Is There A Best Time For A Cyclist To Lose Weight?

Weight loss is a common strategy used by cyclists to improve performance. While improving your power-to-weight ratio through weight loss can undoubtedly enhance a cyclist’s performance, it is not guaranteed that the pursuit of weight loss will improve performance, as poor weight-loss practices can often have a negative impact on an athlete’s performance.

Implementing a diet that creates a calorie deficit (i.e. an athlete eating less than their daily requirements to drive fat loss) is necessary to achieve weight loss. However, there are a number of downsides to being in an energy defecit, which must be carefully managed to prevent weight loss from negatively impacting an athlete’s health and performance.

A key consideration for any cyclist is the timing of weight loss and when and how long to implement a weight loss strategy. In this week’s blog, we’ll take a look at some of the key considerations for when to time a weight loss intervention... 

3. How Much? - One of the single most important considerations around weight loss is how much to lose, as this will ultimately impact how long is required to achieve the optimal body composition. As a general rule, we typically look at modest energy defects around the 10-20% of daily energy mark to help prevent an energy deficit from impacting health and performance and to help maintain as much muscle as possible. As such, if an athlete has a lot of weight to lose, they may need to factor in a number of months of weight loss diet, compared to an athlete with a relatively small amount (i.e. 1-2kgs), who may only need a few weeks. We must also consider the athletes’ starting body composition and where they are trying to get to. There is no one optimal body fat percentage to aim for, and this is likely highly individual. Some athletes are able to perform best at low body fat percentages, whilst others need higher levels of body fat for optimal performance. The leaner the athlete is aiming to get, the harder it is also likely to be to achieve.
   
   
4. Life Stresses – As cyclists, we are people first. Cycling is often a hobby alongside a busy family, work and social life and as such, the impact of these other areas of life has to be taken into account as they will have the most significant impact on you, compared to your riding alone. Trying to lose weight at a time where stress is high from other areas of life, is unlikely to lead to great results. For example, the arrival of a new baby, and the corresponding lack of sleep and its subsequent impact on appetite, is unlikely to be a good time to try and lose weight. Equally, a busy and stressful time at work may also create an environment that is not optimal for fat loss. Looking to implement weight loss at a time that is conducive to your achieving results, periodised around how your year looks both from a riding and life perspective, will be key to how successful your pursuit of weight loss is.
    
5. What’s The Training Focus? - One of the key influencers on a your day to day nutrition strategy is the training that you’re doing. Different phases of training typically also have different types of focus; for example, base/preparatory phases often focus more on lower intensity high volume training, whilst speed phases focus on an athlete performing high-quality, high-intensity work. The impact of an energy deficit is more negative on high-quality, high-intensity work, owing to the need for adequate carbohydrates to fuel those rides and the impact of inadequate energy on recovery. In comparison, riders focusing on low intensities can still likely be performed to a high level even when in an energy deficit; as such, timing an energy deficit around specific phases of training or even specific days of training may help limit the impacts of a deficit on training quality.
   
   
6. Muscle Loss – A key consideration when it comes to weight loss is ensuring that the weight comes from fat mass rather than muscle mass, as ultimately, the muscle you have supports your performance and any loss of this is likely to impact performance negatively. In contrast fat acts as a ballast and is the key tissue we want to aim to lose. Timing weight loss around a time when the athlete is able to implement regular strength-based exercise can help to preserve muscle when combined with an adequate intake of protein, as such, this is another key consideration.
   
   
7. Competition & Performance? – Being on a weight loss diet, is likely to negatively impact on your performance and recovery. As such, when to implement weight loss has to factor in when an athlete is looking to perform. During a key competition phase, or when an athlete is regularly competing may not be a great idea if you are still looking to perform well in racing. Periods of training prior to racing or strategic phases of competition may, therefore, be a good time to consider implementing weight loss, rather than around competition when performance is likely to be more critical.

Generally speaking, there is no optimal time in which to lose weight. We have to carefully consider when and how to implement it based on our own individual goals and circumstances, to limit it's impact on our performance and ensure that it i a strategy that will improve performance. For many individuals, there maybe more performance to be gained from fuelling well and training consistently compared to trying to lose a few kilograms. Generally, it is always better to ensure that a qualified professional is there to help support you along the way, provide an objective view of how best to approach based on your individual circumstances and help manage the many downsides to being in an energy deficit.

Within Fuel the Ride Academy, we focus on giving you the knowledge and tools to approach fat loss in a way that will enhance your performance and through our community provide ongoing support and guidance to help you maximise whatever approach you take. To learn more about how we can help you transform your nutrition and make you a better cyclist in 2025, check out the links at the top of the page.

Coach Ben