Weight loss lessons learned during the 2015 JOS
With the final week of the JOS coming up, I wanted to share a few learning points of this OS for me. My case study includes a significant amount of singularities that most may not be able to replicate in their own lives, but hopefully, some nuggets will be useful to someone. The overarching topic: Weight loss. Usual disclaimers: I don’t claim to be a nutrition expert, a weight loss expert, or even someone who follows accepted ‘best practices’ in the nutrition world. I do like to think I’m an ‘every day’ guy that has tried to implement some sustainable, real world practices in his life.
Bottom line up front: I started the JOS at 196 lbs following a three week holiday season without much exercise. Over the JOS, I’ve experienced a steady and consistent weekly weight loss and have spent the last week with the scales at ~185-186. Context: This is the lightest I’ve been in years. In my past three OS’s I’ve lost about 5 lbs and eventually raced consistently around 187 after my builds (at a surprisingly consistent height of 6'3"). So for me, reaching this weight months before my first B race is significant. I am also hopeful that I can continue this trend, at least until I get south of 180 lbs.
Life stuff (or why I’m a special snow flake unlike anyone else) – Last summer, I started the first year of a two year unaccompanied OCONUS military assignment. I’m in Okinawa, Japan. My family is in Louisville, Kentucky. Ignoring the negative emotional and relationship implications of this, this physical separation allows me to make certain life style choices that don’t negatively impact time spent with my family. If I get home at 7 pm and want to run, I can without disrupting homework, dinner, or family time. If I want to go to bed at 6 pm, again, I can. I only have to cook for one, not four. This freedom, although caused by a negative factor, has some silver linings. Additionally, as a military service member, my boss (retired military himself) understands and promotes a flexible schedule that allows me to exercise, within reason, during my normal work day. During high stress, high tempo times, he even makes it a point to ask if I've been able to get out and run, when our mission allows. I also live less than a mile from my desk, so my daily commute to the office is basically 3 minutes each way. That helps.
So, to discuss the major variables in my weight loss equation:
- Exercise – I’ve followed the OS schedule pretty much as written, as I have the previous three OS’s. I did try to swim ~2 times a week (yes, I know, not recommend, it is what it is 
. I made most of the sessions with the majority being at the assigned intensities (a little less intensity on the run as I’ve focused on consistency and volume slightly there – the four mile run at EP is my friend). Bottom line – the actual amount of work I did this OS in the form of exercise has stayed consistent with the effort I’ve put forth in my previous three.
- Sleep – This is one of the two major focus areas in which I’ve tried (and had the flexibility) to make the most change. Given my ‘freedom’ in the evenings, I’ve chosen to mandate a 9 pm “in-bed, reading” time hack and a 10 pm “lights out” time hack. Those two times are the maximums allowed. On any given evening, if I feel tired, I ‘allow’ myself to hit these targets earlier. Although sometimes I don’t feel like getting into bed that early, I pitch it to myself as a ‘workout’, a mark to be hit just like a FTP bike ride or an interval run. Just shut up and do it. A big enabler to this effort is that I also restrict my television viewing to one show per evening. Period. I watch all of my TV via online resources (Netflix, online network websites, etc.), so I’m not dependent on a ‘live’ TV schedule. I watch current shows a day later than most, but who really cares. Movies only happen on the weekend. Bottom line – I consistently get 7-8 hours of sleep a night, even when I have early morning wakeups for training. Additionally, I routinely take 2 hour naps on both Saturday and Sunday. My focus on sleep and the rationale behind that focus is that our bodies get stronger, faster, lighter only when we sleep. So to me, the amount of sleep I get is just as important as the time and effort I spend while working out.
- Nutrition – Focus item number 2. Better, but I know I still have room to improve in this area. However, I’m happy with my progress so far.
a. Breakfast – I started the OS rolling with cereal and fruit (berries and bananas mixed in the cereal) and oatmeal (with peanut butter mixed in). I found myself constantly starving around mid-morning (sugar / carbs quickly gone). After some research, I decided to ‘junk’ up my breakfast in the hope that more fats and protein would satiate the hunger and reduce my overall calorie intake. My only issue is that I cannot / will not allocate more early morning time than it takes to make cereal and oatmeal to cook a more traditional breakfast. So I had to find an option that could be quickly prepared but wouldn’t taste totally horrible. My solution was microwaveable breakfast bowls. More morning calories, but also more fat and protein that resulted in less hunger during the day, and therefore, less overall calories over the span of the day. My go-to now is the Jimmy Dean breakfast bowl: meat, eggs, and potatoes. Not what most folks would consider a traditional nutritious breakfast, but it has worked for me.
