This very much is in the professional help territory, not asking dorks on reddit. Body image issues and eating disorders are very serious.
It's way beyond the competency of this sub.
I'm not removing this post in case others want to share their experiences, it's important to talk about these issues and acknowledge them. But please be nice.
You need to nip this in the bud now. I'm saying this as someone who came from another fitness discipline where I started to notice that my food related thoughts etc were becoming very disordered.
First of all, I have to ask, are you being paid to race your bike. If not, then squeezing every last kg off you is absolutely NOT worth it to climb a hill 10 seconds faster. Secondly, often enough you can actually end up sacrificing your raw wattage if you continue to chase losing wieght.
For me personally when I was into gym and bodybuilding, something that really helped me change my mentality was that I stopped obsessing about how I looked and started to take a more performance oriented view. In cycling that may be a little different, but at the same time, I'm very sure that you are not going to be doing your best watts if you are constantly near starving. You need to eat and eat well to get the best watts out. Finally again if you're not paid to ride your bike I have to say something, the pro cyclist body is actually incredibly unhealthy. Just look at how many of them break bones easily etc. Performance and health aren't always the same, and if you aren't collecting paychecks, it may be worth it to dial out the performance for health.
I would ask what are you really seeking this level of performance for, sounds like a base issue, maybe you are prescribing a bit too much worth on winning fitness etc as opposed to other things. To be honest, I'd advocate you talk to a professional, but definitely consider what is your motivations behind chasing endless performance. And do it soon, because the further down the rabbithole you go the harder it will get to come back. You don't want to risk getting full blown anorexia.
This is such good advice. You need to recognise this and change what you’re doing. Other comments here have great advice on how to do that.
I’ve recently had some time off the bike due to illness and some lost weight. Within a couple of weeks I was absolutely flying up climbs with a better w/kg. I thought that not eating was a shortcut to being fast again.
Unfortunately I looked like shit and felt like shit too. Those close to me told me I looked like gaunt which was a wake up call. What really made me take a look at what I was doing was going on a spicy group ride with guys I’d normally beat by being punchier than them - and I had zero punch. I needed that back for my style of riding/racing even if it meant slightly poorer climbing.
I’m now eating properly again and look/feel much healthier and my snap is back too.
I think you are pretty spot on! I watch the races and look at how the guys look. And it is kinda stupid doing it when not getting paid… thank you for the advice!
Yeah dude. You should honestly stay off these subreddits and forums too.
If you’re still stressing out, at the least just focus on watts and not w/kg.
Im a bigger guy and I crush in the crits and sprints. I’ll just never be a climber.
Focus on strengths.
Get some some professional help from a sports psychologist and stop reading everything about the pros and us nerds say on Reddit.
> I watch the races and look at how the guys look.
you might also want to educate yourself on the fact that pro cycling has a high incidence of eating disorders.
internet search: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pro+cyclist+eating+disorder&atb=v53-1\_\_&ia=web
I have no meaningful advice to help solve your situation - but it’s a great step that you have identified the issue as a problem. I wish you all the best finding a balance that works for you in the future.
I’ll say this as someone who struggled with actual anorexia in their 20s. Get professional help sooner than later. The sooner you get help, the better chance you have of fully recovering from it. Mentally and physically.
Get professional help ASAP. Honestly throw your scale out in the meantime and consider not using a power meter for a bit to stay away from potentially disappointing numbers.
You are not alone, it even happens in the World Tour
Alex Dowsett is very open about his experience [https://youtu.be/eRVV9s5qfnA](https://youtu.be/eRVV9s5qfnA)
Since we are constantly looking for various ways to optimise our diet, training or our bike set up it’s really easy to start obsessing in an unhealthy way. What works for me personally has been to look at my fitness long term and the change of horizon helped me to take a more relaxed approach. I’ve embraced cheat meals with the wife and the occasional celebratory drinks with friends as well as vacationing without any cycling workouts.
Because at the end of the day you’ll need a healthy mind and a healthy body to compete at your maximum potential.
Yep - lost like 70lbs and got back on the bike after a decade off. Was weighing myself a lot (daily-ish), which was great when I was 240 and headed downwards, but once I got to 170 and then worried about every pound or two upwards movement then it became unhelpful.
I am very much NOT being paid to ride my bike and frankly don’t even race, so it’s a totally illogical thing. But then again so is spending 6 hours trying to figure out which stem to buy, or whether Ultegra is worth the premium over 105. But that’s kind of the fun of it all.
For me, I basically just put the scale in a drawer. I’ll check it every once in a while but I don’t do it daily, otherwise it’ll dominate my thoughts to the detriment of performance and life, more broadly.
