Putting a hurt on my FAT A$$
So team here is where I am. Over the last 3 seasons of triathlon I have managed to gain 10-15 pounds every year. Yes that is right so I have gone from 235 lbs to 275 lbs at the end of this season and in the 3 weeks since my last race I have add another 10. I’m sad to say that my current weight is 284 lbs with BF% over 33. Looking at my plans for 2012 I need to drop 50+ pounds. I just had a consultation with Dr. Penny and looks like I have been under feeding on the weekends with too high of a carb intake so I am working on that. I am also looking at the OS which I start in January as a time to drop weight to get faster. Just wanting to get this out there so that I have another level of accountability and I will also give weekly updated on the progress of my body comp battle for added motivition. Thanks for the kick in the pants.
Comments
Good luck with it, we're pulling for ya!
@ Chris thanks for the pep talk and perspective. This ship will turn. I will get leaner and faster.
Dewey,
Good for talking with Penny and getting a plan in place. Honestly getting the weight down is the best thing that you can do for your training and health. I've set that as one of my goals, which is taking priority over FTP and VDot goals this OS. Yes I have FTP and VDOT goals but made them secondary.
I've given this lots of though as the overweight guy doing the Wednesday weigh in. Here a couple examples to keep you focused on weight loss in the OS:
1) From a quick search losing 10lbs can translate in to approximately 20 seconds/mile or 1 minute over a VDot test. I'm not sure if there is a linear effect here but assuming one to a certain point. So losing 50 lbs this equates to 5 minutes off you VDOT or taking you from a 30 to a 38 vdot, plus any physical improvement on top of that. That's an 8 point increase in VDOT just for losing weight, call it 6 to be conservative and you still see huge improvement. A 36 vdot is 26:22 for 5K.
2) Your current FTP is 225 with a w/kg = ~1.74 again 10 lbs puts you at 1.8 w/kg and the 50lbs @ 2.11. To go from 1.74 to 2.11w/kg while remaining at your 284lbs your FTP would have to rise to 272 or a 20% increase in the OS. Now a 20% increase in doable think of the effects if you lose the weight and get even 10% increase in fitness.
The challenges that I have found are as follows and these may not be the same for you:
- losing weight in the OS is for me is easier, not easy by any means. If you come up too short on calories the workouts suffer. I have found 500-750 calories/day and I am fine many days but not always. When I venture in to the 750-1000 calories/day (1.5/2 lb) loss in a week) I can get through a week maybe then workouts typically suffer. Basically you are short calories so some workouts are going to suck. Remember the 95% and watch the run time. Stick to the main sets and I will cut out the z1/z2 running when really tired.
- I have a harder time losing weight when doing longer stuff in the IM plans. I just tend to eat more to the point of getting enough calories.
I won't get in to the specific tracking and nutrition challenges as Penny will do a much better job than I ever could.
Good luck
Gordon
Good on ya for posting the data and sharing w/ the Haus so we can help keep you accountable! We are all behind you! Good points made GW!
The first thing we need to do fix this problem is to start a food journal. Log everything that you eat (everything that crosses your lips; gels, power drinks, Infinit, etc) You will be suprised as to how much you really eat.
The second thing we need to do is to calculate how many calories that we are burning. This can be done several ways:
1) heart rate - not a fan of this as personally it over estimates my burn
2) estimation - works but it can take several weeks or even months to get it dialed in
3) use bmr to calculate burn. Again it works, but can take several weeks to get dialed in.
4) use a caloire counting device such as a Body Bugg
Find a method that works for you. I have learned that my body only burns about 2000 calories per day without any working out. It is no wonder I gain weight so quickly
You want to have a 500 calorie defict to lose one pound per week. Don't try to lose more than two pounds per week (unless you are under a doctor's care) as this could cause health issues.
I admit it. I have not been vigilant about my logging since I caught the triathlon bug but I started back this week when I started the off season plan making sure they go hand in hand.
I friend of mine who I train with says that you cannot lose weight and do triathlons. I plan on proving him wrong this year.
You can do it. Just put the same dedication into your diet that you put into your triathlon habit.
