I am taking a long hard look at my intake. Everything is being measured and counted from that extra oz of creamer in the coffee to the extra piece of pizza.
I am using Training Peak for my measurement stick.
I took in 2749 burned a limitless over 800 on training run.
I am not concerned with weight loss, but I am concerned with adopting some stronger food choices.
Anyone else?
Derek
4500k is the lower end of the days, 5500k is more typical and up to 7-8k on some days.
Alright, let’s say you use 2k on a training ride how much and what do you put back in 30 minutes after your session?
5,000 - 8,000 a day. However Thomas and I typically train 3-5 hours day after day so we are most likely burning more calories than the normal triathlete.
My guess is that the normal male triathlete consumes 3000-5000. Everyone’s metabolism is different too and some people can burn as little as 1200 calories a day to almost 3,000 calories a day in just their resting state with no exercise.
My training ride on Saturday was 5K then followed up with a .9k run. I had something like 10 Powerbar PE on the ride 240 calories each = so 2400 right there, and 2x 530 calorie muffins during the ride. ~1500 before ride. I generally do the majority of my carb intake before or during activity. I keep meaning to do a during season food journal but I just don’t have the time. The following is a food journal for one week that was done in December when I was in a low period of volume and intensity: http://www.thomasgerlach.com/2012/12/pro-ironman-triathlete-food-journal-7.html
2000 to 3200 a day according to myfitnesspal.com but I’m pretty small.
I have to count every calorie (food and exercise) if I want to stay small
jaretj
I base mine on my resting metabolic rate (~2000 calories base) and work the rest out from day to day based on exercise metrics (I have all the metabolic data for calories burned running at heart rates, etc. so it’s fairly accurate, combined with Power data on the bike).
My eating strategy is simple, the 2000 comes from regularly planned meals (breakfast, which tends to be fairly static, and dinner which will fluctuate a bit, but never miss it). The rest of the calories I aim to target for either pre-session fuelling / recovery.
For example, if I have a morning swim / afternoon bike, I’ll have my normal breakfast (porridge, etc.), swim, have a bowl of yogurt / honey / banana / walnuts when I get home. Then an hour or two later, I’ll have a decent lunch to get ready for the bike, bike for however long (let’s say 2000cal worth of work between bike / run), then get home and start recovery fuelling. Since we can only absorb ~80-100g of carbs an hour, and you want protein after exercise to promote recovery, I’ll aim for about 400-600cal of balanced macronutrients the first hour off the session, then about an hour later go for a fruit / grain top up on my carbs, another 400 ish cals, which usually dovetails with dinner.
That way you’re constantly giving your body the nutrients it needs for maximised training effect / energy / happy face*belly without overloading and throwing too much fuel on the fire (which will cause things like insulin surges and actually dampen down energy levels etc.)
In terms of overall calories, I’m still losing weight (I started out as a fat biffer) so aiming to run 400-500 cal deficit a day. On a light training day I’ll eat 4000-5000, on a hard day 5000-6000. This is for a training week of 17-24 hours total training volume, targeting middle / long course.
I am very similar to this, main exception is that I have lost most if not all that I have to lose, so my metrics are a little lower than they used to be and deficits (if trying to drop a pound or two for big A race), have to be smaller (300 or so) for it not to affect my training.
So to answer OPs question, some days I eat 4,500 (like Saturday when I rode 80, swam 3500). Some days I eat 2,000, like days where I can’t train or have scheduled 100% rest. Today I will eat about 3,000 (6 mile run and 3500 swim).
All depends on what you are doing, what your goals are, what your “existing metabolism” (ie your non training metabolism) is.
The existing metabolism is also not a constant (keep that in mind when running numbers), these things change in a macro sense as a function of your age, your weight, your lean muscle mass. They also change on a micro scale as well, depending on what you do that day (sit behind a desk, wall around a city on vacation) and some would argue they change based on what you eat.
This adds some really useful points and is worth flagging up. OP: Take note!
As you go deeper down the ‘optimal nutrition’ rabbit hole, you start to run into the world of individual micro-adaptation and genetics. For example, you might process carb / fat / protein more efficiently than most and that will affect things accordingly, you might have a diet rich in foods that cause increased metabolism (e.g. hyper spicy diets have been shown to have this effect in some studies), etc.
For me, I have to maintain around a 18-25% volume of calories from good fats as part of my general macronutrient balance. If I cut down fat below about 15% I’ll be sick / injured within a week or two.
