Need a proper plan to reduce weight also increase my Road Cycling performance

LCHF, worked for me, dropped from 17 1/2 stone to 13 stone in just 4 months...

eat less, ride more.

/thread

Read this book and do what it says:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Racing-Weight-Lean-Peak-Performance/dp/193403099...

I can only echo what people are saying, and watch your food, rather than the exercise. My commute burns off about 1400calories, so eating at a deficit is fairly easy but I still have to watch what I eat.

I was 240lbs a few months ago, since then I've lost 25lbs just by making sure I don't overeat. What I have noticed is that avoiding foods like bread and pastry results in quicker weight loss, I now try and avoid these as much as possible, so little changes like cutting out sandwiches for lunch and going for salads instead has helped. Also look at portion sizes, you may find that eating a normal sized portion will make a big difference, I have a habit of piling food onto my plate and eating way too much as a result.

I've amazed myself and others by going from 252lbs to 190lbs in a year of steady loss. I'm 5'10". I'd tried all kinds of ways to lose weight and become fitter and be able to ride my bikes with more comfort and faster!
I hold no fancy opinions on the subject but can tell you what worked for me.
I downloaded and read the free PDF of The Hackers Diet. It's a simple exposition of the obvious fact that weight loss is achieved by burning more calories than are consumed.
I splashed out a hundred quid for a set of Aria wifi scales so I could have an automatic and reliable record of my weight.
The analysis of the numbers and their display is easily sorted with the free Trend Weight.
May not work for you, but this combination was just what I needed.
I'm so delighted with being able to ride much further and a bit faster than before.
Apart from anything else that food-baby makes tucking down over the bars uncomfortable.
Happy to elaborate on all this or support you in any way. Good luck!

I started to look at the food I was consuming as a whole and began to make changes. The biggest being a move away from rice and pasta to lentils and beans and building up a new diet around this. I cut sugar, but never really had a sweet tooth anyway and do a whole lot of cooking rather that buying processed foods.
The fat just dropped off in a way that people could see the weight loss on a week to week basis.
After changing my diet I found this ( https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bw_T87IBJ5crZTE0YmU1OTMtOGM0Yy00MTk5LTk1... ) which reinforced what I was doing as being OK. 5 years later and I'm still eating plenty as it's not a calorie restrictive diet and the weight is still off.

'Or alternatively, just try to eat healthily and ride your bike a lot (or take other forms of exercise). Without recommending any specific 'alternative diets' to stick to, it should be possible to identify the less healthy things in your existing diet, and cut down on them, or cut them out completely.'

I totally agree with the above, I restarted cycling in September, about 300 miles a month, some commuting some weekend riding, no other exercise. I don't do high pressure training, just cycle at a rate that I feel comfortable with that raises the pulse rate but doesn't see me arrive at work covered in sweat!

I've cut down on food intake and started eating sensibly. Main change is dropping sandwiches and snacks at work for a big salad with tuna or chicken.

Weight lost is just over a stone in 1 month, I'm 5' 9" and started off at 210lb.

I'm not sure what you mean by "a proper plan" but we can only offer general advice and opinions based on experience. Here's mine:

1. Eat less processed crap - biscuits, cakes, pies, sweets, fizzy drinks etc etc - and start eating more healthy, unprocessed (preferably raw) food. Gradually reduce portion sizes for starchy carbs like bread, pasta and potatoes. Just like the results of physical training, appetite control and retraining your mind's expectations takes time. This is a lifestyle change, not a 'diet'.

2. Ride frequently. Don't batter yourself but ride at a sustainable pace, which may mean different company or solo if your mates won't slow down. Keep it simple, do a variety of short, energetic rides and longer, steadier ones. No food unless longer than 2 hours, and no energy drinks, only water. If doing a long, steady ride in the morning eat nothing beforehand, take some dried fruit or a cereal bar or two to have after an hour or so. Once your body adapts you'll be surprised at just how far you can go with no brekkie.

It may help to track your rides. You should see a gradual improvement on the same routes over time. Set realistic targets, both short and longer term, but make sure you have to work to achieve them.

Remember that Rome wasn't built in a day. However, everyone can achieve great things if they put their mind to it.

If you want more specific information then you should either buy a training manual or seek out a good coach.

Eat less, exercise more. Be realistic and don't starve yourself or over train. Given enough time you will lose weight. Just try to remember how long it took you to put those extra pounds on. It takes time to shed them. Good luck

Eat less, move more.

Take the high carb, low protein, low fat diet on Mondays, then switch to a low carb, high fat, high protein diet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, followed by a day of fasting on Friday, and then go vegetarian on Saturday and eat nothing but roadkill on Sunday.

Or alternatively, just try to eat healthily and ride your bike a lot (or take other forms of exercise). Without recommending any specific 'alternative diets' to stick to, it should be possible to identify the less healthy things in your existing diet, and cut down on them, or cut them out completely.

