Not piling on but 20 lbs is a lot. Maybe “race weight” needs to be rethought and/or other lifestyle choices and approaches in between training plans. I think 10 over a legit racing weight (established over years of in fact racing) is more like it but of course, it’s all about % not number of pounds. Is your race weight like 265? Then 20 lbs might not be that big a deal, and taking a solid multi pound dump here and there is certainly conceivable.

With respect this is a bit of a silly statement. If we are going to discuss diet then maybe talk about aspects of eating a vegan diet that you are concerned about. B12, Iodine, complete protein, all worth discussing. You can have a healthy Vegan diet or one that lacks some nutrients. Same goes for a more traditional diet.

1500 to 2000? Maybe I’m a giant but cutting for me would be 2000-2200 and maintenance is about 2500-2600. I’m 42, 5’8.5”, 21% body fat, 163lbs. Mom of 2. Your intake seems low. Are you sure that’s enough.

Thanks for the positive feedback and support. I'll keep you posted with occasional updates on progress on this thread. Finding the optimal nutritional balance has been a challenge. I think it might be the hardest hurdle facing athletes.

You make many valid points. A 20lb swing is significant. As well, it makes me question my race weight as a proper barometer. I'll have to consistently assess that weight over the course of my journey. It may be an unrealistic goal, but I'm going to try...famous last words :)

Oh relax, you vegans get so sassy

I didn’t say no one’s ever felt better by dropping meat. I said the guy seems neurotic with his calorie counting and day-by-day weight tracking.

The only reason going plant based helps you lose weight is because you cut out a ton of junk.
You can’t just mindlessly eat and the same goes for keto. You aren’t developing any balance you are just eliminating 98% of grey area processed foods. You can do this exact same thing on a normal diet it just requires self control. What’s happening is you are eliminating a ton of foods to lose weight and then when you go back to a normal diet you can’t control yourself with all these grey area foods.

Also obvious point missed, water weight is huge when it comes to weight. I race at 170 and in the off-season I walked around at 180. Within two weeks of cleaning up my diet I was back to 175 because my body dropped all the unnecessary water that it needs to digest all those processed foods.

I watched The Game Changers and it was definitely "convincing" about the benefits of going plant based (mostly for improved blood markers, less inflammation).

I don't eat much red meat now. When I do eat meat, it's usually chicken but I do like dairy products (I eat a lot of eggs). Fruits and vegetables are great but I'm very limited on the ones I actually like enough to eat all the time. So, I guess my biggest limiter to trying tlanased approach is finding enough food types (variety) to make it work.

What has been your approach with food choices?

What is enough to fuel your training? Calories per day? Your weight? Your training hours per week?

I ask because I'm starting to count intake in an effort to loose a few for bike racing season and it seems like the less I eat, the harder my (sufferfest) workouts are. I'm 6-1, 182 and cycling 5-10 hrs/week consuming 1700 calories/day.

Thanks

My diet is pretty consistent. I eat 1/2 cup of rolled oats, 1/2 scoop of protein powder, sliced banana, and raisins as a easy go to bfast. Lunch I do a huge salad with a protein shake. Dinner I like quinoa bowls a lot with beans, corn, grape tomatoes, kale, red cabbage, etc. Basic stuff like those foods. For snacks I'll also like oatmeal or a peanut butter sandwich on low calorie whole wheat. I find a bowl of cereal is good for getting some vitamin B12. I usually use low calorie (30 calorie) vanilla almond milk. Those are just some simple ideas of where to start.

For a touch of reference, I am 30 5'10 175 muscular and train 18-20hours/week and I lose weight on 3500 calories a day. I historically have a sub-optimal metabolism so I think your calorie intakes are way too low. I would suggest the easiest way to lose weight would be to up the protein in your diet as it will boost your metabolism and any excess protein just gets turned to glycogen anyhow so you'll recover from workouts faster but also lean out.

If you want to lose weight, the ‘when’ part of food intake is essential.

If you’re sitting in an office all day, just have coffee or tea in the morning / afternoon and then fuel up before your workout and eat after the workout. Eat breakfast only if you workout in the mornings. You’ll be lean in no time.

If you want to step it up more, you could do a fasted state workout in the morning (usually a light cardio jog). You might lose muscle mass doing this so you’ll have to examine what kind of weight you want to lose.

1700 cal seems too light. You should be eating a lot more than that. I eat 2x that on light days and my heavier days are 5000-6000 cal. I have similar height / weight to you. With more food you’ll probably have more fuel for longer workouts. But, the ‘when’ is still important.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Ignore how many calories other people eat. Their BMR (basal metabolic rate) is different than yours and their training load is different than yours. If you're tracking how many calories you're eating and you're tracking how many calories you're burning through exercise, then you just need to estimate your BMR to know what you should be eating. A good rule of thumb is that if you want to lose 1 lb. per week target a 500 cal. per day caloric deficit, and to lose 2 lb. per week target 1,000 cal/day deficit. The latter is VERY hard to sustain if you're doing any sort of real volume or intensity, which is why I always try to do the bulk of my weight loss in the early offseason.

You can use an estimator like this one to approximate your BMR. A DEXA scan may be somewhat more accurate.

https://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/bmr

Interesting: my BMR is 1,773 cals/day and my caloric intake required to maintain my weight is almost 3,100.

If this BMR is accurate, I'm clearly under feeding my body. Awesome news!

Thanks

Yes, that big a caloric deficit will definitely impact your workout quality and leave you feeling pretty lousy. Sometimes when I've been running a 1,000 cal/day deficit for a bit I'll suddently have a day where I'm just cold, tired, irritable, sleepy, and in no mood to work out. I'll take the caloric intake back up to net zero for a day or two and then gradually ease back into a deficit.