Balancing weight loss with not hitting the wall

Bin57again said:

Hi all
I want to lose 5 kilos in 4 months. Seems easy right? Should be. I have a healthy diet and I combine my rides with gym work and yoga. I do have three particular problems though which keep tripping me up. Can you help please? These are the problems:
1. Pre-fuelling - the experts say eat pasta, rice, complex carbs to preload. Do I really want to do that if I'm trying to lose weight? Problem is, I can't do a Chris Carmichael or Troy Jacobson session on just salad. It seems to me that high carb diets are great for guys who are at optimum weight or underweight but what about the rest of us?

eat your carbs they wont make you fat try and eat unrefined carbs too.

2. I ride for 3-4 hrs on my big rides at the weekend. Do I drink EcoAde or similar and consume high GI carbs/gels on my rides to keep up with the pack/not hit the wall or do I just drink plain water to maximise my fat burn? If I want to lose weight, then why am I filling my body with glucose, etc rather than letting the ride eat my lard? Problem is, when I don't load my body with proper intense carbs, I die on the ride.

eat enough to keep going dont mess around with water only unless its less than 2 hours cos youll only end up bonking and thus expending fewer cals overall.

3. At the end of my 4 hr ride, I am H U N G R Y. Really hungry. I usually have a protein shake. However, I'm confused that the experts say I should be reloading with high GI carbs to replenish the lost stores? What should I eat initally? My body seems to crave food for the rest of the day - what should I fill it with.
this suggests you arent refuleing right start with 4:1 carbs to protein i.e. some bannanas with your whey then later have a balanced p/c/f meal

tried to help :p

Thanks James

I'll give your suggestions a go.

Cheers, Bin

Tell me too 😄

Keep calories quite restricted throughout the week. On your long rides, be sure to eat enough before and after (more than normally would during the week). Also increase food that day--normal to feel starved after long output, then on Sunday go back to lower cal.

I would almost not see the long ride day as a big weight loss day, because it is always difficult to balance weight loss with massive rides. I know that seems counterintuitive, but for instance the hardest time I've had losing weight was with marathon training. When I cut back to tri with more frequent, shorter workouts, I never hit the wall and didn't get voraciously hungry after, so it's easier.

Skoorb
Great reply thanks.
I agree it's difficult. I've actually found in the past that I lose more weight reducing the amount I eat (not a crash diet) and NOT working out, than working out and eating normally.
Any other advice you could give me?
Bin

"Any other advice you could give me?"

Count calories! It works for me. If I go by hunger pangs alone, I will inevitably overeat. I think there is a fallacy some propogate (though for some it's not a fallacy, is for me, though), that a person can get lean simply by eating well, frequently, and being honest about their hunger. In many people's cases, that simply doesn't work. We're inately set to want to crank down more food than we need for maintenance, so we need to count calories to ensure honesty.