b. Morning snack options – I carry ‘portable fruit’ with me to the office. Oranges, bananas, bags of grapes, raisins, etc. I always make sure I have a fruit option to reach out and grab. Eat one of these options at any sign of hunger.
c. Lunch – The same thing. Every. Single. Day. Period. Turkey sandwich (processed packed slices) on wheat. Little bit of mustard. Handful of grapes. Handful of baby carrots. Quarter to half portion of sliced cucumber. Humus to dip the carrots and cucumbers in. Chips (put on the plate last with whatever space is left, usually not a lot). Glass of 2% milk. Stick of pepper jack cheese. 3 ‘regular’ Oreo cookies for dessert. When I say every day, I mean I cannot remember the last lunch that I didn’t have this exact option.
d. Afternoon snack option – Same as my morning snack options, whatever portable fruit options I have left at my desk.
e. Dinner – Either a chicken breast or fish fillet (salmon or tilapia usually). I cook these on the oven top and tend to sprinkle them with a little spicy seasoning and some EVOO – healthy fat. A huge plate of salad, including whatever lettuce mix the commissary has this week*, cherry tomatoes, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, feta, and Newman’s Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing. Usually one half of a pita slice with humus. A glass of ice water (tap) flavored with Mio. Three more Oreo cookies. Like lunch, when I say I’m consistent, I’m consistent. Unless work gets in the way, this is what I eat every single day for dinner.
e*. Sometimes I can’t find quality lettuce – during those times, I’ll go with some canned veggies (corn, peas, green beans) plus the fruits I would normally stack on top of the salad. Not my favorite weeks, but you get what you can get sometimes.
f. Sports / workout nutrition – I try to go real food as much as I can, but I haven’t found the right ticket yet. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches are a staple, as is portable fruit (oranges, bananas). I like Liam’s rice cakes, but I can’t eat an entire batch myself quick enough and end up throwing a lot away (wasteful and expensive). The military exchanges here only carry Powerbar strawberry banana flavor. Only.One.Single.Flavor. Gels are crazy expensive out in town, ~$3.00 each. So, with those as my gel options, I save the use of gels for very special occasions. (The last time I visited my family, I bought cases of gels from the local sports store. Customs inspectors probably suspected something strange when I came back to Japan). I use regular powdered Gatorade to flavor my sports bottles. During my weekend outdoor bike rides, when hit with a nutrition shortage, I go with fresh made rice cakes available at any of the numerous Family Marts/Lawson (quick stop type stores) that dot my local landscape. They are surprisingly tasty.
General nutrition thoughts:
- I looked closely at / followed a couple of our WSM’s threads on recreational sugar, low carb, high fat, low fat, high carb, paleo, vegan/vagan, plant life, etc. nutritional ideas. While I believe each has its place, I don’t think that any one of these or other ‘this or that’, all or nothing diet options in the real world is sustainable for me. I wanted something more along the lines of "eat generally decent food". Additionally, quite honestly, I realize I’m not using triathlon to pay the rent, so while I want to get leaner, faster, lighter, at some point, life is too short not to have dessert. So for me, the priority was small and sustainable nutrition changes without denying myself a little sweetness after my meals.
- I considered coming off caffeinated coffee this OS. I even went a week or so on decaf. Then I started looking at the processes most companies use to make decaf coffee. Lots of chemical treatments and unnatural acts. And quite honestly, I thought the decaf options didn’t taste as well as the regular leaded version. So I went back on regular coffee. I’ve cut down on my consumption, but I still enjoy a good strong cup of Joe. I also enjoy a nice cup of decaf earl grey tea in the evening. I am purposely not looking into how decaf tea is made, although I suspect it may be similar to decaf coffee.
- Alcohol and soda. I very rarely drink either. When I have an adult beverage, it’s usually just one or two beers. That happens maybe once every 3-4 months. When I have a soda (maybe once every 2-3 weeks), I’ll drink a regular soda, not a diet one. Some studies show that diet sodas are actually worse for you because they trick your body into having the normal soda response and jacking up your blood sugar (‘jacking up’ being the actual medical term I think the researchers use).
