@leebo @TTDragon This, but it should be based on lean mass, not total bodyweight, per my sport nutritionist/Iron(wo)man. So you need to know bf% either through testing or swag.
Still makes for crazy-high intake, but maybe one less turkey per day?
I prefer a steak anyway 
When I was 90kg my friends told me I looked gaunt. Iâm more now, but did a full IM at 95kg. At 6â4 with 48" chest and rugby/swimmerâs shoulders Iâm never getting down to a climberâs physique!
Great thread here btw @toddsdonald
Well I was only a 5â8, 80kg scrum half/hooker, but yeahâŚfireplug. No one will ever accuse me of being scrawny.
#givebloodplayrugby
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It could be a winner idea!!
Like a plan to follow when on a caloric deficit.
Trying to diet and doing lots of high intensity stuff is not so easy, so if they can come up with a plan for âpre-season conditioningâ it would be awesome.
Additionally, as we now have strength, yoga, mental, some nutritional âtrainingâ would be a next level system !
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Right on! My first supporter of the feature request thank you!
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Ok, this is a big one! There is no real generic plan for weight loss, as every individual is different and putting a âplanâ out there for this would be irresponsible at best. There are simply too many factors.
Most people look at calorie balance (eating less or working out more) and think that a simple calorie deficit will work. It wonât; not in the long run anyway. There is a reason that there are literally thousands of diets out there.
However, there are some things that are true for everyone and have a significant impact on body weight and more importantly body composition and they may not be what you think.
First, you have to realize that body composition is directly influenced by hormones. If your balance is off you will be chasing your tale with weight loss. The most relevant hormones around weight loss/gain are Insulin, Leptin, Gherlin, Cortisol, Testosterone, Estrogen and Thyroid hormones. This is not the place to go into detail about endocrinology. The thing to take away is that if you are engaged in behaviors that disrupt normal hormone function you need to sort this out first.
Here are a few suggestions that can help you get back on track and back in balance.
Number one, get adequate sleep. This comes before all other things. If you donât get this sorted, any fat or wt. loss that you experience will be temporary. Sleep has a massive impact on all of the hormones listed above. There is no substitute. You can not out-train sleep.
Diet: Here it is. Avoid excess sugar! (outside of workouts-during is a bit different) It is pretty common knowledge that sugar is directly related to Insulin. What is not so obvious is that it also influences Leptin-your satiety hormone (makes you feel full and stop eating) It also has a cascading affect on other hormones and neurotransmitters, like dopamine (pleasure) and serotonin (mood stabilizer), which will, in turn affect hunger and sleep.
There are a thousand different hypothesis around how to eat and what to eat. These can be personal, religious, fad etc. The one fact, regardless of your preferences, is about sugar. Too much is bad. If you want more on that, read âThe Case Against Sugarâ by Gary Taubes. If you arenât sure about how to get the right nutrients at the right time or need more information about making food choices that are right for you and fit restrictions that you may have talk to a nutritionist.
Stress. Or rather, reduce stress. This is like a hormone home-wrecker. Itâs real, and like sleep, you canât out-train it. If this is a factor in your life, start here and find a way to manage it.
Exercise; this comes easy for most of you. High intensity, regular exercise and strength training are fantastic! SYSTM workouts are ideal. Just make sure you recover properly. This we have plans for. If you are smoked, recover before you go back at it. Period.
Consistency; you have to stay on the path. If this means tracking behavior on an app then do it. Follow a workout and recovery plan. This we also have a plan for. Tell your friends that you are making a change and have them help you stick with it.
If you are reading this it must be important to you and I hope that some of this will be helpful to you.
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Hear, hear!
Maybe instead of âWeight Lossâ the feature could be renamed something more akin to what you described: Body Composition or a really cool Sufferfest name⌠âLol Train to look like a Knightâ or âTransform into a Fair Maidenâ.
That info was awesome thanks, and see youâve already got the mental toughness portion of the feature figured out
Iâll bet thereâs certain workouts that are better than others for body sculpting that could be implemented.
Thanks for considering it.
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I would be interested to hear more on the technical aspects of this (as I personally see this quite significantly. And only ever in retrospect as at the time you think youâre dealing with it, until the mirror/scales tells you that youâre not. Often 2 weeks later/too lateâŚ).
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Jeff, this is fantastic. Thank you for writing it.
The best explanation I have seen.
Probably worth more than any âweight lossâ plan.
Thanks for having the time to break it down for us !
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New plan, no more binge watching⌠sleep training. Iâve not gotten enough sleep for the past 30 years.