Vegetables, fruits, nuts, oats, etc. - the kind of stuff that's managed to survive the constant fluctuations in what if considered 'healthy' - probably ARE actually quite good for you. You might mainly be able to improve your diet, however, by simply eating less of the things that are generally accepted to be 'not so good for you'. I find it's easier to gorge on biscuits, cakes etc. than to consume the equivalent number of calories in less energy dense, less processed foods.

Of course, given that we don't know anything about your diet, it's hard to give any specific advice, but I'll have a vague stab:
Many people consume several cups of coffee/tea each day, each with several spoons of sugar. Un-sugaring those drinks would add up. Or... down.
Most pre-packaged food tends to contain a lot of fat/sugar/salt, so cooking more of your own food could give you a better feel for that's going into it.
Also; White bread -> Wholemeal. Sugary breakfast cereals -> Porridge (w/sultanas/raisins).
Sports drinks should be for sport, and even then, only if you're doing something exceptional (i.e. glugging Lucozade when out for a 10 mile spin might be self-defeating). Snack foods (chocolates, crisps etc.) generally aren't super-healthy, so packing some fruit or nuts might be an easier alternative.
Umm, and eat vegetables! They can get quite easily sidelined, because they don't really fit into the fat-carb-protein triad, but that doesn't mean they're not important.

The short answer to your problem is just to 'eat less', but that can be a bit blunt and difficult to follow. I'm repeating myself, but I've found that just generally improving my diet has done more for my cycling and weight than following a diet too obsessively. Most people have quite a few places where their diet could be improved, so rather than committing to something with a fancy name and message boards dedicated to it, I think it would be more sensible to improve your current diet piece by piece. Do try and keep track of what you're eating though, and if you're finding the changes difficult, allowing yourself a day off a week or something probably wouldn't end the world.

Oh, and ride your bike.

About 10 years ago I went through a period of eating porridge for lunch cos I got bored of making sandwiches etc, and it was cheap. It wasn't intentional but it was just calorie deficit, but 6miles commuting each way most days was enough to lose a stone easily.

Geniunely check out the Paleo lifestyle (diet if you must!) it works on a foods you stop eating not a foods you must eat / buy like some green japanese algae blah blah, it is simple effective & you damn well feel better & lose weight.

As you lose weight your cadence/endurance will increase which in turn will lead to you being able to sustain higher tempos for longer, oh & just getting out there continuality

good luck

Not just to be contrarian, but because it also works and doesn't involve consuming tons of toxic animal proteins, I'd suggest a high carb, low fat, plant based diet - with around 80 percent of your calories coming from plant based carbs and no more than 10 percent from fat and 10 percent from protein. Lots of people do this and have fantastic results. If you don't consume enough carbs you'll not be able to train properly and you'll not feel good. Cronometer.com is a great tool you can use to measure your calorie and nutrient intake. If you Google planet based athletes you'll be amazed at what you find. If you just need some inspiration check out Rich Roll.

Get a heart rate monitor and when you train, go for long steady rides and keep your heart rate down as much as possible - around the 130 mark (you'll need to get tested to get the exact number, but 130 is about there for most people). You will go much higher when climbing, but don't worry about it too much if most of your ride is in the fat burning zone.

You can lose weight on a high protein, low carb diet and plenty of people do, but it's not sustainable long-term and plenty of people don't know the damage caused by consuming animal fats and proteins.

Use more than you eat, it's as simple as that, you want to be in negative energy balance. You could go LCHF/Paleo/Aitkens/Some other fad and still pile on the lbs, you could eat just McDonald's and drop weight.

Take a look at your diet, for a week use something like My Fitness Pal or even just a diary and log everything that passes your lips, food drinks, the lot.
You'd be surprised where a lot of the calories are coming from.
Chances are it'll be small things all adding up, sugar in tea/coffee, snacking, beer, fruit juices/fuit etc.

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2011/08/weight-loss-for-cyclists/
Is a decent article (among others on CT about nutrition) to make a start with and work from that.

As above... make a note of what you are eating, find a way to estimate your calorific burn on the bike, base metabolic rate etc. so that you can create a consistent calorie deficit. Look to generate a 500kcal deficit and that'll lose you a pound a week.

There are a couple of things you can do to help your cause...

Avoid riding over 4 hours at a time (as around this time there is a trigger that sets your appetite off in a big way.

As mentioned above, try and keep a good level of fat in your diet at the expense of carbs... however, ensure that you eat adequate carbs before, during and after your work outs. You want your body working well when you exercise.

I think the saying goes... fat burns in a carbohydrate flame so you need to be getting enough carbs in.

All you need to do is run a calorie deficit. Start tracking what you consume and what you expend (there are numerous phone applications for this).

If you are determined about it the weight will fall off.

I lost three stone in three months when I actually tried to do so and started counting calories and tracking how much I was burning in the gym/on the bike.

You will feel weaker for a while, but once you get down to the target weight, you can normalise your eating a little more and work on regaining any lost strength.

Have a look at going Low Carb High Fat. Worked for me.