Being lighter for the climbs at the Mallorca 312 will make the event easier and you will be faster. This will help you make those strict cut-off times. Although this post has been written about the Mallorca 312 it can be used for any cyclist training for an event.
General health
With any weight loss goal, the place to start is with general health and well-being and nothing to do with training or food. If you don’t get these in order then you are almost certain to fail.
Key elements to focus on first include:
- A good amount of quality sleep
- Reduce stress as much as possible
- Hydrate with plenty of plain water
- Get organised!
The first thing to understand is that cycle training generally does not equal weight loss for many people. This is mainly for 2 reasons. The first is that exercising makes you hungry and your body will try to get you to consume the same amount of calories that you burnt. In some cases, you will actually eat more! The other reason is that you cannot out-train a bad diet, and trust me I have tried! To lose weight it is generally what you do in the kitchen rather than on the bike.
Top tips for weight loss when training for the Mallorca 312
That said there are some ways that your cycle training can aid weight loss. See my top tips below
- Plan training sessions to either start and/or end with your normal meal. This can stop you from eating an additional meal within the day.
- Don’t cut carbs during training solely for weight loss as will lead to overeating. There is a place for fasted training however that is the goal of just that session and generally for a short period of time. Don’t get caught up in thinking more is better and extending that into all your training sessions.
- Reduce calories when not training and rest days. Plan your food and fuel for the work required. You don’t need that big bowl of porridge on a rest day!
- Don’t neglect those Zone 2 training rides. This is something that is common within all my training plans. Not only will they build your aerobic engine they will also teach your body to use fat as fuel. However, be warned that the long rides can make you extra hungry afterwards so you need to be strict with your eating off the bike.
In the kitchen
As I have said before diet is massively important to weight loss however is a whole nother topic. I will give you a couple of quotes to think about that sums it up for me.
“Eat a well-balanced variety of real food, not too much, not too often and mainly plant-based”
“To lose weight you need to be in a caloric deficit, how you achieve this is endless but remember not all calories are created equal or used the same in the body”
Final thought
Remember it’s not the big changes that make the difference, it’s the small changes done consistently that make the difference. Just being more active throughout the day by just moving more and walking. This can really add up over time.
Don’t give up, you could be closer than you think!
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