You can do it!!!

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Yep, you can totally do it. If you train for and complete full IMs, you are already doing the work, just not reaping the benefits. I'll bet if you get your diet in order (maybe even consult a nutritionist or something) you'll be amazed at the results you get after several weeks. And if you want more lean mass, don't shy away from some weight training.

No reason why you cant. It all comes down to diet and what you're willing to sacrifice for it.

prob partly right about diet. Amazing I can motivate myelf to wake up at 430 am to run 15 miles, but I dont have the motivation to not eat 3 chocolate croissants afterwards.


I suppose my question is from a muscular level, I know its hard to gain muscle with age and I need it to drop to 12-15%. Is 38 too old to burn fat and replace with muscle.

I was 200 at 31 and dropped to 149 at my lowest just by training consistently for around 10h per week. I had no muscle and looked skinny af. After 2-3 years of training I was 155-160 adding mostly muscle mass. I'm 38 now and I'm 160 right now but I'll probably be closer to 155 when I'm racing.

Stop trying to find justification for failure and go out and do it.

You get exactly what you want, don't try to tell me otherwise. If you really wanted to be lighter, you wouldn't eat 3 chocolate croissants. It's got nothing to do with motivation and everything to do with discipline.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

This. I’m 27, so maybe I haven’t hit a point in life with a slowed metabolism (and also no kids yet), but I have tracked my diet for over 3 years. Every calorie in, every calorie out. Beer, doughnuts, cookies. Good and bad. And I’ve simply aimed to maintain weight levels and body fat while training and racing 70.3s. Started at 153, i now weigh 157 with the same body fat.

Download MyFitnessPal or some other diet tracker and take an accurate assessment of your diet and habits! Knowledge is power—learn how to fuel. You will likely see huge results very quickly.

I'm 47 and last winter I got on the scales for the first time in ages and I was really surprised to be about 15 pounds heavier than I expected. It was a shock and was the first time in my life I've worried about weight. So I changed my diet and lost it. Changing diet is hard because you are changing habits that are ingrained and give you instant gratification. I did it by fundamentally changing how I shop and cook. It is all healthier now.

At no point in that process did I worry about muscle wasting. Why would I? All you can do is eat healthy and exercise. Your muscles will be the result of that. You haven't found some secret biological process where by storing excess calories as fat enables your muscles to be stronger than other people your age (young middle age imho). The aim isn't to go into short term starvation and come out of the other end a better person who can go back to eating junk. The aim is to switch to a healthy diet. In terms of composition and amount. If you maintain that diet then you will gradually lose weight. If you are exercising as you do it then you will be all around fitter. Your circulation will improve and you will be much more efficient and stronger.

Sorry if any of that sounds harsh but sometimes people post here worrying if they lose excess weight they will lose bike power or swim speed. I'm not a psychologist so this is pure speculation but it seems like a way to talk yourself out of getting down to the hard work. The good news is you already do the exercise bit. Going from no exercise to doing a fraction of what long distance triathletes do is hard. Hard bit done, big tick. All you have to do is break the bad eating habits. Find healthy substitutes. Pack lunches so you don't choose a bad option later. Don't eat out or order in as much. Tell people about your new resolve so that you are more likely to stick to it. The simplest thing is do not put the croissant in the shopping basket. If you do you'll eat it, if you don't you won't. Good luck and update this post after the 1st month/ 6 months/a year with the positive results.

I have had to eat out at least 3 days a week for over 2 years. Once in a while it is 2 weeks straight. Why i get on scale eat night. No excuses the number does not lie. After getting home from Disneyland sunday i know it will be back to full diet since my first race is in 3 weeks. Not exercising for a week is not way to train but family is first

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

The tough love that some are dishing out here works for some. It may or may not work for you. You just have to find what works for you. I'm a Mfg. Operations guy, so having metrics and dashboards really helps me to make smart choices throughout the day. I track calories in Myfitnesspal and sync that to my Fitbit app so I have a real-time dashboard of what I've eaten vs what I've burned and what I have left to eat. Seeing that I have xxx calories left to eat for the day makes eating choices more real for me. Set a sustainable weight loss goal. I initially targeted 2 lbs/week (1,000 cal per day deficit) and managed to pull that off for 10 weeks (lost 20 lbs) but it eventually bit me in the ass. I scaled back to 1 lb/wk (500 cal/day deficit) and have lost 8 more. At age 48 I've gone from 187 to 159, so yes you can do it.

Go in with the goal of improving your eating and having a 300-500 calorie deficit.
Don't go in with an extreme diet where you have to white knuckle it.
Same for training- look at where you can make improvements and changes, not how you can double it.
This has to be sustainable over a long period of time in order to be effective.

