Originally Posted by
tomgdaly
I have studies diet diaries for guys 'who are doing everything right but just can't lose weight'. Weight loss or gain can be looked at plus or minus 200 calories per day. Often, that 200 calories can easily be seen as 'healthy' snacks, taken after meals or between meals - e.g. a bananna, a 'diet' yogurt, an apple, etc - it all adds up, so it's worth keeping a detailed diary for a while to monitor yourself.
Another piece of advice I give, which people find useful, is to aim to cut all portions by around 10% - even the treats. The 'loss' is hardly noticible from any meal or snack but is, of course, a very big reducation overall.
And, yes, get used to the sensation of hunger!
Fasted rides of over 2 hours of easy riding are not generally recommended unless you are specifially adapted to it - you can go into a 'catabolic' state after that, burning muscle in part.
Yup.
The idea, and practice of making massive changes to diet to lose weight never works. It's simply making a small adjustment, like 200 calories a day and sticking to it. Gotta be patient. Weight will fluctuate but if you are persistent, it will trend down and you won't be starving.
Also agreed and danger of fasted rides. Nothing worse than purposely bonking on a ride then being really sore for a few days afterward because your muscles ate themselves to get you home. We do such careful work to build highly efficient musculature. Take care of it, don't toss it into the fire. Eating minimally on 2-5hr very low intensity (Z1) OTOH, is very effective at training your systems to operate with greater economy.