Weightloss workouts or -training plans

I’m somehow perturbed :laughing: that we’re now 21 posts into the thread and, in spite of how precise @Emil_Sorensen seems to want to be in terms of logical rebuttal of all suggestions, nowhere have we bothered to clarify whether we’re talking about simple weight loss, or specifically fat loss (which are not the same thing at all). I mean, I know which one it is, but it just hasn’t been made explicit.

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Hi @Emil_Sorensen, I just found this thread today because I am also looking for weight loss training plans. Thank you for asking as I also think it would be helpful for plans to be labeled as weight loss or fat burner or something. I just spent 12 weeks doing the beginner FTP Builder and while I increased my FTP as promised, I would like to focus on something else now, such as weight loss. Maybe the people who responded to you before were actually talking to me since I have not lost weight over the last 12 weeks so I am apparently not able to “out exercise my fork”. For what it’s worth, I thought you explained yourself quite clearly and appreciate how calmly and politely you responded to the people who said they couldn’t understand you. Hope to see you out there and I hope you have found a training plan that you like! Ride On!

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Hi @Emil_Sorensen, my few cents. Weight loss is a function of calories in - calories out. So rightfully people say diet matters and any workout or exercise will attribute to weight loss. Things are rather complex so I will try to make it as simple as possible assuming that you are interested in results and not a complete description of how we shed or gain weight. So some basic principles for you to consider in order to create your own customized truth about weight loss. (I know I am still struggling).

  • If you work at zone 2 for long periods you will burn mostly fat (beware however that in order for our body to burn fat our body needs carbs, good quality but still needs carbs).

  • The fat Vs effort curve is convex i.e. and rather flat at the top which means that you can burn the most fat for example at 110W 120W and 130W so chse the lowest pace/Watts for the longest duration in order to get less tired.

  • If you work only Z2 for weeks you will lose power, so you might want to complement your Z2 cycling with strength training, a perfect complement for maintaining strength and losing weight

  • As with everything in life you need balance. Starving yourself will create hypoglycemia and problems with your muscles and tendons. While starving might seem a strong word be careful as the balance between lower calories for weight loss and lower calories to cause hypoglycemia when exercising consistently is very fine

  • If you work high Z4/Z5 you will burn carbs mostly but you will also gain muscle if you can sustain the pace.

  • Fat burning comes mostly from breathing our body burns the fat through the breathing oxidation mechanism when converting oxygen to carbon dioxide, that is why HIIT session are so popular for weight loss. If you however do many HIIT sessions you will probably collapse.

I hope I have helped good luck in your pursuit of health and fitness

Yannis

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Hello @Yannis_Angelis! It looks like what you are saying is that I need/want a training plan that has longer Z2 workouts than I was doing in the FTP Builder, but then also some of the Strength and Tempo workouts too. That gives me a really good place to start, so thank you very much for your helpful bullet-pointed summary!! I really appreciate it! Ride on!

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Hi @Emil_Sorensen,
I totally see what you asked and find it incredible that some people chose to respond with unhelpful and almost troll-like responses. You are right, there are sessions that are designed to burn fat, just as there are those designed specifically to target strength or endurance etc.

I too was looking for such a programme in Zwift but have not found any easily recognisable sessions. GNC on the other hand do have several youtube based session and my intention is to build one or more of these into Zwift as a custom session.

@Gerrie_Delport_ODZ was perhaps one of the most helpful here. He was spot on; you need longer training sessions (from what I’ve researched 2 hours or more is optimal) at around zone 2 to maximise fat burning. Additionally, you should try to undertake the session on an empty stomach - even eating an hour before a session will dramatically affect how efficient your body is at burning fat.

With regards to the numerous comments that suggest Zwift can’t provide a specific session that targets fat burning without first ‘telling’ you about other areas of your lifestyle that you need to work on… what a load of waffle. When I buy paracetamol I don’t have to explain my lifestyle. The checkout person doesn’t calculate my water intake or stress levels before determining if they’ll let me buy the medication.

Zwift is not a tool that provides dietary advice and indeed the original question was not about diet… it was about finding a session on the app that would target fat burning. And that is definitely something that can be achieved through Zwift.

I feel that there were far too many comments on this thread that were not helpful towards the initial question. Some of the contributors banded together, supporting each other and ganging-up on the poster - not assisting them. I’m ashamed that most of those unhelpful and off-topic comments came from men, but not surprised.

I do hope that Emil found a session that worked them them and they continued to use Zwift. It’s a great app and most of the people you meet on it are fun super-helpful. It’s a shame we can’t rate contributors responses (other than ‘like’) so that we get a picture of the people posting and determine how valid their contribution is likely to be.

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Thanks for the kind words @Jason_McMahon.

Weight loss is a very tricky subject probably why that industry make so much money.

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