Pro cyclists are known for their incredible fitness and performance. While they may have access to top-of-the-line equipment and training, many of them face the same challenge as everyday cyclists: managing their weight. This article explores the dietary strategies pro cyclists use to shed excess fat, enhance their power-to-weight ratio, and optimize performance.
The Importance of Weight Management in Cycling
Cycling performance and weight appear to be inextricably linked. Watts and aerodynamics are crucial when the road is level. A cyclist's power-to-weight ratio, which is expressed as watts at FTP divided by body weight in kilograms (w/kg), is a crucial statistic. There are two methods to improve your power-to-weight ratio for uphill riding. You can either increase your FTP or reduce weight. Ideally, you should strive to achieve both. When it comes to power-to-weight ratio, fat is detrimental to a cyclist, but muscle is essential.
The Fundamentals of Weight Loss for Cyclists
Weight loss, at its core, is a straightforward equation: expend more calories than you consume. However, the process is more complicated than it appears. Hormones and psychological considerations both play a role. Establishing a healthy relationship with food is essential. Before beginning a weight-loss program, determine the reasons for doing so. Is it for the sake of performance or body image? We frequently have a perception of should and the notion that "I don't look like a particular sort of athlete" when it comes to our bodies. I was undoubtedly concerned about my body image, but I simply wanted to be healthy and a faster cyclist. My goal was to be quick enough to participate in my local drop ride, and I used that objective as my decision-making matrix. Will this make me faster? When attempting to lose weight, having a clear aim simplifies decision-making.
Goal Setting and Consistency
When you define your goal, link it to an event. By linking your goal to an event, it becomes measurable and timely. The number on the scale can often become the focus when losing weight. Your body is one-of-a-kind. What is a healthy weight for someone else may not be the ideal weight for you. Healthy weight loss necessitates time and change. Consistency is your most valuable asset. A steady approach will assist you in analyzing what is working and what is not, allowing you to develop new, positive habits. My consistency in food choices and training over several months led to my success in losing weight. Consistency helps you avoid the crash diet cycle. You go insane, lose weight, burn out, and then gain the weight back. I've been in that situation numerous times. The worst part is that you not only gain more weight, but it can also destroy your body composition.
Making Gradual Dietary Changes
Once you've committed to a healthy lifestyle, begin making adjustments gradually. Small changes are easier to manage and will aid your consistency. As you progress, you can add more changes to your diet.
Read also: Optimizing Performance Through Nutrition
Here are some strategies used by pro cyclists to lose weight:
Eat a Light Dinner
Eating a light dinner has been the single biggest thing that has helped some cyclists lose weight.
Chewing Food Longer
Simply chewing your food longer, as many as 100 times per bite in some research, can result in reduced caloric intake. Chewing gum at the first craving for food can also provide time to decide if you are really hungry or just bored, nervous, or stressed.
Portion Control
This can be as simple as using smaller plates at home, always leaving several bites on your plate, or waiting 15 minutes before deciding whether to go back for seconds.
Adopting Healthy Eating Habits
Adopting the eating habits of leaner individuals can also help with weight loss.
Read also: Fueling Your Ride
Consulting a Dietitian
Paying a dietitian to analyze your intake and recommend changes can be a worthwhile investment. After you submit a detailed, multiday food record to your dietitian, you will receive a meal plan customized to your needs, specifying how many servings of foods you should eat from each food group. Some plans chart out each meal and explain basic information such as what size a serving is.
Increasing Base Miles
Logging lots of slow, steady miles on your bike can help burn pounds. The more base miles you can put in, the better.
Monitoring Caloric Intake
Monitoring calories burned while riding (with an SRM power meter) and adjusting caloric intake to eat 200 to 300 fewer calories per day than you burn can lead to slow and gradual weight loss, no more than two pounds per week.
Eating at Home
Eating at home puts you in control. You know exactly what you're eating, the portions, and how it's prepared.
Considering Dietary Changes
Switching from being a vegetarian to being a vegan can lead to weight loss. Going meatless just one day per week can also result in weight loss. Keeping bread in the freezer can also help you think about, and sometimes pass on, preparing that PB&J sandwich.
