Coming back to "good" form

bor1234 said:

Sorry for the general post, but I have learned tons from this forum. Quick review, two years ago, I suffered a heat stroke during a marathon Mtb race. Since then my fitness level has never reached its maximum level, for example my FTP has dropped about 40 to 50 watts from its high point.

1. Now I struggle with any heat and humidity, it just kills me, I can't get my heart rate down during a ride in these conditions.
2. My riding buddies which I used to be stronger, now are light years better, which makes group rides suffer fests for me.
3. I can't stay with the front pack on our wednesday night worlds.
4. I struggle with my weight, it seems I have to be twice as vigilant with my diet to not gain significant weight. (I'm about 15 to 20 lbs heavier)

I took a good month of R&R after the stroke.
Finally, anybody noticed great improvement after losing 20 lbs??
Thanks for your help

Bummer about the heat stroke, that's tough since having it once predisposes you to future issues with heat.

Dropping 20 pounds makes a very big difference when it comes to cycling uphill and it's a real good way to reduce heat exhaustion and heat stroke issues in the future.

Going uphill on a bike is all about the watts/kg you can generate. Good training can increase the watts, but losing some weight drops the kgs and can have a dramatic impact on your performance. Some folks here spend several grand to pull a pound or two off their bikes, think what losing 20 pounds is worth 🙂

Good luck,
Dave

thanks dave for your reply, seems you are vigilant in this forum and many people gain knowledge from your posts.

With weight the solution is relatively simple, and painful. 😉

1. Ride your bike. A lot. Regularly.
2. Watch what you eat.
3. Be patient.

The usual guidelines apply. See your doctor and talk to him/her about your exercise plans and get a good physical. A few of the things that have worked for me (YMMV). N.B. I am not a physician or trained dietician, but I believe the following points are pretty much standard across the board.

Avoid all soft drinks and alcohol. Drink lots of water (2 liters per day, at least).

Avoid sugar, deserts, etc. The more careful you are about this, the quicker the weight comes off.

Limit carbos to breakfast and lunch.

Have fruit mid-morning and mid-afternoon to avoid sitting down to meals ravenously hungry.

Eat all the vegetables and white meat you want, as long as it is steamed, grilled or baked. A bit of lemon, spices and a touch of olive oil as seasoning.

If you follow these guidelines and exercise regularly (1~2 hours per day, 5~6 times per week) you will lose weight and you will then be able to keep it off.

Best of luck.

P.S. Sounds like you need to lose the extra weight and you will be much closer to your previous fitness levels...

I don't think it is unreasonable to say that if you ride 2hrs a day for five days you can lose 3-4lbs a week.

Strumpetto said:

I don't think it is unreasonable to say that if you ride 2hrs a day for five days you can lose 3-4lbs a week.

Let's see, 4 pounds a week is a 14,000 Calorie per week deficit. IOW you need to run a caloric deficit of 2000 Calories per day. You also have to be able to adequately refuel your muscle glycogen from day to day or you'll have a lot of trouble doing that 2 hour ride the following day. And you also have to consider how much you can reasonably expect to burn on a two hour ride. Assuming an average power of 200 watts you'd burn approximately 1600 Calories in a 2 hour ride. So you'd need to diet away an additional 400 Calories per day to meet your -14,000 Calorie per week target relative to your resting metabolic rate.

In short, that's a tall order. Refueling well enough to ride a good solid 2 hour ride every day(200 watts AP day in, day out is not trivial) while maintaining a 2000 Calorie per day deficit is pretty darn tough.

Shooting for a pound and a half weight loss per week only requires an average daily deficit of 750 Calories. Assuming an hour and a half of average daily riding at 150 watts AP you'd burn 900 Calories per day on average allowing you to refuel when you get home and be in better shape to ride the following day.

FWIW most sports physiology and nutrition texts suggest no more than 1.5 pounds per week of weight loss for the reasons listed above. It definitely pays to take the long view regarding weight changes. Most of us mid lifers didn't put on the excess weight in just a couple of months, is it realistic to try to pull it off in that much time?

-Dave