- A key to maintaining my nutrition strategy is my commissary (grocery store) trips. I make specific lists based on the philosophy above and don’t impulse buy sweets or other types of unwanted stuff. Although I absolutely love red meat (steaks and burgers are yummy!), I don’t buy any. I go about twice a week, focusing on fresh produce.
- I rarely eat out. No meals in a bag (fast food) is my mantra. That being said, during one major work week during the OS, I was ‘forced’ to eat breakfast and dinner from fast food options for six straight days. I was out of food and could not get to the store due to my work schedule. That period did not disrupt my overall progress at all. My weight didn’t change, but I noticed a significant (negative) difference in how I physically felt. This difference ended immediately when I was able to get back into the store and into my normal eating routine.
Measurement – I weigh myself daily right after getting out of bed. Once. Period. I enter the weight into my training peaks data and have that chart on my dash board. I don’t sweat the minor, daily variations. What I do watch is the overall trend line. As long as it maintains the expected pattern, it’s a win.
Lessons I’ll take forward and continue to implement:
1. More consistent sleep is good. Cut out the distractions (TV, internet surfing, etc). An added benefit is that my volume of reading has increased.
2. Drastic diet changes are not absolutely necessary to achieve results. Everyone’s calculus and opportunity costs are different. I feel I’m getting good ROI from the small changes I’ve implemented.
At the end of the day, I feel that among all three major variables; exercise, sleep, and nutrition, my changes in sleep and nutrition has had the most significant impact to my weight this OS. I have not experienced any degradation in metrics like w/kg or RPE at pace. 185 is still sizeable, so I also don’t think it will be a concern if I drop another 5-10 lbs. Although I’m the ‘tall skinny’ guy among my peer group, I’m nowhere near the ‘danger’ zone discussed in the Macca – Sutto thread that surfaced a few months ago. Nor do I stand out as the ‘skinny guy’ around other tri/cycling geeks in my area. I do suspect that I’m close to the point where my wife will start to grumble (she doesn’t like my ‘skinny’ back side that emerges during the height of my race builds), but if I’m able to steal some minutes with weight loss, I’ll put up with it. I also think the changes I’ve implemented are largely sustainable. No sugar deprived grumpiness, no denial of any key comfort items, I generally eat when I’m hungry.
Good luck everyone, hope someone finds something useful in this. I’ll update as this season continues.
Comments
Really enjoyed your approach to sleep. Something I will have to work on.
I too am an expat living abroad. My family is coming over in August before school starts. This will give me about 11 months without them. (Save some trips for them to visit me and me to visit them). So it was nice to hear someone else's story.
Going from a packed family schedule to being a bachelor isn't as easy as everyone thinks it is.... In the beginning, when you are consumed by all this additional free time, you kind of look around and think "what in God's name does everyone do with all this time?!" When one is not used to that much free time, it can potentially be a slippery slope. It's simply a challenge to realign one's patterns and habits. I enjoyed food + drink a bit too much the first 60 days but eventually found my EN Work style stride
Yes, excellent thread. I wish I had your discipline.I spend a lot of time alone also as my husband works in the Atlanta area and is only home on weekends. I tend to like my wine AND good beer. So that's my thing to work on. I too started working on my sleep about a year ago. I've always been a light sleeper so the early bed times and a supplement called Dormistat have been great.
I'm happy I don't like Oreos.
My take on all of it.... be mindful with everything b/c it matters. How much comfort food to indulge in? How much/when alcohol has it's merits for social or comfort? Is this TV/computer time late at night worth it? 9 or 10 or 11 bedtime tonight? I have control over what I eat tomorrow if I pack my stuff tonight so I need to get my butt up and pack it.
Mindful & purposeful.
Pays off.
And, I think it's important that we let tri training enjoy the rewards of this mindset but not, necessarily, drive it. Let sport reap the rewards of the lifestyle mindfulness, as opposed to looking at these changes as a burden, like another Have To if I'm going to be that perfect weekend warrior AG triathlete.
Nice job, Roy. Thanks for sharing.
