January/February weight management challenge

[Anelia]

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.

[Crankin]

Thanks, Possegal. I's nice to see it all in numbers. I am so not a spreadsheet person, so I appreciate the work.
And DH liked seeing his name there.!

[Catrin]

Thanks Possegal! It really is quite helpful to see the numbers, thank you!

Regarding fasting cardio - has anyone done this who is prone to unstable blood sugar? I do get hypoglycemia, though not as often as at one time
I am trying to understand the purpose for fasting cardio and the best approach. So taking amino acids as a supplement prevents our body from using muscle as energy and thus uses fat?

[Crankin]

I would faint if I tried to do any intense cardio while fasting. Seriously. I can feel sort of OK going to a spin class in the early AM without eating a snack, but I still don't feel great.
I question the need for any supplements if you eat a healthy diet, unless you have some type of medical condition. Real food trumps pills, in my mind. I know some people really believe in this stuff, but I am very leery of this.

[indysteel]

Thanks Possegal! It really is quite helpful to see the numbers, thank you!

Regarding fasting cardio - has anyone done this who is prone to unstable blood sugar? I do get hypoglycemia, though not as often as at one time
I am trying to understand the purpose for fasting cardio and the best approach. So taking amino acids as a supplement prevents our body from using muscle as energy and thus uses fat?

The idea behind it is that it, because your liver is theoretically depleted of whatever stored glycogen it had when you went to bed, your body will then turn to stored fat as its energy source. I say allegedly because there is some dispute as to this basic premise. Just Google it and you'll get a sense of the debate.

I, personally, would proceed with caution if I had hypoglycemia. Try it on the trainer, perhaps, so that it's easy enough to stop and grab some food if you start to falter. I wouldn't recommend it for a ride on the road or trail.

[Triskeliongirl]

I do perform fasted cardio. I started after reading this paper: Physiol 588.21 (2010) pp 4289–4302 4289: Training in the fasted state improves glucose tolerance during fat-rich diet. Karen Van Proeyen1, Karolina Szlufcik1, Henri Nielens2, Koen Pelgrim1, Louise Deldicque3,Matthijs Hesselink4, Paul P. Van Veldhoven5 and Peter Hespel1

To me one of the most impressive aspects of the study was that the fasted exercisers had a 30% increase in transport of Glut4 receptors to the cell surface. I am a mild type I diabetic. While I have good insulin sensitivity, since I undersecrete insulin anything I can do to boost the action of the insulin I have makes a big difference. But I don't mean a 3 hour bike ride. Every morning before work, after just a cup of espresso, I go to the gym, and do a 35 minute workout on the arc trainer that my HRM and the machine say burns about 310 calories. Then I shower and eat. But if I am going to do a 3 hour bike ride, than I always eat a high protein breakfast like 2 turkey sausages, and then drink muscle milk lite on the bike. I do eat a low carb/high protein diet to manage my diabetes.

For the women that asked about hypoglyemia, try it in a gym, and bring your glucose monitor. That is what I did, and found I had no problem with my blood sugar readings. In fact, I find my blood sugar always goes up when I exercise since at least in the beginning glycogen is metabolized to glucose.

I do find this 'trick' is useful in my battery of weight control/blood sugar controls. I also incorporte this into an intermittent fasting (IF) protocol. For me it means I don't snack after dinner, and then delay breakfast until after my morning workout. The article I cite above is discussed a this link in more popular language, a site dedicated to the IF protocol that I follow: http://www.leangains.com/2010/05/ear...-training.html

[ny biker]

"Is it better to exercise fed or fasted?"

http://community.active.com/blogs/Na...-fed-or-fasted

[Crankin]

I am aware of the science behind it, but I just don't feel good doing it. And, as far as I know, I am not hypoglycemic or anything else in regards to blood sugar.
My problem is, I need to eat!

[Anelia]

ny biker, there is no one sided truth here. Everything depends on how you feel. Of course, if you feel dizzy, you should eat something before you work out. I feel OK in the morning after a cup of black coffee. If I do morning exercise, I have to get up really early to eat breakfast, wait to digest it and then cycle. I prefer to use the time to sleep.
You can be right: "try to move the meals towards the active part of day". But again there is another side of the coin and the same principle is used in the Intermittent fasting and even better: in the Warrior Diet, i.e. in order to digest fully the food, your body needs rest. Food digestion (especially of carbs) makes you sleepy and lazy. So, they fast in the active part of the day and eat a big meal in the evening. Yes, and they also lose weight, depending on their caloric balance.

I don't support either way and there is not an only answer to this. Just everybody should experiment and try which way is best for their body.
As far as fasted cardio for fat loss is concerned, my whole daily routine included: coffee, 20-30 minutes fasted cardio, protein shake/amino acids immediately after that. After 1-2 hous: protein(eggs usu)+complex carbs (oats). Depending on my day, I rotated strength training or longer and non-intensive bike riding in the afternoon. I ate simple carbs after the weights+again protein (milk usually). My dinner was protein (meat) and salad. My late dinner was always curd and walnuts. So, my glycogen was never full, I was always "fasted" in the mornings because of the small amounts of carbs and especially during the eveneng. Eating the slowest possible digested protein (casein from the curd) just before bed, combined with the fats from the walnuts which made it even slower to digest, ensure my good sleep. I hate when I go to bed slightly hungry and I can't even fall sleep if I eat dinner at 6 p.m. I'm already starving until 10 p.m.

[SadieKate]

"Is it better to exercise fed or fasted?"

http://community.active.com/blogs/Na...-fed-or-fasted

Thanks for this link! Calories and time of day is interesting. My weekday workouts are 5:45am and 6 am. I don't have to eat before cross training, but spinning without calories just sends me spinning.

[Triskeliongirl]

I tried to update this post with a better link, but it looks like its not longer editable, so here goes:


http://www.leangains.com/2010/09/fas...nsitivity.html

I do perform fasted cardio. I started after
reading this paper: Physiol 588.21 (2010) pp 4289–4302 4289: Training in the fasted state improves glucose tolerance during fat-rich diet. Karen Van Proeyen1, Karolina Szlufcik1, Henri Nielens2, Koen Pelgrim1, Louise Deldicque3,Matthijs Hesselink4, Paul P. Van Veldhoven5 and Peter Hespel1

To me one of the most impressive aspects of the study was that the fasted exercisers had a 30% increase in transport of Glut4 receptors to the cell surface. I am a mild type I diabetic. While I have good insulin sensitivity, since I undersecrete insulin anything I can do to boost the action of the insulin I have makes a big difference. But I don't mean a 3 hour bike ride. Every morning before work, after just a cup of espresso, I go to the gym, and do a 35 minute workout on the arc trainer that my HRM and the machine say burns about 310 calories. Then I shower and eat. But if I am going to do a 3 hour bike ride, than I always eat a high protein breakfast like 2 turkey sausages, and then drink muscle milk lite on the bike. I do eat a low carb/high protein diet to manage my diabetes.

For the women that asked about hypoglyemia, try it in a gym, and bring your glucose monitor. That is what I did, and found I had no problem with my blood sugar readings. In fact, I find my blood sugar always goes up when I exercise since at least in the beginning glycogen is metabolized to glucose.

I do find this 'trick' is useful in my battery of weight control/blood sugar controls. I also incorporte this into an intermittent fasting (IF) protocol. For me it means I don't snack after dinner, and then delay breakfast until after my morning workout. The article I cite above is discussed a this link in more popular language, a site dedicated to the IF protocol that I follow: http://www.leangains.com/2010/05/ear...-training.html