I am 5’ 9" ~155 lbs (we moved and I haven’t unpacked the scale). Earlier this year (April) I had a Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) test done and mine was 2600 calories. So this number is basically what I burn by just existing on the planet. I am training for B2B HIM at the moment and putting in between 12 and 16 hours a week. So most days I shoot for 2600 + (calories burnt - 500ish). With most of these calories being consumed before and after workouts. Some days I find it hard to even eat enough to operate at a 500 calorie deficit. I use myfitnesspal.com pretty religiously, and I find that it helps a lot. I am slowly transitioning away from the former fat kid mentality that I need to constantly be at a large deficit, to a more realistic mindset that proper fueling equates to better performance.
I use myfitnesspal.com pretty religiously
+1 and it works great, just don’t let the defaults go without tweaking them to your specific needs (that is to say, for some people it overestimates things, like cycling calories burned, for others it under estimates things, like running calories burned).
I am slowly transitioning away from the former fat kid mentality that I need to constantly be at a large deficit, to a more realistic mindset that proper fueling equates to better performance.
+1 on this too. When I had more weight to lose, I found that I could really put myself into a pretty big deficit and survive for quite a while. I dropped from 185 to about 146 doing this without even really tracking anything and it only took somewhere less than a year. Going from 146 to 140 took a much more choreographed effort of small deficits over extended time; when I screwed up and went to deep into the tank, training sucked, I would binge, training would come back up, I wouldn’t lose any weight.
I have since learned how to manage this stuff a little better and am now in the 134 range, which is pretty darn close to what I would estimate is my ideal racing weight (I would like to try 130 to see how it goes, but as you would expect it is not easy to get there).
To get this low, I have had to manage all the details, I am creeping lower as planned, but it is a creep (less than a pound every couple weeks).
Keep in mind a few other things that affect your weight unrelated to your eating: heat acclimatization, I gained 2 pounds once it got real hot and since I was tracking my eating and training, I know that I didn’t add 2 pounds from food. It is blood plasma increase. I think this will basically last until it cools off for an extended period.
Another is inflammation. After particularly hard or long workouts, it is easy for me to gain a pound or two that is unexplained and sticks around for a couple days.
Another is edema from traveling for an extended period (like seated in one position on a plane for an extended duration). That can throw a really crazy number onto the scale for 1 maybe 2 days.
I was on a plane for about 3 hours one day last month. The scale said I gained 5 lbs from the morning before to the morning after. Next morning, I was halfway back to baseline, next day I was back to baseline.
When you record your weight in the same condition everyday (wake up, take a leak, weigh yourself), you see some really crazy stuff some time. Weigh every day, at the end of the week, look at the average over last 7 days and track that, it should remove much of the phenomenon noted above.
It has been an injury litered season. Nothing noteworthy, other than the fact, that it is the first time I did not participate in races I paid for. As a result, I began to examine training, sleep, stress, and DIET. In the past I would train then eat. My plate of food reflected my energy output and current state of hunger. I would throw a whole bunch of pasta, veggies, and steak together and season with hot sauce. Or eat a ton of pizza…etc.
I have always enjoyed raw veggies and fruit, but the rest of my diet wasnt all that great and I certainly never donated much thought to it.
Well, things have changed and DIET is part of it. I feel great and am getting confidence building results during training that previously wasn’t there. Yet, I now it is time to eat mindfully (hence reason for OP).
Where does one establish their resting metabolic rate?
Note: I did not miss the word “dovetails” used by TriPigeon. Strong
For reference, I’m 5’9" and weigh 152lbs, which is just a few pounds over my goal race weight. Trying HARD not to go under 150, though. Wife said I had to weigh at least 30lbs more than her! I don’t think that going under 150 would be beneficial, though, as I’d be losing too much muscle at that point. Had a metabolic assessment done recently and it was determined that my RMR is 2150. Calories from lifestyle about 800, and AVERAGE calories burnt per day in the 600 range. To just maintain weight, which is what I’m trying to do, I have to consume aprox 3500 per day. That’s a chore. I eat tons of fruits and veggies (which are mostly low calorie) along with all the other good stuff (nuts, lean meats, grains, yogurt, etc.).
I use myfitnesspal, too. Great little app. Makes tracking calories much easier.
Anyways, the problem I am having is consuming that many calories …and it is EXPENSIVE! Feels like I eat ALL day long! After dinner, I’m still at a deficit (usually by 500+ calories). Now that my volume has been ramping up more (Iron distance in October), I’m prob going to have to consume an additional 1000 calories per day just to stay above 150lbs. I’m currently in the 12-14 hours per week range and I’ll be peaking out in the next 5 weeks at 20 hours.