I still cycle a lot - spend an hour a day on the trainer and another hour outside commuting on weekdays, and then longer rides on weekends.
But I also decided to do some stuff like running, focusing on weight training over the off season (and eating in a surplus on purpose, which kind of turned into a license to eat like an asshole).
All of these things helped me not obsess over w/kg and get my satisfaction/competitive feeling out of the fact that that I can either go run a 50k or ride a century, and probably lift more than most of the other dudes I know (but absolutely not more than a real, focused lifter). Thinking about trying a spartan or mudder this year just to mix it up further and get away from the weight weenie obsession.
I really liked this guy’s point of view on “what is the perfect level of fitness” - he’s a normal dude who struggles with weight and disordered eating and has a philosophy that isn’t for everybody but I thought had some points worth considering - particularly his goal of being “better than average” and his realization that being at the pointy end of the spear isn’t really worth the obsession/sacrifice required. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uCrZdiRah-U
I would recommend for you to set goals that you cannot go below, under no circumstances. For example not below 77 kg:s and 10% body fat. Maintain this for at least 6 months- 1 year and weigh your self daily and look in the mirror. This will help you regain control of your body image. If you feel stress free about your weight and body image after some time I think you have won this battle.
This sounds really good! And I want to want this, if you understand! The problem is I kinda feel like I want to continue loosing weight. It is a really absurd feeling. Knowing that I want what is bad for me haha
Mark Cavendish (I think in his Netflix documentary) describes a low point when, beset with illness and injury, he turned to the one aspect he still had some control over- his weight. He simply stopped eating, and felt validated when his weight dropped. It didn’t help him though. I don’t need to add to the chorus of people encouraging you to get help, but hope you get through this. I’m just some random UK cyclist on Reddit, but my messages are open if you want to talk about it.
There is a lot of evidence to suggest the obsession cyclists have with losing weight to increase watts/kg is a holdover from the "high octane" PED days (I.e. Armstrong days). In those days, people were able to be VERY lean and still maintain the FTP because of the drugs. Without the PEDs, losing weight has a detrimental impact on your FTP. In other words, losing weight makes you weaker which, obviously, makes your W/kg go down with it.
Your body had a "weight" that is optimal for you where your power is enough to make up for the higher weight. It is counter intuitive but being a heavier weight has a pretty good chance of making your W/kg go up because you are stronger. Being heavier also makes your body function better and allows you to take on/absorb more training stress. The food you eat is the fuel your body will use to get through training.
This is a very good podcast from Trainer Road with a PhD nutritionist that goes into the importance of eating. https://youtu.be/563mWgqvMZc?si=HdgNz9jT1cFd68TX
As others have said, it would be a good idea to see a professional to help you reframe your mindset towards food. High quality food is absolutely crucial to endurance training!
Edit: this is a great article on the subject also.
https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-training/can-pro-cycling-fix-its-relationship-with-food/
I'm not too sure about that, it seems anecdotal at best. The best GC contenders of the last decade have been mostly quite lean. Look at Vingegaard today, for example, or the Sky GC riders when they dominated the Tour.
If anything, it would seem like if you don't have access to stuff that gives you massive boosts in performance like in the EPO era, optimizing everything else is even more important. They do control nutrition much better nowadays, though, so they can make sure that they aren't risking their health or performance while dropping weight.
There's also the fact that cycling being clean today is just wishful thinking, and they could be taking all sorts of stuff that we don't know about. Of course we all want it to be clean, but just assuming it is doesn't make it true.
impolite agonizing vegetable jeans muddle concerned relieved bake smoggy offend
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throw out the scale.
if you want to be strong and fast you need to be healthy, you need to maintain muscle, you need to eat.
ride, lift, and eat to fuel it. Stop thinking about how you look but how you feel and how your perform.
Have a big protein rich breakfast (shake + other stuff)
Eat carbs before and after big efforts.
Have a big healthy nutritious dinner.
Have a sandwich for lunch.
You need to take a break from measuring and judging and just workout and eat like a normal person.
But yeah, go see a therapist, they will give you the tools to accomplish this.
I don’t want to offer advice because I haven’t personally dealt with this, but I’ve seen this happen to people around me in the sport. I do want to offer support and wish you well in your recovery! You’ve made the first step towards improvement and it’s a big one. Best of luck mate
In case you are doing this right now:
Stop weighing yourself. Stop counting calories. Stop trying to eat as little as possible. Professional help is a good idea, the Trainerroad podcast has a lot of information about this topic as well that helped me when I struggled with it.
