Stefan's 2015 Macro

zwuba

Hey Coach,

I recently read Matt Fitzgeralds books about "Racing Weight" as I feel that this is one of the two biggest rooms for my improvement in my opinion (beside my swimming).

I really want to to give his 4-weeks "QuickStart" program a try which aims for a weight loss of about 5 pounds in 4 weeks by keeping strength and fitness up as high as possible. (see details below)

My actual plan is to insert these 4 weeks right after I've finished NOS and replacing the SwimCamp. Additionally the time in the GetFaster Plan is cut short by 1 week just doing weeks 4-7 before heading into the HIM Adv plan at week 12.

The "Quick-Start" plan is basically a combination of a 300-400kCal deficit, high protein diet with a training plan that has 3 strength sessions/week + 1 long fasting moderate WKO filling up the week with very short super-hard intervals on the bike AND run.

I know that this hard intervals won't give my legs the same recovery as the SwimCamp does (I did it in 2014 already) but especially the weekend workouts are of pretty low intensity (even done in a fasting state) so I'm sure this plan is by FAR not as hard as the OS or GF.

Looking forward to all inputs/questions/worries from your side!

Coach Rich

Hey Stefan,

In my experience, a calorie deficit of 3-400 per day isn't very special / not all that much. I wouldn't think it would necessarily require (1) a special diet or (2) an accompanying special training plan? Personally, I know I can log my diet and exercise in LoseIt! and create that daily deficit pretty easily without really doing anything special, other than eating well and doing my normal workouts?

zwuba

Totally agree!
From my past experience in the last 2 years here on the Adv.-plans I know how much weight loss I can expect during the build-phase heading into my "A"-races.
It's just a "feeling" but I think my perfect "Racing weight" would be about 5-6 pound below that weight I had in my last races. So that all being said I was looking for a way how to loose that additional weight without badly sabotaging my training and fitness.
I know I can't reduce my calories during the build phase and that is by intend not the phase for loosing weight - it's the phase for focusing on power and fitness!

I also know that the 2 weeks of SwimCamp are just perfect for working on "empty tanks" but 2 weeks are just not enough for my aimed weight loss. Extending the deficit into the GetFaster plan ... absolutely NO WAY I can ever do these brutal SAT rides - NEVER!
This is were this idea was born
The diet in this case is a bit more than just reducing calories - it also requires to use protein for 30% of the required calories which is a LOT and requires a lot of meal-planning ...
The training itself is not a lot different to what we do here on EN except of 3 things:
1) 3x strength workouts each week
2) All interval work is Tabata-style
3) one dedicated fat-burning fasting workout each week

I think I'll give it a try and let you know how things turns out