Thoughts on dropping weight? Harder as we age...
Hi all -
New member here looking for thoughts on what has worked for weight management, especially toward the off-season where we can focus more on that aspect. I'm 53, coming from multiple IM finishes and ultrarunning, but now have a chronic left knee injury that has slowed me and added some pain.
As a result, I had a slow and hard IM Louisville 2013 - which put my brain in bad place for getting ready for IM CDA 2014.... so I carried too much weight into the event. Now that CDA is in the read-view mirror and I'm looking at IM Lake Placid in 2015 I'm wondering what has worked for everyone? I've gone on the Zone diet (~10 years before) and really dropped weight, but it was hard to sustain long distance training (Eagleman 70.3 and ultramarathons) because I always felt flat during my training. Looking for something that we can all sustain for a long time without too much craziness for the rest of the family.....
Any thoughts? Many thanks - Stu 
Comments
I met with a nutritionist in 2012 because I had my sights on completing an Ironman and was carrying a LOT of extra weight. Long story short, I just raced IMLP at 18.5% body fat and about 40 pounds less than I was in 2012. I eat a lot more protein, veggies, and good carbs. I have cut back on flour, dairy, and alcohol. I eat every few hours and never feel tired or hungry. If it's feasible, a few sessions with a nutritionist might be of benefit to you as well. I had to do something that I could sustain long term and this really worked for me. Good luck
FWIW, at lot of EN peeps follow this http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Practical+Strategy+for+Improving+Body+Composition
I am a fan of Matt Fitzgerald's book "Racing Weight" http://www.velopress.com/books/racing-weight-2nd-ed/
What I did was to keep a food diary (write down everything I ate and drank for a month) and then went to see a Sports Nutritionist. He gave me a bunch of menus for each meal that I could choose from (items and servings) to take the thinking out of it.
I have choices for each breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner and evening snack — so my diet covers all my needs plus a 500 cal deficit each day. I obviously need to add fuel to cover work outs etc.
This OS (I am in the Southern Hemisphere) I have been doing my am wkos in a fasted state which speeds the loss of fat. There are a couple of downsides from this approach including higher RPE but I am having good success at the moment.
There's no magic bullet. There are pro's and con's to all the popular diets that we hear about so i believe you can pick and choose the best attributes of several and com up with something that works for you. The main thing that has helped me is using the app "Lose It" to track everything i eat. I did it every day for probably 3-4 months during the out season and i use it as again as i build toward my races especially during taper as there is less wiggle room when consuming extra calories. Many people on the team follow aspects of the core diet. It's somewhat paleo except you fuel all your workouts with the same nutrition plan as if you were racing. There's info in the wiki and you can check out their website as well. There's a lot of focus on body comp in the off season so it will be easy for you to get some help and motivation as you approach IMLP2015. It's not easy, but the right body comp makes a HUGE difference come race day - Definitely worth it. Good luck!
Just sucks getting back to ^that^, especially now that Joanne has found resources for homemade ice cream and popsicles...
Why would anyone ever want to try low carb ice cream and compromise nature's perfect food?
I just went thru the posts on the Body Composition threads and tried the "Lose It!" app for a couple of days now - I'm all with Coach R and Mike on recording and seeing where you are; that app makes it pretty simple. Good stuff!
So I'm gonna use that resource for a while to map my caloric status versus my workout expenditures and see where we are - which should set me up for a follow on with a nutritionist for some more detailed thoughts. I'll let all know the results, since putting on the pounds has gotten a whole lot easier than dropping them (and I'll bet I'm not the only one....) Appreciate the good insight & tips. Many thanks!
Couple of things that have worked for me. Few words to give you some context.
Few weeks ago I thought I didn´t need to loose weight. I am 51 and I know how hard is to loose weight at this point.
I ran Boston in April and then trained for an 80K Ultra Trail in Mont Blanc with 21.000 elevation gain in late June (14 hrs race). I was as fit as I could imagine and lost some weight in the training process. One week after the Ultra a Tri Elite Coach (Darren Smith) suggested I should loose 10 lbs for my IMLT. Yes, loose 10 pounds in 10 weeks. Sounded crazy for me.
I am in week 6 and lost 6.5 lbs already and I am sure I will reach my 10 lbs goal. I am 6 feet tall and went already from 175.5 to 169. IMLT is in 4 weeks! I never felt better. Darren was right, I had 10 lbs in excess. i think this principle are valid in training and during the off season.
My plan.
1- Eat every 4 hours (trying to do smaller portions than regular meals). Well designed meals.
2. Focus more on nutrition rather than calories. If your body is well nurtured the need for more food decreases. That means mostly fresh, natural (organic) foods
3. Eliminate processed food. The body stores toxins from processed food that are very hard to eliminate, and body needs fat to deactivate those toxins.
4. On Mondays which is my slower day minimize carbs (but not totally eliminate them). A day of paleo type of diet.
5. I am cooking my own food. This creates the sense of satisfaction while preparing my meals.
These principles are allowing me not only to manage my weight but to be healthier, which is a key goal for me.
Good luck with your plan!
I've had some luck with higher fat and veggies, no grains. It does get tougher each year.
Wondering on thoughts on working to continue dropping weight to get faster - Macca had an interesting article recently in Triathlete on the "just go super light at all costs" vs. "you need some musculature to support yourself during an Ironman" discussion. His thought was to go heavier than too light. Any views here? (BTW: I'd have to continue to diet for a LOOOOONG time to get down to anything like scrawny - I'm 5'10 and currently 167 with a very muscular frame - wondering if I should go for the low 160s...)???
I think we always need to apply context / seek some common definitions when we, especially pro's, talk about "super light, muscular," etc. Easy to get into a situation where a pro's "that guy is light" is someone else's "holy shit, get that guy a sammich!"
Quick notes:
In my experience the key is to setup systems (diet logging and eating well) that should result in a 1lb per week weight loss, start this process months and months ahead of your race and just follow it until your body starts to push back in some manner. In my experience, we all have a unique % body fat below which the quality of workouts/recovery suffers, we can get sick, etc. That would be 10% for some, 4-5% for others. But the key is to progress slowly, consistently, and conservatively towards that point.
what coach saud,
also Brett Sutton, triathlon coach, has said things similar to Macca about not losing too much weight. if you are seeing 12 pack abs, you are too light for ironman, per Brett.
this season my intention was to go lighter than normal for me. towards bmi of 20. but with strong biking and swimming, i feel better at BMI more than that. my body continues to stabilize closer to 21+. with eating less my workouts are poor.
Hope your IM LT is a great go this year!