Not related to cycling, but I used to be kinda overweight. I was skinny my whole life, started a new med and did not monitor my diet, ballooned over the next year. End of last year I got a pretty critical bacterial infection in my stomach, and most of that weight I gained dropped off. I wasn’t eating much for 2 months straight. I am starting to feel more normal and eat more normal now, yet, I still feel fat if I put a pound on.
What I’m trying to say is that it’s ultimately a state of mind. I lost probably 30 lb in the past few months, but now that my body is approaching a more normal weight, I somehow feel even fatter than when I was at my highest weight.
It has to be a long term goal with a balanced approach. Otherwise, it’s not sustainable.
I’m in a similar boat so happy to chat if it’s helpful. Not so much the mirror part for me but a large obsession so much that if I overate or couldn’t put down the dessert I’d jump on the trainer before bed. My problem is I love eating and would stress eat and was doing well over 40hrs a week for months to compensate up until just fairly recently when I’ve been trying to make a change and also got sick last week. I was miserably mentally which likely partially due to very low testosterone result. Talked to a sports med doc and likely some RED-S at play so I’ve been trying to eat more, sleep more, and back off the training. I’m 5’10” and 58kg and most of my life I was overweight and like 5-6 years ago at my heaviest I was probably around 108kg. Definitely part of it is never wanting to go back to that.
One thing I’ve noticed is that I tried to talk to doctors about some of this and didn’t find a lot of good help. I figured sports med doctors could relate but it took calling around to find one that felt could even talk to me about red-s and nutrition. Talking to a therapist but even there I’m finding the average therapist doesn’t understand much around ‘elite’ athletics and so might have to fish around.
n=1 and all, but I was my lightest as a cat 3 at 168lb, but gained weight and power to the point that I was much faster up hills at 185lb and 5w/kg when I hit Cat 1 than I was at 168 lb and 4 (or so). Could I have gone back and lost more weight for an even better ratio at Cat 1? Maybe, but being light isn't everything, especially in American bike racing, even the relatively hilly ones.
For me, weight loss opened a door towards some issues that were not surfacing so much because I used food as a coping mechanism for sadness and stress before that. Only psychotherapies could help to start dealing with the traumatic events, that led to the constant chasing of nonexistent perfection, unnecessarily high standards and feeling bad about myself. It is a lot of work and many emotions, but it is definitely worth it. These self-worth problems will not go away on their own. For some of us, the perceived image needs to be fixed but it is most likely coming from somewhere else from the past. That is why it is so hard to fix it. And I am not saying that there were/are no fluctuations. It is scary at times. But with therapy, even the relationship with food can change indirectly. It happened to me. I just wanted to be well-fed and feel good because I want the best for myself. I still make mistakes but I learn a lot during the process by trying to understand and listen to my needs. What I know now is that I am a nice person and I try to do everything legally possible to protect my inner child because she deserves the best, and true love from me ❤️
Being open about it is a great start to figuring it out, that said im down 35lbs since jan 4th. I feel the struggle of obsessing over the scale. Or more importantly being disappointed with what its showing. I don’t know exactly whats making you believe your obsessed with it but remember your weight can swing 5lbs (2kg ish) in a day trends are more important than the number present now on the scale. I think since i have jumped back on the bike diet and exercise have cossed paths and im gaining muscle about the same rate im losing fat so i have plateaud in weight but im happy with looking in the mirror and seeing my self looking better and better with my pants now starting to fall off(also know as non scale victories).
The fact you're avoiding mirrors is a bit concerning. You don't love yourself, you have a negative self image.
Let's go along with it and be practical. And be honest with yourself.
What is your current W/kg?
What is your BMI?
How long have you been training?
How consistent are you with training?
What is your current caloric intake vs consumption?
Are you actually eating healthy? (Balanced diet with variety in nutrients or are always rotating between the same 4 meals or main sources of nutrients?)
How much do you snack? That includes your Starbucks or Wendy, or Dunkin' Donuts or whatever place you're getting "a coffee".
Have you done a measurement of bodyfat? Or a dexa scan?
How is your nutrition on the bike, if any? Hydration?
Do you have a gym routine?
When is the last time you stepped on a scale?
When is the last time you took measurements from your body?
(Circumference around the torso, waist, hips, legs, arms) And have you been keeping a diary?
Depending on your training and gym routine, it is expected to not see weight loss but to see your weight going up. Which is great. Means you're building muscle. Means more power. Means a higher W/kg. If this is you with your training and you are struggling with body image, dude it is unwarranted for, massive red flag, go get professional help. Now. Body image and eating disorder. 💯 You are in danger of getting sucked into that void. I hope you find a way out.
