Body composition how much is to fast???????

Carl

Hello Nov OS gang members......

I started this program weighing around 180 pounds on Nov 1st and today weigh 158 pounds.  Yes, I am watching things very closely that go into my mouth where before I was big on high protein, lifting, etc.  I have been out of the weight room now since the 2nd week in Nov-----thanks to my good friend Dan Gilliatt keeping the low down on me and assisting me from over training.  Meaning the small amount of hours we do in the HAUS I wasn't sold on but trust me now I truly know what work is and what power means

My usual race weight is around 150 pounds but my questions is what is a healthy and strong weight to stay at.  I am holding my power and running well but afraid to loose to much muscle.  When do we know when enough is enough if you know what I mean. 

I am 5'11 and weighing in at 158.  My lowest weight was 4 years ago for the Chicago Marathon I was 144 pounds and was with splits of 6:20-6:30 and felt great but have worked so hard to build what I have now. 

Just looking for some insight......Thanks

Listened to this weeks Body Comp and maybe need to up the calories some.....Hitting about 2300 daily.....

Carl

After a couple of hours of research I have concluded that the lighter the better, the leaner the meaner!!!! As long as I am feeling strong and not struggling through the workouts I am going to let my body form to these workouts and tear the hell out of stuff this spring, summer, and fall.............I'm coming Gilliatt.......like the old training days brother....

Keith Wick

Since we're in the OS, the only consideration would be how your body will respond once the volume increases after the OS. I focus a little on body comp in the OS, but not much as once the volume goes up I know the pounds fall off very quickly. I know that once I hit a certain weight I feel more fatigued, tired and generally cold (as in I'm always putting on more clothes/sweats because I'm freezing). Not being strict on the body comp now gives me some wiggle room later without fear of going to light. To sum this up, look at it similarly to your workouts---loose what you can without putting yourself in a hole that is too difficult to recover from.

grosso27

22lbs in a month and a half?  That's a quick drop off.  If you are still feeling powerful, then more power to ya, b/c your w/kg just went up a lot of notches. 

Personally, I'm only off a few pounds since the OS started, but my clothes are definitely getting looser.  So the fat is trimming, the muscle is picking up, and I'm not too worried about focusing on the scale until the OS tapers off.

I have seen many say that your weight will be steady to increasing in the OS b/c of intenstiy, and that seems about right for me.  All that hard work is forcing muscle mass to increase, & odds are that we are mostly eating a good amount b/c it's the outseason & also b/c we need to support the intensity we are maintaining.  

I know that I am still giving myself a 'day off' of eating right per week, and I also don't shy away from Jimmy John's on a weeknight if I don't feel like cooking.  That won't happen after Jan 1.  But I think pounds will fall off naturally with better eating & increased time of workload as we move into race prep phases.  

Coach P posted a video on body comp last week that touched on this very issue. 

mancona

First off nice work, very impressive. As long as you are still feeling strong, recovering well, and seeing gains in your fitness, I would assume this is fine. You mentioned that you a have raced at 150 and even 144, so being 158 is probably not a big deal.

To your question, I've heard 1-2 lbs a week is considered about the right rate to lose weight and you have doubled that. But there are a number of other things that you can look at.

If your trend continues and you hit your race weight in January I might be concerned about if you can hold it until Sept. I know personally, I can only survive at race weight for a few weeks and therefore I very gradually get there throughout the season and try to hit about 3 weeks before my a-race.

How long were you at 180?
What did you race at last year?
When you hit 150 and 144 in the past how long did you stay there?

Carl

Matt-I usually weigh around 155-150. About 3 months prior to EN I started lifting heavy and doing a lot of core stuff. I have huge issues with ITB so I was trying to gain a few pounds of muscle on my quads and hammy's. I was eating about 3800 calories per day and slamming down the protein both in meats and powder form. Since joining EN I have stopped all that nonsense and concentrated more on flexibility and form. The weight has just been falling off. At first I thought I was starving cause I dropped my calorie intact to 2000 and was very strict with the carbs, proteins, and fat intake. Funny how that works

I still feel great with my workouts and have been nailing my workouts. This is the first week I have felt like someone was one my back but I relate that to hammering the hell out of the workouts. After reading Coach R's post on "Timmy" I had to take a step back cause I have also been pushing the runs !!! ITB is a yearly thing for me and this am while doing some kicks in the pool I noticed I had some left later knee pain which is not a good thing. I then and have been doing yoga, stretching and rolling.