Read also: Weight Loss for Cyclists
The Cyclist's Diet: Macronutrient Balance
When optimizing your diet for cycling performance and weight loss, it’s helpful to think of your macronutrients as a lever. On one end, you have fats, and on the other, you have carbs. At the fulcrum rests proteins. So the first step is determining how much protein you need. Then prioritize carbohydrates because it’s the body’s preferred fuel source when performance matters.
Let’s take a look at an example of a cyclist that weighs 220 pounds (99.7 kg), with a daily caloric intake of 2,000 calories. First, they will determine how much protein they are going to need. What about fats? But what about when you workout and burn 1,000 Kjs on a ride? This is where finding out the percentages are helpful since that scale-up. Even though you are working out, you still want to keep a sensible calorie deficit. In the example above, the percentages generally work out to about 44% protein, 48% carbs, and 8% fats.
It’s important to remember that chasing performance is the goal. Creating a calorie deficit is mostly about your nutritional choices and off-the-bike activity. Your training can help you burn fat, but losing weight is only half of the w/kg metric.
Tracking and Adjusting Your Diet
Recording data provides the means for measuring your success and helps you celebrate progress. For me, that meant weighing in every morning and observing the weekly trend in both weight and body composition. Analyzing a weekly trend helps because weight fluctuates daily. While I used the scale as a data point, I didn’t obsess over that number. Two easy ways to measure body composition are skinfold calipers or a body composition scale. I use a Tanita Body Fat Scale. Having one of these scales to step on every day was massively effective. Just make sure to measure under similar circumstances. For the best data, always measure under the same conditions.
Dietary Strategies for Cyclists
Losing weight happens primarily in the kitchen. Creating a calorie deficit is what leads to weight loss. The right food choices, coupled with riding, deliver a one-two punch. The goal is to lose fat and spare as much muscle as possible. If there is too much of a caloric deficit, you will lose muscle. With so many different types of diets, it can be a bit confusing, but mostly they all create a calorie deficit. What worked for someone else might not work for you. As with so many things, there are trade-offs to any dieting strategy. I choose a low-carb diet at first to help manage my biggest weakness-hunger. The compromise was the inability to complete high-intensity intervals consistently. Gradually, I transitioned my diet to include more carbohydrates to increase performance.
Keeping a Food Journal
A big help for me in limiting my calories was keeping a food journal. It can be cumbersome to record everything, but it assists in selecting the proper serving sizes, food choices, and finding all the hidden calories in a diet. For example, I found out that my coffee creamer had 35 calories in two tablespoons. My food journal showed me that I was consuming almost 100 calories a day just in coffee creamer! Even if you don’t record everything forever, do it for two weeks.
Avoiding Empty Calories
When you have limited calories, you want to get the most bang for your buck. You can cut a significant portion of calories by avoiding empty calories like alcohol, soft drinks, junk food, and processed sugars. You will be amazed by how much food you can eat when it is nutrient-dense and low-calorie. Eating nutrient-dense was a massive change for my taste buds. I was a typical meat and potatoes person. Green foods rarely made it on my plate, but over time your taste will change. Remember to start small. For example, instead of just eating salads for a week, replace one meal with a salad.
Emphasizing Fruits and Vegetables
When making your food choices, fruits and vegetables are great additions to your plate. Eat lots of vegetables as they are low in calories but high in nutrients. Include smaller amounts of healthy fats, like avocados, olive oil, and nuts. Finally, make sure you are getting enough protein. Turkey and chicken are great because they are low in saturated fats.
Optimizing Training for Weight Loss
When I started my weight loss journey, I was not a new cyclist, but I was new to interval training. TrainerRoad helped me take my fitness to an entirely new level and added almost 100w to my FTP. Structured training is an efficient way to create a calorie deficit and raise your fitness. Raising your FTP will allow you to burn even more calories because you are producing more power. A higher FTP means that you will complete workouts with a higher average power. More power equals more calories. If you are new to interval training, you can use Plan Builder to create a custom training plan aligned with your goal event. It’s best to start with a low-volume plan and work your way up over time. This will give you the flexibility to add low-intensity fasted rides to drive fat-burning adaptations. The best training plans will include the intensity you need to meet the demands of your event. High-intensity workouts have an additional benefit. They increase your post-exercise oxygen consumption, which can last 24-36 hours post-workout. After VO2 Max, anaerobic, and, sprint workouts your body works to replenish fuel stores, metabolize lactate, and reduce body temperature.