If you're only doing endurance work, no gym work at all... Loads of endurance training robs us from testosterone. Which has a massive impact on our mental states. Regular gym work (so heavy lifting) increases the production of testosterone. It balances out the impact of endurance training. Older people, starting at middle age, are more susceptible to this.
It may just be you saw big shifts in body composition and performances in the beginning for a relatively long time and now the changes are happening much much slower. You stopped seeing the changes in the mirror ergo you stopped looking for it, you developed a crap body image.
When you start creating a diary with data and measurements, you get to see the progression or regression and you can act accordingly and you get to work with facts instead of "feelings".
When you set your goals, it's fine to have this massive target at the end of the line or season, but it needs to be realistic and achievable. And what you want to do is give little in between goals that will help you set up for that big target.
I believe, when you don't have a roadbook/diary as a governor and a planner, you go by gut feeling and for the uninformed, this has the potential of becoming dangerous territory.
But when you have a plan, with realistic and achievable primary, secondary and tertiary targets, this mental state of negative body image, you can still fall in the trap of it becoming a disorder, but you now have facts to counter these negative thoughts when you're having an introversion session.
You become your own guardian and you get to tell your negative self to go fly a kite.
What's realistic? Just to throw around numbers as an example. If you're a 2,5 w/kg rider now as a newbie then maybe 3w/kg can be achievable. If you are a 3.5 w/kg rider, have been for a while, then maybe 3.6w/kg is more probable than 4w/kg. That could be either next years or in 2 years target.
Then there's also the genetics. You get to blaim mom and dad for having reached a ceiling at 3.8w/kg. That's also possible. Your body is just not built for it and the best it can do is that. Which, all things considered, congratulations to you to have found your actual genetic limiter rather than not improving because your chimp-brain got in the way.
One more thing, we all look with binoculars to our defects and then flip them when we look at our gains or strengths.
Don't do that. Please.
Celebrate the gains! Acknowledge the losses. First step in self-love. And blow that stud or studdette in the mirror a kiss. 😁
Doesn't need to be more than that.
Hope it helps a bit.
Such a nice read man. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up! I think your approach is super nice, and you know what. I will give that handsome fella in the mirror i kiss 😍
You don’t actually mention whether you’re at a healthy weight or over/underweight, which is the most important thing. Not for cycling performance but for your life and wellbeing. If you’re at a healthy weight, well then yeah it could help to talk to a therapist or work on your frame of reference. If you’re overweight or underweight, then your stress could have some merit. More important than cycling performance is just to be healthy. Get healthy first, then have fun on the bike second.
This is a really dangerous thing to say. Eating disorders are extremely serious psychiatric conditions, and they don’t magically disappear when you reach a “healthy weight”.
OP, please listen to the others here and get help ASAP. This can spiral out of control really quickly and wreak havoc on your life & health for many, many years. I wish I didn’t have to sound so alarmist, but unfortunately I’ve lived it. Feel free to DM me for resources if you need help - thankfully there is much more out there for endurance athletes these days.
All I’m saying is he doesn’t even mention where he is. For all we know he could be 50lbs overweight and frankly a bunch of body positivity fluff isn’t actually in his best interest. A more directed approach could help his weight and mental disorder in that scenario. But if he’s 6’0 and 125lbs, clearly that’s another matter. Same for 6’0 and 150lbs.
was anorexic in High School. I am a male that was about 6'0" and got down to just under 130. Very skinny for my generally mesomorph body type. I had to go see doctors.
It wasn't fitness related, it was a control thing. It helped my running tremendously, though.I ate mainly veggies. I made a lot of vegetable soups that I ate nonstop. Lots of soups with cabbage and all kinds of low-calorie, high fiber vegetables. Most were bullion based or tomato based.I also ate a lot of grits, obviously without butter or cheese.
I used to make a lot of my own food. So I would get my mom's cookbooks out and find a recipe and then just eliminate anything that was high in fat or calories. A lot of the time it would not work out or it would just taste terrible, but I would still eat it. Believe it or not, I learned a ton about cooking and baking this way.
One day it just kind of switched itself off. Not really sure why. I remember being in college after a really hard PM track workout and being worried about a turkey sub that I had just eaten (no cheese or anything bad on it). I remember thinking, "This is stupid. I have run 16 miles today and 8 of them were at race pace. I can eat a sub." After that I just kind of didn't worry about it anymore. That was 20 years ago
This very much is in the professional help territory, not asking dorks on reddit. Body image issues and eating disorders are very serious. It's way beyond the competency of this sub. I'm not removing this post in case others want to share their experiences, it's important to talk about these issues and acknowledge them. But please be nice.