I was at 180 for 2.5 weeks.
I raced around 150-155 last year. Felt heavy on my feet but strong on the bike. Believed I fried myself while on the bike and therefore explains some of the heaviness on the legs.
I raced Chicago 3 years ago at 142 and felt very light on my feet and was in the best "running" shape of my life. I was very thin and body fat less than 7%. I probably couldn't of smoked a race on the bike though. Therefore I was thinking 150 for race weight and see how it goes. Looking at doing a couple sprints for pleasure and see how I feel before Kansas in June.

I appreciate your insight and feedback.......
Thanks


Ed-I read Coaches post on Body comp and that is what prompted by questions because of the sudden weight loss. After thinking about my calorie cut and intense workouts I think what I am seeing is what should have been expected. I think 155 for me is a consistent year around weight but we will see where we go from here. Feeling good and really enjoying the EN style of workouts and all the gangsters we have in the HAUS.

mancona

Since your normal weight is around 150-155, I would not worry at all about droping to 158 so quickly. Sure it is faster than advised by most but you are in a different situation.

Just don't continue the tread of 3-4 lbs a week for much (if any longer).

gilliatt

Since your normal weight is around 150-155, I would not worry at all about droping to 158 so quickly. Sure it is faster than advised by most but you are in a different situation.

Just don't continue the tread of 3-4 lbs a week for much (if any longer

Do what Matt says. I'm pretty surprised you weighed that much. I'm guessing there was a lot of fluid retention in that 180. Here is a good article Rich wrote a long time ago definitely something to keep in the back of your head.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080227015740/www.cruciblefitness.com/new/etips/TrainingNutrition.htm

Coach Rich

In my experience, or at least with me, losing 1-1.5lb/wk is "safer," in that you're not starving yourself and will be eating enough, not losing weight so fast, that it won't impact your recovery from workouts. When I would do the LoseIt/counting cals things and set myself up to lose more than 2lb/wk, I was often an energy bar, missed meal, didn't time my nutrition right away from potentially bonking in a workout.

So I have a goal of a race weight of 148lb that I want to see by the 3rd week of August (racing IMWI) and training weight of ~155lb that I want to see by April 16 when I do a climbing race out here in Cali. The lightest, and probably the fastest as a consequence, I've been in my tri-life was 152-154lb at IMWI'02. So getting down close to that by early April and then getting to 148 by September is no joke. I swam nationals in college at 148lb, with less muscle. I think Joanne may schedule an intervention.

Anyway, my point is that sorta logging my stuff now and paying attention to my cal intake, with the goal of taking my time to get there and losing about 1lb per week. I've found that with the work and cal burning that we do, if you just keep a food log losing 1lb per week is very, very easy.

Coach Rich

Water weight:

Yeah, that's a big one. I did 4 hard rides last week, ending on Saturday at about 11am. I weighed about 169lb before the ride. hen about 4pm I jumped in my truck with my dirtbike and drove 3hrs to Ridgecrest. Got a Motel6, was up early to eat at Denny's and slam a bucket of coffee before the start of this ride. Rode the moto from 7a to 3pm, drinking a lot of water. Lunch stop with a turkey sandwich and fries. Jumped in the truck and drove home. Dinner at home.

Took Monday completely off. Woke up on Tuesday and did my normal AM routine then weighed myself....174lb. WTF!!!

This morning I was 168.5. Pretty sure I didn't gain 5lb of fat Sat-Tues or lose 5.5lb of fat from Tuesday thru today

ejbeach01

I have found it best to weigh myself one time per week at the same time of day after at least one day of a typical routine. this means I typically weigh myself on Wednesday or so.

The weekend is just different and so I don't like to weigh myself near the weekend. especially if Sunday is a long ride/run day. I often eat more and drink way more fluids always creating a more random weight on Monday.

As for the actual loss...over the last 2 seasons I dropped from 260ish to 200. I did it in spurts where I'd lose 1-2 lbs per week. Never had a problem with energy or recovery.