It’s great that you have a suggestion for SYSTM to develop a weight loss plan. Incorporating weight loss as part of a fitness-oriented plan could be beneficial for many users. A weight loss plan based on the 4DP and other measurable factors would allow for a more personalized approach to weight loss, and the sports scientists could use their expertise to develop a scientifically-backed plan.
I suggest including the following weight loss plan:
Balanced diet focused on creating a calorie deficit
Grilled chicken or fish with roasted vegetables;
Salad with plenty of greens, lean protein, and healthy fats like avocado or nuts;
Quinoa or brown rice bowl with veggies and a lean protein like tofu or shrimp;
Found this thread interesting. Although I agree the theory is simple, balancing energy intake vs. energy expenditure, both numbers are tied to a great deal of uncertainty.
Intake: You may log your food consumption, but unless you diligently verify the nutrient content and measure the amount, there are a lot of errors in the food logging app-iverse, as well as a human tendency to err on the side of lower amounts in these cases.
Expenditure: Here we are talking estimates with huge amount of individual variation. I think they mentioned on Fast Talk podcast once that an accurate way of measuring this does not yet exist.
Although there are some universal rules for weight loss, the starting point and motivation for weight loss may cater for different approaches even though the tools are the same. For someone that are obese and wants to improve their general fitness to have a happy life, they may lose a greater amount of weight within a given time period than someone that just wants to improve their FTP from 4.5 W/kg to 5 by partly losing some weight and become more competitive and improve performance in races. I guess both examples may find their way to SYSTM.
By the way, I believe the general principles for weight loss were very well addressed in the recent Knowledge podcast, so I guess it is something Wahoo very well would be able to do do, but like mentioned before, there isn’t a 4DP and thus not a one size fits all for weight loss, which they would need to address somehow.
Seems you have written my story as well. Having gone from a overweight (the politically correct version of just plain ol fat) to a competitive sub hour 40K TT and then back to needing to lose 15+ kg and find 60W. Not sure that a plan by Wahoo would sort me problem but hey, maybe some raw templates might help some out. I was planning on my base being a lot of RGT but that’s been shot down
Remember you don’t need to do zone 1 to have weight loss. You’ll lose weight if you’re in a calorie deficit, substrate you’re using in exercise doesn’t matter bc if you use carbs, your body will still pull the deficit from your fat stores.
Meaning there’s no need for a weight loss training plan. Plus intake abd expenditure are so hard to really estimate that I doubt it’d be feasible.
But again you don’t need it: just pick a plan that you can complete while on whatever deficit / loss-timeline you choose. If you’re trying to lose weight fast, pick a fairly easy plan vs what you could otherwise do and/or plan to take extra rest.
And for both: training and deficit—I don’t think there’s really any good way either than to track and adjust accordingly based on how fast you’re losing, your fatigue level etc.
Yeah. If you’re gonna workout out for an hour, you’re better off burning 500 cal than going easy and burning 200. I just chose and stick with a training plan, and count calories to maintain the desired deficit.
I’m the same way but fwiw, it means we’re not eating enough. It works for a while but you hit a certain body fat percentage and it becomes an anchor on progress
I suppose you’re right. When I train for performance I’m doing 1-2hr rides 3-4 days per week and a 2-3hr z2 ride once per week plus weight training 1-2 days per week.
But when another person trains for performance they may be doing 2-3 interval sessions per week that last shorter than 1hr and then crushing themselves on a weekend ride.
Yep. More riding helps by burning more calories, but unless it’s a World Tour stage race, it’s pretty easy to eat those, and more, back, which is what happens to me and I presume some others. I might burn 500 Cal in an hour. A 500 Cal piece of cake can be consumed in a few minutes with very little effort. I find the harder/more I train, the hungrier I get, and I have to consciously control the amount I eat. I think it really depends on an individual’s physiology. Some people remain skinny not matter what they do, others fat no matter what they do, and everything in between. For me, that also tracked with age; thin when young, and gradually putting on lbs as I aged.
Interestingly my dietician (who is also an ultra endurance performance athlete) says this:
for people who are not used to eating appropriately or training consistently, it is extremely easy to get them to drop weight while also getting fitter.
for people who already eat reasonably well and who have been fit and training for years, this becomes almost impossible. We almost have to give up the training for our preferred sport to work on body composition first (tweaking diet and increasing weights work) and then come back to their preferred sport later. This is amplified in older athletes and also in women who have different fueling needs.
I thought this was very interesting. It can be done, but her comment was that it requires SUCH precision around meal timing and content that unless you’re at elite level and can make the time, it is very challenging to achieve as a recreational athlete. She told me to pick one (body comp vs training hard) and I chose the latter. Pushing out my highest power numbers by miles but am slower because I weigh more. This year will.be adding in heavy weights again (dropped them last year) to try shift the status quo.
@CPT_A Sure - your brain gets wired for sugar. I quit sugar for a while and when I would have some it overwhelmed me - way too sweet and also I could feel the quick high and crash more acutely. Unfortunately I fell off the wagon but am working my way back.
Yep. What I meant by my reply to Joshua, who said, “If you’re training for performance you will lose weight,” is that more/better exercise alone won’t do it for everyone. Limiting/modifying what you consume is often also necessary.
