull it out every time.
I get not wanting to wade into a fraught area with body issues, etc. But especially when it comes from pros or former pros, it’s just massively out of touch with reality.
We’re not riding our bikes 6 hours a day, most of us are finding an hour a day during the week and otherwise sitting at desks. The weight distinctions for normal people isn’t what pros are talking about which is like, if I was under 150lbs I’d be x seconds faster, but man my body seems to sit at 153!
Yes!!! Women especially get bad advice on this. I think it’s sort of like the kellogg’s “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” propaganda campaign.
Post-partum I only started to really lose weight by riding in the morning without eating first (or maybe just a very light snack) but did have a coffee with a little unsweetened soy milk. If I rode long enough to feel the grumbling in my stomach, then I ate on the bike (usually 1-1.5 hours in). VERY high intensity stuff required eating beforehand though… but still a small meal/snack.
I hate the advice that you must eat breakfast if you want to lose weight or that you can’t ride if you haven’t eaten first. If you’re carrying extra weight around, you have fuel for easy endurance.
Same with the advice that you should eat before you start to feel hungry. 100% no. Don’t eat until you feel hungry if you need to lose weight.