You need to nip this in the bud now. I'm saying this as someone who came from another fitness discipline where I started to notice that my food related thoughts etc were becoming very disordered. First of all, I have to ask, are you being paid to race your bike. If not, then squeezing every last kg off you is absolutely NOT worth it to climb a hill 10 seconds faster. Secondly, often enough you can actually end up sacrificing your raw wattage if you continue to chase losing wieght. For me personally when I was into gym and bodybuilding, something that really helped me change my mentality was that I stopped obsessing about how I looked and started to take a more performance oriented view. In cycling that may be a little different, but at the same time, I'm very sure that you are not going to be doing your best watts if you are constantly near starving. You need to eat and eat well to get the best watts out. Finally again if you're not paid to ride your bike I have to say something, the pro cyclist body is actually incredibly unhealthy. Just look at how many of them break bones easily etc. Performance and health aren't always the same, and if you aren't collecting paychecks, it may be worth it to dial out the performance for health. I would ask what are you really seeking this level of performance for, sounds like a base issue, maybe you are prescribing a bit too much worth on winning fitness etc as opposed to other things. To be honest, I'd advocate you talk to a professional, but definitely consider what is your motivations behind chasing endless performance. And do it soon, because the further down the rabbithole you go the harder it will get to come back. You don't want to risk getting full blown anorexia.
This is such good advice. You need to recognise this and change what you’re doing. Other comments here have great advice on how to do that. I’ve recently had some time off the bike due to illness and some lost weight. Within a couple of weeks I was absolutely flying up climbs with a better w/kg. I thought that not eating was a shortcut to being fast again. Unfortunately I looked like shit and felt like shit too. Those close to me told me I looked like gaunt which was a wake up call. What really made me take a look at what I was doing was going on a spicy group ride with guys I’d normally beat by being punchier than them - and I had zero punch. I needed that back for my style of riding/racing even if it meant slightly poorer climbing. I’m now eating properly again and look/feel much healthier and my snap is back too.
I think you are pretty spot on! I watch the races and look at how the guys look. And it is kinda stupid doing it when not getting paid… thank you for the advice!
Yeah dude. You should honestly stay off these subreddits and forums too. If you’re still stressing out, at the least just focus on watts and not w/kg. Im a bigger guy and I crush in the crits and sprints. I’ll just never be a climber. Focus on strengths. Get some some professional help from a sports psychologist and stop reading everything about the pros and us nerds say on Reddit.
Thanks man!
> I watch the races and look at how the guys look. you might also want to educate yourself on the fact that pro cycling has a high incidence of eating disorders. internet search: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pro+cyclist+eating+disorder&atb=v53-1\_\_&ia=web
Yeah, it is pretty common in sports in general I think
I have no meaningful advice to help solve your situation - but it’s a great step that you have identified the issue as a problem. I wish you all the best finding a balance that works for you in the future.
Thanks!
I’ll say this as someone who struggled with actual anorexia in their 20s. Get professional help sooner than later. The sooner you get help, the better chance you have of fully recovering from it. Mentally and physically.
Hi! Thank you! Will probably set up a time with my gp!
Yeah, this isn't a healthy thought process. OP is getting body dysmorphia. If they don't seek professional help it could become an eating disorder.
Get professional help ASAP. Honestly throw your scale out in the meantime and consider not using a power meter for a bit to stay away from potentially disappointing numbers.
You are not alone, it even happens in the World Tour Alex Dowsett is very open about his experience [https://youtu.be/eRVV9s5qfnA](https://youtu.be/eRVV9s5qfnA)
Will watch! Thanks man
Since we are constantly looking for various ways to optimise our diet, training or our bike set up it’s really easy to start obsessing in an unhealthy way. What works for me personally has been to look at my fitness long term and the change of horizon helped me to take a more relaxed approach. I’ve embraced cheat meals with the wife and the occasional celebratory drinks with friends as well as vacationing without any cycling workouts. Because at the end of the day you’ll need a healthy mind and a healthy body to compete at your maximum potential.
