Anyone who has ever read my blog knows I struggle with my weight. Weight is extremely important to endurance athletes. As Lance Armstrong says, "Skinny isn't a body type, it a tactical necessity."
I've always competed in triathlons at a much heavier weight than most triathletes. My race weight from late 2003 to early 2007 was 227 pounds. The last year my weight has been a yo-yo of up & downs, peaks & valleys. From as high as 256 in Nov 2007 to 188 pounds in May 2008. I've been wondering why the vast fluctuation when I'd been at such a consistent weight for about 4 years? My workouts have been better than ever, so what gives?
While reading my favorite blog Couch-Potato-to-Ironman I believe I found the answer. Couch Potato said he went to a nutritionist specializing in triathlon. She told him he was causing himself problems because he was trying to live off 2100 calories a day. She made him increase that to 2800 because he works out so much & so hard. 2100 calories is exactly how many I'd been trying to sustain myself on for the last year of struggle & yo-yo dieting.
Because my calories were too low for my activity level I'd be on my diet for 1-5 days & then have such horrible cravings I couldn't control my eating. I'd binge, get back on track, then fall off the wagon again, then repeat over & over again. Of course with me there is an emotional aspect to my eating. But to be honest, 3/4's of the time my overeating was from physical cravings, not emotional. Now that I see the error of my ways it makes perfect sense. Even to the point that I am questioning myself with, "How did I not see that before now?" But hey, better late than never. I'd rather learn a hard lesson than not learn at all.
On Sunday I raised my daily calories from 2100 a day to 2500. Plus I eat 50 calories for every 100 I burn from exercise. I'm five days into my new daily calorie experiment & I'm doing great! I'm a little hungry, but it's at a tolerable level. I don't have that feeling of being horribly ravenous like before. I think I'm on to something here & I'm REALLY EXCITED. There is no doubt in my mind why I came across this knowledge 2 weeks after I started to pray for God to help me with my weight. He answers prayers to those who trust in Him. I give ALL glory to God! Through him anything is possible!
Both my Garmin 305 GPS heart rate monitor & my Polar F-6 heart rate monitor stopped working. How ironic both would be not working the same week. There 's a$99 flat rate plus shipping & handling to fix any & all problems with the Garmin. $18-$79 to fix the Polar. Hope they send them back quick. I feel blind training without them!
All things considered It's been a great week & I'm more pumped up about multi-sport than I have been in a long while. I believe with my new found diet knowledge I'll be down to a fast & furious racing weight with less of the pain & agony from in no time!!!
Thanks for tuning in!
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