Balancing the OS Energy Equation: Calories In vs Calories Burned
This came up as a result of one of my tweets the other day after my Monday ride. For those of you who don't know I am big enough that most of my competition sez "WTF is _that guy_ doing in front of me with those lovehandles." 
Getting my body comp in order is important for me in the OS, and I approach that with a personal, very advanced hack of exercise. Most of you are (A) not trying to get to Kona and (B) don't _need_ to lose 15lbs. I do (no, really) so please take all of that into account when reading this. This is more of a "Coach P is a real guy like me!" post, not a "Let me drop my plan and do what he's doing" post...okay?! Thanks...
What Doesn't Work (For Me)
In 2009 I did the full OS Advanced plan, but never took a day off...until I got really sick (hint, hint). I was riding on Monday and Friday, anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes at .85. In fact I looked to extend these sessions over time, in accordance with the gaining workload of the overall OS plan. I was good from November through the end of January...about 12 weeks...and I popped. First thing to go was my nutritional focus. I was the leanest I had been outside of race week ever, but I couldn't sustain it. Then came the cold...I was essentially sidelined for 2.5-3.5 weeks overall...and by the time I came back I was in zero place to restart the OS. I had to essentially start in March, having missed most of Feb, with an eye towards the Tour of California.
My 2010-11 Plan (Good So Far)
I am being much more flexible with my work. Currently I am riding on Mondays for 45' at .7 (not .85). Fridays are an easy 45' run. Both are followed with stretching and some core providing the kids sleep (I work from home). I will not go any harder than these baseline sessions; I will let the OS itself do the work for me. I have learned from last year and know that on some level I am still recovering from my accident. I am aiming high, for sure, but not recklessly so. For example, I am not on coffee this year, which means I am sleeping 7.5 hours a night...not 4.5 like last year (yes, really). I am taking my vitamins and being "healthful".
Why No Days Off??
I personally don't handle them well because I literally will fill that time with working. On work. This is not good for my body or mind, and exercise is important for me to keep that balance. I am literally running (at last count) four different companies, and heaven forbid I had another 2 hours a week as that could mean number five.
It's also important to me from a calorie perspective...as in I need a daily deficit to lose weight...as in ain't no way Coach P is gonna starve himself on Mondays and Fridays just to keep up the forward progress on the body comp front.
Total Flexibility
All of this plan, of course, is contingent upon my ability to remain healthy. The minute I feel things start to go wrong, I will need to adapt. I will take a day off if it's critical for me to remain in good personal standing. I also think that the 2x a week core/flex stuff will go a long way to preparing me for the hard weeks ahead.
I hope this gives some perspective and food for thought (ha!)...would love your input...
~ P
Comments
I know that, for me, IMFL2006 was the leanest I've ever been as an adult (192lbs, 9% BF @ 6"1"), and I did a LOT of z2 stuff back then.
This year, I'm having a real difficult time getting my weight down below 200lbs, because my legs LOVE to bulk up with all the EN high-intensity bike and run work (in-season and OS).
My nutritionist has me eating real clean (never a bad thing) on a 'cleanse', but it's just not taking for me. I know I have to lose some muscle mass to get down to my 'ideal' of 195lbs, but it's just not taking this time around. So frustrating!
Also, there's another thread around here about "looking in the mirror" feelings, and at 192 I was (what I would consider) skinny for me, so with a little more bulk I'd like the way I looked.
Right now I'm at 205ish with 12-13% BF. 195ish with 8-9% BF is my goal, based on the above. I'd be happy to sacrifice a LITTLE leg muscle (also means I sink in a full length wetsuit in fresh water) for a few pounds.
In the long run, that "optimal fat-burning zone" business doesn't matter (much, at least), because if you are working at higher intensity, you are still burning calories...they just come more from glycogen etc. And, in the end, you "refuel" one way or another. (There may be small metabolic inefficiencies that make one calorie burned slightly more "valuable" than another for long term weight loss, but the differences are much smaller than the fact that you have exercised and burned the calories overall.)
I do have 15lbs to lose. I'm 6'2 and about 203lbs. 185-190 would be pretty ideal for me based on how I look now. I'd be pretty lean and pretty ripped as well. Not sure as to by BF% right now. home scale says like 20% and that just can't be right. I don't have a six-pack, more like a 2-pack. But I can still see abs. 20% no way. While I am not trying for Kona this year I am aiming for it next season. I don't have trouble maintaining a reasonable weight once I am there. But dropping the last 15 has been a struggle.
Like you, starving myself on Mon and Fri is not really appealing. Long term it just won't happen. This week on Monday evening I did a light ride while my wife was on the treadmill next to me. Major SAU's. I sat at 120 watts and (.44 IF). Did that for 30 minutes and then cooked dinner. I recorded everything because I really wanted to make sure it didn't impair my ability to hit the main sets. So far so good. I plan on doing that again as I also really feel the additional blood flow with really low TSS helps me recover faster. I've thought about changing it up and alternating a bike/run on different weeks. We'll see, I'm not so sure about that. My ability to ride really easier in front of the TV is much better than my ability to run a true Z1 pace.