Riding in a fasted or glycogen-depleted state can be another way to train your body to burn fat. These rides are limited in that they need to be short or very slow. Fasted rides are good at burning fat, but won’t elicit a large training stimulus. Just be careful not to overdo it. Extend or high-intensity fasted rides tend to catabolize muscle-something you want to avoid. Adding a second ride with a fat-burning focus is another great tool for weight loss. You can do these either earlier or later within the same day. I used fasted and two-a-day rides continually during my weight loss. Typically I would wake up early, drink some black coffee, then complete an endurance workout, like Carter or Dans. Then I was off to work and would eat a lunch that fueled my evening, high-intensity workout.
Preserving Lean Muscle Mass
When you are cycling for weight loss, you want to preserve as much lean muscle mass as possible. There are three key things that you can do to preserve lean muscle mass while you are combining cycling and weight loss. First, create a sensible calorie deficit. Additionally, you are going to want to eat plenty of protein. The general recommendation for protein for endurance training and weight loss is around 2g of protein per kilogram of body weight. Eating lean proteins will help keep the calories lower while ensuring you are getting enough. Finally, add in some strength training to help your weight loss. You don’t have to spend hours in the gym to reap some benefits.
Key Foods for Weight Loss
Here's a breakdown of specific foods and their benefits for weight loss:
- Protein Sources:
- Salmon: Packed with nutrients and relatively low in calories.
- Sardines: High in protein, stabilizing blood sugar levels.
- Chicken: Excellent source of protein, low in calories, and rich in nutrients.
- Oily Fish: High in protein and low in fat, efficient for building lean muscle.
- Vegetables:
- Carrots: High in fiber, fighting hunger pangs.
- Sweet Potatoes: High in fiber, regulating blood sugar levels.
- Cucumber: High in water and dietary fiber, low-calorie and fat-free.
- Beetroot: Improves endurance by positively affecting oxygen levels.
- Potatoes: Filling and contain vital nutrients.
- Healthy Fats:
- Olive Oil: Unsaturated fats help stave off hunger pangs.
- Avocados: Rich in fats that help reduce hunger.
- Peanut Butter: Rich in fats, helping you feel fuller for longer.
- Grains and Seeds:
- Chia Seeds: Rich in fiber and omega-3.
- Brown Bread/Pasta/Rice: Carbohydrates with high fiber content.
- Oats: Filling with slow-release energy.
- Lentils: High in protein, fiber, and iron.
- Quinoa: More protein than most grains.
- Almonds/Cashews/Pistachios: Low-calorie nuts that help you feel fuller.
- Leafy Greens:
- Lettuce: High in water content and low in calories.
- Kale: High in fiber, low in calories, and rich in nutrients.
- Broccoli: Nutrient-rich, fat-free, and high in fiber, protein, and water.
- Spinach: Contains thylakoids that decrease hunger pangs.
- Fruits:
- Apples: Fiber and polyphenols boost good gut bacteria.
- Pears: Low in fat, high in fiber, and rich in nutrients.
- Berries: Antioxidants alter gene activity in fat cells.
- Oranges: High in vitamin C, aiding fat loss.
- Bananas: Rich in potassium, improving blood flow and metabolism.
- Lemons/Limes: The scent aids digestion.
- Other:
- Eggs: High in protein and healthy fats.
- Tofu: Lowers cholesterol and is a vegetarian source of protein.
- Cottage Cheese: Low in fat and carbohydrates, high in protein.
- Pulses: High in protein and fiber.
- Spices:
- Chilli: Boosts metabolism.
- Ginger: Improves circulation, digestion, and metabolism.
- Cinnamon: Regulates blood sugar levels.
