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Fat Adaptation on Vegan Diet?
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Hi ST crowd:

I've been following Trainerroad workouts since last July and have been bumping up my FTP quite a lot from 280 to 325 last time tested. During this period I have successfully completed an Everesting in 16 hours and have had good experience hanging with fast people locally on rides. (I live in Hong Kong) I have been on a high carb vegan diet for about two years and not planning on changing that as it's been serving me well. Living in this part of the world, it's also not easy to do Keto/Paleo but super easy to be a vegan -- not to mention the little environment footprint.

Now, this impulse of getting more fat adapted is based on 1) my new job when I need to log long but not always intense rides in remote parts of the world and couldn't necessarily fuel as I want; 2) my ambition to shed some fat and better my body composition so that on huge climbs I don't have to churn out unnecessary big watts. I'm currently sitting at 165 lbs (75kg) at 6 feet (183cm) and would like to go down to around 155lbs.

In one of the Trainerroad podcasts, one of the guys talked about having a four-week weight loss phase, which the TR hosts considered very sensible. I'm thinking about putting myself through a similar process -- mostly just do low intensity rides fasted 6 times a week and watch my caloric intake to make sure it's 300-400 calories under my baseline. Granted I'll be losing a little bit top end speed but would easily be gained after the cycle. Is there something else to watch out for?

Thanks!
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Re: Fat Adaptation on Vegan Diet? [timenoway] [ In reply to ]
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I think you’re heading the right direction with your plan. I found big benefits in doing one high intensity session a week fasted, (edit: I train fasted low intensity the other mornings) and it’s got to the stage where I don’t really follow a specific LCHF approach and can still ride easy for 3-4 hours or run easy for 2 on an empty stomach in the morning. Alternatively, I can turn out 5x1km on the track and feel pretty money at the end.

Worth watching out for mid-morning hunger pangs, I found this hard when I was eating predominantly vegan as carrots/raw veg didn’t cut it and I found myself reaching for the nut butter, which can kill your calorie deficit pretty quickly! Green tea and lots of water helped if you don’t want to end up wired to the moon on coffee.

Have you ever been down to 155lbs before? That’s getting towards the small end for your height but depends on body composition, but might be more of racing weight target?
Last edited by: hiscotsg: Feb 21, 18 6:32
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Re: Fat Adaptation on Vegan Diet? [hiscotsg] [ In reply to ]
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Hiscotsg:

That's interesting you add one high intensity session in there every week -- are those efforts more near threshold or beyond? Judging from my abilities now -- riding fasted 2 to 3 hours at low to moderate intensity (lower than 250 watts NP) would be no problem for me at all. Obviously my goal for this four-week cycle would be to go longer without fueling, and possibly even at a higher intensity. I think that high-intensity session might work well.

I've always been a seasonal weight loser -- when it comes May or June my weight has routinely gone down towards the 160lb mark without much effort in either watching the diet or upping the volume of training. Reason to lose a little more weight and stay there is that there are going to be a lot of climbing in the next few years, and I'd like to do less grinding and more dancing on the bike.

But as the weight goes down, obviously I'll have to judge if the power is going down with it as well.
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Re: Fat Adaptation on Vegan Diet? [timenoway] [ In reply to ]
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I do those track sessions at threshold and a little beyond. I’d do 5x1km at 3:30/I’m pace with 200m slow jog recovery. The last one is a stretch. I like those sessions as a marker of how I cope fasted with higher intensity. E.g. If I didn’t feel great after three I’d throttle back and cruise the last two.

It sounds like you’re building from a great starting point for getting up those hills!
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