Help losing 20 lbs

[AntLockyer]

188.76 and 30.5%

185.68 and 29.4%

going in the right direction.

[DCT]

161

im down a pound or 2 since a d2r2

[Jonathan]

Tom,
When you started losing weight a few years ago did you have a weight goal in mind? Did you just think your old racing weight was where you needed to be or did you have some other metric?

[e-RICHIE]

Tom,
When you started losing weight a few years ago did you have a weight goal in mind? Did you just think your old racing weight was where you needed to be or did you have some other metric?

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[Tom Officer]

Tom,
When you started losing weight a few years ago did you have a weight goal in mind? Did you just think your old racing weight was where you needed to be or did you have some other metric?

Actually, when that all happened I was 210 lbs and super stressed from running my business. I didn't have any goal in mind, but just wanted to get healthy again and the bike seemed like a good way to reach that goal. It evolved into racing after a couple of years and I kept it up for 5 years (didn't race the past 3 seasons). If I recall correctly I was 170 when I started racing again and eventually got down to 150. I was up to 170 again this past winter and back to 150 a week ago. And after my cracked rib last weekend, I'm up to 155 this am, I'm blaming the doctor who prescribed chocolate for that….getting a second opinion though. Now for some reason I want to get back to my old race weight of 137 and give it a go for another year or so, not sure there is any logic behind it other than it bugs the heck out of me that everyone says it's "normal" to be heavier when you age. For some reason I just can't accept that. I'm giving myself this fall to get there. It's always better to lose the weight in the offseason and begin your training at the weight you want to race at, but it's tough to do!

[e-RICHIE]

Actually, when that all happened I was 210 lbs and super stressed from running my business. I didn't have any goal in mind, but just wanted to get healthy again and the bike seemed like a good way to reach that goal. It evolved into racing after a couple of years and I kept it up for 5 years (didn't race the past 3 seasons). If I recall correctly I was 170 when I started racing again and eventually got down to 150. I was up to 170 again this past winter and back to 150 a week ago. And after my cracked rib last weekend, I'm up to 155 this am, I'm blaming the doctor who prescribed chocolate for that….getting a second opinion though. Now for some reason I want to get back to my old race weight of 137 and give it a go for another year or so, not sure there is any logic behind it other than it bugs the heck out of me that everyone says it's "normal" to be heavier when you age. For some reason I just can't accept that. I'm giving myself this fall to get there. It's always better to lose the weight in the offseason and begin your training at the weight you want to race at, but it's tough to do!

face it, tom - i am gonna stalk you and push your buttons until you are at least in the mid 140s atmo.
you're tom fucking officer from the old neighborhood and you were filling in for doogie howser when
all these masters fatties waz NUTHIN'. i'm watching you.

[Tom Officer]

allright richie, you're hired….ATMO coaches Old School

[Jonathan]

I've wondered about that aspect of weight too Tom. Our wives will generally tell us our bodies change as we age or have kids but I'm not convinced and seeing lil' e-Richie wear his junior high letter to jacket to dinner a few years ago in Chester I'm pretty sure we can get back there. I last won a race at 115 pounds as a college freshman but that just seems like a goal I'd not even want to obtain. Tootall has told me until he's been blue in that face to just ride, enjoy and eat right and the weight will come off. He is of course right, but I'm a data driven person and understanding the end goal is of interest.

[Tom Officer]

I've wondered about that aspect of weight too Tom. Our wives will generally tell us our bodies change as we age or have kids but I'm not convinced and seeing lil' e-Richie wear his junior high letter to jacket to dinner a few years ago in Chester I'm pretty sure we can get back there. I last won a race at 115 pounds as a college freshman but that just seems like a goal I'd not even want to obtain. Tootall has told me until he's been blue in that face to just ride, enjoy and eat right and the weight will come off. He is of course right, but I'm a data driven person and understanding the end goal is of interest.

You know that for normal folks TooTall is 100% correct, but there are some of us that can get obsessed or maybe a little compulsive about things and being a serious bike racer falls in there somewhere. It's hard for me to tell sometimes what it is that motivates me or others when you get in that mindset, sometimes I have to be careful not to upset the mental balance it takes to keep myself motivated to achieve a goal, it's pretty easy to start telling yourself "This isn't normal behavior" and start backing away from the tough stuff. But there is something comforting or fulfilling in the obsession part of it all, you just have to find a way to keep the focus that's the hard part. It does seem to get harder as we get older though!

