Body Fat %

Like last year I’m dropping to race weight, having lost 7lbs since Christmas Day. But I’ve only lost 1.3% fat according to my scales, currently registering at 18.2% from 19.4%

They aren’t expensive scales (salter) so take it with a pinch of salt, but why aren’t I losing more fat, although my FTP is rising – and how to I get it down to <15% without losing muscle mass?

Exercise regime is 2 or 3 X TraineroadTurbo, 1 X 60 to 100k club ride PW

Generally Diet = weight and exercise = fitness

Might be worth scrutinising what you shovel down the hatch..
Its usually sugar and its hidden derivatives that our bodies likes to hang neatly round our middles..

Muscle mass doesn’t necessarily seem like a good thing for a cyclist. No good being a muscle monster at the foot of a mahoosive climb. Power to weight ratio?

It’s not fat, it’s a juicy tapeworm.

Not good pie pie monster, currently at 3.26w/kg.

I should add I’m 6ft at that weight and have an mtb/classics build rather than whippet/climber

As said look at your diet. Bigger changes come there than exercise.

Losing a little muscle mass is OK, depending on if your purely bike focussed or not.

I’m am bike focussed.

I’m using mfp, not touched alcohol since nye and won’t until March. I generally don’t eat rubbish with the exception of 1 packet of crisps for lunch, so it’s the usually mix of wholemeal content, veg, no junk food or sweets/cakes. It’s the body fat thing, I don’t get why it hasn’t tumbled. Food is low fat where it can be.

This may sound odd, but are you eating enough? As in your not restricting calories as well as exercising are you?

Not sure what the trainer road stuff is like, reasonably high intensity? A good bit of HIIT helps imo

It’s the body fat thing, I don’t get why it hasn’t tumbled.

Exercise regime is 2 or 3 X TraineroadTurbo, 1 X 60 to 100k club ride PW

thats not much exercise to be fair, especially if the turbo sessions are low intensity or only an hour long, and if your job is sedentary

so on a bad week your doing 2hrs on the turbo and barely a 2hr club run, its not a great deal,

a quick look back at my own data at when i was at my fittest (although still not “thin” due to poor diet/alcohol) i was doing at least 8 hours a week, usuallyy more, some weeks double, mixing road and mtb – lots of intervals in there chasing KOMs on Strava

quite depressing though considering where I’m at physically and mentally at the moment

Wow, how have you lost that much weight this month? Im fairly fit but too heavy due to drinking and eating too much. Since NYE i have stopped drinking ( that means ive lost the calories from 2-3 bottles of wine and 6 pints of beer a week). I have upped my running to 5hr a week at anaerobic threshold and 1x2hr mtb ride per week. I have religiously used a calorie counter to stay at 1650cals ( plus half what my Garmin says i have expended in exercise). In the past 24 days i have lost one pound…..

If I change the mode of the scales to ‘athlete’ I apparently lose loads of fat 🙂

The scales work by checking the electrical impedance from one leg to another. If you’ve gained or lost a bit of a gut, then it won’t affect the readings as much as if you’ve gained or lost cankles.

Don’t trust the scales…when I’ve used (expensive) devices at the gym they’ve been very inconsistent!

Don’t rule out doing some weight lifting/toning exercises, some of the best ways to burn fat. Dead lifts/Squats/Benchpress/ Pull Ups etc if no gym/equiptment you can still do bodyweight squats/push ups/ pull ups/dips etc often at home. Lower weight high reps,

But as said it’s not all about calories it’s about where they come from, eat clean throw in some bodyweight exercises on top of the training and you’ll see the benefits.

Food is low fat where it can be

Are you buying low fat versions of foods? They’re often rammed with sugars.

Excess (crap) carb consumption is way worse than excess fat consumption.

Im cutting weight for the race season. Using MFP to keep track of everything. My weekly diet is 10% below my recommended carb intake, 10% over my fat target and bang on my protein. Down 10lbs in 3 weeks and body fat down by 8%. My fats come mainly from avocado and olive or coconut oil. Nothing processed at all. All fresh ingredients. Nothing packaged or pre-prepared.

“Low fat” is one of the worst food labels ever

If you’re 18% then you aren’t at your racing weight!

dirtyrider – Member
It’s the body fat thing, I don’t get why it hasn’t tumbled.
Exercise regime is 2 or 3 X TraineroadTurbo, 1 X 60 to 100k club ride PW
thats not much exercise to be fair, especially if the turbo sessions are low intensity or only an hour long, and if your job is sedentary
so on a bad week your doing 2hrs on the turbo and barely a 2hr club run, its not a great deal,
a quick look back at my own data at when i was at my fittest (although still not “thin” due to poor diet/alcohol) i was doing at least 8 hours a week, usuallyy more, some weeks double, mixing road and mtb – lots of intervals in there chasing KOMs on Strava
quite depressing though considering where I’m at physically and mentally at the moment

It’s not how much you train for hours to lose weight, it is about what you do if you want to lose fat and your dietary intake.
I trained 3 times a week for 30 minutes each or less and lost 30 kg in 3 and half months. Also increased my fitness but fat loss was my goal.

Applied a lot of science and it has worked on everyone I’ve trained including myself but I’m a sugarholic 😆

Indeed mol grips.

Bib – what I mean by that is in aware of the low fat vs sugar issue. So I’ll eat baked rather than fried crisps, but I’ll have 50% olive oil butter on toast, or with poached eggs no butter at all. So watching out for hidden fats and yes sugary replacement crap.

All by turbos are HIIT, but with the day on day off recommendation it’s hard to get more time in than 4 sessions 6-8hrs a week with the family/work.

No offence but if you had 30kg to lose you were Overweight – someone at 75/80kg won’t be able to lose that much weight, and as you probably know it’s the last few kg which are the hardest to shift

“Low fat” is one of the worst food labels ever

Amen.

