Not overweight here, but that makes it hard for me to lose the 5-10 lbs I'd like to for race weight. I also love food (who doesn't) and now that I'm in the M40-45 age group, the metabolism seems to be gradually slowing and it's much easier to inadvertently put on a few pounds. Still have the 6-pack and all the muscle definition though, so you wouldn't really guess that I've been gaining weight unless you knew me in college. I've tried to 'just eat less', but that usually lasted at most 3 weeks before I got so hungry and grumpy that I couldn't maintain it.
On the advice of a local tricoach as well as reading Don Fink's HIM book, I started a food journal, which is basically just logging literally everything that goes into your mouth, and recording the calories. First time I've ever done it, started 5 wks ago.
I set a target of 0.5lbs weight loss per week. Used a recommendation in Don Fink's book (probably not his uniquely, but he mentions it) of setting a caloric target of 11kcal/pound of current body weight, which will approximate -500calories per day. Added back my burned workout calories to that number for a total daily calorie count. (Yes, you have to calculate the kcal burned per workout.)
I know, it sounds incredibly tedious and laborious, but it really isn't. It's super fast to google search calories, and I use a Google spreadsheet to track it. You do, however, need a $15 food scale to weigh your food - I weight most nonpackaged food now. It's second nature for me now, and after 2 wks of it, most of the foods I ate repeated so it was super easy to track the calories.
After 5 wks, it's been the best thing I've done for my diet, and I've definitely been losing 0.5-0.75lbs per week, reliably. Best part is that I'm never starving - mainly, the diet avoids you overeating, but you have enough calories to power through workouts, even long ones like 2.5hr runs, since you add your activity calories back. VERY sustainable, and no guilt for eating because you log everything. Amazingly, with this method, I've been able to easily resist all the holiday junk food at work quite easily - I can eat it, but it's going to be logged and count into my daily caloric allotment. Also, it's been easier to eat healthy, as I prepare foods at home with good natural ingredients, and since you're mildly hungry when it comes to mealtime, it's easier to eat them even if they're not as tasty as say, a slice of rich pepperoni pizza - that mild hunger makes plain broccoli taste great.
Anyway, just sharing my n=1 experience with this method since I really like it - made something that seemed impossible (losing weight when you're not overweight to begin with) totally doable and sustainable. I'm actually looking forward to getting down to race weight!
On the advice of a local tricoach as well as reading Don Fink's HIM book, I started a food journal, which is basically just logging literally everything that goes into your mouth, and recording the calories. First time I've ever done it, started 5 wks ago.
I set a target of 0.5lbs weight loss per week. Used a recommendation in Don Fink's book (probably not his uniquely, but he mentions it) of setting a caloric target of 11kcal/pound of current body weight, which will approximate -500calories per day. Added back my burned workout calories to that number for a total daily calorie count. (Yes, you have to calculate the kcal burned per workout.)
I know, it sounds incredibly tedious and laborious, but it really isn't. It's super fast to google search calories, and I use a Google spreadsheet to track it. You do, however, need a $15 food scale to weigh your food - I weight most nonpackaged food now. It's second nature for me now, and after 2 wks of it, most of the foods I ate repeated so it was super easy to track the calories.
After 5 wks, it's been the best thing I've done for my diet, and I've definitely been losing 0.5-0.75lbs per week, reliably. Best part is that I'm never starving - mainly, the diet avoids you overeating, but you have enough calories to power through workouts, even long ones like 2.5hr runs, since you add your activity calories back. VERY sustainable, and no guilt for eating because you log everything. Amazingly, with this method, I've been able to easily resist all the holiday junk food at work quite easily - I can eat it, but it's going to be logged and count into my daily caloric allotment. Also, it's been easier to eat healthy, as I prepare foods at home with good natural ingredients, and since you're mildly hungry when it comes to mealtime, it's easier to eat them even if they're not as tasty as say, a slice of rich pepperoni pizza - that mild hunger makes plain broccoli taste great.
Anyway, just sharing my n=1 experience with this method since I really like it - made something that seemed impossible (losing weight when you're not overweight to begin with) totally doable and sustainable. I'm actually looking forward to getting down to race weight!
