DeKalb needs help

I would have to agree w/Ron.... tri-training should help you lose the weight you want because of the diverse new muscles you will start to strengthen. You already have a strong base from the tennis [quads, endurance, cardio, coordination], all you're doing is adding in new disciplines by cross-training w/new sports.

I'll further piggy-back what Ron said about the nutrition.... eat more often, but smaller quantities. You really should concentrate on eating more balanced meals- avoid too many empty calories w/alcohol. Also, consider taking multi-vitamins to cover what you may not be getting.

Good luck and welcome to the sport of triathlons. Keep us updated w/your training and/or questions.

Milly

Welcome...I have recently started training for my first sprint in 6 months and have lost 40 pounds in the last year with still about 30 or so to go. I have found that keeping a food diary really helps, so you can see when and what you eat. After reading Bob Green's Make the Connection, a book he wrote with Oprah about exercise and weightloss I got even more motivated. I eat only whole grain breads and pastas, lots of fruits and vegs, and low fat proteins (chicken with no skin, beef and fish) and drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Usually more on intensive workout days. I don't eat anything after 7:30 at night and try not to eat starchy carbs at dinner(pasta, rice, potatoes). I don't follow any specific diet plan, I only try to eat nutritious food in small quantities. I keep alcohol to a glass of wine on the weekends. A treat of icecream once in a while- afterall, I am workingout 6 days a week, and still managing to lose 2 pounds a week. I do take a multi vitamin and extra calcium/magnesium. Good luck with your training and weight loss. I have found that good/smart eating starts to be more important the more serious I become about being a triathlete.
Dolly

Hi Erika - Welcom - DeKalb is right down the road from the tri-state region (IA-WI-IL) go by there on the way to Chicago. Short rules for nutrition that helped me. If it's white, or in a can or a box - don't eat it - and the more colors the better. Greatest appetite suppressant is free - water carry a bottle around all day. I use a bit of propel and water. (U Michigan study showed that athletes drank more water if it was just slightly flavored / sweetened. Propel is too sweet for me = so a bit of propel in a water bottle does the trick.) The suggested eight glasses a day thing didn't cut it for me - but keeping the propel bottle around I can sip all day and get more than enough water. The more meals - less food also works.

Ok, this is what I have found out. We are roughly the same age. I too am a 22 year old college student. I have found out that by training for triathlons, I'm hungry all the time. However, instead of craving sweet foods like candy, chocolate, and what not. I eat more of the starchy foods like crackers, pasta, breads. I find myself sitting down to eat a sandwich or something like that about every 3 to 5 hours. When you start training your metabolism will jump up there. Being a tennis player, you should be in pretty good shape anyways, so it should be no big deal. Plus you don't want to lose too much weight that you are losing muscle. You want to have energy stores saved up for races and longer training days. Just give the training a try and see where it takes ya. Hope this helps. Sometimes my posts end up looking like random thoughts, but I'm too lazy to go back and change them. Good luck with your running/triathlons.

Cory

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Hey, welcome.

I totally agree with all above.

» Calculate how many calories you eat a day. (you can use the info on http://www.fitday.com)
» And calcultate how many you need a day on http://www.worldar.com/calc/11.html(this is how many you need to keep your weight steady, so you should lower the calculated amount to lose weight!)
» If you are training a while and do not lose any weight, lower your daily intake of calories a bit and look again what happens.
» To avoid losing muscle, eat enough protein (they say approx. 1 gram a pound bodyweight)


Have fun training,

Loran

My experience, as I get deeper into endurance traininig, is I have intense cravings for protein. Meat!!! I've always eaten very little meat (both from inclination and for budget concerns), but find now that I've got to have MEAT, and soy protein doesn't do it for me!!

This, obviously, is not a scientific (or even helpful comment) but just thought I'd express the sentiment that surprised me. It is very important that you get enought protein, so that you don't lose muscle mass, though!! I'll try to follow !! Dutch Boys !! formula.

Dana :-)