I’ll add “sugar free”. Just put the bloody sugar in and be honest about it you immoral bastards!

You’re probably better off using a tape measure and a mirror to see if you’re losing fat, rather than bathroom scales. Keep a record of your waist measurement, and put a mirror somewhere you can see yourself when you’re getting dressed.

I do that. I’m not bemoaning the loss to date, just wondering why my body fat appears to be high. Perhaps now most of the bulk has gone I’ll start eating into it. Trousers are looser!

If you want to measure body fat properly then us a pair of body fat calliper and this: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/how-to-measure-your-body-fat.html

The callipers are only a couple of quid and it only takes a few minutes to take the measurements. At least it will be more accurate then.

Withhold your puddings.

Bib – what I mean by that is in aware of the low fat vs sugar issue. So I’ll eat baked rather than fried crisps, but I’ll have 50% olive oil butter on toast, or with poached eggs no butter at all. So watching out for hidden fats and yes sugary replacement crap.

Crisps, baked or otherwise, are junk unfortunately. I miss crisps so much. Not good for weight or fat loss at all

Same goes for toast. Toast plus a mix of olive oil and butter ( 😯 ) is a horrifically calorie dense mix that would do nothing to satisfy your appetite. 2 slices of toast plus oil and butter could amount to almost 500 calories of worthless food.

If you’re not already, start using my fitness pal and log EVERYTHING you eat. It’s an eye opener about how,unbelievably easy it is to overeat

The body fat part of scales is utter tosh Kryton – same as the BMI measurement.
Even after leaving hospital late last year at 83kgs calipers had me at 21% yet BMI was over 32!
Scales had me at 30+%.
Issue is that as said – they work by measuring the resistance.
Get out of the shower and its lower.
Walk in from the bedroom and its higher.

Its especially pertinent when it then adds your height and weight into the mix.
At 5’7″ I’m supposed to be under 68kgs on the BMI – I’m currently 76 and the Doc has never been happier!
However it says I’m obese at a BMI of 36 and a supposed % of 34 right now.
Check up the week before last and again calipers had me at 18% even with the love handles from not being able to get out and about the way I want to.
Get a nice tailors tape and use that along with how the clothes fit.
I wouldn’t bother with the scales.

Bob I am doing that, literally everything. If there’s doubt, for example a generic soup, I pick the one with highest cals from mfp

You have a packet of crisps every day! Not that you should be a martyr, but you know, crisps every day 🙂

Indeed mol grips.

It’s quite possible that your scales are talking complete bobbins. The only sensible way to measure body fat in the home is to use calipers. You can get them for about £3 on Amazon – they are only plastic things but they do work just as well as expenisve ones. You then use calculators online.

The scales aren’t worth anything really.

Same goes for toast. Toast plus a mix of olive oil and butter ( ) is a horrifically calorie dense mix that would do nothing to satisfy your appetite.

Disagree. Appetite is driven by loads of things – if he can make toast work for him then fine. If toast leaves him feeling hungry for more, then no.

Complex and personal issue this.

On annon training dayi have two slices of toast with marmite a 7am, a cereal bar at 10, soup plus 2 slices of whole meal bread for lunch. On a training days it’s 2 poached eggs on no buttered toast then that’s it until a soy protein shake plus the soup lunch after the turbo at 12:30 approx. So it’s not as though I’m stuffing myself, the toast – always whole meal – suffices. Sometimes swapped with a measured amount of plain porridge oats in semi skimmed milk.

It sounds like you’re very successfully losing weight so far OP. The only problem you have is that you’re believing the totally rubbish BMI/body fat reading on the scales.

Up your caffeine intake.

Take a bit of carbs during (not before) riding.

Both may help fat burn

Are you making the soup or buying it? Bought soup isn’t good. Cereal bars ain’t good either. I moved from cereal bar to malt loaf and lost weight.

What time do you eat at night?

Nutritional Ketosis is your answer.

Is it one of those scales that estimates body fat through your conductivity? If so I wouldn’t put much store in the readings.

If you know where your body keeps fat (hips for me) measure that with a tape measure.

Up my caffeine intake? I drink loads of coffee already. Main meal is at 5-6. I may top up with up with a snack – nuts or fruit with water after the kids are in bed if I feel Hungary and if mfp says I’ve got cals left, but not after 8pm. Except if my turbo session happens at 8pm, then it’s the soy protein shake straight after.

I’ll ignore the scales ‘cept weight.

On annon training dayi have two slices of toast with marmite a 7am, a cereal bar at 10, soup plus 2 slices of whole meal bread for lunch. On a training days it’s 2 poached eggs on no buttered toast then that’s it until a soy protein shake plus the soup lunch after the turbo

That’s a lot of bread you’re shovelling in.
I seem to remember Chris Froome’s pre season diet last year banned wheat, bread , pasta etc in favour of rice as the main carb, and lots of full fat omelettes…
possibly with bacon.

Love all the diet advice on here.

I eat cake almost every day and my BMI is 20 so you should do what I do.

(Or, you know, carry on as you were, which is clearly working!)

Well I would point out that not every day is soup and bread day. Mrs K is West Indian so there’s plenty of rice and chicken in my diet.

I shall carry on and ignore the scales!

But I’ve only lost 1.3% fat according to my scales,

Which have no way of actually measuring Body Fat, so it’s just a complete guess….

Get the callipers out.

Kryton57 – Member
Well I would point out that not every day is soup and bread day. Mrs K is West Indian so there’s plenty of rice and chicken in my diet.

I shall carry on and ignore the scales!

Rice and chicken! Are you mad? What about the arsenic and the campylobacter?

You can’t just eat stuff you know!

Matt