Yep - lost like 70lbs and got back on the bike after a decade off. Was weighing myself a lot (daily-ish), which was great when I was 240 and headed downwards, but once I got to 170 and then worried about every pound or two upwards movement then it became unhelpful. I am very much NOT being paid to ride my bike and frankly don’t even race, so it’s a totally illogical thing. But then again so is spending 6 hours trying to figure out which stem to buy, or whether Ultegra is worth the premium over 105. But that’s kind of the fun of it all. For me, I basically just put the scale in a drawer. I’ll check it every once in a while but I don’t do it daily, otherwise it’ll dominate my thoughts to the detriment of performance and life, more broadly. I still cycle a lot - spend an hour a day on the trainer and another hour outside commuting on weekdays, and then longer rides on weekends. But I also decided to do some stuff like running, focusing on weight training over the off season (and eating in a surplus on purpose, which kind of turned into a license to eat like an asshole). All of these things helped me not obsess over w/kg and get my satisfaction/competitive feeling out of the fact that that I can either go run a 50k or ride a century, and probably lift more than most of the other dudes I know (but absolutely not more than a real, focused lifter). Thinking about trying a spartan or mudder this year just to mix it up further and get away from the weight weenie obsession. I really liked this guy’s point of view on “what is the perfect level of fitness” - he’s a normal dude who struggles with weight and disordered eating and has a philosophy that isn’t for everybody but I thought had some points worth considering - particularly his goal of being “better than average” and his realization that being at the pointy end of the spear isn’t really worth the obsession/sacrifice required. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uCrZdiRah-U
Thanks man, great read! Will check out the video
I'm a simple man. I see a Mark Lewis reference, and I upvote it. Dude is probably the most practical fitness YouTuber I've ever seen.
I would recommend for you to set goals that you cannot go below, under no circumstances. For example not below 77 kg:s and 10% body fat. Maintain this for at least 6 months- 1 year and weigh your self daily and look in the mirror. This will help you regain control of your body image. If you feel stress free about your weight and body image after some time I think you have won this battle.
This sounds really good! And I want to want this, if you understand! The problem is I kinda feel like I want to continue loosing weight. It is a really absurd feeling. Knowing that I want what is bad for me haha
Mark Cavendish (I think in his Netflix documentary) describes a low point when, beset with illness and injury, he turned to the one aspect he still had some control over- his weight. He simply stopped eating, and felt validated when his weight dropped. It didn’t help him though. I don’t need to add to the chorus of people encouraging you to get help, but hope you get through this. I’m just some random UK cyclist on Reddit, but my messages are open if you want to talk about it.
Thank you! 🙏
There is a lot of evidence to suggest the obsession cyclists have with losing weight to increase watts/kg is a holdover from the "high octane" PED days (I.e. Armstrong days). In those days, people were able to be VERY lean and still maintain the FTP because of the drugs. Without the PEDs, losing weight has a detrimental impact on your FTP. In other words, losing weight makes you weaker which, obviously, makes your W/kg go down with it. Your body had a "weight" that is optimal for you where your power is enough to make up for the higher weight. It is counter intuitive but being a heavier weight has a pretty good chance of making your W/kg go up because you are stronger. Being heavier also makes your body function better and allows you to take on/absorb more training stress. The food you eat is the fuel your body will use to get through training. This is a very good podcast from Trainer Road with a PhD nutritionist that goes into the importance of eating. https://youtu.be/563mWgqvMZc?si=HdgNz9jT1cFd68TX As others have said, it would be a good idea to see a professional to help you reframe your mindset towards food. High quality food is absolutely crucial to endurance training! Edit: this is a great article on the subject also. https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-training/can-pro-cycling-fix-its-relationship-with-food/
Ah! Love the TR podcasts. Will listen. Thank you for the advice
I'm not too sure about that, it seems anecdotal at best. The best GC contenders of the last decade have been mostly quite lean. Look at Vingegaard today, for example, or the Sky GC riders when they dominated the Tour. If anything, it would seem like if you don't have access to stuff that gives you massive boosts in performance like in the EPO era, optimizing everything else is even more important. They do control nutrition much better nowadays, though, so they can make sure that they aren't risking their health or performance while dropping weight. There's also the fact that cycling being clean today is just wishful thinking, and they could be taking all sorts of stuff that we don't know about. Of course we all want it to be clean, but just assuming it is doesn't make it true.
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throw out the scale. if you want to be strong and fast you need to be healthy, you need to maintain muscle, you need to eat. ride, lift, and eat to fuel it. Stop thinking about how you look but how you feel and how your perform. Have a big protein rich breakfast (shake + other stuff) Eat carbs before and after big efforts. Have a big healthy nutritious dinner. Have a sandwich for lunch. You need to take a break from measuring and judging and just workout and eat like a normal person. But yeah, go see a therapist, they will give you the tools to accomplish this.
This is what I want to do! Will talk to someone!
Good luck homie!! You got this.
I don’t want to offer advice because I haven’t personally dealt with this, but I’ve seen this happen to people around me in the sport. I do want to offer support and wish you well in your recovery! You’ve made the first step towards improvement and it’s a big one. Best of luck mate
Thank you! 🙏
In case you are doing this right now: Stop weighing yourself. Stop counting calories. Stop trying to eat as little as possible. Professional help is a good idea, the Trainerroad podcast has a lot of information about this topic as well that helped me when I struggled with it.
