So I just started training again last Tuesday after 8+ weeks laid up with a bum knee. And accordingly, I'm fat.

Right now I weigh around 162 and need to get down to around 155. Can I start cutting calories now, or should I wait till I've gotten some of my fitness back/gotten some more training under my belt?

So I just started training again last Tuesday after 8+ weeks laid up with a bum knee. And accordingly, I'm fat.

Right now I weigh around 162 and need to get down to around 155. Can I start cutting calories now, or should I wait till I've gotten some of my fitness back/gotten some more training under my belt?

Assuming you keep calories constant and increase metabolic expenditures, you'll be functioning at a caloric deficit and weight loss should occur.

I wouldn't do anything more than that for a while.

Thanks JP. That's kind of what I thought.

Rick-100% unsolicited knee advice. I had lots of knee issues (+hamstring/calf thing for the last 6 weeks). Having no idea what's up with yours but I found lots of relief in stretching, foam rolling and using The Stick on my IT band. Also, resting and Advil helped lots. I read up on knee stuff a lot and visited the sports doc. Apparently it's the surrounding muscles and imbalances that can aggravate the knee and how it tracks. Also, bike fits help but not always.

Hope to see you at the races this spring! 162 is a good weight btw. It's only Feb.

Thanks Craig
-I've got some pretty serious structural/skeletal imbalances that cause IT band issues for my left leg. I had been stretching fairly regularly, grid roller, icing etc. Then I got serious. I started setting the timer on my phone and every 15 minutes while I was out working on my dog walking rounds, I would do the cross legged side bend stretch for the IT band for 20 seconds. That made a huge difference

I did some reading too and I learned that weak gluteal medius muscles are often the culprit re IT Band stuff. So I've been doing a lot of exercises to over strengthen them esp on the left side, It's supposed to take a little while…six weeks or so till you notice a difference.

I know it's early in the year. But the threshold power is down (was pretty stoked about where it was pre injury)and the weight is up which makes Rick a pretty meh feeling boy

Do lots of core work too. It def helps. I can't begin to tell you about setbacks already going back to October and the season hasn't even begun yet! Nice one was last week I got a staph infection on my thigh and my leg swelled up real nice. 2 weeks of antibiotics later I'm looking forward to attempting to ride outside this weekend. This time of year it's seriously a mental game trying to stay positive and motivated. You'd be surprised once you start riding again and get in a few weekends of 2-3 hour rides how quickly it all snaps back.

Glad the staph infection passed…ouch. I'm pretty inconsistent w the core work. I'll get going on the that and then it'll be a gradual unveiling as the layer of blubber recedes

Not to go full insanity (or give away all my secrets) but switching to a Gluten Free diet really helps shed fat. I am not a celiac and am very skeptical of fad diets but it seriously works to shift your body comp towards more muscle and less fat overall. I've noticed a big diff in a short period of time. My girlfriend doesn't workout and just does the diet and she lost a pound last week without trying. Maybe it's worth a try?

Great job on the new healthy eating. I was going to give you (and everyone else) who is all like, "I stopped drinking beer and then I lost 145lbs" a hard time. I hate the "I just stopped drinking beer" people. I do not in general drink beer, so I could never do that and lose even 1lb. But then you went all full crazy with the no pasta, no juice, no junk food. So you totally deserve your rewards! Without my scorn. Great job.

Speaking of this weekend...why no racing? So many good options.

Great options this weekend.
But, after the L&C and Bear weekend, I reevaluated my A races and took the following weekend off completely to refresh my legs and spirit.  I also realized I haven't been on a long base mile ride in almost a month.  I love riding long.  I have plans on Sunday, and Monday doesn't offer a Cat 4 option.  So going long Saturday, hope to go long Monday, race at Floyd Tuesday, and get top 10 at Watermelon next Saturday.
I'm switching my focus from participating in a lot of races, to doing fewer and doing better in them.  I think that may be more fun.

Noting my post above, I got 11th place at Watermelon.  But it only happened with the work of teammates, and Jeff's massive lead-out.

With reduced training, since it's cold outside and we're on the trainer, we're burning fewer calories.  While many of us have high metabolisms, and winter weight is not that big a deal, we do have the potential to gain weight simply by eating the same amounts, because of those fewer calories being burned.

Two things I'm doing in February, I quit drinking for the month, and I make a point of drinking a glass of water before lunch and dinner.  The water fills space in my stomach so I won't want to eat as much.  Sometimes it works.

