Originally posted by 2LAP
Have you considered the timing of eating and drinking? Someone that eats enough food may still get the bonk if its eaten at the wrong time (i.e. so that they don't replace their carbs during and following exercise).
Calorie cutting is really hard to do; that's why for someone like you I simply suggest making the diet more healthy (without adding more calories) and getting into a routine (eating 3 or more times a day (I eat 5 smaller meals)). By doing this you tend to cut out a few extra calories without noticing it, getting less hungry and recovering better due to improved diet.
If you are really struggling try getting your diet checked out by a proffessional (or even by an unbias/honest and knowledgable friend). Its really difficult to give specific info over the web.
The other thing to do is to record what you eat and then sit down and look to see where you went wrong or could improve. Lots of people don't really know what they are eating until they go through this process; even people who think they do get a shock!!! You could simply record volumes and timings of foods eaten for a simple analysis (or record %carbs, %fat, %protein and cals for a more complex analysis).
As you point out if you are overweight you don't need someone to tell you; so %BF measurements are sometimes not very helpfull.
Hi, (not the ideal way to make my first post but It seemed interesting and related so I thought id give it a shot!)
I started riding again in July after nine years break, weighing 12st 10lbs - 13st 6lbs to start with)(having lost 8 lbs previously by sensible eating) I now weigh 11st 6lbs (163lbs - 74kgs) Target weight is 10st 8lbs) .
Here's how i did it.. built up from 1hr to 6 hr rides at 65-75% of my max hr, a 500 calorie deficity of my daily intake from 2,500 (RDA) - 2000 (or around 1800 a day- any less than this and it would be impossible to ride such distances and affect your general demenour) with exercise.. Taking bananas/cerial/snack bars and PSP22 mixed @60g in 700ml of water. ( the recommended mix for psp22 is 100g per 700ml of water but I've found that 40-60% is sufficient for low intensity riding)
Counted fat content in foods <=75g a day.. stopped eating after 5pm, going to bed hungry, eating little and often with plenty of cold water. making sure i get a proper breakfast ( ie x2 slices of wholemeal toast, porridge, banana and cup 'o' coffee)
Stopped eating junk food, only allowed chicken kebabs with salad which is basically grilled chicken, and natural yohgurt.. Eat plenty of fresh fruit and veg too.. Tuna, chicken/fish.
Longest ride so far was 64 miles in 5.5 hrs (eclipsed by 62 in 4.5 hrs last week)
Resting heart rate dropped from 68 to 52 bpm since last august '03.
Average speed inclreased from 10mph to 13.mph..
Noticable weight loss on face, back, chest, stomach and obviously legs.
A healthy weight loss of 2-3 lbs a week is normal, any more then you either need to see a doctor, unless you're on a specially medically controlled diet (ie Cambridge diet - if so, you shouldn't be riding at all!) You shouldn't skip meals either.. it's really easy these days to actually calculate how many calories you're consuming by the labelling on the foods!!!!!!!
On finishing rides I use PSP Rego followed by a main meal within an hour or so..
Continuing as we speak for training for charity ride and first racing season!!