Cycling Weight & Fitness Control

1. Achieving Your Cycling GoalsbyAchieving Your Target Weight David Cole dlcole@nc.rr.com January 12, 2015

3. This presentation should… • Help you identify your ideal, target weight • Help you become more aware of the diet choices you make • Equip you to make diet exchanges to lose weight while not depriving yourself • Give you practical tips that can help you take control of your own weight and fitness destiny

4. RESOURCES • RoadBikeRider.com • Bicycling.com • Various online sites • Consumer Reports • Fat Chance • Full CatastropheLiving • My own personal experience

5. Nine Assertions • We live in a toxic food environment • Different calories are different! • The body is a complex system and seeks equilibrium • Your current diet and exercise regimen is perfectly suited to your current weight • It is difficult to lose weight by exercise alone • Most diets are deprivation diets, and you can only deprive yourself for so long • Good food makes you feel good; bad food makes you feel bad • Crowding out bad food with good food can make you healthier without making you hungry • Goals are important - to say “No” to something, you need to be saying a bigger “Yes” to something else (~Steven Covey)

6. A few key points from Fat Chance • Consumption of sugar and refined carbs triggers increased release of insulin • Insulin regulates how resulting glucose is processed: • used for energy (when insulin levels are low) • saved as fat (when insulin levels are high) • Fat cells release leptin which triggers reduction in insulin • Two states: “Not hungry, burn energy Hungry, store energy • But, high insulin levels over time can block leptin signal, yielding "brain starvation" • Such leptin resistance leaves insulin levels unchecked, • thus increasing appetite and reducing activity, resulting in weight gain and energy loss • Moreover, stress can trigger increases in cortisol and insulin, with similar results • We live in a toxic environment • processed and fast foods are predominantly sugar and refined carbs • daily life is increasingly more stressful • Therefore, to become more healthy (and perhaps lose weight) • Eat foods that maintain the insulin/leptin balance • Manage chronic stress

7. The extremes X ? X • Focus on target weight and health • How you feel and how you perform will be its own reward • Improved appearance just an extra benefit

8. What is your ideal cycling weight? Men • 106 pounds for first 5 feet of height • 6 pounds for each additional inch • 5’10” man’s target: ~166 pounds • Women • 100 pounds for first 5 feet of height • 5 pounds for each additional inch • 5’6” woman’s target: ~130 pounds • Then • Adjust +/- 10% based on wrist size

9. Or, set target as % body fat • Measure your current body fat percentage • Lifetime Fitness happy to help • Calculate lean body mass • Current weight minus pounds of body fat • Set goal for body fat • Men: 10 to 25% • Women: 18 to 30 % • Calculate your resulting target weight

10. InBody measurements at LifeTime Free 14-day passes available! See David after the meeting

11. RBR’s 12 weight loss strategies • Be patient, lose weight gradually • Eat a nutrient-dense but low-energy-dense diet • Eat carbohydrates that are primarily low glycemic • Eat well before, during, and after rides, but resume a calorie-deficient diet the rest of the time • Don’t pig-out after a ride

12. RBR’s 12 weight loss strategies… • Eat smaller meals more frequently • Don’t eat after 7:00 pm • Use cycling to help burn more calories • Pick up the pace on your rides • Ride more often • Keep a food diary* • Build some muscle to preserve lean mass and increase metabolism

13. Lose It! MyFitnessPal Apps that can help also, SparkPeople.com and app

14. What worked for me – diet • Snacked on fruit, nuts, and yogurt • Avoided sugar, bad fat, and fried potatoes (except for Tyler’s garlic fries – too awesome!) • Replaced soft drinks* with iced tea • Used water or diluted Gatorade on short rides • Carried Fig Newtons as snacks • Took my lunch to work w/ homemade bread • Enjoyed chocolate and peanut butter in modest amounts • Enjoyed good beer and good bourbon in modest amounts

15. What worked for me – exercise • Commuted to work 1-2 times per week • Hard rides on Wednesday nights • Long rides on weekend • Kayaked on many weekends • Core strength workout 2-3 times per week

16. Observations – core strength • Stability ball workout very effective • Only 30 minutes • Significantly tightens abdominal muscles • Makes you feel lean and tight • Can feel extra gut strength on the bike • Better enables detecting fullness

17. Observations – mindful eating • Learned to recognize being truly hungry versus just wanting to eat • If truly hungry, I ate • If not, hot tea helped, or small snack • Conditioned myself that being slightly hungry at night was desired state • Savored* calorie-worthy foods

18. Levels of diet Holiday/ Vacation Aware Gluttonous Unaware Deliberate Dieting Fasting

19. Lose It! Recommendations • Find staples that you enjoy and that meet your nutrition goals • Be very wary of sugar, bad fat, and refined carbs • Keep a food diary, at least for a while, to make you aware of what you eat • Use social media and smartphone apps to your advantage

20. Recommendations… • Enjoy good food*, and feel better for doing so • For exercise, find a variety of things you enjoy doing, and do them • Develop core strength • Use services of coach or nutritionist if you’re stuck • Set a goal that challenges yourself, and use that for motivation

21. Questions?

22. Thank You!

23. Eat not to Dulness. Drink not to Elevation. - from Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, one of thirteen moral virtues

25. 10 extra pounds equates to 2-3 extra minutes climbing Bynum Ridge Every extra pound you carry above your ideal weight makes you 15 to 20 seconds slower for each mile of a climb.- Bicycling Magazine