About the only suggestion I'd make is that you should probably improve the quality of your breakfast. You are right that you need some fats and protein, and certainly eggs and sausage will fit the bill. Increasing the quality of the eggs and sausage however is probably a good move on the margin. I don't personally love hard-boiled eggs but that is an option that can be prepared in batches well in advance. Peanut better on a bagel is a good option and quick. Personally I make steel-cut oatmeal overnight in a 1.5qt slow-cooker I bought for $9 on-line. Add some almonds on top and it does a good job of keeping me full. I put the leftovers in a container in the fridge and it reheats really well in the microwave with some added milk. A lot of days I'll eat a bowl of Kashi GoLean cereal which has 13g of protein (plus I eat it with whole milk since I have young kids at home…more fat and protein there).
Oh, my other suggestion is to favor the chicken over the tilapia unless you really like the taste of the tilapia and enjoy eating it. Fish in general is excellent but corn-fed tilapia is barely fish. Do a little reading on that one. Yes, sure, industrially-farmed chicken has issues too in my case I prefer eating meat so if the fish doesn't have some benefit then I'll pick chicken or beef or pork over fish in a heartbeat.
You didn't mention hydration but I'll bet you stay very hydrated. Consistency on that dimension is important. Also, reaching for some water is the real "first move" when hungry. It should take a bit of the edge off.
As to the workouts, consistency is king and you got that.
I won't give up coffee. I really enjoy it.
See, I was paying attention.
Excellent Roy. Balanced, reasonable, and working!
@Stephanie - I actually love double stuff Oreos, like a lot. So I don't buy them. 'Regular' Oreos is my 'compromise' with myself. Basically, I have a huge sweet tooth and would eat zebra cakes, cup cakes, sprees/sweet tarts until the cows come home if my body would let me. So I make do with smaller stuff.
@Matt - (First off, nice work with your dad. Solid support) - Thanks for the specific things to look at. I've recently read Fitzy, Skiba, and Noakes and lots of the nutrition threads going here. I was this close to trying the low carb thing (threads and Noakes) until I read Skiba. Then I looked around a lot on the interwebs and, at the end of the day, fell in love with someone else's remarks that went something like: "If every single researcher advocating a diet promotes something entirely different than the next guy, they can't all be right or wrong." 'Good enough' is sustainable to me and I genuinely like everything I'm eating. So it'll work until it doesn't
As to hydration, I do drink a lot of water. Ambient temps and humidity are high here on Okinawa and I always have a water bottle near me. I try to go mostly tap, but sometimes a quick run for store purchased water is easier.
Thanks again all
Studies of people who sustained over years a significant (+35 lbs) weight loss showed this is one of the habits they had in common. Precisely as Roy describes: ignore the daily ups and downs, focus on the longer term pattern. I think of it like this: if you weigh yourself , say, once a week, then that one data point takes on a heightened significance, despite being possibly not representative. Weighing more often - daily is best, IMO - means any INDIVIDUAL weight is not so important, but trends becomes obvious much quicker.
An interesting study on food choices revealed that several of the foods routinely eaten by folks who sustain a BMI of 21-23 (the middle of "normal") include yogurt and peanut butter. Also, a comparison of equal calorie amounts of apple juice, apple sauce, and apples, showed, not surprisingly, that apples were more satiating than apple sauce, which was more than juice.
Sleep is my weak link and were our schedules diverge. I work to get in a minimum of 6 hours per night. I realize that 7 is more ideal, but I am working with what I have: a wife and two little ones at home. The wheels fell off the cart in week 12 of the JOS. One late night workout followed by 2 consecutive days of getting less than 5 hours of sleep. While I managed all of the workouts that week, it snowballed into week 13 resulting in a disaster of fatigue and blown up workouts: two bike wko's cut short and a missed bike and run wko.
Body comp maintenance is another area where getting adequate sleep really counts. I too am down 13 pounds from the start of the JOS. That was as of three weeks ago. I have found that while fatigued and sleep deprived, I am eating more junk food. Or more correctly, binging on junk food. I have also been told, by all members of my family, that I have been quite the grumpy bear as of late. Poor sleep management has definitely eaten up many SAU's.
On an ending note, I thoroughly enjoy the quality time I spend with my wife and kids. However, the introvert in me has me a bit jealous of your special snowflake status.
Roy you sound like my spouse. Big time sweet tooth, and he's a marathoner.
I'll lay off the beer if you'll start eating real fish.
Kim, you are funny. Good night.