Diet advice

FishFluff · 30 Jul 2015 at 14:37

Posting in here as it's fairly cycle specific.

I’ve decided that I need to make some changes to my diet recently and I need advice. I’m currently trying to lose a bit of weight and would love to get my body fat percentage down to about 10%. I’m currently 77kg, 178cm and 18% body fat (according to my probably unreliable Withings scales).

In terms of exercise I ride about 150 miles a week, usually split into 3 rides plus a few days where I do a short (2 mile) commute. I also go climbing/bouldering 3 times a week.

I’ve managed to get my weight down from 82kg pre-Xmas, but my body fat percentage is stubbornly hovering around the 18-19% mark. What kind of macros should I be aiming for? The cycling I do tends to be 2 fairly relaxed rides (about 15mph) and one slightly faster one (about 18mph average). Do I need to up the intensity of these rides?

tedmaul · 30 Jul 2015 at 15:04

Do you have time to cycle more? If you can commit more time and up your mileage that will definitely help, all other things (ie diet) being equal.

Or start working at a much higher intensity. Or both.

For high intensity, look at some intervals or find a local club/group ride that will really push you. How often do you feel you ride out of your comfort zone? If you're always riding at an effort level you can handle, then you don't really improve - in terms of pace, fitness, weight, whatever.

FrenchTart · 30 Jul 2015 at 15:15

You'll get better answers about nutrition and diet in the main Sports Arena forum to be honest.

It basically boils down to kcal in - kcal out. You need to either eat less or do more.

Do you track your intake at all? That would be the first place to start. Use MyFitnessPal and start logging (accurately) what you eat. Having a base line to start with will help a lot.

SoliD · 30 Jul 2015 at 15:26

FrenchTart said:
You'll get better answers about nutrition and diet in the main Sports Arena forum to be honest.

It basically boils down to kcal in - kcal out. You need to either eat less or do more.

Do you track your intake at all? That would be the first place to start. Use MyFitnessPal and start logging (accurately) what you eat. Having a base line to start with will help a lot.

Pretty much this, I'm trying to cut atm after a fair few months of being 2kg over my weight that I was in April. I would say try to increase your intensity would help, as this would increase your metabolism during and after.

FishFluff · 30 Jul 2015 at 15:41

I generally try to end the day in a deficit of about 500 calories, but honestly it could be more or less than that as I've no idea how accurate the calorie calculations on Strava are and god only knows how much climbing uses. I do track everything though, even if it's only keeping count in my head.

Will give upping the intensity of my rides a try as, to be honest, none of the rides I currently do (all club rides) are much of a struggle now that I'm much fitter. Time to give the 22mph chain gang a try! Not sure I can really fit any extra rides in though as I only have 1 rest day as it is. Could always get up super early and do a long ride before work on the days that I go climbing...

FrenchTart · 30 Jul 2015 at 15:44

The accuracy of the kcal burn on Strava is...not. 30-40 is probably a realistic estimate of kcal per mile, assuming reasonable intensity. Slightly higher for super intensive (TT, tons of hills) and a bit lower for leisure riding.

Logging your calorie intake accurately is arguably more important than the exercise you do when it comes to losing weight/fat.

Another thing you may want to do is work on body composition - i.e. start doing weights/strength training in addition to your cycling.

tedmaul · 30 Jul 2015 at 15:45

When you say 1 rest day, do you mean from cycling? As your first post only mentioned three days where you ride currently.

SoliD · 30 Jul 2015 at 15:49

FrenchTart said:
The accuracy of the kcal burn on Strava is...not. 30-40 is probably a realistic estimate of kcal per mile, assuming reasonable intensity. Slightly higher for super intensive (TT, tons of hills) and a bit lower for leisure riding.

Logging your calorie intake accurately is arguably more important than the exercise you do when it comes to losing weight/fat.

Another thing you may want to do is work on body composition - i.e. start doing weights/strength training in addition to your cycling.

Definitely this, I completed a 100 miler the other week for the first time in quite a while, and came out at something like 36 calories a mile, for about 5000 ft of climbing and moderate pace after my weight got cramps.

Even when completing TTs I'll only burn about 40 or so per mile due to the more aero position.

Also not just about calorie intake I find but the quality of what you're eating does seem to really help.

FrenchTart · 30 Jul 2015 at 15:54

Decent food and appropriate macros will definitely aid with recovery, yeah.

FishFluff · 30 Jul 2015 at 17:11

tedmaul said:
When you say 1 rest day, do you mean from cycling? As your first post only mentioned three days where you ride currently.

Ride 3 days, bouldering 3 days and then a day of no exercise other than walking a couple of miles to work. Definitely don't want to give up any bouldering sessions as that's effectively my strength training. Keeps everything nice and in proportion!

I think I've got the quantity of calories right as I'm losing weight at a nice steady pace, it's the quality I suck at. When I get in from a ride I'll just eat whatever I can see in front of me in the fridge!

FrenchTart · 30 Jul 2015 at 17:22

The quality of the food you eat will have very little effect on your body fat percentage. If you're still losing weight, great but approaching your diet/intake in a more methodological way will help as your weight loss plateaus and you start to worry more about your BF percentage (which it kind of sounds like you're starting to reach).

To give you a simple answer for your macro intake if that's all you're interested in go for 100-120g of protein, aim for 50g of fat and the rest in carbs. It doesn't really matter if you go over your fat or protein amounts. Animal fats are generally better for you than random oils or hydrogenated fats so fry in butter, etc. Virgin coconut oil is also very good.

Of course, if you're serious about your macros and start measuring stuff for those you're basically doing most of the work to track your kcal intake so you may as well do things properly.

Pro foods for recovery and general nutrition:

Chocolate milk - good quantity of carbs/fat/protein in a nice balance. Great for post-rides.
Steamed/boiled new potatoes - low kcal and lots of good carbs to help you recover glycogen.
Almost any form of meat - proteintastic.
Oats - pro slow-release carbs for pre-ride and during-ride food.

FishFluff · 30 Jul 2015 at 17:28

Cheers, that all sounds like good advice. I think next week I'm going to try and have some quality recovery meals ready made in the fridge so that I can just heat stuff up quickly. No more loading up on post ride pizza!

FrenchTart · 30 Jul 2015 at 17:30

Tbh post-ride pizza is the best thing ever

In La Cuisine I've posted MFP entries for home made pizza (and a recipe to go with). Having bread dough in the fridge and ready to go means you can have a decently nutritious pizza in very little time/effort.

edit: Oh yeah. Don't forget the importance of the nutrients you'll get from green vegetables. Kale, asparagus, broccoli, etc. All very low in kcal too so you can eat pretty much as many as you want.

GSVBagpuss · 1 Aug 2015 at 22:22

If you want to work harder on your commute, write a random Strava segment generator and use it to target 1-3 segments per ride / day. I only really made gains when I was working hard in the bike, steady state cardio doesn't strip fat particularly well.