- Black Peppercorns: Inhibit fat cell production.
The Tour de France Menu: Fueling the Riders
The Tour de France and fellow Grand Tours, the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, are uniquely demanding on the athletes, three weeks of intense racing requires specific nutrition to both fuel the riders, and help them to rest and recover.
Breakfast
Starting the day right, nutrition-wise, is extremely important for any bike race, especially one that lasts three weeks. Riders take breakfast several hours before the stage starts, allowing plenty of time to digest their meal. Cereals, oats, pancakes, rice, bread, and berries are on offer as well as eggs, avocados and high-protein yogurt. The focus for the riders, and the nutrition team, is on full plates, plenty of protein and loads of lower-fiber, easy-to-digest carbohydrates to maintain energy through the day without making them feel heavy or bloated. The riders can load their plates with foods they know will suit them well for the stage ahead, eating enough to make them comfortably full.
Sample Plate:
- Sourdough pancakes: Topped with bananas and maple syrup.
- Omlets: A great source of protein and easy to digest. The riders have preferences on white to yolk ratio, fillings and how they are cooked.
- Steamed rice: Many riders opt for this as a carbohydrate source over toast, oats or cereals because it’s easy to digest and low in fiber. Some add a couple of fried eggs and avocado for a little fat and protein.
- Fresh juice: To keep fiber low, riders bypass smoothies and stick to freshly-pressed juices, blended by the team chef with the fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs.
- Coffee: Almost all of the team riders start their day with an espresso, it's not just a quick pick-me-up, caffeine has been shown to help with endurance efforts too.
Recovery
As soon as the riders finish the race, recovery fueling begins. Meals are prepared and waiting for them in the team bus as riders have about an hour to start replacing the glycogen stores necessary to start the next stage strong. These meals are full of easy-to-digest, low-salt, carbohydrate-rich foods.
Sample Plate:
- Fresh pasta with simple proteins: Pasta tossed with a simple sauce and protein - usually fresh chicken, is the ideal type of meal to replenish riders. The balance of carbohydrates and proteins are just what the body requires - no complicated flavor combinations, or processed proteins here, just simple good food to start the recovery process.
- Protein and carb-focused snacks: Various bars, yoghurts and shakes are available on the team bus for quick and effective refueling.
Dinner
Perhaps the most important meal of the day during the race, all the riders sit down together at the team hotel each night, as early as possible. The aim is to replenish their stores with plenty of time for digestion before getting a good sleep. The dinner menu offers simple, fresh foods that are low in fiber, not too heavy but full of the carbohydrates, proteins and other nutrients needed to fuel the riders for the next day.
Unprocessed proteins are a must to boost recovery, along with soups, cooked vegetables and simple carbs. Cooked, easy to eat vegetables are included to provide micronutrients, while ensuring that riders have plenty of time to properly digest and eliminate the fiber before their systems are under the duress of the next stage. Fresh pastas, noodles and rice with a light but flavor filled main course of steamed fish and roasted or grilled chicken for protein. If the riders have tackled a day in the mountains or if the day has been particularly grueling, a dessert is a sweet morale-boosting treat.
Sample Plate:
- Simply-prepared proteins: Grilled or roasted chicken or steamed fish with light fresh sauces. Processed meats are avoided for their high sodium content. Red meat is offered on rest days to help with recovery.
- Easy to digest carbohydrates: Options like rice, mashed potatoes or pasta are always available on the buffet table.
- Soup: There's always a fresh soup option on offer, these help with calming the digestive system, especially if a rider is struggling to eat. Soups are great for being low fiber while maintaining high vitamin and mineral intake.
- Steamed, grilled or roasted vegetables or a small salad: Larger salads can be very challenging to digest due to their high fiber content. Instead, riders load up on cooked vegetables or tender greens, easier to digest and assimilate but still packed full of nutrients. Beet salads are popular with the riders and nutrition team for their ability to reduce inflammation and boost recovery.
- For dessert: Nothing too heavy or full of overly processed sugars, fruit based desserts tend to be preferred. It's also a chance to get a little more protein in, with yogurt or crème fraîche on the side.
