I just recently started swimming competitively again in september and once again re-attained my national standards after 4 years of not swimming, however one problem that I have encountered is now with the upcoming triathlon season I weigh alot more than I should, mainly because of swimming. I currently weigh 196 LBS and measure 6ft.3 inches. My diet is very healthy however a little inconsistant seeing as how im a big guy and need to eat, but sometimes I find myself eating 5 meals a day, which during my swimming season was totally normal. Now that I am trying to reduce the amount of food that I eat daily, losing weight seems even more impossible. I have been trying to atleast shed a couple pounds in the past 3 weeks but I only lost 1 pound since I decided to reduce the amount of food i eat daily. If anybody could share some insight on how to lose weight, mostly muscle mass I would greatly appreciate it, cause it’s going to kill me on the bike and run this season. If anyone also has any low calorie diets they follow, please, if you could include a sample of what your meal history is like over a week or so please do.
FWIW My weight, height, and diet (and perhaps even swimming background) sound similar to yours -although I am nowhere near my national standards of (gulp) 1990.
I find that once I increase my run mileage in the spring some of the weight comes off - if you are interested in reducing your calorie intake there are HUNDREDS of previous threads on this.
i think you’re worrying too much. go and get your bf measured by an experienced person (with callipers) and see what it is. if it’s high, then worry. but in all acutality, reducing your body fat will also reduce some muscle. eating 5 times a day is optimal, but you need the right ratio of proteins to fats to carbs. if you’re interested i know of an excellent resource who can help you with your diet plan. PM if you’d like to know more–it’s free, but i don’w want to put all of the information here if you’re not interested.
C’mon. A few extra hamburgers a day and all those shiny trophies with horses on top…
At 196 and racing elite I imagine that you aren’t carrying much extra non-muscular weight. Are you swimming more than 3 days a week? If you trade some of that mileage for running you might drop some of that weight. Also, 5 meals a day seems like alot. Have you spent a few days adding up total caloric intake (and protein) and seeing where that is relative to expense.
Finally, I found that after years of conditioning (the Pavlovian type) from competitive swimming I felt that it was a moral imperative to eat enourmous quantities of food after any workout (like back in the dining halls). This was hard to outgrow… perhaps is an element for you too?
I’ve found that when I try to lose weight, it does not come off gradually but in periodic bursts. I go for weeks holding at the same weight than all of a sudden I’ll lose a couple pounds in a week.
It is going to be hard for you to lose overall muscle mass quickly. As you increase your running and cycling while cutting down on your swimming, your upper body is not going to shrink as fast as your lower body beefs up.
Stick with it. I weighed 195 when I quit swimming.
Normally swimming I was doing 8 practices a week averaging 4500 - 6000 meters a practice and 3500 - 4000 meters in taper. so I was in the water alot, and now since my season has been over I’ ve been doing 4 practices a week of approx 4000-5000 meters a practice.
Its a long process to cut down that extra muscle mass, while retaining and gaining fitness. About 7 years ago I fell into about a year and a half of lifting heavily with my fellow platoon commanders who were coming off of college sports careers…I gained about 12-14 lbs of lean body mass, mostly upper body, and went from my normal racing weight of 165 to about 180lbs, while still caliper-ing out at 5-6% bodyfat…I was super ripped, but SLOW…I finally stopped lifting after I ran a 1/2 marathon at 1:22:something…despite being in super running shape (I was running 70-80 mile weeks continuously at that point since I didn’t have much chance to ride on deployment) During that 1/2 marathon all I could think of was it seemed like I was carrying a rucksack of extra weight… I stopped lifting and its taken me 6 years now to get back down to the 160-165lb range for racing.
Bottom line…take the long view…if you try to go faster…you’re going to suffer poor fitness and risk overtraining.
Have you started running and biking in big volume yet? I’m a former swimmer and started last about year same as you 6’3" and about 190. I’m now down to 165. The key for me has been running and biking, but also a consistent non-junk-food diet. No more beer (except a couple on the weekend) or soda. My typical food intake during the week is the following
Morning: PBJ Sandwich (sometimes 2 eggs)
Mid-Morning: snack Banana w/ Almonds
Lunch: Truckey Sandwich
Mid-Afternoon: snak apple w/Almonds
Dinner: Chicken with Rice or Pasta or similar
I only drink water, propel and during work-outs Gatorade.
I don’t eat burgers or anything fried. No candy. No bad stuff in general. This combined with the training volume helped shave off 25 pounds (mostly fat but also some muscle).
thanks neotri, my running volume and biking volume is a bit more since the tri season started, and as for eating i just need soft of a right direction.
I put the scale in the basement. That way I don’t step on it everyday. Matter of fact I haven’t stepped on it in over 3 weeks. I know I’m losing weight by looking in the mirror. The removal of the scale removes some frustration of slow weight loss.
If you already cut back food intake and your gradually increasing bike and run time you’ll lose the weight. In my case, it took my 6 years to put on 60 pounds. And at the rate I’m going it will take 6 years to lose it correctly.
No silver bullet when shedding weight and then to actually keep it off.