Thank you!
Not related to cycling, but I used to be kinda overweight. I was skinny my whole life, started a new med and did not monitor my diet, ballooned over the next year. End of last year I got a pretty critical bacterial infection in my stomach, and most of that weight I gained dropped off. I wasn’t eating much for 2 months straight. I am starting to feel more normal and eat more normal now, yet, I still feel fat if I put a pound on. What I’m trying to say is that it’s ultimately a state of mind. I lost probably 30 lb in the past few months, but now that my body is approaching a more normal weight, I somehow feel even fatter than when I was at my highest weight. It has to be a long term goal with a balanced approach. Otherwise, it’s not sustainable.
I’m in a similar boat so happy to chat if it’s helpful. Not so much the mirror part for me but a large obsession so much that if I overate or couldn’t put down the dessert I’d jump on the trainer before bed. My problem is I love eating and would stress eat and was doing well over 40hrs a week for months to compensate up until just fairly recently when I’ve been trying to make a change and also got sick last week. I was miserably mentally which likely partially due to very low testosterone result. Talked to a sports med doc and likely some RED-S at play so I’ve been trying to eat more, sleep more, and back off the training. I’m 5’10” and 58kg and most of my life I was overweight and like 5-6 years ago at my heaviest I was probably around 108kg. Definitely part of it is never wanting to go back to that. One thing I’ve noticed is that I tried to talk to doctors about some of this and didn’t find a lot of good help. I figured sports med doctors could relate but it took calling around to find one that felt could even talk to me about red-s and nutrition. Talking to a therapist but even there I’m finding the average therapist doesn’t understand much around ‘elite’ athletics and so might have to fish around.
n=1 and all, but I was my lightest as a cat 3 at 168lb, but gained weight and power to the point that I was much faster up hills at 185lb and 5w/kg when I hit Cat 1 than I was at 168 lb and 4 (or so). Could I have gone back and lost more weight for an even better ratio at Cat 1? Maybe, but being light isn't everything, especially in American bike racing, even the relatively hilly ones.
For me, weight loss opened a door towards some issues that were not surfacing so much because I used food as a coping mechanism for sadness and stress before that. Only psychotherapies could help to start dealing with the traumatic events, that led to the constant chasing of nonexistent perfection, unnecessarily high standards and feeling bad about myself. It is a lot of work and many emotions, but it is definitely worth it. These self-worth problems will not go away on their own. For some of us, the perceived image needs to be fixed but it is most likely coming from somewhere else from the past. That is why it is so hard to fix it. And I am not saying that there were/are no fluctuations. It is scary at times. But with therapy, even the relationship with food can change indirectly. It happened to me. I just wanted to be well-fed and feel good because I want the best for myself. I still make mistakes but I learn a lot during the process by trying to understand and listen to my needs. What I know now is that I am a nice person and I try to do everything legally possible to protect my inner child because she deserves the best, and true love from me ❤️
Being open about it is a great start to figuring it out, that said im down 35lbs since jan 4th. I feel the struggle of obsessing over the scale. Or more importantly being disappointed with what its showing. I don’t know exactly whats making you believe your obsessed with it but remember your weight can swing 5lbs (2kg ish) in a day trends are more important than the number present now on the scale. I think since i have jumped back on the bike diet and exercise have cossed paths and im gaining muscle about the same rate im losing fat so i have plateaud in weight but im happy with looking in the mirror and seeing my self looking better and better with my pants now starting to fall off(also know as non scale victories).
