Wow! Guess it’s been awhile. I wish I could say that extraordinary events have kept me from updating but truth be told, I live an exceptionally boring life. If I’m not swimming or biking or running, I’m resting or stretching or eating. Such is the life of an Ironman-in-training. The only real excitement is seeing my training hours per week creep up, feeling stronger and, for me, watching my weight creep down.
That last one is huge!
My plan to really “Give’er!” over March, April and May, my concerted effort to finally move the weight, has paid off. 25lbs of paid off. It may be my greatest accomplishment to date. And while I’m not finished, I have started to modify my diet again to accommodate the upswing in training volume that is underway. (from 5:30 on the bike last week to a whopping 10 hours this week – oh my butt is gonna hurt!)
For those that are interested in nutrition/diets and want to know how I did it? Guess what. The bottom line is: Calories in. Calories out.
Y’know I resisted that truism for years. Particularly as I ramped up my exercise. My brain could not understand how I was training 5 hours – 8 hours – 10 hours per week and STILL not be losing weight. Well. That’s because I was still eating too much. I’m not sure WHY my body can live off less calories than everyone else. But it can. Along with my Nutritional Consultant (read: husband Tom), we ratcheted back and ratcheted back until we saw some movement downwards. Turns out if I want to lose weight my baseline caloric intake is between 875-900 calories – that’s without any exercise so don’t think I was doing 12hours of training per week and eating only a stick of celery and a Powerbar as fuel! AND that’s to lose weight. Maintaining weight, obviously, allows me a bit more. All of 1000-1200 ca/day!
Personally, I found that higher protein-lower carbs gave me more bang for my buck – I could eat a lot of [fill in protein here] and veggies, feel full, without jeopardizing performance than limiting myself to one slice of whole wheat bread. Further, I’ve found my body runs better, lighter/cleaner, without breads, pasta, rice, potatoes. Guess that gluten intolerance wasn’t just a figment of my imagination!
The tricky part was figuring out when to fuel and with what, pre, during, post workout. Here’s what works for me. Maybe it’ll help you!
- On really HARD days -more than 3 hours- eat a BIG first meal. My favourite being Protein Pancakes doused in unsweetened lemon juice.
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup water
- 2 scoops sweetened Vanilla Protein Powder
- 1/4 cup soy flour
- 2 Tablespoons wholewheat or white flour
- Accelerade during workouts
- High quality (triple filtered whey) protein shake within 20 minutes of finishing workout. Seriously. This is a must. You’ll FEEL the difference!
- Scale WAY back on rest days. I aim for my baseline 875/900 calories per day and drink lots and lots of water.
- Earn your treats! Save them for heavy workout days and eat either during the workout or within 2 hours post workout. They’ll be metabolized much easier.
If you want more details on the specifics of my eating plan, just holler. I’m happy to answer any questions. Trust me. I KNOW how hard it is!
Rice too ma! Do you find protein is giving you any jump? Any mood swings because of the diet?
Rice? As in Rest Ice Compression Elevation? Or the stuff you eat?
What I’m finding … and honestly, I’m not sure whether I’m just predisposed to this or my body has adapted but … if I don’t have some protein when eating carbs, particularly simple carbs (read: sport drinks/gels/bars) my stomach is NOT happy, ranging from a feeling of bloatedness to out and out cramps. Oh! Did I suffer from my treat of Costco icecream on Saturday. urg!
The high quality protein shake post-workout virtually eliminates any muscle soreness. Last week was a quad-killer bike sandwich – 2:30 bike/1:35 run/3:30 bike all at Zn3 with sprints interspersed and other than being tired, no soreness.
And I’m too tired for mood swings.
Seriously though, no. In fact, I’d go so far as to say, if I’m NOT getting my protein and tons of veggies my body just sags. Because I’ve been playing with on-bike nutrition (read: lots of simple carbs) I’m having to be really careful that I get enough veggies – pile driving raw beans, carrots, snap peas – in an attempt to keep a balance. Or my energy just dives. Crazy huh?!?
Congrats on the big loss! I am goaling for that this summer. I got down 20 last summer and then just maintained all school year. so if I can do the same thing this summer, I will be happy. I eat better in the summer, all the fresh veggies. and I have more time to workout. So that is my focus this summer. I am going to talk to my doctor about talking to a nutrionist too. (but Shawn will not be my helper in this, he eats worse than me)
Good on ya, Sheba! Keeping it off is SO key. And don’t worry about Shawn, he’ll jump on the bandwagon when he sees his lady gettin’ all svelt’n'stuff!