Lots of coffee (2 cups)

I'm 45, LD triathlete. Use to eat a lot. Train always a lot, +16h/week year average, even during locked down. Close to 172lb (6'0) all year round. At the beginning of the locked down I star with the intermittent fasting just to stay focus on something new. Because of my family dynamic, I went for 19:5 for 6 days, then a 24h fasting the 7th (no training day). Did it for 10 weeks straight, then eased a little. Now I'm thinner than ever, and going hard on SBR.
In the 5h window I would eat twice, the first meal as much as I could put in (110% full), mostly complex carbs (mix of oat&cereal, fruit), dairy and +85% pure chocolate. The second and last with a big % of either meat, eggs, or fish, with potatoes/rice/bread, and greens (90% full). Repeat next day. I worked for me.

Is the 19:5 thing meaning you go 19 hours without food/drink other than water and only consume calories during that 5 hour window? If so, how do you stack that around your workouts? I am interested in learning more about this method and if I am understanding it correctly.

Where is the line between intermittent fasting and an eating disorder? Perhaps for a week or two, but not eating for around 20 hours (especially while training) is not healthy.

No it's not. It's the definition of one. As is any such rigidly controlled relationship with food.

No it's not. It's the definition of one. As is any such rigidly controlled relationship with food.

Soo, a "flexible uncontrolled" relationship with food, is the right thing? If you want to perform at (almost) anything, you better develop a more or less rigidly controlled relationship with it. Otherwise, it is caos, chance, luck... And as I understand it, rigidly controlled means a method. But I am not selling anything. Go with your own.

I am 35 and I noticed that weight has been increasingly hard to lose. Two years ago I was racing triathlon in the 151-157lbs weight range. I was doing olympic and half ironman racing. Last year I did my first full distance and two half ironman races I weighed in at 162lbs for the Ironman and was right around those weights for my 70.3 races which I did on back to back weekends. This year I am putting in more consistent workouts with solid intensity and I am having trouble losing the weight. I got up to 180lbs at one point this spring and have been bouncing between 169-176lbs for the last few months.

The changes to my routine have been the follow:

• Biking more consistently, at higher power, and for longer
• Running at higher intensity but not doing as many LSD runs
• Zero swimming, thanks COVID, but I never swam much anyway
• I have cut out doing yoga. This is probably the biggest difference

I have added meat outside of shellfish back to the diet in the last year, but not much has changed diet wise other than that. I am eating more meat, though.

I am looking for some guidance on the changes you have made as you have aged and what has/has not worked for you. I know we are all different and what works for one person may not work for the next. But I have also read stories from folks about how things were just not the same a year later. I am looking forward to everyones response.

I am 35 and I noticed that weight has been increasingly hard to lose. Two years ago I was racing triathlon in the 151-157lbs weight range. I was doing olympic and half ironman racing. Last year I did my first full distance and two half ironman races I weighed in at 162lbs for the Ironman and was right around those weights for my 70.3 races which I did on back to back weekends. This year I am putting in more consistent workouts with solid intensity and I am having trouble losing the weight. I got up to 180lbs at one point this spring and have been bouncing between 169-176lbs for the last few months.

The changes to my routine have been the follow:

• Biking more consistently, at higher power, and for longer
• Running at higher intensity but not doing as many LSD runs
• Zero swimming, thanks COVID, but I never swam much anyway
• I have cut out doing yoga. This is probably the biggest difference

I have added meat outside of shellfish back to the diet in the last year, but not much has changed diet wise other than that. I am eating more meat, though.

I am looking for some guidance on the changes you have made as you have aged and what has/has not worked for you. I know we are all different and what works for one person may not work for the next. But I have also read stories from folks about how things were just not the same a year later. I am looking forward to everyones response.

I am 35 and I noticed that weight has been increasingly hard to lose. Two years ago I was racing triathlon in the 151-157lbs weight range. I was doing olympic and half ironman racing. Last year I did my first full distance and two half ironman races I weighed in at 162lbs for the Ironman and was right around those weights for my 70.3 races which I did on back to back weekends. This year I am putting in more consistent workouts with solid intensity and I am having trouble losing the weight. I got up to 180lbs at one point this spring and have been bouncing between 169-176lbs for the last few months.

The changes to my routine have been the follow:

• Biking more consistently, at higher power, and for longer
• Running at higher intensity but not doing as many LSD runs
• Zero swimming, thanks COVID, but I never swam much anyway
• I have cut out doing yoga. This is probably the biggest difference

I have added meat outside of shellfish back to the diet in the last year, but not much has changed diet wise other than that. I am eating more meat, though.

I am looking for some guidance on the changes you have made as you have aged and what has/has not worked for you. I know we are all different and what works for one person may not work for the next. But I have also read stories from folks about how things were just not the same a year later. I am looking forward to everyones response.

Have you ever heard that metabolism slows with age? It's why a 20 year old can eat a burger, fries, shake, for lunch and then smash pizza for dinner and not gain a pound. If you're 40 and try the same thing you come in 5 pounds heavier the next morning.

Calories in/out is huge, but to say age is an excuse simply isn't true. Age is a challenge in terms of keeping your weight down.

it wouldnt slow down if you did not eat those foods with damaged fats (fries, soybean oil in shake = transfats). Transfats lower testosterone and raise estrogen. And to add the excess sugars in the shake eventually those insulin spikes will get to you

I can tell you I eat very clean at 42. Plant based diet with meat once or twice a week. I can gain weight very easy if I'm not extremely disciplined. When I was 20 I could eat anything and could not gain weight. Age is absolutely a big factor.

you missing my point? faster aging from earlier damage. the number means nothing. i know many 50-60 year olds beating on 20 year olds with out much degradation in their efforts

you missing my point? faster aging from earlier damage. the number means nothing. i know many 50-60 year olds beating on 20 year olds with out much degradation in their efforts

Pretty please do some research rather than sticking with your incorrect premise. Time marches on for all and there are absolutely very well documented changes in body composition, hormones, metabolism with age even when correcting for all other factors. Sure, lifestyle absolutely has an impact on the slope of the slow decay, but nothing you do can make the line upsloping or even horizontal. Well maybe not nothing, you can go to an “anti-aging clinic” and get pumped full of testosterone but even that will eventually catch up.

Pretty please do some research rather than sticking with your incorrect premise. Time marches on for all and there are absolutely very well documented changes in body composition, hormones, metabolism with age even when correcting for all other factors. Sure, lifestyle absolutely has an impact on the slope of the slow decay, but nothing you do can make the line upsloping or even horizontal. Well maybe not nothing, you can go to an “anti-aging clinic” and get pumped full of testosterone but even that will eventually catch up.

your weight gain has nothing to do with age. Its all the same formula - calories in / calories out. You're eating more. I hate this age-related weight loss crap. Your age is not an excuse.

I am not searching for an excuse. Just wanted to share experiences.

Also, Your age absolutely matters. Your daily caloric needs decrease as you age and that starts to kick in around age 30.

You are correct that I should be counting calories. That is something that I have never done consistently.

My remedy is going to be the following:

• Running more
• Counting calories

calories in vs. calories out always holds true.

its complicated. but the formula will never let you down.

its complicated. but the formula will never let you down.

I think that, as a scentist, you're joking.

calories in vs. calories out always holds true.

Whatever your balance of that in / out is very bespoke to the person. whatever you want to call that balance (and how it changes over time) related to age or whatever, but its just a simple formula. this simple forumla will always hold true and is the only thing that matters.

end of story people.

and a 35 year old complaining about supposedly age-related issues is a joke. I'm 34 and I gain weight when I drink beer, eat like shit, and have a calorie surplus. duh.


also - to the commentor who related to his 19-year old self. I bet you that you burned a lot more calories "back in the day" - you walked more, ran more, stood up more, did manual-labor for work...you were passively more active.

