Losing Weight while Training

[jared]

Would you like to lose weight while training for triathlons? I'm sure many of us would as it not only makes us look and feel better, we get faster (i.e. pushing less weight around). There are of course extremes where you're going to lose too much and start losing muscle or don't take in enough calories, which will definitely hurt your performance, but we're talking about healthy weight loss.

You have to definitely eat right and make sure you're burning more calories than you're putting in your body. Easy, right? Yeah, it's not always as easy especially when you're done with a long bike ride and you're ravenous! One part of it is eating at the right time and eating many small meals through out the day.

I know I've struggled with not eating enough calories in the beginning of my day, which left me eating a thousand calories or more late at night. That's definitely not good. One thing that I've read a lot is to eat a hearty breakfast and make sure you eat it within an hour of waking up. This not only gets food in your system so you don't feel overly hungry for lunch, it also gets your metabolism moving. Right now I'm just trying to figure out what the best and easiest food is to eat early in the morning. Any ideas?

Another thing that's been working pretty well for me is to eat lots of fruit. We live close to Eastern Market in Detroit so each Saturday my girlfriend and I pick up lots of strawberries, grapes, cherries, blackberries, apples, and any other good fruit we can find. I find that it's not only a really tasty snack, I get full surprisingly fast. Eat a small bowl of those fruits and you're stomach is going to be feeling it. Definitely a good appetite suppressant while getting great nutrients.

Does anyone else have some good ideas?

[holli81]

In case you don't hear the blender in the morning, I mix fresh fruit with a protein powder almost every day. Add a couple of ice cubes and let it mix up for a minute or two, and the volume of drink is so much that I cannot even drink all of it at once. I am usually way to full by the time I drink half of it (total cals is between 200-250). I put the rest of it in a bottle and finish it within the next hour or so at work. A 100 calorie snack (half of a 200 cal protein bar) around 10:30 and I have no problems with a 250-300 calorie lunch -- I'm STUFFED. Another 100 calorie snack (the second half of the protein bar), and I'm ready for a good strong workout and a healthy dinner.

Sometimes I don't get that second snack. Those are the days when I don't feel like working out because I'm too hungry and I crave pizza and coneys. Ugh...

So, to make a long answer short, try a homemade protein shake! I usually aim for 2:1 carbs:prot -- not sure if that's optimal, but it seems to work for me!

Holli

[abogherie]

With my constant struggles from weight loss through training for triathlon for the years I have been doing I have come to find that eating more frequently in smaller portions is the best way to go about it. If I actually stick to eating just about every 3 hours or so during the day it really helps to speed up my metabolism. Many studies show that four to six meals per day is optimal for losing fat while keeping lean muscle mass intact. Many people don't eat enough calories while training and end up feeling exhausted and worn out from training instead of energized. You look at their diet and when they are only eating a few times a day and having tons of time between you can see why they're tired. You're body can't save protein like it can carbs and fat. Also eating large meals infrequently makes your body go from one extreme to another with starvation mode and too much to deal with so when your body does get food it tries to store instead of utilizing it. It's hard to change your eating habits but if you take your goal calorie expenditure and roughly divide it by how many meals you are going to eat it you'll have a good start to eating enough for your needs. Some athletes, especially triathletes training for ironman, can need as much as 5000-6000 calories on heavy training days to cover their exertions. Shakes and supplements are great for helping to cover our needs and can be a lifesaver when you're pressed for time, but whole complex carbs and lean proteins are much harder for your body to break down which also helps to burn the excess calories your body is carrying. A pound of fat is 3500 calories and everything you can do to use this reserve the better. Most importantly just make sure to include lean protein and complex carbs in every meal and you'll be amazed how much of a difference you'll start to see when you look in the mirror and when you're out on the road. No matter how many meals or calories you are consuming.