[AntLockyer]

185.68 and 29.4%

going in the right direction.

186.56 and 29.6%

I was expecting to be lighter today.

[Jonathan]

162.

being sick over a holiday weekend really helps.

[christian]

169.8.

[Tom Officer]

151.8 / 9.5

[jlwdm]

6'2" 184.7 down to a 33 pant.
Reading some of the posts I should be reexamining my goal weight of 170... Are you all looking at the Friel 2:1 #'s:inches and using that as a goal? Matching output to weight like a performance goal?
...

What Friel says, under a heading "Riding Like a Tour Rider" is that he has found that riders with a mass of 2.0 pounds per inch of height tend to have the best potential for climbing - but they don't do well on windy, flat courses or, usually, in flat time trials.

He does not advocate a mass of 2.0 pounds per inch of height for all riders.

Jeff

[jellysidedown]

178.8/13.0

Today's weigh in must be an outlier on the high side... Not only going in the wrong direction this week, but also the highest my weight has been in 7 years of constant monitoring. In 2008 I bottomed out, staying in the 164-168 range for months at a time. At 50, maintaining that leanness was a real chore and I eventually grew tired of it. But I'd like to see south of 170 this cx season. If I can do a bit of running without nagging injuries, it should be attainable.

Been playing this game a long time. One thing I've not seen mentioned here is glycogen storage levels. These can go up or down quite a bit with training, and each extra gram of glycogen stores 3 grams of water. This is one reason a lot of athletes may see weight gain when they ramp up training in the spring. Let's say endurance miles can encourage your body to pack on an extra 250 g of glycogen, and along with 750 g of water you just gained a kg without adding any muscle or fat. The flip side is that cutting back on mileage in the fall can have the opposite effect, leading one to believe that they're doing really well when really not a gram of fat has been shed. I'm not a physiologist, this is just my interpretation of what one told me is, so if anyone knowledgeable cares to comment, I'm all ears. And belly.

[RickM]

What Friel says, under a heading "Riding Like a Tour Rider" is that he has found that riders with a mass of 2.0 pounds per inch of height tend to have the best potential for climbing - but they don't do well on windy, flat courses or, usually, in flat time trials.

He does not advocate a mass of 2.0 pounds per inch of height for all riders.

Jeff

Is Friel really recommending that weight should be height in inches x 2??? That'd have me at 150lbs...and I'd look like a Bataan marcher. I can't imagine weighing only that much....I'd have lost tons of muscle and have no endurance. Hell, 2 years agon I got down to just below 170 and folks wre asking if I was sick. At ~180 now.

[jlwdm]

Is Friel really recommending that weight should be height in inches x 2??? That'd have me at 150lbs...and I'd look like a Bataan marcher. I can't imagine weighing only that much....I'd have lost tons of muscle and have no endurance. Hell, 2 years agon I got down to just below 170 and folks wre asking if I was sick. At ~180 now.

He does not say that at all. That was the point I was trying to make above, but I guess I did not make clear enough He says riders at that ratio have the best potential for climbing but not for all riding. He does not recommend the ratio - he is just pointing out an observation. Like Pantani. Riders at that ratio also normally do all of their climbing out of the saddle.

Jeff

[thollandpe]

Now for some reason I want to get back to my old race weight of 137 and give it a go for another year or so, not sure there is any logic behind it other than it bugs the heck out of me that everyone says it's "normal" to be heavier when you age. For some reason I just can't accept that.

I'm enjoying this thread, Tom. You guys are brave to post your numbers.

But what about the risk of osteoporosis for older athletes who diet? I participated in a bone density study at UConn Med Center in the 90’s and here are two facts: men do get it, and elite-level cyclists are prone to it.

Keith McCormick, a chiropractor in Amherst, has written books on osteoporosis as well as a guide for training and competition for older athletes. He was an Olympic Pentathlete, medaled at the worlds, and is now an Ironman triathlete. He suffers from osteoporosis (and is a damn good chiropractor).

You can be a very strong cyclist with 5-10 extra pounds around your middle. But you can’t ride very well with broken bones.

[Tom Officer]

Hmmm, maybe that's why my rib cracked in a pretty harmless fall! I'm sure the osteoporosis is a legitimate concern, but sometimes I feel like I have to tune out some stuff. You know just trying to keep things simple in my life. But I am going to check out his stuff.

[AntLockyer]

I went the wrong way today

187.44 @ 30%