threeteas

I'm your classic over the hill, middle aged cyclist (early 50s--I'm one of those guys who is old enough to have my name in the results page of Velonews). I was personally kind of run through the ringer during Covid, gained some weight and really got out of shape the last 2 1/2 years. I'm on a mission now--to drop the 30+ I gained and race again. This is what I'm doing and I'm hoping I can get some input on it.

1. Nutrition first--I usually eat a super light breakfast or just have some lemon juice with water along with my coffee. I've never been super into breakfast unless I'm really training hard. I then have a lunch that consists mainly of a supergreens (mostly spinach) smoothie with peanut butter for protein or pea protein, plus flax seed or chia seeds for fiber, adding blueberries and some frozen fruit and a dash of honey. I'll then have a light snack around 3pm of something that has protein--usually come low-fat cheese or meat jerky. I then eat a regular dinner with about normal portions, maybe a little less, heavy on protein and veggies if possible. This is a time to enjoy food with my family. I totally skip dessert or snacks after 7pm. I'm usually just slightly hungry during the day but nothing bad at all because that's when I binge. Getting lean seems like the key for me at this point to be a successful cyclist again.

2. HIIT and strength training--my sister, who was a competitive swim coach for 15 years, has devised some killer HIIT workouts for us to do at least twice a week. This involves a lot of core work, kettlebells, running stairs, stair-master, and also isometric exercises using bands. I'm also working on strengthening any weaknesses I may have gotten over the past few years in my legs through isometric strength training.

3. Riding: One, maybe two Z2 rides in the fall weather, just enjoying the scenery. I also commute to work which totals at least 6 miles per day. I'm just trying to concentrate on form and spinning as much as I can.

All of this has been devised through conversations with other riders, but mostly on my own. I'm not counting calories because I find it super distracting. I want to be at around 205 by the time training really starts in earnest in February! This means about 34 pounds need to be shed. (Edit--and shed the remaining weight just through natural warmer weather training after that--I'm a pretty lean 195lbs.)

Any further input would be appreciated!

TMonk

TBH you might find more informative responses in the Training and Nutrition subforum. I know a lot of racers are into that, but training, diet/nutrition and racing are all different topics and being into one does not imply being into the other.

30 lbs sounds like a lot and I might personally plan on a whole year of training and weight loss to lose that and get into competitive form. Of course that depends on what level you want to race at. It's more OK to be overweight at the 3/4/5 level, especially if one focuses on criteriums. Not sure what the masters scene is like in your area, but in SCNCA it is very competitive at 45+, 50+ and even 60+. The 45+ field is stronger than 35+ here. Lots of stars and bars out there.

Your nutrition sounds about right for now and excellent for weight loss. As you get leaner and look to start doing high intensity efforts again, you might need to eat more and shift the caloric composition to have more accessible carbs.

Good luck!

threeteas

Thanks so much, I will post there!

As for my region--it's Midwest. Lots of fast guys here but perhaps less talent. I noticed that Norm Alvis is tearing up the 50+ scene. That's caliber that is at least 4 steps above me! (I'm a 3 who never was faster than barely holding on in the P123 races I did).

Thanks again. !

TMonk

cheers, and good luck on the journey back

carpediemracing 

Calorie counting may be a pain, but it's objective and very hard to argue with. It's hard to track something (like potential weight gain) if you don't know what's going into the equation (aka food/calories). I have a couple standard breakfasts, a few standard lunches, and maybe 10-15 dinners. It's enough variety to keep me interested in the food and I'm generally not hungry at all, maybe a touch certain mornings.

I find that for dieting I need to throw some mental switch ("toggle"), and it's very hard to make it happen. It's not a thing I can just decide because then I just let it slide. But when that toggle gets thrown, it's thrown, and suddenly I'm a diligent, calorie counting, exercising, lifting machine.

I bet that you could lose 30 lbs between now and end of December, if you're overweight. Recently (30 days ago about) I hit the toggle again. 183 to 173 in that time (I've been in the 172s for 3 days now but I still consider myself 173). and I hope to lose another 10 by December. That would be very light for me, but I think possible.

In 2009 I was admittedly younger but weight from 200ish in March 2009 to 158 in March 2010, and specifically 183 in Oct 2009 to 149 in Dec. I gained weight as I trained in Jan but stabilized at 158. That time it was not healthy - I was constantly hungry and forced myself not to eat. It was unsustainable. This time it's much more sustainable.

I'm slightly older than you. The next couple years really bring about some changes, at least anecdotally. All the racers I've watched age into their 50s, the early 50s were fine, the late 50s were less fine. I'm saw dramatic differences in the last few years, in a bad way. It takes more just to stay even.

Good luck, I hope you are back to your lean mean fighting machine weight come the spring.