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As others have mentioned, weight loss is a complex journey. There is short term, long term, sustainable, unsustainable etc etc. There is also the term you canât outrun a bad diet, and diet monitoring isnât the easiest thing to incorporate. Ideal body composition can often be reached just with regular exercise involving a mix of longer duration lower intensity, and shorter duration higher intensity work. But it does need to be fuelled properly and adequate recovery.
Iâve had a long history of disordered eating and weight fluctuations trying to make my âidealâ weight during my professional racing career. At one point it had serious negative side effects to my hormonal and bone health due to not eating enough, getting too lean, and my performance dropped. Ironically the best I have gone has been when Iâve been eating significantly more, yet only weighed a tiny bit more, had more muscle mass, and hormone and metabolic health has been much better. If you want to talk through any of this let me know and Iâd be happy to try and help
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Thanks coach Andy!
I wasnât really looking for help on anything, just thought it would be a cool feature to have training plans to select that were focused on fitness, body composition, fat loss, weight loss, or whatever diplomatically correct title or would fall under.
As an avid cyclist, amateur club rider, recreational racer, but primarily just a rider who loves cycling and the fitness benefits, I thought it would be ideal to have training plans for those who arenât necessarily trying to do a century, or train for any certain aspects of the sport, but rather as a means to an end which would be general fitness, getting into shape, etc. It would be awesome to have them for middle age and seniors too because their needs are different, but that idea already got shot down much like this one has.
Speaking purely as a consumer, I like solutions. The easier the better.
I like the training plans because I can just pick one and see it through. I donât want to spend a bunch of time looking through a library of workouts, or get all geeked out by it. I just want to open my calendar and know what I need to do that day or the next day etc.
Having the choice to setup outdoor or indoor training would be great too, but at least I discovered a hack to bring my indoor training outdoors.
Thereâs probably racers such as yourself or those knights who really enjoy all the details, theories and control, but I would assume the vast majority are like me and just looking for simple.
Ah well⌠No worries, itâs your business not mine. Iâm still making good use of the software, albeit Iâve no idea if the training Iâm doing is appropriate to help me with my goals.
I might go back to my old style of home brewed training for several months to see if it helps me lose the weight Iâve gained since COVID and working from home, then return to SYSTM when I wasnât to zero in on some certain technical aspect like MAP or FTP or VOC, etc.
Thanks again for offering to provide individual assistance, but again I was just thinking I was making a feature request, and didnât realize it would turn into a huge negativity thing why it is not possible. I just figured since SYSTM rebranded and itâs trying to get into other markets, then the general fitness and weight loss market is a good one to go after.
Thanks again for all you do and all that SYSTM is. For the avid cyclist it still offers a ton of value for the money.
We do have general fitness plans (all-purpose road) and also the building blocks to supplement what training aspects you want to target. In terms of different plans for different ages, we suggest the 2:1 plans or lower volume for people at different fitness levels, be that recovering from injury/illness, older athletes, or beginners.
The best way to lose weight healthily and sustainably is to reduce calories on days where you do higher volume low intensity work. Doing intervals and strength will also help. Intervals for the excessive post oxygen consumption, and strength for increased muscle mass increasing metabolism and therefore daily calorie expenditure. The problem with a weight loss plan for all is it is very individualised. But for most, just increasing their exercise levels with help with fat loss if all else stays consistent. But diet is a large part of the picture and that we cannot offer a one plan fits all as every individual has different metabolisms and also dietary requirements
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Incorporating a low-carbohydrate diet into your weight-loss plan may help to âflip the switchâ on your bodyâs natural tendency to store fat, according to a study published in Cell Metabolism. When researchers put mice on a 12-week low-carb diet, they found that the animals lost weight and body fat, and their metabolisms switched from burning carbs to burning fat.
Low carb can work in some situations but this case study on animals was not looking at performance or conducting high intensity training where carb availability is vital. Better to focus on overall consumption rather than limiting an entire essential macronutrient
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Everyone Iâve ever known to go low carb to lose weight has gained it all back. I tried it for a couple of weeks and did lose 10 lbs, but found it super hard to bicycle after a week, so I went back to my regular eating. Iâm guessing I didnât let my body adjust fully to ketosis, but nonetheless it wasnât sustainable for me.
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Part of it is that when you eat carbohydrates for every gram that you store you also store 2 g of water. So water weight is often what is lost first but then gained again. Also yes, your performance will normally be impaired low carb
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Thanks to all the contributors- a fascinating read full of insight and experience. 