Day 1 of the healthy eating plan is complete (in my mind at least). I'm excited. Salad. Woo.
In all seriousness, I've a lot of pounds to shift in a relatively short space of time (46Ibs, to be precise) as my primary target for May 15th this year. So have a plan outlined with the following objectives.
I am targeting a 1.5kg (3Ibs) week weight loss, as my stretch target to reach my stretch target weight of 90Kg, for the next 20 weeks. Fuck! Looking at the maths in this, that means burning an additional 7000 calories a week from my typical weekly intake to maintain my current weight. I can easily burn 2000+ calories on my weekly long run on its own (but have to ensure I don't eat extra to compensate for the hard workout).
The Problem
Now, weight loss is not linear. It is generally harder to do, the more weight you lose. It slows down over time, and this causes a dilemma.
The problem is that as I progress, I have to train harder over time (periodization), and the trap that I have fallen into in the past is the harder I train, the harder I eat. You burn a vast amount of calories when out hiking a trail with pack for 4-6 hours. That means you get hungry. This is why so may marathon runners and ultra challengers end up putting weight on. Hell, ultra, marathons are described as one giant eating competition! The reason being is that you can easily burn 20-30,000 calories during a single 100km event.
Energy management on challenge day is everything! Things can go horribly wrong for you when you crash...
Last year's training had me getting to 35km runs by one stage before the injury. I lost some weight but nowhere near enough for what I really wanted/needed to get to. The moment I was injured I also put all the lost weight back on in a matter of only three months.
Diet really is everything. Especially when you love carbs. Of course, it's amazing to eat what you want when you are running but I discovered that being carb sensitive meant that weight loss was much less than I was aiming for as I was needing the carbs to keep my energy levels up. This brings me to the solution I'm now embarking on...
My Solution - Get Fat Adapted Having done a chunk of research, and after listening to Mark Sisson's (A very famous ultra endurance runner) 'Primal Endurance' book a few months back the solution is pretty clear... I need to convert my body (which is very carb sensitive / insulin resistant) to switching off from burning sugar for fuel, and into burning bodyfat instead. This is something I innately remember from previous younger days of training. You cannot do this healthily by simply cutting calories as your body is awesome at adapting to changes (it loves homeostasis). You need to train it to prioritise fat for energy rather than sugars (glycogen to be precise). That requires a diet change and also the intensity at which you train to raise your MAF (maximum aerobic function). It means training aerobically rather than anaerobically and gradually building your aerobic base.
This follows the training protocol designed by Dr Phil Maffetone (Known as the Maffetone Method, which I'll cover more in the next post), and is used by countless endurance athletes around the world for the last two decades. In short it's training at a heart rate (no higher than 180 minus your age) which allows you to avoid burning any sugars (glycogen) for fuel, and which allows you to train for hours and hours simply from your body fat stores (in my case, weeks and weeks right now).
Slow and steady wins the race... It's also really good so as to avoid overtraining. burnout and injury (something I know a lot about). The hardest thing is changing the way I've trained through my life, which is high effort, high intensity, high frequency. Now it means means my solution is lots of low speed and low intensity exercise and high fat, veg, salad, protein diet (no sugar, carb, etc). It's a long road ahead but time to trust the process...
...just the thing for a busted up, out of shape, old guy.
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