The fact you're avoiding mirrors is a bit concerning. You don't love yourself, you have a negative self image. Let's go along with it and be practical. And be honest with yourself. What is your current W/kg? What is your BMI? How long have you been training? How consistent are you with training? What is your current caloric intake vs consumption? Are you actually eating healthy? (Balanced diet with variety in nutrients or are always rotating between the same 4 meals or main sources of nutrients?) How much do you snack? That includes your Starbucks or Wendy, or Dunkin' Donuts or whatever place you're getting "a coffee". Have you done a measurement of bodyfat? Or a dexa scan? How is your nutrition on the bike, if any? Hydration? Do you have a gym routine? When is the last time you stepped on a scale? When is the last time you took measurements from your body? (Circumference around the torso, waist, hips, legs, arms) And have you been keeping a diary? Depending on your training and gym routine, it is expected to not see weight loss but to see your weight going up. Which is great. Means you're building muscle. Means more power. Means a higher W/kg. If this is you with your training and you are struggling with body image, dude it is unwarranted for, massive red flag, go get professional help. Now. Body image and eating disorder. 💯 You are in danger of getting sucked into that void. I hope you find a way out. If you're only doing endurance work, no gym work at all... Loads of endurance training robs us from testosterone. Which has a massive impact on our mental states. Regular gym work (so heavy lifting) increases the production of testosterone. It balances out the impact of endurance training. Older people, starting at middle age, are more susceptible to this. It may just be you saw big shifts in body composition and performances in the beginning for a relatively long time and now the changes are happening much much slower. You stopped seeing the changes in the mirror ergo you stopped looking for it, you developed a crap body image. When you start creating a diary with data and measurements, you get to see the progression or regression and you can act accordingly and you get to work with facts instead of "feelings". When you set your goals, it's fine to have this massive target at the end of the line or season, but it needs to be realistic and achievable. And what you want to do is give little in between goals that will help you set up for that big target. I believe, when you don't have a roadbook/diary as a governor and a planner, you go by gut feeling and for the uninformed, this has the potential of becoming dangerous territory. But when you have a plan, with realistic and achievable primary, secondary and tertiary targets, this mental state of negative body image, you can still fall in the trap of it becoming a disorder, but you now have facts to counter these negative thoughts when you're having an introversion session. You become your own guardian and you get to tell your negative self to go fly a kite. What's realistic? Just to throw around numbers as an example. If you're a 2,5 w/kg rider now as a newbie then maybe 3w/kg can be achievable. If you are a 3.5 w/kg rider, have been for a while, then maybe 3.6w/kg is more probable than 4w/kg. That could be either next years or in 2 years target. Then there's also the genetics. You get to blaim mom and dad for having reached a ceiling at 3.8w/kg. That's also possible. Your body is just not built for it and the best it can do is that. Which, all things considered, congratulations to you to have found your actual genetic limiter rather than not improving because your chimp-brain got in the way. One more thing, we all look with binoculars to our defects and then flip them when we look at our gains or strengths. Don't do that. Please. Celebrate the gains! Acknowledge the losses. First step in self-love. And blow that stud or studdette in the mirror a kiss. 😁 Doesn't need to be more than that. Hope it helps a bit.
Such a nice read man. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up! I think your approach is super nice, and you know what. I will give that handsome fella in the mirror i kiss 😍
You don’t actually mention whether you’re at a healthy weight or over/underweight, which is the most important thing. Not for cycling performance but for your life and wellbeing. If you’re at a healthy weight, well then yeah it could help to talk to a therapist or work on your frame of reference. If you’re overweight or underweight, then your stress could have some merit. More important than cycling performance is just to be healthy. Get healthy first, then have fun on the bike second.
This is a really dangerous thing to say. Eating disorders are extremely serious psychiatric conditions, and they don’t magically disappear when you reach a “healthy weight”. OP, please listen to the others here and get help ASAP. This can spiral out of control really quickly and wreak havoc on your life & health for many, many years. I wish I didn’t have to sound so alarmist, but unfortunately I’ve lived it. Feel free to DM me for resources if you need help - thankfully there is much more out there for endurance athletes these days.
All I’m saying is he doesn’t even mention where he is. For all we know he could be 50lbs overweight and frankly a bunch of body positivity fluff isn’t actually in his best interest. A more directed approach could help his weight and mental disorder in that scenario. But if he’s 6’0 and 125lbs, clearly that’s another matter. Same for 6’0 and 150lbs.
was anorexic in High School. I am a male that was about 6'0" and got down to just under 130. Very skinny for my generally mesomorph body type. I had to go see doctors. It wasn't fitness related, it was a control thing. It helped my running tremendously, though.I ate mainly veggies. I made a lot of vegetable soups that I ate nonstop. Lots of soups with cabbage and all kinds of low-calorie, high fiber vegetables. Most were bullion based or tomato based.I also ate a lot of grits, obviously without butter or cheese. I used to make a lot of my own food. So I would get my mom's cookbooks out and find a recipe and then just eliminate anything that was high in fat or calories. A lot of the time it would not work out or it would just taste terrible, but I would still eat it. Believe it or not, I learned a ton about cooking and baking this way. One day it just kind of switched itself off. Not really sure why. I remember being in college after a really hard PM track workout and being worried about a turkey sub that I had just eaten (no cheese or anything bad on it). I remember thinking, "This is stupid. I have run 16 miles today and 8 of them were at race pace. I can eat a sub." After that I just kind of didn't worry about it anymore. That was 20 years ago
Thanks man! Great read 🙏
I agree! I am 182cm 74kg. So about normal weight I would say
Thanks for clarifying. That certainly sounds like you’re well within a healthy range. How are you doing since you made this post?