On the Super Bowl ride, I burned about 3600 calories, just on the ride.  More than a pound (3500 cal).  

I probably ate less than 1,000 calories on the ride.  A few cliff bars, a candy bar, bottle of Osmo, bottle of Gatorade, bottle of Coke.  I didn't go to any party afterwards.  I didn't come close to eating what I burnt.  The next day, I was pretty hungry.

But I realized, after all these years, that I rarely put back all the calories after a big ride, unless I'm in the middle of a stage race.  I seem to prefer adding the rest back over the course of the week.

So, onto my question.  Do folks, after their bigger rides, make a point of eating back everything they burned over the rest of the day?  How hungry do they find themselves the next day?

I tend to replenish over the course of the rest of the day, but I'm typically a binge eater anyway.  Specifically though I will pretty much only eat savory foods/meals after a long ride since most of the calories on the bike is in the sweet/sugary spectrum.

I don't intentionally try to replenish calories, just make sure I eat a solid meal in a timely matter, usually a good hearty salad with chicken, rice, etc...

After almost any ride, at least after every 90+ minutes rides, milk chocolate is involved.

When I'm good, as stated, a solid meal, ..., when not, ice cream, granola, cheese, and Toby's will be involved.

#tobysforevah

I had a double shake shack burger with fries for lunch today...at work.

@Bruce You're telling us how to eat right! There's evidence to suggest that after a long ride you're ok with any kind of carb. Bad carbs like refined sugar are less bad then, but should be limited when you're not exercising as the ensuing blood sugar level spike wreaks havoc on your cardiovascular system (also a marker for cancer, Alzheimer's disease, kidney failure, and retinal damage). Yay sugar.

I love chocolate milk post-ride. One reason it might be particularly satisfying is milk whey protein increases the production of a gut hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) that stimulates insulin secretion. This, in turn, reduces the blood glucose rise. Diabetics use this strategy; whey protein preload 30 minutes before breakfast = significant blood glucose reduction over the next 180 mins.

Awesome, John, good info.

Phil: C'mon man!

Sorry Bruce - I like the way it's put together.. (also, I don't eat it often). lol

The new National Crit Champ is quoted heavily here.

http://www.ridemedia.com.au/features/eating-habits-of-pro-cyclists-the-weight-debate/

From the article that Jules just shared.

"I can think of one prominent US-based WorldTour team which seems to be responsible for more eating disorders in young men than any other causal factor I’ve come across. I’ve seen the emails, the texts and heard the phone calls and post-race berating. This isn’t encouragement towards a common goal, this is bullying. It’s not right and it’s not safe."

Any guesses?

This passage got to me:

Brad did all this on his own without consulting a coach or any supervision, steaming all his food to avoid extra fat and riding for three hours on no breakfast.

It was only in a nutrition course at university that Brad noticed he had every symptom of disordered eating that was listed, along with a deep depression at not being able to train. “I bottomed out and terribly strained my Achilles on a run. Yes, a run. I was obsessed with training and I was doing anything possible to burn calories and keep fit.

“The sad thing is that friends attempted to reach out and give me guidance; my mother used to notice how thin my hair was getting when she cut it every month. I would just change the subject or tell her it was because I was training so hard, or that she was too worried… To me, none of my friends understood my goals or rode at the level I was at.”

This attitude – the idea that nobody else gets it, or that one is part of an “elite” club – is highly characteristic of disordered eating and, sadly, is reinforced every time a young man or woman sees an emaciated figure on top of the podium at a bike race.

Dan Reiners said:

From the article that Jules just shared.

Any guesses?

here you can find a list of Huff's teams

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Huff

Please tell me the guilty party is team Jelly Belly  

BenFinoRadin said:

Please tell me the guilty party is team Jelly Belly  

not a WorldTour team. There are three "US Based" WorldTour teams.

http://www.uci.ch/road/teams/

Cannondale - Slipstream Sports
Trek - Segafredo
BMC  

I hate to say it but knowing how OCD Vaughters is about food I can imagine he's passed that along to his team.

Dan Reiners said:

BenFinoRadin said:

Please tell me the guilty party is team Jelly Belly  

not a WorldTour team. There are three "US Based" WorldTour teams.

http://www.uci.ch/road/teams/

Cannondale - Slipstream Sports
Trek - Segafredo
BMC  

I hate to say it but knowing how OCD Vaughters is about food I can imagine he's passed that along to his team.

If the shoe fits

http://www.bicycling.com/training/tips/dont-do-ever