Matt Again thanks for sharing your experience and congrats on the awesome weight loss. I agree that weight is the priority this season for me.
Kevin Glad to here you health numbers at improving and that is an awesome drop in BF. I was looking to get in 30 runs in 30 days but I strained/torn my popletial tendon in my last race (Nov 13) and am still recovering. Looking to get back on the bike next week. I am currently on the 3 meal 2-3 snack plan. A few hundred cal in at a time seems to satisfy me and keeps my total calorie count down.
Blake I think your right on with the over eating. For me I would under eat on the weekends and run up too high of a calorie deficit then by Tuesday/ Wednesday I was ravenous and eating everything in sight and my body was storing all that was going in. I would get home from work and start nibbling on this and that. Did not even realize it until my initial interview with Penny. So like Matt said I was starving and binging. As for your friend if 1 proves him wrong its an outlier. If 2 of us prove him wrong it a trend. Lets start a trend. BTW in getting down from > 360 to 235 I logged every thing that went in my mouth for 2 years. And you are right I started slacking on that and the weight started to come back up so I am back to logging everything again.
Jeff and Roy thanks for the vote of confidence.
I hope that all of you can reach and/or maintain your body comp goals and I'll be looking for a virtual kick in the nutz from each and every one of you if needed in the future.
@ Matt - That's solid advice and I did not intend or mean to imply that one should look at those numbers for weight loss. This is just what I have done incorrectly in the past limiting calories too much and it really hurt the workouts. It also lead to binging as you pointed out. As with anything the consistency of limiting calories is where it's at.
Gordon
Couldn't agree more. For weight loss, I believe running is by far the most effective workout.
@B I have to watch what I eat when I'm marathon training but not so much when I'm also biking a lot. Just can't consume too many calories after my longer rides. Getting to the age where I can no longer eat as I desire and still stay at race weight.
@Jennfier. I agree w/ you totally. I can't lose weight during IM training so I really focus on getting within a lb or two of race weight during OS. Really I can't lose much significant weight during ANY training period and at same time expect to gain fitness at same rate as if I fueled to 100% of my needs rather than even a small caloric deficit.
Did your body fat % change or do you track that? Marathon training is only 6-8 hours a week of training, IM is 15++ so sure is easier to burn calories on the bike for me.
^^this^^
Logging your diet and exercise on LoseIt! or similar absolutely works.
You might better start or your sausage roll belly will worsen! LOL!!!!
Jennifer, I have already registered for IMLP so I will be completing that event in July 2012 unlikely to drop out at this point. I would aslo agree that runnning is a better way to drop weight for me asd well. Thanks for the suggestion and maybe I will look to only do SC racing for a little while after IMLP to drop more weight.
Folks, Thanks for all the responses, advise, and support.
Weighed-in today at 274.7 lbs. That's a drop of 9.3 lbs from last week!!. I know is likely a false big drop due to water weight and other issues but my cloths fit a little looser today. Diet went well all week with only one kinda bad day. Targeting 2500-2700 cal/day. Still letting a popletius strain/tear heal so not work-outs. Seeing Doc on Friday to hopefully get OK to get back to training.
* Phase 1: Get a consistently achieveable exercise routine in place. Regardless of whether that's OS or just something.
* Phase 2: Line up the nutrition to match that. I suggest having exactly what you need to eat mapped out for seven days. You can eat the same stuff every Tuesday for a long time before going crazy.
* Phase 3: After making improvements, move to adding some intensity / work to your program and tweak the diet.
* Phase 4: Repeat.
Tried to weight in today but scale was acting up. Got 5 different weights with a 7 lb range low was stable weight with high of 7 extra pounds. Not sure what to make of this other than I either need a new scale or new batteries. will change the battery today and re-weight tomorrow. If still acting funny will have to ask Santa ( AKA my wife) for a new scale. Calorie intake for the week was steady with 500-600 deficit per day.Not really felling tired but also not having a lot of activity.
@Dewey, if you get a new bathroom scale, I highly recommend the Withings scale. It works by WiFi to automatically upload your weight and %BF to an online account (as well as other online partners including both Training Peaks and Lose It). Has worked flawlessly for me and its even cheaper than the Tanita BF scale.