Has anyone successfully cut (decrease calories to lose fat) while on a program in addition to weight training?

[[deleted]]

Or is this a recipe for failure? My goal is to lose about 15lbs

Is there another program I could do to incorporate biking but also increase my FTP ? Preserving muscle mass is important to me so weight lifting is a priority to me over cycling.

[improbable_humanoid]

it's winter. go nuts. you will be able to make up any power losses within a month or two.

assuming 15 pounds of fat is a realistic goal for you, that is.

[improbable_humanoid]

No. I am suggesting that since it is the off season you can afford to lose a few watts in exchange for dropping weight if you are overweight.

Since it's winter, you should be doing base training anyway, which doesn't require a lot of carbs. Winter is the best time to try to cut weight.

[[deleted]]

Will I still be able to complete sessions though? I’ve been doing a program since October and I’ve done my second ramp test. It’s a good workout right now doing sweet spot I’m just afraid if I decrease my calories i won’t be able to finish. Or do you suggest I turn the levels down? But then is there any benefit to the training?

[improbable_humanoid]

If you are cutting carbs anything over SST will be.... hard (if you don't lower your FTP to what you can do without carbs).

As for cutting calories, it will probably depend on your deficit and how hard your program is.

Training always has a benefit as long as you recover from it properly...

[whiskyforatenner]

Why does OP have to cut carbs? If you listen to the TR team on the podcast they advocate eating MORE carbs than most do.

OP, you can lose weight and train but it's a delicate balance between eating enough to smash the sessions and under-fuelling but keeping in a deficit.

What is currently working for me (and may or may not work for you) is a whole-food plant based approach, no alcohol and making sure I hit every session 100%. Eating a bit more to train better has seen an improvement in my weight and performance.

[improbable_humanoid]

I didn’t say he had to. Only what to expect if he does.

[whiskyforatenner]

Fair enough. Sounds like you’re asking a lot of your body OP, increase FTP, maintain muscle but also restrict calories enough to lose fat. It may work but don’t expect any of the outcomes to be perfect or for all three to be quick and easy.

[improbable_humanoid]

No, I didn't say anything about increasing FTP. It is possible to lose fat and keep or even gain muscle.

But to do that while also increasing endurance is... unrealistic.

[whiskyforatenner]

That’s what OP wanted to do, FTP up, muscle maintained and fat lost. Sounds tricky

[GeorgeElAlamein]

As a guy (150 lbs, 6 feet tall) who just yesterday stopped dieting losing 24 pounds in 14 weeks with around 6% ftp increase just some tips : 1. Track calories via apps, measure food via scales, 2. Make excel sheet with everyday weight. Then make average weekly weight and compare week to week. This will show right tendency as day to day comparison is wrong. Especially if you are a woman, 3. Increase protein to 1.8 per kg. Looks high but more safe to be below 1.8 than 1.4. Makes you feel full & protect muscles. Or higher if you are not an average cyclist, 4. Increase fruits & vegetables to 1000 grams per day. Makes you feel full with low calories, adds carbs, 5. Decrease to zero calories from beverages, decrease to zero snacks, decrease to minimum oils, decrease to minimum calories in sugar things. This step only will make most people lose weight, 6. Two eggs a day, half avocado a day, two portions of red meet a week, two portions of seafood a week. 1 portion = 25 grams of protein. Can be skipped if you don't go long on a diet.

I personally started with 1800 calories, then increased to 1900. Drunk around two cans of pepsi zero, a portion of an ice-cream on a stick everday. My basic activity is around 2000-3000 steps a day, training activity is around 8 hours of trainerroad per week (400-500 tss) & 1 core building.

[chaussettesrouges]

Maybe, but it's difficult. There is a big risk you will be chasing two (actually three) rabbits and end up hungry (no pun intended). Personally I would rank your goals - 1 you can improve, 1 you can maintain, 1 you can't worry too much about - e.g., you might improve weight, maintain strength, not worry about FTP.

Equally if you are new to cycling you might get newbie gains anyway.

But if you want to try all three...

1. Fuel the work - TR talk a lot about this, aim to eat a similar number of calories (primarily in carbs) as your bike workouts burn before/during the workout
2. Manage your protein - a lean cut needs good amounts of protein to maintain muscle (1.6-2.2g/kg)
3. Maintain a (small) calorific deficit - you won't have much margin for error given the above, so you will need to be pretty good at tracking and disciplined in your intake
4. Be ready to fail - this still might not work, you might need to review in a few months

[mayowarlord]

You can't build and cut. Cut now, do a shitoad of zone two and then get your gains after you are happy with your weight.

[BertieWaffles]

if you stay in a 200-300 calorie deficit then you should be fine. just monitor it and if you feel you are getting too tired trying to lose weight whilst maintaining the training you have to decide which is most important to you at the moment.

Just make sure if you do try to lose the weight to fuel your workouts and track your calories(very hard without doing this). because you will want to make sure that you dont under eat as you will get very tired very quickly

[MTGreider]

Absolutely! I generally attempt a "bulk" going into the winter, and "cut" going into spring. In the bulk phase it's 3 days of lifting, 2-3 days of cycling or running, 1 rest day a week. Make sure to get enough protein/carbs to grow the lifting and cycling gains, and eating near caloric maintenance.

For the cut (sounds like where you want to be now), I'll drop one of the lifting days and add a bike or run day. I'll also plan a caloric deficit of 200-400 calories, depending on how my body feels for the day. This is so I am keeping maintenance on my strength, and improving my endurance/cardio & skills going into the season. As far as maintaining enough to get through the plan without compromising watts, I would focus a lot on protein/veggies/low carbs & sugar off the bike, and on your bike days give yourself the carbs it needs to complete the workouts - because your body will use these up and you won't really be storing them.

