Calorie deficit/no weight loss

[alevinsky]

Hi everyone!

This is a topic I've been beating to a pulp, but I haven't had the opportunity to discuss with other women cyclists. I'm curious as to whether anyone can offer advice or share personal experience.

I'm training 10-20hrs/week right now. I'm riding a ton and I'm doing a lot more strength training (as well as xc skiing, some running, etc).

I'm 5'4 and hover between 125-130lbs. As the season grows closer and I have much higher expectations than the last couple road seasons, I'm wanting to drop 5 lbs to see if this has an impact on my racing. I have a lot of muscle but my core could definitely use some toning.

I have started logging calories again VERY diligently. My calorie goal is ~2,300 if I want to maintain my current weight (that's assuming BMR+moderate activity, not including workouts). If I want to lose 1lb/week it brings me to ~1600+workouts.

Everyone I've talked to is telling me I should be eating 2000-2500 daily, sometimes more on big training days.

I have really been forcing myself to eat over 2,000 a day but my NET calorie in take is still really low. It's usually between 1,000-1,500.

I know the body can hold onto nutrients when it is not receiving an adequate amount of fuel. I'm wondering if this is what is happening to me. Honestly, I was eating 1,600-2,000 calories for a long time and training like a beast...admittedly, feeling pretty bad. And my weight wasn't any lower then than it is now.

I guess my main question is WHAT should I be aiming for daily (as far as NET calories goes) Of course, when I do 3-5 hour rides I just eat until I am satisfied. But on normal days when I have shorter workouts or a rest day, should I still be aiming for the higher intake?

Will I possibly see some weight loss if I continue eating more? That is what everyone's telling me.

Sorry for the long winded question! It's just so frustrating when I feel like I'm so diligent about my exercise+food logging and I can't even drop a pound or two.

[Veronica]

Do you know your body fat percentage? Losing 5 pounds may not really be feasible or it may take awhile.

If you weigh 125 and your BF is already say 18% - I'm guessing since you said "race" that it's already pretty low. That means you have 22.5 pounds of fat, leaving you 102.5 pounds of lean mass. If the 5 pounds you lose are purely fat, that drops you down to 14.6% body fat. And it's not easy to get that low. You'll have to experiment with getting enough fuel to do your workouts, but not so much that you're not in a slight calorie deficit. You might even look at what types of calories are you getting.

Now if your core is "mushy," building it will increase your muscle mass, burn more calories and help your riding.

Veronica

[tealtreak]

Do you know your body fat percentage? Losing 5 pounds may not really be feasible or it may take awhile.

If you weigh 125 and your BF is already say 18% - I'm guessing since you said "race" that it's already pretty low. That means you have 22.5 pounds of fat, leaving you 102.5 pounds of lean mass. If the 5 pounds you lose are purely fat, that drops you down to 14.6% body fat. And it's not easy to get that low. You'll have to experiment with getting enough fuel to do your workouts, but not so much that you're not in a slight calorie deficit. You might even look at what types of calories are you getting.

Now if your core is "mushy," building it will increase your muscle mass, burn more calories and help your riding.

Veronica

wow- glad I happened upon this thread- since I upped my mileage/intensity/training I have also gained 4 lbs...but (menopause)..also turned 50.............trying to decide??? should I lose it? can I? Really, the only thing I can cut out is my 3-4 glasses of wine/week..........It almost sounds like you are saying the only way to know is get a body fat analysis done and go from there.........are skin caliper measurements at the gym reliable enough?

[Veronica]

All depends on how accurate the person with the calipers is.

I've had the same person doing mine for the last few years so I feel like the numbers are accurate to themselves. If she's off, it's more likely to be consistently off.

I think it will at least give you a starting place. Personally, if I only looked at BMI or height/weight charts I would think I needed to weigh 125 - 135. And I can point to fatty places on my body. Knowing that I have 120 pounds of lean mass, means 125 is out of the question for me. I am actually working at getting down to 136. But I only want to maintain that through my season. IF I can lose it and still race well.

Veronica

[Wahine]

V. That is a fantastic post. Very well put.

As a coach and healthcare professional, I strongly recommend that anyone who wants to get down to some ideal race weight should have their body fat percentage tested to establish if it is realistic. If you get skinfold testing done, it will be more accurate if the person doing it has a lot of experience and also if they use more points. Having said that, hydrostatic weighing is of course the best option.

I participated in a research study once upon a time when I was really quite lean. The skin fold tests had my body fat estimate at 19% while my hydrostatic weighing put me at 14.5%. The explanation I got is that my BF distribution is not typical of women, that I have less intramuscular fat than predicted. So in my case the women's formula used to predict body fat percentage with skinfold testing is quite inaccurate. Having said that, what Veronica says about not worrying about the numbers as absolute values but instead using them as guidelines to look at trends in fat loss or gain is an excellent way to use these tools.

Lastly, think very hard about what the cost of losing that last 5 lbs is compared to what you will gain. I mean this in terms of performance, but also life balance. Is someone paying you to race? If not, is a trophy worth being unhealthy and prone to other issues like bone loss and immune system weakness? Is losing the weight really going to make you faster? Or is it possible that your performance may go down? Is what you will have to go through to loose the weight going to increase your life "stress-load"? If it is, your body may start to produce more cortisol which tends to make us hold onto/or gain weight instead of losing it.

[OJazzy1]

Those are some great posts ladies! It was great to "eavesdrop" on this one and get some perspective!

[tealtreak]

Lots of good advice here! Thanks everyone (: