12 rules of fat loss
Shed the Christmas pounds with our expert advice
1 BE REALISTIC
Aim to lose no more than 1kg per week. ‘Anywhere between 0.5kg and 1kg is fine, but no more than that – weight loss needs to be sensible and sustainable,’ says sports nutritionist Mayur Ranchordas. ‘It’s not a race.’
The key is to strike the right ‘ negative energy balance’. That is – you guessed it – to consume fewer calories than you burn.
2 STRIKE THE RIGHT BALANCE
Aim to eat around 500 calories less per day than your total energy expenditure. ‘Counting calories can seem like a chore but you’ll do it if you’re serious, and while the calorie expenditure figures on gadgets such as power meters and sports watches can overestimate by 10-20 per cent, they’re still useful if you bear that in mind,’ says Ranchordas.
The recommended UK daily calorie intake is 2,500 for men and 2,000 for women but everyone is different so what you burn will be unique to you. There will be a certain amount of trial and error but aim for 1,500-2,000 if you’re a man and 1,000 to 1,500 if you’re a woman and if necessary adjust the amounts after a couple of weeks.
3 BE PATIENT
You didn’t gain the weight in a month so don’t expect to lose it in that time either. Weight goes on over a long period and needs to come off slowly as well.
‘ Try to reverse engineer it – if your goal weight is 70kg and you’re 80kg that might take you ten to 12 weeks,’ says Ranchordas. ‘Set sensible goals, because if you try to lose 2kg per week you’ll weaken your immune system, lose muscle mass and feel rotten, so you’re more likely to give up.’
4 MONITOR YOUR PROGRESS
Firstly weigh yourself once a week, because otherwise you won’t know if what you’re doing is working, and seeing progress makes you more likely to stick to the plan. ‘But weight in itself isn’t the best measure of health,’ says Ranchordas. ‘You might lose lots of weight in the first week but half of that will be water and 20% muscle mass. ‘It’s also an idea to measure your waist and waist-to-hip ratio. You could get your body fat measured by an expert, but you can also just look at photos. The more data, the better.’
5 KEEP A DIARY
Losing weight isn’t just about what you eat. It’s also a mental process in which you have to act out your good intentions, and keeping a food diary can help.
‘Writing down what you do helps you become aware of the choices you’re making, good and bad, and from that you can make some easy wins,’ says sports psychologist Andy Lane. ‘Writing down what you eat also gives you a better idea of how many calories you consume and burn over a week.’
6 UP THE PROTEIN
Eat 2g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight every day to preserve muscle mass and keep you feeling fuller for longer. ‘If you have a negative energy balance you’ll lose muscle mass,’ says Ranchordas. ‘A high-protein diet will help preserve it, plus protein keeps you feeling fuller for longer, so you eat less and therefore consume fewer calories.’
7 EAT LESS OF WHAT YOU LOVE
Rather than banning everything you enjoy that isn’t a vegetable, look at portion sizes. ‘If you yearn for something, it starts to drive your thoughts,’ says Lane.
‘Eat what you like but look at the portion size of high-calorie foods. Don’t set up inner battles that make winning the war harder.’
8 TRAIN OFF THE BIKE
This may not be what you want to hear when you’ve had one too many Brussels sprouts, but don’t neglect weight training. ‘This will also help preserve muscle mass,’ says Ranchordas. ‘If cycling is your number one sport you almost certainly don’t want an overly muscular upper body so focus on strengthening your lower body.’
Also add in some total body moves such as squats to support your core and back, keeping the weights low and the reps high.
‘Set sensible goals, because if you try to lose 2kg per week you’ll weaken your immune system, lose muscle mass and feel rotten, so you’re more likely to give up’
9 TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Periodise your carbs around your training. ‘This will limit your calorie intake on rest or easy days and also keep your insulin levels low,’ says Ranchordas. ‘When insulin levels are high your body stops using fat for fuel. When they’re low, because you haven’t had carbs, your body will use its existing energy stores, primarily fat.
‘ Don’t have carbs at breakfast if you’re riding at night. Have the bulk of them at lunchtime and then some after your ride to refuel you. If you ride in the morning have most of your carbs the night before and some at breakfast, but not at lunchtime. And limit your carb intake on the days when you’re not training – porridge for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and rice for dinner is a really poor diet if you’re not exercising.’
To be specific, Ranchordas recommends 1.2g of carbs per kilogram of bodyweight per day, rising to 3-4g on moderate training days and 7-8g on hard days when you’re doing sprints or intervals.
10 UP THE INTENSITY
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a great tool for weight loss. ‘The goal is to burn as many calories as you can, and not everyone has time to ride for five hours a day,’ says Ranchordas. ‘HIIT uses up glycogen so you burn more energy in less time, and because your body is then in oxygen debt your basal metabolic rate rises for a few hours afterwards so you burn more calories even at rest.’
11 GET INTO GOOD HABITS
‘A habit is when the decision is effortless, and to get into good habits and challenge bad habits requires effort,’ says Lane. ‘Recognise this fact to prepare yourself for helping you make good choices.’
Remember that losing weight isn’t always easy – if it was, everyone would do it. The reward for getting into good habits will come when you hit your target weight and cycling is that much easier.
12 PLAN, PLAN, PLAN
‘Motivation is like a phone battery – it will be low towards the end of the day so you need to plan your meals and food shops ahead of time,’ says Ranchordas. ‘It’s so simple but this is the one thing even pro riders can get wrong. Most people who want to lose weight have no plan and find they don’t have the right food in the house. Plan it, buy what you need and execute it.’