Daily caloric decrease & the newest member of the Santa Fe children's swim team

Daily caloric decrease & the newest member of the Santa Fe children's swim team

A couple weeks ago I hit a weight I never really believed I'd be able to achieve. 190. For the 4 years before that I'd been trying my best to lose weight while triathlon training & racing. The best I'd been able to do was 227 a couple times, & one crash diet that got me down to 211. Nine months after that crash diet my weight promptly shot up to 256, which unfortunately was right before my failed attempt at the Silverman Iron distance triathlon in Nov 07.

To reward myself for getting to 190 pounds I raised my daily calories from 1900 to 2200 a day. After that I was still losing weight consistently, just at a slightly slower rate. After I raised my calories I was not nearly as hungry. I was more content & comfortable throughout the day. After my last 2 speedy race performances I've decided I want to try to get to 175 pounds & I want to get there a little quicker than I was wanting to when I decided to increase my calories to 2200 a day. So starting today I have gone back to 1900 calories a day while replacing 50 calories for every 100 I burn. I've been hungry all day, but the juice is worth the squeeze. I'm eating unlimited amounts of raw veggies to combat that hunger. The veggies are making it tolerable, but not necessarily comfortable. I did this for 4 months, November through April with great success, 67 pounds of success to be exact. I'm hoping to get the same results as before, probably a little slower because the lower I get the slower I seem to lose. But I'm ok with that because I have allot less weight to lose now. I mean dang, I'm only 15 pounds from my ULTIMATE goal! Last time I was 175 I was a 14 year old freshman.

With the exception of the last 3 weeks when the Geneva Chaves Community center's pool closed for resurfacing I've done more swimming in the last 6 months than the 4 years before that combined. I've made decent gains, but I swim alone so I'm sure I'm just getting better at swimming with poor form. I've tried to find a masters group to swim with, but the only 2 in Santa Fe swim from 6am-7am. Because of my work schedule I can't swim then. So I've had no other choice but to continue practicing on my own. Today the local Santa Fe children's swim team called The Santa Fe Seals were practicing while I swam. They seem to be at the pool the same time I swim most everyday. So today as I was getting taken to school by a bunch of 7-18 year old's an idea was born! Since their practice time is perfect for my schedule perhaps they'd allow an old slow guy to practice with them. I asked their coach, at first he looked at me & smiled as if I was pulling his leg. The smile quickly faded once he realized I was still straight faced waiting for an answer. After a moment of contemplation he said sure. So I'll be practicing with the Santa Fe seals, a childrens swim team from here on out. Hopefully I'm not to old to pick up some of the children's swimming skills that made those little guys so dang fast!!! Seriously, there are some very fast swimmers on that team. Many of them aren't even tall enough to touch their legs to the floor when they sit on the bleachers, yet they can out swim me easily. Although I'm elated for the opportunity I won't be telling any of my friends I'm the newest member of a children's swim team. Ha, the things I'd do for speed.