At the same time don't set limits. Some people say "I'm as light as I can get" and they are still carry around a gut.
Take stock of your goals after the 1st 20 lb. and decide where you can take it.

I think you are taking your age way too seriously. 38 isnt as old as you think it to be. Yes, the two kids, their responsibility and your lack of time can be a factor. But with proper diet and a fitness regain I think you have plenty of time to gain muscles. however, you cannot expect the process to be as quick as it once used to be. Moreover, there are certain ways that you have to treat your body to maintain your shape.There are certain techniques to build muscle as you age too. At the end of the day if you can maintain discipline and are willing to work hard for it there is no reason why you cannot do it. Dont let age be an excuse for you.

You definitely can get in better shape if you want. Out of curiosity. Are you a 10 hour or 17 hour finisher? Reason I ask. It could be you are training a lot but at an intensity that is doing less than you think it is so you are eating to a false sense of calorie burn?

Ignore the age. Focus on quality calories going in, quality exercise to burn them and build. Period.

I am 48 years old 5'9", and went from 188 pounds to 139 pounds (5.2% BF) over a two-year period. Slow, steady, consistent. Oh, and a crapton of cycling + TrainerRoad. :)

Funny, very similar story here. I'll be 40 this year and usually float around 160 in the off season but my heaviest was 185-190. I've had decent race seasons the last couple of years at 155, but my run form is by far better at 150. For me getting to 155 just kinds of happens, but hitting 150 takes a lot of extra work and strict diet.

cut alcohol entirely and commit to three (3) hour long weightlifting workouts per week - just moderately heavy weights at these workouts; no cardio. i think you'll see a big improvement in the way you feel and look within 2 months! source: me when i was age 41

Diet is the biggest factor when it comes to excess weight. If you were eating correctly for your activity/body and just sitting on the couch, you should have very little bodyfat. Thus you are eating way too many calories and the wrong types of food for your body. You gain weight when you eat more calories then you need. Start with a nutritionist. Do you research on them though...some have no clue what they are talking about.

As far as being too old to gain muscle, you are not too old in the least. In fact, 80 yr olds can gain muscle. In your 30s, 40s, and even 50s, it might be easier to gain muscle than a 25 yr old...a lot is based on genetics and things like metabolism. Get a few training sessions in with a PT or trainer to get you started on the right track. Again, do your research. There are a lot of bad trainers out there.

How did you measure your body fat? The only accurate way is in the dunk tank. If you really train for IMs then you are fit enough. If I was you i would commit to a 3-4 month weight training program in the off season and then you need to identify what your diet problem is. Mine was definitely fast food and eating no breakfast and eating a large meal at the end of the day. I'm 5 10 and 207 right now but early summer was as high as 234 and I started triathlon training in November when my weight loss stalled out at 218-220.

I am 33, with a job and two kids as well. For me, a dietary change and the way I workout has made all of the difference.

I was 5'10" 180 lbs. Now I am 151-157 lbs on any given day. I really suggest you laying out your diet for us to dissect (IN DETAIL). I bet this is mostly diet related, as if you are putting in the miles to do IM, I doubt it could be anything else.

I also use a coach...who is very good, and not expensive. I would suggest it.


Edit: B.McMaster is totally right about workout intensity. Watch the videos of 10 hour finishers vs 17 hour finishers. Very different body types.

Cutting alcohol is bad advise. He’s married with kids.

Exactly!

But seriously, just stick to wine.

+1...you do exactly what you want to do.

No. A DEXA scan and air displacement plethysmography are two other methods with equal acurracy to a dunk tank. In addition the DEXA scam can tell you what the body fat percentage is in different parts of the body (ie legs vs arms vs trunk)

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Matt

I don't completely disagree with you regarding nutrition. Eating quality foods plays a huge role in recovery and building muscle, but I personally think that too much is made of what you eat with regard to weight loss specifically. People try to make it very complicated, but it really is simply calories in vs. calories out. For sure, eating nutrient-dense food vs. calorie-dense food will make you feel fuller while eating fewer calories, but if a person had the willpower, they could easily lose weight while eating nothing but donuts (as an example), as long as the total calorie intake was less than what they were burning. They'd likely feel like shit and it would impact their training, but that's a different story. If you really want to lose a significant amount of weight, you have to be disciplined about counting calories and measuring that against calorie burn, at least until you develop a sense for it. I've been doing it for ~6 months now, and I've learned the calorie content of the foods I eat most often so I can pretty well guess how much I've eaten even when I don't log every day, but at first it's a real eye-opener when you get to the dinner table and only have 300 calories left in your 'budget' for the day.