I don't mind one day off. I really like that actually. It allows me to reset a little as I will either balance the calorie equation or go over by 100 calories or so. But the other days I like to have a defecit when trying to lose. Right now 600-1000 calories is where I tend to stay. I just make sure I eat something before and after my workouts for recovery. I take vitamins and amino acides, etc. Sometimes even Endurox.
Cutting the soda completely as well as most candy type junk has helped me stay full. I get to eat a higher volume of food when I am not eating crap. Fish, chicken, eggs, and other solid proteins are my staple foods along with requisit carbs.
That said, I am a chronic add extra workout kind of person. I "survived" my first OS with running every day. The second OS, I got a little smarted and backed off on the extra workouts. I still did some, but way less than the first time around. The net result was I still saw fitness,body comp and race improvements while spending less time working out and staying helathly. This year, I'm again trying to reduce the quantity of my workouts and focus on the quality.
I completely understand the calorie thing as I have counted calories for the majority of the last 2+ years. First off, the waht you consume is SO much more important than what you burn. Sure people have proven you can eat any crap and as long as you have a calorie deficit you will lose weight... I don't buy it for an athlete, maybe someone. When I take an off or easy day, I foucs more on eating as heathly as I can than counting the calories. Days off are great days for big salads with lots of veggies and nothing bad added to them.
My advice is if you add in extra workouts just to burn calories keep it really easy. I like to swim in the OS and I add runs that are entirely by feel. No pace or interval goals what so every, just run. If I didn't hate winter I would be out riding my bike on days off as well. In fact during the season I like to ride my bike or run with my wife so I have to go slower and just take it easy.
@P - do you still work in your Kitchen often so you can stand up? If so, I don't know how you do it. I find that I snack much more when I work from home and even more if I am on the first floor where the kitchen is. The further I am from the kitchen the less I snack and when I go to the office I pack my snacks and lunch ahead of time to control my eating.
What I was most surprised at was that my metabolism really didn't seem to pick up much until just before IMWI and I didn't lose much weight. I manage to stay around my BMR with calorie intake, but didn't (and still don't) lose any actual weight even though based on the workouts I should be.
I think I'm going to add some upper body strength training this OS to see if I can jump start my metabolism a bit. In the past when I've incorporated weight training I've had my best results with weight loss, so I'm hoping to do the same this season. Like P it doesn't usually work to keep tossing volume of the same training at it, so hopefully mixing it up will help. Or I'm counting on my hip-hop class to really burn through it
So true. As they say, "you can't out-exercise a bad diet."
@Scott, I hear you. The weight comes off for me (race at 180 and I am 6'2") but not until the miles start to go up. The good news on the bigger muscles from OS is that they become calorie burning furnaces once you take them out on the open road! It's all about building the good habits right now…Here's some more (slightly older) reading: http://www.patrickjohnmccrann.com/hack/redefining-your-endurance-diet-lose-weight-get-lean-get-faster-this-winter/
@Neill, the coffee/caffeine habit breakage was huge for me. Seriously huge. More info on a guest post I wrote here: http://zentofitness.com/a-story-about-100-caffeine-free-living/
@Eric, I hear you and you _will_ get there. You are building all the right habits right now. And that goes a long, long way…
@Matt, great points….yes to being in the kitchen, but I often go to SBux during these focus periods as the temptation can be too much. I think we might need to put a padlock on the pantry!!!
@JB, In my years of working with female IMers, I can tell you that the overwhelming majority stay at the same weight or put on some. Someone smarter than me can tell you why (we've discussed it here) but it's maddening I know…I think some resistance training will help, but think more circuit work than super hard intervals…
Haha, kidding. I actually don't mind gaining the weight if it's muscle, overall the number isn't important, but I really expected more definition and a lower body fat percentage and it just didn't seem to happen. Yeah I'm going to focus on P90x style/bodyweight exercises and see where it goes.
But keep us posted on how the changes you've made are working for you, I'm really interested to see if your "easy" work fits in well with the OS and you don't blow up again in January. One of the biggest reasons I do tris is for the mental health benefits I get from working out. But I haven't done much on the off-days because I wanted to preserve the "rest" aspect but adding in something easy, especially a run, might be a good thing for me, cause I can definitely detect a mood shift even with the day off.
I think I know why IMers gain lbs. Since we're training 12-15 hours a week, we can eat anything we want. So we do!
I have this issue too. I'd like to get to ~165, but my issue is that I'm not going to track my intake; which is my problem to deal with, so I shouldn't complain.
Patrick, FOUR companies????
(It's no coincidence that obesity is higher among people who have less money to spend on their diet!)
I think even people who go with a relatively high fat diet from a "healthful" standpoint tend to eat nuts, olive oil, avocados, etc. Calorie-dense yes, but just not the same as the guy who eats a big steak and washes it down with a pile of fries.
So, even though at a few pounds more than I'd like to be, maybe I'm not any great expert...I think it just makes sense that healthful and moderate calorie diet are reasonably well correlated. Advising one often implies the other. The Twinkie diet guy probably had to count his twinkies a lot more carefully than he would have had he been on a high-vegetable diet. :-)
Wm