Nearing end of November 2020 I finally got fed up with myself. I had been chasing the low carb idea for a few years with lots of heartache and quite nonexistant results.
Poor training compliance due to fatique and injury, weight creeping up and age (46) rolling in caused me to seek assistance with a local macros “consultant”. He made quick work of giving me numbers. 2412 calories, 285g carbs, 174g protein, 64g fat. I have been following this regime since and couldn’t be happier with the results. I am not a “macro nazi” in any sense. I weigh my food most of the time and aim to be within +/- 5 gr for each nutrient most of the time. On hard days i shoot over in carbs to compensate.
I follow a low volume training plan, with an added Pettit or Beech pr week. I have never been as compliant as now and even the toughest V02 max workouts seem not only doable, but fun. I look forward to my training now, which is new. With summer nearing I expect the added volume that comes with outdoor rides will be a breeze.
I also recover much faster than before, which is a nice surprise as I thought my age was starting to affect my recovery speed negatively (which is probably is, but not as serously as I thought).
My FTP has gone up by 7ish % since November as well.
I weigh in daily with my Tanita. The data speaks for itself.
Bravo. When i got myself disciplined, I too saw results like this. When i fall out of eating discipline I find my workouts are harder and my overall life is more difficult. Let the success be the reinforcement you need to stay the course!
Love this, great job and way to see the benefits of knowing what you eat, when to eat and how to fuel for training!
I have done the same journey, mostly because I wanted to try and see how it would feel to be a bit more lean! I have always had the “I eat whatever approach” and I now understand why I slowly gained weight (damn you pasta and cream)
I was 82kg I December, and all time low of 75,1kg this morning. I haven’t changed anything else but actually counting 95% of all things I eat…
Things that works for me:
Lots and lots of carbs, I skip pasta because I need to eat 250g of it to be full, and unless I am training that day, its too calorie dense…
Lots of protein
Low fat on pretty much everything…
Chocolate milk after training to replenish
Lots of greek yoghurt
Finding foods that you enjoy but are also easy to track, e.g. we have a Lentil Dahl we make every week that is perfect for lunch with chicken and greek yoghurt.
Protein focus on rest days, carb focus on training days
For weekends I don’t count since I am doing 3hrs Saturday and 3hr Sunday. I am just stuffing my face in food, cereal, toast with honey etc. Super important also to start fuelling evening before those longer days!
Balls to low carb and training. I’ve done it for bodybuilding but would never consider trying to do it and get on a turbo trainer… sounds utterly, utterly miserable.
I’d probably only describe myself as moderate carbs (fairly equivalent protein and fat), but I definitely make sure that I’m packed full of them ready for my turbo sessions.
Nice job dude! IMO there’s so much back-and-forth about nutrition that it’s really refreshing to hear when someone’s found something that works well for them.
The nutrition piece has been tricky for me. If stop paying close attention to my food intake and don’t weigh myself regularly my weight creeps up. I put on around 15lbs over the Fall and Winter. I have managed to lose about 10lbs over the past month as I get myself in gear. I’m about 195lbs now and would like to get around 185lbs as that is where my overall best riding tends to be for me.
You’ve found that particularly effective then? I don’t tend to fuel in workouts, rather I make sure I have a good level of carbs going in. If I’m feeling particularly low on energy I might munch some Shot Bloks or something.
My N=1 is:
before: doing fasted rides, managed up to 90 mins at SS, completed THR workouts without problems, could do 4h endurance on nothing but coffee.
after: started fueling, FTP fell from 260 to 255 and now 245, feeling worse during THR and SS workouts, gained 3 kg, feel dead every 3 days.
Its sometimes simply shocking where the cal come from. Instead of yogurt started with Quark beh but with frozen fruit , cinnamon, and some chocolate sprinkles it was yummy. Turns out the few grams of sprinkles had more cal than the rest. Seeing is believing, write down all, have a little heart attack adjust and enjoy.
