Most cyclists are running on carbs only. That means you're never burning fat efficiently, you're getting incrementally fatter every year, and if you skip a meal the wheels fall off. This episode of the Roadman Cycling podcast is Anthony's take on metabolic flexibility and the most practical way to build it.
Key Takeaways
Metabolic flexibility is your body's ability to pull energy from carbs or fat depending on what's available. If you're only eating carbs, you've never built the machinery to burn stored fat. Every time you eat, blood sugar spikes, insulin pulls it back down, you crave carbs again, and the cycle repeats. That's why people carry Tupperware everywhere. It's not a willpower problem, it's a fuel system problem.
The fix Anthony recommends is the 16-8 intermittent fasting protocol. Eat your last meal in the evening, don't eat again until lunch the next day, nothing but black coffee, black tea, or water in between. That 16-hour window forces your body to build the fat-burning machinery it's been ignoring. Start on one rest day this week. Add a second day next week. Third day the week after. That's it.
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If you want to go deeper on why Anthony fasts daily, the why-I-fast-daily episode covers it in full. For what to actually eat around training once you've got the fasting piece sorted, go to the what-you-should-eat-while-training episode.