I haven’t thought of it like a daily average, but instead track and weigh daily. My weight hasn’t been a huge concern (at 6’3, 167 I’m already fairly lean) but I’d like to see if I can get my watts/kg up over 5 and to do that I’m going to have to cut the weight as I think I’m up against my FTP limits based on my current training volume capabilities. If I get back to my normal FTP ceiling area I’d only need to drop another 5 lbs to hit that goal - so I’m seeing what some clean living can do.
I like the idea of thinking of averaging out the calorie expenditure over the week and using that instead of day to day - would let me eat a bit more on my rest days and a bit less on my ride days. FWIW last week I burned 11.5k, the week before 14.5k, and three weeks back only 10k. Sweet spot is great for crushing the total energy expenditure
What percentage of total daily calories from protein does this work out to for you?
I’ve always worked back from total calories. For example, if I am targeting 2,000 calories per day in a 50 C / 30 P / 20 F split, I know I’m looking to construct a meal plan with 600 calories from Protein (2000 * 30%) which is 150 grams (600 / 4).
It would be nearly 20% Cal of protein. I do it the other way round. I take my protein in absolute numbers. Probably I would go with 50/30/20 or 50/20/30. But I don’t like calculate the whole day long. So Intry to hit my protein, the rest is good carbs. Fat comes easy with seeds, salad seasoning, olive oil and so on. It a more robust way.
I think I would be worried that if I focussed on one macronutrient, I would run the risk of missing the mark on the others. This is why in the planning stage I try to take a more holistic approach, looking to where I want to end up at the end of each day. I understand the desire to focus on Protein though, if you’re trying to achieve a high proportion of daily intake from protein without excessive fat intake, you really have to be thoughtful about your protein sources and timing.
One thing I struggle with is snacking in the evening. Something that actually seems to help me is if I brush my teeth after my main meal. It seems to curb my appetite and prevent me from eating anything else.
I started Trainerroad last year in march at 103kg (227 lbs) and got down to 90 kg (198lb) after 6 months and minimal diet change. I’m now 86kgs (189lb) with mainly diet change and not following any particular plan currently.
I find using Matt fitzgeralds diet very helpful at keeping off the weight along with not eating after 6pm in the evening. I also try to follow the concept of King/Prince/Pauper meal sizes. All 3 combined have seemed to assisted in my weight loss, now slowly aiming for my target of 80kgs (176lb).
It looks more impressive when you start from a high number, the closer I get to 80kgs the much harder it is becoming and the smaller the reductions. I have been struggling injury and illness this last 2-3 months but am hoping to start ssb/build plans next week again and along with diet I should see some more loss.
Consistency is key
Trying to loose fat while maintaining my power is my main focus. So I startet a more strict strength regime coming along with a higher protein intake. Study’s show that this will lead to the best result for my goal. I don’t have a problem to hit fat and carbs just by eating my regular meals. My breakfast includes many seeds. I snack peanuts. Like Greek full fat yoghurt. Oliveoil on my vegetables. I calculated my protein intake and was a bit shocked, that not even hit my maintaining numbers around 80g of protein. 50% carbs I get just without paying attention to it.
Do you track everything you eat, or have you tried doing so for a week? That’s the easiest way to identify your carb sources and then figure out which you like the least and cut them out
When I lost the weight I was more strict as I mentioned. In the beginning I tried keeping track and weigh the foods but that was a hazzle so I stopped doing that.
During weekdays I always skipped breakfast and made lunch my first meal and then had dinner in the evening. You can say I did intermittent fasting. But if I was hungry during the evening I ate a boiled eggs. I couldn’t go to sleep hungry.
Normal meal for lunch was usually leftovers from the night before. I had some kind of protein in form of meat, fish or bird together with a lot of green kale, cauliflower, broccoli or something like that. Also I had a large portion of fat on the side, mostly grassfed butter, normally around 75 g.
If I didn’t have leftovers I normally fried 5-8 eggs with some bacon, mushrooms and green kale. The eggs were fried in a big spoon of butter to get the fat up.
The evening meal was the same as the leftovers mentioned above. If I still was hungry or wanted something before bed I had preboiled egg in the fridge. That was a trick I used whenever I wanted something sweet or thought I was hungry. I asked myself if I wanted to eat a boiled egg, if that didn’t sound tasteful I knew I was not hungry for real, I was just in the mood for a snack so i didn’t eat. If the idea of eating a boiled egg sounded good I knew I was hungry and had the egg.
Now for maintaining the weight and since I do high intensity workouts I eat more carbs. Normal breakfast is 3 rice cakes with canned mackerel on top. Lunch normally leftovers or eggs with vegetables. Dinner is pretty “normal” with a large portion of vegetables and sweet potatoes or a minor portion of rice or regular potatoes. I don’t eat gluten, but thats not for the carbs but for other reasons. The main difference now is that I don’t add the extra fat in form of a large chunk of butter on top, this energy comes from wholefood carbs instead. If I feel hungry in the evening I normally have some organic peanut butter, I could eat a lot of this!
When I did research, the advice for endurance athletes was 0.7g protein per pound of weight. This should be your target weight if losing weight as far as I know - well that’s what I worked too.
I’m not aware of too much protein being a particular issue health wise. For me personally, it’s really the fats I seem to undershoot rather than carbs. That’s not particularly deliberately, I’m just not a fan of fatty foods (even when I had a brutal diet, I’ve always preferred lean meats for example), and nuts and seeds are something I have to conciously try to add to my day. It’s my sweet tooth that has always been my issue!
Lost about 10kg this year so far (down from 80kg-70kg) with an aim to get to 66kg, which would be more inline with my height.
Other than the normal things like cut down junk food, alcohol, snacks-
Things that worked:
MyFitnessPal for food and portion size tracking
Daily morning weighings with smart scale
Batch cooking quite frequently for lunches
Purchase of identical sized food storage boxes, so its easy to measure consistent portions
High protein, low carb breakfast, which staves off hunger until lunch
No calorie drinks with meals, and no desserts.
Had a cheat meal/day at the weekends here and there, which helped with keeping on track during the week, and also not losing all my friends by being completely antisocial with food.
As long as your kidney’s are working fine, extra protein isn’t going to hurt.
The .7g per pound works out to be similar to the 1g of lean body mass. I err on the side of going a little over rather than under since it works well for my body type.
Habits follow a cycle. Cycles can create conditions. Cycles follow the following process: cue, routine and reward.
I recommend figuring out your habits and what your cues are. The only thing about a habit which can be changed is the routine.
Recommended reading: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.
As athletes, we know pounds are lost in the kitchen while ounces are lost while training. There is a limit to willpower. I recommend discovering your cues.
I’m a firm believer in calorie counting, it’s really what helped get me on the right track to losing weight.
My weight loss started at work - We decided to set up a ‘fat fighters’ club in the office, the goal to be who could lose the most weight total. That was the kick i needed to make me start dieting seriously. At that point in 2015, i was 118kg. I cut my food back and only ate around 1500 calories a day. There was days where i would go over that, and i’d just try and stick to that 1500 limit for the next few days and it worked in weight loss. I managed to get myself down to 98kg just calorie counting and then i seemed to level out.
It was around that point, August 2016 that i decided that i needed to start exercising. My dad’s been into his cycling for many years, so i got the idea of trying my hand at it and seeing how i got along. I started going out every day for a 10 mile ride, absolutely slogging my guts out to maintain 12mph on a super heavy bike i borrowed from my mum. I invested in a proper road bike and now i’m here, weighing in at 78kg.
I find i’m very goal orientated - I need something to work towards otherwise i’ll go off the rails. For example, my goal for this next season is to reach 4.5w/kg.
If i feel really hungry after a workout, i’ll drink lots of tea and coffee to keep my hands and mouth busy, and it also fills my tummy up. Also eat nutrient dense calories - I have a selection of nuts, probably 300 calories worth mid morning to make myself feel like i’m still eating lots of yummy food and keep my hands busy.
The best piece of advice i can give you is don’t skip meals thinking you’ll get thinner quicker. I did a TR workout the other day and burnt 1300 calories, wasn’t hungry as i finished it at 9pm and went to bed. The next day i was absolutely ravenous and ate everything i could get my hands on. I probably ate more calories that day than i would have if i had eaten an evening meal.
You’ve still got to enjoy yourself, so have some downtime every now and again, have that pizza and really enjoy it - you work hard for it and life’s short
