Comments on: Food as Fuel

By: JANE

JANE — Thu, 07 May 2009 06:24:24 +0000

great information and i like your views…
Check out BNRG Power Crunch Bars on bnrg.com/power-crunch.html. They’re all natural, taste good, and they’re great for weight loss.
i love snacking on these protein bars and they have really helped me control my cravings thru my workouts

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:34:42 +0000

It isn’t *hard* per se, just not particularly appealing.
From a home cooking point of view, it’s actually pretty simple – LOTS of veggies and protein. Carrying “snacks” ends up being bags of mini carrots, celery, sliced mushrooms and/or beef jerky. Though I’m told venison jerky is “du jour” so guess I’m behind the times.

Regardless, my time frame for the stringent reduction is end of May when the volume of training will skyrocket. Think 5 hour bike rides followed by 2 hour runs. So I’m likely going to have to readjust the carb intake at that point. My hope is that my body will have become an efficient fat burner in the meantime. That’s the theory anyway.

By: shelagh

shelagh — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:58:26 +0000

Sounds like a hard thing to maintain long term. A lot of work monitoring and planning. Is this just until the race or are you thinking of doing it beyond. I suppose it must depend on how you feel? How do you feel:)

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:38:50 +0000

I haven’t Sheba … is it in this month’s issue? I’ve been gluten/quasi-dairy free (I eat cottage cheese but that’s the extent of my dairy forays)for about 8 weeks. I definitely notice a difference with gluten, maybe for the simple reason that it is just SO easy to have a sandwich. You can eat a WHOLE lot of veg/protein for the same caloric value as a slice of bread. All meals have to be planned and eating out is quite hard. Simplicity has gone out the back door!

By: sheba

sheba — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:12:07 +0000

Did you read that article in Bicycling? on this same topic. Brad has gone gluten and dairy free and has had a much easier time maintaining weight and he says all his siuns issues have disappeared. He is trying to talk me into it.

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:18:22 +0000

Ironically, Shelagh what I’m doing is quite a bit easier than being Vegan and training even though it might not sound like it. Getting plant-based protein is excruciatingly difficult at the best of times – plant protein just isn’t assimilated as easily as animal protein further you require almost triple the amount! When you couple that with training and needing those muscles, it becomes truly a test of philosophy. For me, I can eat pretty much as much protein as I want so building muscle or worse, loss of muscle, isn’t an issue. Crazy bodies!

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:00:50 +0000

I think you’re right on the money, Cliff. I’m pretty sure %bodyfat has OODLES to do with it. Both in losing and maintaining weight. What I’ve realized though is that ONLY endurance exercise, even with moderated caloric intake (versus RESTRICTED caloric intake) doesn’t increase lean muscle mass as quickly as one might think. So along with severely restricting calories I’ve also added another weight session and am increasing the weight every week.

By: CliffWR

CliffWR — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:42:53 +0000

Wow.. your going to melt away!

You know, I’ve been thinking about some of the issues you have above and I wonder if we can go even a step further. My body has an incredible way of getting rid of things it doesn’t need.

For example, I ordered way too much food on Friday night composed of cheese and grease. I felt awful but after a couple of morning movements, I’m back to normal. No weight gains.

Now I hear a lot of people say “your young” or it’s “genetics” but I’m beginning to think that maybe it has to do with something else. Maybe there is a % body fat you get to that your body just uses what it needs and gets rid of the rest.

Maybe you’ll get lower in weight and then have to switch to another food composition to get lower. Hopefully it’s sooner and you can come down to where I am and eat lotso breads, rice or anything else your hear desires!

By: shelagh

shelagh — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:32:30 +0000

Rip Esselstyn is triathelete vegan, he seems to do ok. I think as long as you are monitering what you eat and getting enough of whatever you need.

http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=a_minute_with_triathlete_firefighter_and_engine_2_diet_author_rip_esselstyn

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/healthyliving2/stories /DN-nh_firefighterdiet_0310gd.ART.State.Edition1.1de1684.html