Sinner

Forgive me father... for I have sinned!

So I blabbed on quite a bit last year about how I was starting a strict diet regime and was going to lose weight to find out what my optimum 'race' weight was... I can't say that I have been progressing very well. A couple of reasons...

I was/am using My Fitness Pal to track my eating habits... To ensure I intake the right amount of Protein, Fat & Carbs... and to ensure I consume the right amount of calories to ensure I reduce my body weight by about 1lb a week. What I failed to realise is, the information on the App is only as good as the person who inputs it. Also when you scan barcodes, the App will assume the closest match in the database. Therefore, I was adding foods that were completely under estimated resulting in me consuming far too many calories. I also set my lifestyle as moderately active rather than sedentary. Thinking that my activities contributed to my lifestyle. This added about 1000 calories to my calorie intake.

I was unable to cut sugar from my diet. Coffee is a big part of my fluid consumption and sugar is a big part of my coffee (along with coffee creamer/evaporated milk). I was totaling 700 calories a day in coffee consumption alone!

So needless to say I didn't really lose much weight before xmas... fortunately I had realised the issue with My Fitness Fal before then so was able to monitor calorie consumption through the festive period without putting on any extra. I came into the new year with the drive to hit it hard... and hit it hard I did... maybe a little too hard.

I limited myself to 3 coffee's a day. Did fasted exercise in the mornings, no carbs after 12 and put myself into an excess of a 1000 calorie a day deficit (on top of the target deficit for 1lb a week). By the end of this first week I have lost 5lb. I wouldn't recommend it. God knows what muscle mass I have lost in the process.

Example of a typical days diet:
Goal Calories :1610
Calories burnt during exercise: 1800
Total consumption required: 3410
Actual Consumption: 2073
Calorie Deficit: 1337

Needless to say... I wont be doing this on a routine basis... I just wanted to catch up on lost time.

As a treat I finished the week off with a dirty treat... I went out for a long ride with the club and ended up soaked and cold. So cold I had to miss the coffee stop and just head straight home. So decided I would pop down Tesco to treat myself. 1 burger, 1 pizza and 4 triple chocolate chip cookies later and I feel very satisfied.... Although due to the 2000 calories burnt on the ride, i'm still finishing the day with a 500 calorie deficit.

Anyway... I now weigh in at 10st7lb (67kg) @ 11.4% body fat which puts my FTP/Kg to 4.3W/kg.

Based on my current FTP... if I lose another 7lb I will be at 4.5W/kg.
If hit 10st and I can increase my FTP by another 15% by September (hill climb season) I will be at 5.2W/kg.

Based on a 5 min effort (hill) being able to output an excess of 115% of FTP (estimated power output), it is may be possible to be hitting the 6+ W/kg.. This isn't going to be far off a podium positions on the WTTA Hill Climbs and maybe a top 20 at nationals... All hypothetical of course... There is a lot more to racing than power... We will have to wait and see :)