What's your normal workload vs. diet now? Without knowing anything about you, I would suggest cutting out late night snacks first and foremost.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Among other things I mainly cut soda and fast food. Soda I didnt really need or crave anyways and it is 100% gone. Fast food I get sometimes if time is tight and I didnt prepare right. I stick to non-fried things.

I dropped from 175 to 153 since last October, and that included a 12 day break in training for a European trip.

I hit my training hard during that time period as well, but soda seems like a good thing to cut. I have not cut alcohol because I love my craft beers, although if I have a beer it will only be one. Ill be a few seconds slower if thats what happens.

In your short time period, you probably have some opportunity to drop, but not too much without negatively effecting your race performance.

1+ late night snacks, go to bed hungry, don't skip breakfast. Do a workout after dinner (easy 30min run). Reduce white carbs

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USAC, Health and Nutrition Coach
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That's a considerable amount of weight to lose in 7 weeks. Unless you're completely out of shape now and you're starting from scratch, it's not very likely that you'll lose that much weight and still be able to perform near your best. When losing weight and gaining fitness, you've got to compromise one to help the other. You have to choose what your goal is.

It sounds like your focus is on losing weight, which is fine. Two pounds a week means a 1000 calorie deficit per day. You will be really tired, cranky, and you'll have trouble focusing on anything else. You can get through workouts, but you'll need a lot of sleep to do it. I kept it up for months at a time, and I would regularly pass out on the couch as soon as I got home from every workout. If you time your nutrition really well you might be able to have enough energy to last until nighttime.

Another problem is losing that quickly makes it easier to bounce back right after. You lose all this weight, then when you finish your race everything stops, and you rebound right back to where you start. Been there, done that.

That said, the most effective trimming down that I've done has been done this year. I cut out alcohol for one month, and made a conscious effort to eat better. Not perfect. Not cutting out any foods. I was eating a wide variety of foods in reasonable proportions. It's harder than it sounds, but I figured out a good trick to stick with it. I'd ask myself before eating "do I need this?" Simple question.

If you're honest with yourself it makes it much easier. In that month I dropped five pounds, and kept it off for the two months since then. I'm going to do that again next month, then maybe once more before the holiday season. Then that's it. 15 pounds over six months, in a sustainable way. Also I'm in better shape and faster than I've ever been thanks to this. The first time I've had a long training block without trying to lose too much weight at the same time.

Your mileage may vary, but I would highly recommend scaling your weight loss goals back a bit, and instead concentrate on how you feel and improving overall.

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George Dedopoulos | @geodee | geodee.com | Team Atomica | Toronto Triathlon Club

I am overweight. I'm currently on a weight loss journey and put on about 15 lbs over the winter and haven't been able to get it back off. I know 1-2 lbs a week is a healthy weight loss goal and with the amount of acitivity I'm doing...I should easily be able to hit that goal...if not more (due to my size...199 lbs).

My reason for waiting to lose weight is so I can get back to my faster running pace...since gaining weight...my pace has slowered significantly.

thanks for your feedback...

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Sorry if my response was leaning more toward the assumption that you're closer to the stereotypical Slowtwitch types (both body type and A-type). That sounds quite reasonable! Good luck with the preparation for your race!

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George Dedopoulos | @geodee | geodee.com | Team Atomica | Toronto Triathlon Club

Sounds like we are preparing for the same race (IMChoo). I have the same goal as you, and started this 2 weeks ago http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/

Cut carbs down to 50 per day. Saturday I eat/drink whatever I want. I put on 20lbs since IMFL last year and not coming off. I'm never cranky and eat every couple of hours.


Positive - down 6lbs in 2 weeks.
Negative - bad bonk on a 85 mile bike last weekend when I didn't "carbo load" enough. Felt drained of energy after 50 miles following my normal long ride nutrituion plan. Going to see how it goes on tomorrow's long ride.


Good luck.

Okay so I am overweight too. I had foot surgery last year and gained about 10lbs, which made me fatter! Still I started training again last July and I completed a half-ironman this past april, etc. However, I couldn't lose any weight. So I read some books by Gary Taubes and Robert Lustig and they suggest cutting out carbs and sugar. I'm stubborn and I like my alcohol, so I just cut out sugar. I started in June and I've lost 5 lbs since then. It has been super easy*.

I eat whatever I want. I just try not to eat anything with sugar in it. So instead of eating waffles or cereal for breakfast, I have eggs. You know Atkinsy type shit. I was skeptical, but it works. Anyhow feel free to PM me ( I think we may be in similar boats).

So by sugar, I mean any added sugars - salad dressings, ketchup, bread, etc. Also no fake sugars and no honey. Nothing like that.

*I quit drinking soft drinks like 10 years ago. So relatively, this has been easy for me. And I know that alcohol has sugar. So it's amazing that I've lost weight cutting out just what I have cut out.

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My triathlon training blog

Diets are highly personal and what is effective for one may not be for another. If you're doing a decent amount of training (>10 hrs) and are looking at losing a decent amount of weight then a proper diet plan from a dietician may be a very good idea.

Personally, I've dropped to a high carb, low fat, low protein plant-based diet*. Steady weight losses and power gains. This does not mean in any way shape or form that it will work for others.

*almost vegan apart from the odd bit of egg and milk here and there and fish once a week or so.

Cut out Soda first and foremost followed by any other sugary drinks/food (obviously have a treat every now and then.) and also any fried/processed foods. Also cut down alcohol to a bare minimum.

Just cut out unnecessary things. Ok, easily said but it's true. Skip high fat and calorie items with little food value. Sugar, sweets, etc. And substitute lower fat items such as eating a sirloin instead of a ribeye. And portion control. That's a lot that is said easily, but if you do those things even in small increments you'll find the weight will come off.

It can be done. I've lost that much on two separate occasions during a race build. On the first it was just to finish, the second was a PB. The big challenge is not overeating on days where you go long or go really hard, even if only about an hour. I ate between 2000-2500 a day give or take, not really counting fueling, but fueling wasn't a huge source of calories. I think you really need to eat balanced, plan it and track it, and see how you are feeling.

For me the recipe is: run lots (6-7 times a week) and the weight goes. And yes, no second serve at dinner but that's it.