here’s the deal. a person I was working with perscribed to me a diet that was basically high in protein and vegetables, a good amount of fat, with some fruits–no complex carbs at all. That was fine for about 5 or 6 weeks, then I bottomed out and I just got bored and can’t stay on it (was I kidding myself or what!!). Let’s face it, fish with salad and cheese can only be intersting for so long…
So, my question is this: when you all want to drop bodyfat, or loose weight, what do you do? how do you eat?
In general I think I would feel better to eat some complex carbs–if for anything so that I won’t be bored to death in my diet. Since I do need to loose weight, I won’t go overboard.
Do you think it’s possible to have some complex carbs and still loose? (my counselor on this told me no, basically). Right now for volume I’m training about 5 1/2 hours a week…some weeks more/less. Before I went off my “diet” I found it hard to even keep up 5.5 hours of training a week, and it tapered down to 2-3 hours (because I was tired, not to mention in a pissed off mood!).
I try to stick with lean protein, veggies, fruits, simple carbs, and the good fats, like olive oil, and fats from fish, and nuts. I’ll try to be pretty strict about 6 days a week, then have a day to live it up a little. When I first got into triathlon I dropped about 40 lbs doing this plus the added activity of training for my first race. I’m 3 years into it and have maintained my weight using the same methods.
I’m not a nutrition expert, but if you’re burning more calories then your taking in then you’ll lose weight. The point I think your counselor may be making is the quality of food you eat will depend on how the weight comes off and how you’ll perform and recover during and after your long workouts. Complex carbs tend to be the foods that are the worst quality or the most processed.
At my leanest I was probably doing a moderate amount of weight training and the focus was more on endurance training. As for the diet, it was low in fat, moderate in protein and mostly fruits, veggies and complex carbs. I was very strict about not putting any crap in my mouth, the only treat I had was a serving of real Ben and Jerrys.
I have known some competitive body builders and they will avoid anything but protien and vegetables when coming down for competition but of course they are not training the same way. I think you need to drop some carbs but not totally. I am confused though, the carbs you eat should be complex (low GI) not simple or starchy. Gordo has some good pointers on this. Limit your carb intake to after your workouts, especially starchy carbs.
I’m assuming that with the amount of hours you are putting in that you are injured.
Or- maybe you just don’t have the time for LSD base building.
I have worked with a Nutrionist for a while now , and its one of my passions,as I feel it is the key to health,weight management and overall performance.
In your dormant stage…keep you breakfast plan as low Glycemic as possible.Avoid insulin spikes that can cause an appetite gain.
Foods like Oatmeal w/ berries or Pears are great.
Keep an eye on the GI of fruits too…as some of them are hi carb.
The best are berries fruit,pears,and apples.
Try replacing a portion of your complex carbs w/ homemade coleslaw.
I live on this stuff!
Goes great with grilled chicken,fish or tuna out of a can.
Drink a lot of De-caff Green Tea as this truely burns fat!Plus, has anti-oxidants.
The big key is the Glycemic Index of your diet.Keep it moderate to low when you are not training enough.
When you do resume a full training schedule…You can eat whatever you want as your fuel needs will be high…assuming you put in the hrs.
this is what I love about the LSD-Base building months…i am always eating to fuel up for my 75-85 miles a week of running+ 4 days of swimming+ 3-4 days on the Cyclops.
And I get leaner the more I eat( 8% Bf )…go figure!
Gordo has his Epic Training Camps…my buddies and I have Epic eating camps!
Last word: Don’t alter your Bf too rapidly as this may shift your body’s production of Leptin.This can trigger surges of hunger,especially for sugar and fats.
I have realized that the brain has its own Anti-Virus system like our computers.It responds to all changes, and it will do everything to protect what it is used to monitoring.
Fooling it, or tripping it up usually results in metabolic disaster.
thanks for the tips. I had never been on Gordo’s site before, and found that information very informative. He considers his main good groups as proteins, vegetables and fruits. this is good to know, and I took alot away from that.
BTW, I’m just not a high volume person, but go for quality instead–this works for me, although I do believe I will bump it up a bit more now. Even for marathons the most time I put in a week was only about 7 hours…and that included 20 mile long runs (I can’t believe I used to do that!!).