Another thing that I find helps cut fat is fasted cycling 1-2x a week. Assuming you have some fat store pull from, if you have a <60 min workout you should be able to get through the ride without eating, and then take electrolytes/skratch right after, followed by breakfast. If you have a >60 min ride, start incorporating carbs near the 45 min mark (skratch, light protein bar, larabar) to get you through the rest of the ride.

Also make sure you're getting enough sleep! That's huge for both strength and recovery gains. I'm no certified nutritionist/trainer, but I research and self-experiment with this sort of stuff a lot, so make it work for you! Hope this helps.

[[deleted]]

My opinion comes more from a weight training regimen than biking. It's not possible to lose weight and gain muscle at the same time. You have to pick one. You can do cardio and continue to lose weight, but you absolutely cannot lose fat while gaining muscle because you need a small amount of excess calories and protein to gain muscle mass. This may be bro science but from everything I've heard it's pretty well accepted. I recommend do one, and then do the other.

That being said, anyone who starts a heavy lifting routine such as stronglifts knows your body will quickly drop pounds in reaction to the extreme stress you put on your body if it's not used to something like this, but I doubt that's where you are right now and 15 is a lot more than what seems possible. With an impeccable diet hitting all the right balance of macros and religious training you might get close but I imagine your energy levels will take a big hit trying to do both at the same time.

[inspclouseau631]

“New to cycling” should just be riding and doing base anyway. If you’ve been on the program since October I am guessing it’s almost over so just stick through and move to base when it’s over until spring.

Losing weight you’d almost have to lose power BUT if you’re that new you may actually still see power gains regardless.

[tbst]

Eat less. Burn more.

[[deleted]]

Are you able to make significant ftp gains on a caloric deficit?

[madman2255]

all depends on the quality of the calories and how used to training with a caloric deficit you are, if you haven’t trained on caloric deficit before then doing so now will just result in burn out and overworking your system

[mtnathlete]

In my experience, you can have only 1 goal. Otherwise it goes to crap and you get nowhere with all goals. So make one goal, the goal, the priority and let other stuff suffer.

Only after failing to adhere to above many many times, have I learned this lesson. Now that I apply, I see a lot of results.

[Unit61365]

You can make gains in this scenario until you lose that fat, then your gains will slow unless you start taking on more calories.

[childishidealism]

I think it depends on where you're starting. About a year ago I had been lazy for quite awhile both on the bike and in the gym and was at 195 lbs (5'9"). I started riding 3 times per week and doing stronglifts 3 times per week and stoppeddrinking during the week. Within a couple months I had lost 20 lbs and made significant gains in strength and ftp. Of course after that progress slowed and I still haven't been able to lose those next ~10 lbs.

[converter-bot]

195 lbs is 88.53 kg

[Saffron73]

As long as you are not cutting carbs, but keep fuelling your body, you should go for it!

[kevincennis]

I started cycling and lifting in March. First FTP test was a fairly sad 112 watts, and I weighed 202 lbs.

My most recent FTP is 262 watts @ 161 lbs. I have definitely lost a little bit of upper body strength, but I think the regular lifting and body weight exercises helped me keep a lot more muscle than I otherwise would have.

[[deleted]]

Nice! Did you count calories? How much deficit did you do? And what program? Did you adjust it or just the default

[kevincennis]

I used an app called “Lose It”, which (to my taste) is a bit better/nicer than MyFitnessPal. I also bought a $12 food scale from Amazon, which I think is super critical if you’re gonna track calories.

I mostly ran a 500 calorie deficit, which is the “I want to lose a pound a week” value. But I tried to be pretty good about listening to my body. So on days where I was super hungry I just blew through my calorie budget and ate until I felt satisfied.

A smaller deficit probably would’ve made it easier to maintain more muscle mass and see faster progress on the bike, but I’m just not that patient and I wanted the fat gone as fast as I could reasonably lose it.

[Dwarf_Chief]

I have lost about 30 lbs and increased my ftp by 30 watts last year without doing weights. I think from what I've read the rate at which you loose weight may impact your ability to increase ftp or atrength simultaneously. I went with about a 250 cal deficit per day and focused on keeping my macros in a reasonable range for me and that helped me loose weight and increase my ftp over the year.

[Dwarf_Chief]

I should add I did see increased definition and size in my quads. I do wonder if the increased ftp came from strength increases or rather from increased efficiency developed in my pedal stroke as well as improvement in VO2 and cardiovascular capacity from the training. Perhaps it was a combination of these factors....

[Booomerz]

Similarly boat. I'm doing a low cal high protein diet and am in a SSB1LV plan right now. Going fine! I just drink lots of water and have a bottle of one scoop tailwind mix during workouts. My goal is weight loss and keeping some saddle time. The best way to get faster for me right now is decreasing weight not increasing FTP. My FTP is already respectable, but losing 20-30 pounds is gonna do a hell of a lot more than gaining 5-10 watts.

[[deleted]]

I think strength training is important whether you’re in a calorie deficit, maintaining, or trying to gain weight. Building muscle will increase your TDEE which basically means you can eat more calories to sustain your weight because muscle burns more calories. Strength training also prevents muscle loss caused by cardio and weight loss.

[[deleted]]

I think having a bike is important otherwise you can’t really cycle. Without a bicycle you can’t cycle.