Quote Originally Posted by Triskeliongirl View Post
I am going to chime in here. Its been mentioned that some of you feel you have low body weight, yet have too much fat. In the body recomposition world, this is referred to as 'skinny fat.' This happened to me many years ago when I allowed myself to lose too much weight on weight watchers, on a diet that was too low in protein. When I look back at those records, what I realized is that at a certain moment my percent body fat stayed the same, but I started to catabolize my lean body mass (i.e. muscle). Then, without any change to my diet and exercise program, I started to gain fat. That is because muscle is metabolically active, so as it is lost caloric needs go down. In time I gained more weight, of course putting on muscle as well to carry the fat. But this time, I targeted losing only the fat, by eating a diet high in protein (~1g protein/lb of LBM). So today, I keep my weight in the 140s, with a LBM of 110. That keeps my percent body fat in the low 20s, which seems to be comfortable for me to maintain. However, it terms of clothes size, I can still wear the clothes I bought when I was a 'skinny fat' 115 lb. So, ladies that are losing, consider diets that preserve lean body mass, and set your goal not on an arbitrary number on the scale (or too low a number), but on having a high strength to mass ratio, which is really what we should care about as cyclists.
My 2 cents here. To keep the muscles and shred, I follow these:
1. Every meal should be rich in protein. I mean EVERY. Not once a day but 5 or 6 meals.
2. Strength training. Weight lifting or body weight exercises 2 or 3 times a week. Keeping all the muscles toned, your body preserves them. Because to do a heavy lift, you need muscles. And when you need something, your body is clever enough to keep it.
3. Supplementation with amino acids. When I diet, I decrease carbs and I do fasted cardio. Before and after the fasted cardio I take BCAAs to preserve muscles.
4. Don't cut too much the calories. Depriving your body of food will lead to muscle catabolism. Keep a deficit of no more than 400-500 calories/day.
So, girls, be patient, keep the good work and the results are rewarding.