July 2015 I weighed 170lbs. Doctor told me to lose weight as I was at least 25 pounds overweight. 15 weeks later I was down to 140lbs. On a followup visit to the doctor she asked what had happened to me. Why the drop in weight? I told her you said I needed to drop weight. She was surprised I listened as she said no one follows the directions to lose weight.
My focus at the time was a change in diet. I removed any added sugar to my diet. So no sugar in coffee nor any soft drinks. At the same time I started to be consistent with my bike riding and rode 3-4 times per week 1 to 1.5 hours each ride. Rides were generally of a harder nature. Food intake was reduced by 500 calories a day. On days I rode I would ensure I ate extra. Weight loss was fairly consistent each week but day to day fluctuations were noted but I learned to ignore the day to day changes and see how the week went. I tracked all food intake with Myfitnesspal.
Biggest issue for me was feeling full. As others have commented go to bed hungryā¦I just didnt go that route. I learned to ensure I ate protein at every meal and fat adds flavour. If I felt good I could continue the diet. This was not a diet for a short period. This was to be my diet for the future. More home cooked food and less eating out. I ate my three meals each day but stopped nibbling in between meals. Night time was always my problem time so I would eat fruit/nuts at night. Drank water/.coffee/tea if not feeling as full as I would like. Increased my sleep from 6-7 hours a night to 8-9 hours a night. Essentially went to bed earlier. Removing sugar from my diet had a dramatic impact to my taste buds so after a few weeks sweets just didnt taste good to me. Since my large drop in weight I have stayed in the 137-145 range.
I dont think there was any magic to what I did. It was just keeping things constant. I still today eat the same way. I actually ride more now and am more active so I have to actively eat more food or I keep losing weight.
This is an amazing effort. Could tell more about your meals and timing from 6pm till sleeptime? Is there a favourite meal? Some things that really worked well for you that you started to love? Thanks.
I tend to either do Mon and Thursday or if I can during base phase Mon, Wed, Fri.
Generally that means I eat and train as normal Sunday go to bed, donāt eat all day Monday (maybe some roast chicken in the evening less than 200 cals). I tend to do a workout Monday night that can be up to an hour and half of sweet spot. I canāt do over and unders or vo2 max work - well I can get through 2 maybe 3 sets before the lack of sugar stops me. If I am hungry the next morning Iāll eat but I try to extend to lunchtime on Tuesday to make it near 40 hours without food.
I make a point of not having any kind of delicious snacks in the house, and after dinner if I get cravings Iāll sometimes make a little celery salad or eat some boiled chickpeas (al dente, please) with salt. I really like both, so itās not as sad as it sounds haha.
Itās actually a cliche regarding doing the same with apples. If you feel hungry, have an apple. If you donāt want an apple, youāre not really hungry. I may try it myself with eggās, as I am probably lacking in good fats.
My N=1 experience, which took me from 170 pounds (77kg) to 152 pounds (69kg). But I will be the first to admit, this is not for everyoneā¦
stop drinking (alcohol that is)āthree years ago
go veganāabout 8 months ago
do SSB MV 1 and 2, Sustained Power, and whatever specialty you want
I was tracking calories to make sure I ate enough, and I still lost weight pretty fast. 4 years ago I would have said no way that I wouldnāt drink or eat meat, but today I love it and feel better than I ever have.
Supper was ensuring I ate enough to not be looking for food at 8 or 9 at night. Supper was more often based on chicken or fish that was generally baked or on the barbecue. I enjoy milk and ensuring I have my glass of milk helped. I have a number of health issues which has a number of foods not be suitable for me. Most of the problem foods for me are the typical vegetables that people go to when they diet. I cant eat lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, corn etc. The only vegetables I can eat are limited to a short list of carrots, squash. I eat small quantities of the followingā¦asparagus, peas, green beans. So vegetables are not really a very large part of my diet. I like bread but limited any bread items to 2 slices of bread a day which typically meant they were used at lunchtime. I still would have generally a traditional meal of meat, potatoes/rice and a vegetable. I still would use butter on my potatoes. I didnt stop myself from really any food but watched the portion size.
After dinner I would go to eating berries, apricots, plums, grapes in the 7-9 range and then be in bed before 10:30.
I think the main item I learned was eating protein and fat ensured I wasnt starving later. Fat is flavour so a small pat of butter on a potatoe just adds flavour. Having a hot drink of coffee or tea would keep me full. If I really needed something I would just add a glass of warm milk.
The aim for me was to change my eating habits for life not just to change them for a short time to lose weight. It wasnt a race for me to drop but it happened so easily I didnt want it to stop. In hindsight it was likely too fast and I could of gone slower.
After I bought my first bike, I went from 80kilos to 58 within the first eighteen month. Back when I I didnāt do anything special in terms of of diet, but did ride consistently around 6-8 hours per week.
I am certain that my diet is a LOT better than what it used to be, but that doesnāt seem to have much effect on my performance.
The biggest change is that I donāt crave junk food and sugar after a hard workout like I used to.
Which aspect specifically? The energy level of our liver glycogen stores, regulates much of our daily metabolism. When dieting your liver glycogen will either be replaced from ingested carbohydrate or protein converted to carbohydrate. This can get tricky when in an overall energy defecit.
I travel for big natural disasters. I weighed 180lb last September, went to Austin to work Hurricane Harvey and eat all of that Austin BBQ, and when I returned home in January I weighed 199lb, lol. Today (November, 2018) I weigh 176lb. Iām leaner than Iāve ever been, waist line is narrow, need new pants.
I got back here by nixing the pastry binge eating and replacing that with sweet potatoes, golden beets, tomatoes, and stuff like that. Iāll bake a full sheet-pan of sweet potatoes and beets twice per week, will snack on those. I made my post-workout and dinner meals a little larger and then took half to work for lunch the next day. Iām on what I believe to be a 300-calorie deficit when not racing, going to bed a little hungry, and stuffing myself with vegetables when I need to binge eat. Iāve always had a tough time eating well when I travel so I started traveling with a knife and small cutting board, hitting a grocery store, and stuffing my face with raw vegetables when I need to eat and donāt want to eat 1000 calories of meat and bread. If I can get a hotel with an oven, Iāll buy a rotisserie bird which will last me three meals and do a sheet-pan of assorted vegetables in the oven.
I really try to cut back beer but I drink the good stuff and love it, going to make a thread about that later to see how I can fit it in if Iām not strong enough to leave it behind. Itās been four days since I had a delicious beer and Iām craving one.