During long runs and rides, I make sure to eat something before the workout, then consume the majority of my calories afterwards. During rides, I aim for 200-250 cals per hour.
Long story short, consuming about 3500 cals a day, but expect to bump that up to the 4000-4500 range by peak training.
I am taking a long hard look at my intake. Everything is being measured and counted from that extra oz of creamer in the coffee to the extra piece of pizza.
I am not concerned with weight loss, but I am concerned with adopting some stronger food choices.
Anyone else?
Derek
If I were training: I eat as much as I can until I fall asleep at night.The next day I train until I burn it all off. I hope I hit a balance where I don’t lose weight too fast.
If you are training hard, food choices don’t matter. Some guys eat sticks of butter rolled in sugar.
125lbs 5’8’ Peak weeks are 18-22 hours. During those weeks 3500-3400 Kcal… Still lose weight. Lighter weeks, 2000-2400 Kcal. I am at a 500+ calorie surplus to gain weight.
I here you, but my days of eating sticks of butter are over.
However, it seems the harder one trains the more important food choices become.
I don’t think that going under 150 would be beneficial, though, as I’d be losing too much muscle at that point.
Maybe, really depends on you and what you are trying to do. From what I observe from myself and read from some others, no matter what I am losing (muscle or otherwise), lighter is faster when running long distances. I think this is probably true for everyone until they get to a point where their body won’t stay healthy and you start having injuries and what not.
That being said, we are talking triathlon and not distance running, so I am sure there is a point where losing too much will slow you down on the bike. Swim is probably the same, I can see where losing muscle there can hurt. You just have to figure out what the right balance is (I am willing to give up X watts on the bike to run x seconds faster per mile).
it is EXPENSIVE!
Yep, the volume of calories drives up the cost and then the quality of calories REALLY drives up the cost. It would be way cheaper to eat $0.99 Cheeseburgers from Wendy’s, but I guess we have all decided that we don’t want to live that way so we spend our money to do things differently.
I do love greasy cheeseburgers though, but I really love stomping ass on race day, so fewer cheeseburgers and more zuchinni.
If you are training hard, food choices don’t matter. Some guys eat sticks of butter rolled in sugar.
smh
I am taking a long hard look at my intake. Everything is being measured and counted from that extra oz of creamer in the coffee to the extra piece of pizza.
I am not concerned with weight loss, but I am concerned with adopting some stronger food choices.
Anyone else?
Derek
If I were training: I eat as much as I can until I fall asleep at night.The next day I train until I burn it all off. I hope I hit a balance where I don’t lose weight too fast.
If you are training hard, food choices don’t matter. Some guys eat sticks of butter rolled in sugar.
I wish that were true. I put in 3 weeks in the 18 hour range in July and still managed to gain weight. No matter how much I train, I need to watch what I eat. I also need to eat a ton at night or I can’t sleep. Maybe that’s the problem.
Currently 6’1", 205lbs. I broke my collarbone in late spring last year and missed the tri season. I followed that with a nasty bout with plantar fasciitis that pretty much plagued me from late summer through this last March. Not being able to train where I wanted to be left me depressed and I developed some pretty crappy habits that I wanted to be rid of.
My method started with myfitnesspal.com and a one-month trial period. Going straight healthy will always be the better option but for me, I wanted to know exactly what I was doing wrong and where I needed to make adjustments. To begin, I tracked for a month eating normally and what I perceived to be “healthy” and analyzed my results. I casually tracked my calorie intake for the duration but didn’t worry about anything else until the end. During that time my weight stayed pretty much steady with no more than a 2-3lb swing in either direction.
What came out of it was the realization my nutrition wasn’t so bad but the balance was terrible. I wasn’t consistent from day-to-day on calorie intake and there were also several days looking at a fat or carb deficit that I was feeling in my training. I did notice that if I took a 3-4 day rolling average, it looked a lot better and the calorie intake sat right around 2750. I called that my base and currently work with a 1,000 calorie deficit plus whatever I need to refuel what I burn while training.
I began working out combinations that offer more ideal calorie breakdowns and built a rotation of key ingredients. I’m not saying it’s a schedule but having a pretty consistent two-week shopping list with one wildcard day a week (generally Thursday happy hours because it’s consistent and predictable) has really put me into a routine.