On-the-Bike Nutrition
When you ask a group of cyclists what they eat and drink on rides, you’ll get almost as many answers as there are riders in the group. Everyone fuels rides a little differently, which is perfectly normal. Cycling nutrition and hydration are not one size fits all. However there are some key principles cyclists should use as starting points.
Cycling Nutrition Principles to Remember
- Hydration drives cycling nutrition strategy: Your nutrition strategy can only work if you are well hydrated. Dehydration slows gastric emptying and slows gut motility.
- Carbohydrate fuels high intensity cycling: When it’s time to go hard in interval workouts or competitions, those high-intensity efforts are fueled by carbohydrate.
- Eat carbohydrate while cycling, just not too much: The standard sports nutrition recommendation of 30-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour of aerobic exercise is based on the fact most people can only absorb about 1 gram of carbohydrate per minute.
- Overeating is worse than eating too little: On the bike it’s better to be a little hungry than to be over filled. Overeating is one of the most common mistakes during longer rides and gran fondos.
- Separate energy from hydration: When your hydration is in your bottles and your food energy is in your pocket, you can adjust intake independently based on temperature and intensity.
What to Eat and Drink for Rides of Any Length:
- Short Rides (up to 60-75 minutes):
- Best hydration choice: plain water
- Calorie target: None
- What to eat after a short ride: A small meal rich in carbohydrate and containing a moderate amount of protein within 30-60 minutes after your ride will help jumpstart glycogen replenishment
- Medium Rides (1-3 hours):
- Best hydration choice: water and/or electrolyte-rich sports drink
- Calorie target: 40-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour
- Best foods for medium rides: bars/foods with mix of carbohydrate, fat, and protein for moderate-intensity rides. Shift more to simple sugars from chewables or gels as intensity increases.
- What to eat after a medium ride: A moderate-sized meal rich in carbohydrate, protein, and fat within 60 minutes after the ride.
- Long Rides (3-6 hours):
- Best hydration choices: preferred combo of water, electrolyte drink, carbohydrate drink. Separate energy from hydration when anticipating hot weather or high-intensity.
- Calorie target: 40-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour
- Best foods for long rides: Start with solid foods, including sandwiches, homemade rice bars, and sports nutrition bars. Save the chewables and gels for the last third of the ride.
- What to eat after a long ride: Sit down to a substantial meal within 60 minutes of finishing the ride. Start with a carbohydrate-rich recovery drink if you’re not going to be able to get a meal right away, or if you’re doing a multi-day event.
- Extra-long Rides (6+ Hours):
- Best hydration choices: preferred combo of water, electrolyte drink, carbohydrate drink. Separate energy from hydration when anticipating hot weather or high-intensity.
- Calorie target: 40-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour
- Best foods for extra-long bike rides and races: Consuming a steady flow of energy is the most important goal, so you want a variety of foods that are appealing and can adapt to changing tastes.
- After the ride: Stay present and engaged long enough to actually get a good meal.
The Wiggins Approach
Bradley Wiggins is one of the riders whose weight loss has been well publicized in the past. During the 2009 Tour, Wiggins said: “Compared to the 2007 Tour, my weight loss means I’m carrying the equivalent of six bags of sugar less up a mountain. Wiggins, on the other hand, trained hard before breakfast to speed up his metabolism for the day. He also avoided gluten for two months, and abstained from alcohol completely. There were reports in the press that Wiggins had a body fat of four percent during the 2009 Tour and this would not be unusual for elite male cyclists.
Considerations
Weight loss requires careful consideration and should not be done on a whim. Remember, elite athletes like Wiggins will work with some of the best sport scientists in the world to make these changes. If you’re overweight, this is probably a symptom of poor nutrition, so tackle this before going on a fad diet. A small increase in body fat is good and healthy during winter - after all, your body and mind need a rest. Large swings in body weight can have a negative impact. A more controlled approach to losing weight is a better idea. Decreasing calorie intake by 500 kcal per day can lead to losing 1lb in weight in just a week. Done slowly, this will have less of an effect on your training.