(2) A Big Mac is 563 calories and this doesn't depend on age

(2) A Big Mac is 563 calories and this doesn't depend on age

The big mac has 1.3g of transfat, and artificial fat the body cannot metabolize so it fails the calories/in out principle (mostly in the bread and sauce from damaged soybean oil). So 12 of those 563 calories remain 'permanent' calories collecting in your arteries, colon, or breast tissue. So you can only 'burn' at most 551 calories. Unless you get arterial scraping surgery done.

well I keep talking because you don't listen. You just re-iterated what I said. Thank you!

Age is not making you fat, its one's inability to evolve the intake that is making you fat. This is where folks in any age cohort will start bitching about how they can't eat what they used to, etc. etc.


I might be only 34 but my father is 70 and still boasts a visible 6 pack and can bench 225lbs...oh, and he's 5'7'' and weighs 140. Picked up lifting at age 60 and weighed 155 at the time.

Calories In - Calories Out = weight management at any age.

Yes you have to learn how your calories out changes over time.
Yes you have to understand the quality and content of your calories in.


but aside from that, it is the only formula that matters!

Yes you have to learn how your calories out changes over time.

Speaking from a scientist's perspective this couldn't be more incorrect.

Alcohol on Fri/Sat only. I didn't do cheat/free-for-all days-

A cheat day to me is/was a day were you do NOT maintain the deficit.

I am now 48 and 5'8'' and weigh 147, its the lightest I have been since the age of 15
When I was 42, I weighed 210. Working on the corporate treadmill, young kids, and a love of food all had a pretty big toll on my weight
I started Triathlons when I was 42, and got myself into shape. I started to watch what I ate, but did not diet specifically. Stopped snacking, when on business trips I skipped starter and desert at the restaurant. Combined with increase in exercise, weight dropped to 175 relatively easily.

I then got stuck at 175. At this time I was becoming quite good at triathlons, with the occasional AG podium in local races. I was also making the step up to 70.3 and Ironman distance. With an increase in training load (about 7 hours per week) I started to take my diet more seriously, reducing Pasta and bread, and eating more fruit. I got my weight down to 165. For the next couple of years my weight fluctuated between 160 and 175. Around Christmas I would be at 175, and lose it pretty easily in Jan and Feb, but no matter what I did, no matter how much I was training I could not get below 160. I was now training an average of 11 hours per week, I qualified for the 70.3 worlds in Nice and represented Switzerland at the ITU final in Lausanne, and brought my 70.3 time to under 4:30 and Ironman time to just over 10hrs

This brings me up to this year. Unlike the previous 4 years, I maintained a much better weight over Christmas, and didn't go above 165. As 2020 was supposed to be the year I qualify for Kona, I also ramped my training to 15 hours per week. At the same time, I gave up eating meat in January, and decided to carry on through to March. My diet was mainly whole food, plant based, with huge quantities of fruit.

Since then, I have relaxed my diet a little, I eat a little meat. I don't eat any meat at home, which has been pretty easy during lock down, but now restaurants are open, I do tend to choose a meat option. I tend to snack more at the office (at home I snack on fruit), but for the past 3 months, this has not been an issue. For 2 months, my weight has been hovering around 147. I eat tons of food, I do not restrict quantity. I snack on nuts, dates, dried figs and fruit. I avoid processed food (other than cheese), in my opinion most highly processed food is bad for you, processed vegan food is just as bad as processed meat based. I eat hardly any pasta, rice maybe once per week, I eat too much bread, my wife bakes excellent bread and it is simply too tempting, I eat a large pizza once per week, and I eat too much chocolate.... I live in Switzerland, which is really bad place to be for a chocolate lover. I do not fast, I do not count calories, I do not go hungry

A year ago I could not dream of getting near this weight, in fact 155 seemed like and impossible challenge. There is no magic bullet and no fad diet that will result in sustained weight loss and sustained sporting achievement. However, my advice would be to cut processed food and reduce empty carbs (white bread, pasta etc), and see how it affects you