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Hey everyone. I am in need of some help. I am coming up on my first cyclocross season, just picked up a used Redline and need some fitness help. I am weighing in at 260 and need to drop some serious weight. I'm concerned about limiting calories due to bonking during my training sessions/races this fall. Has anyone had any experience with this? Any nutritionists in the house? I understand the calories in vs calories out, but will this cause me to suffer on the bike? Any and all help appreciated!

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A cross race is a painful but shortlived experience. You don't bonk because the races are 40 min. to 1 hour. I would mainly focus your training on being able to have your heartrate very elevated for that period of time. Most guys will have their last food 2 hours before a race. Experiment what works for you as you train. Get together with others or do a CX clinic and see what people are doing to prepare for the season. Be flexible in the approach to your body/training as you learn more about what your needs are. Most of all, keep at it and have fun.
As coach there are a few things that should be brought up. 1: is how much are you trying to lose. Too much and power goes out the window. Be sure to stay reasonable in your goals to weight loss. 2: never ever try and cut much weight once you are racing. Off season and early season are perfect especially considering your miles will be up as you are base training therefor you are burning larger amounts. If intensity is lower then less is needed for recovery. 3: The biggest mistake is to cut intake ON the bike. Bad Idea. If you are cutting calories have some calorically dense breakfast but not a ton. Eat to stabalize energy on the bike, and cut calories around dinner time. Get a small meal in post ride if long or if a lot of stress was placed on your body. You can have a fairly small dinner if you are hydrating and taking in the PROPPER food post ride and recover just fine. Just my take. In the end find what works for you, dont try and lose too much and if it becomes a stress focus your energy elsewhere. Don't let it dominate your life.
South Beach Diet! In 2007 I lost 50 lbs from Jan-May and trained the whole time. It has been 2 years and I still have kept all the weight off. In fact I still follow the diet today because of its benefits you get from nutritional needs for training and racing. The beautiful thing is, it is easy to follow, makes sense on how it works because it focuses on the "right" kind of carbs, and I can eat like a horse -- you just eat the right foods instead. It's worth a look. You can pick up the book anywhere for around $11.00
Never ever cut calories when out for a ride. Nothing is worse than bonking 2 hours out and have to struggle to hold wheel of the guys trying to tow you back home.

I'm currently trying to cut down on my last 5 pounds. I'm not recovering as fast and fatigue does linger longer than when I simply eat what I want.

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