MightyMojoMentorGroup -- (Full House!) (Page 12)

Hello everyone,

In reading the bio's, I think there are quite a few of us that wanted to lose a few pounds to make training/racing more enjoyable The times in my life where I've been the most successful in losing weight has been when I've logged my food and kept track of calories. I'm going to start doing that next week with a plan of getting some weight off before my heavier training starts up for the tri season. I've lost some weight in the last 3 years and I'd really like to drop a bit more and be done! I know BT has a 'weight loss' section but I thought it would be fun if anyone here was interested in joining me so we could hold each other accountable and motivated. Anyone interested?

We could check in here or make a FB group to not clutter this board. Let me know if anyone wants to join me!

If anyone is on Facebook and wants to 'friend' me, Johanne Volante Roberts. It's fun to see pictures from tri's, etc.

We're off to the Sharks game tonight for some hockey fun. Go Sharks!

Johanne

All right!  Done with the "admin" stuff, time to post something related to the fun of S/B/R....

I've got a buddy who is a huge fitness nut and does an incredible job on keeping himself in shape. He gave me some help on the losing weight / diet front.  Keys were as follows.  First, it's all about discipline.  Second, make sure you track what you put in.  Monitor the carbs, fats, and proteins.  You can do the research on what is the "right" mix, key is that you need to be aware of what is going in.  Third, you need to take the time to prepare -- pack a lunch, pre-cook a meal, measure out the proper portions.

Took his advice to heart and cooked up 40 oz. of chicken breast, mushrooms, garlic, peppers, broccoli, a leak, cayenne, chicken broth, sprouts and some other veggies this evening.  Broke it out in to 5 containers for my lunches for the next five days.  Also have some frozen bags of veggies that I'll split up/nuke to augment the 5 packs.  It actually looks good and is healthy!!!

Fun reading the posts / getting me re-energized each day!

Glad to see Santa (or whomever) was good to most everyone.

Swam 8,000 yards over the past two days. Today there were initially two of us: me and the guy who was an All American and went to Olympic trials! Humbling to say the least. Details in my training log if you're sadistic.

 I think there are quite a few of us that wanted to lose a few pounds to make training/racing more enjoyable  

 but I thought it would be fun if anyone here was interested in joining me so we could hold each other accountable and motivated. Anyone interested?

We could check in here or make a FB group to not clutter this board. Let me know if anyone wants to join me!

Johanne

Glad to see Santa (or whomever) was good to most everyone.

Swam 8,000 yards over the past two days. Today there were initially two of us: me and the guy who was an All American and went to Olympic trials! Humbling to say the least. Details in my training log if you're sadistic.

 Keys were as follows.  First, it's all about discipline.  Second, make sure you track what you put in.  Monitor the carbs, fats, and proteins.  You can do the research on what is the "right" mix, key is that you need to be aware of what is going in.  Third, you need to take the time to prepare -- pack a lunch, pre-cook a meal, measure out the proper portions.

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Great advice croixfan. 

Just finished Bob Seebahor's book on Nutritional Periodization.  Really good book.  I listened to him on an imtalk podcast earlier this year (great speaker).  He was the USA's sports nutritionist for the last Olympic squad.  Really contradicts  the "carb loading" fade for endurance athletes on its head.  He's an advocate for metabolic efficiency (making your body good at burning fat for energy rather than stored carbs.).  He says that you do that by controlling your blood sugar.

I'm trying to rap my head around all he ideas but that are very similar to what croixfan just said.  Protein (chicken, fish, lean beef), carbs (fruits & veggies - no pasta), good fat (olive oil, nuts, avocado).

I'm going to see if I can find Seebahor's book.   Chris Carmichael also teaches nutritional periodization.    In '99 he was named U.S. Olympic Committee's Coach of the Year.  I studied nutrition in my early years and like what he says - same stuff I knew 40 years ago.  It kind of makes me laugh when I hear some of the new information that is being 'discovered' these days - yeah, there are some new discoveries but the basic science of nutrition doesn't change.  

I agree with you on the metabolic efficiency.   My ability to burn fat for energy has increased quite a bit over 3 years but it happened as a result of a cycling training program from my kinesiologist after V02 max/anaerobic threshold testing.   Still working on increasing it.  But I also know that controlling blood sugar is REALLY important and one of the 3 pillars of good health.  

In 2007 my Aerobic Base (maximum HR at which I burn fat as dominant fuel) was 3.7 calories per minute with total calories at 7.5/min.  at a HR of 122.    Last year my test results were 5 fat calories/min with total calories of 9.6/min at a HR of 134.     

I was also able to increase my anaerobic threshold (maximum sustainable rate at which I burned calories (fat AND carbs) my highest sustainable exercise intensity)) from a HR of 136 to 144.   It's not bad, but I am still working on increasing my AT.   Hope to get it a bit closer to my max cycling HR of 159.  I know that for elite athletes these 2 numbers are very close.

It's nice to be able to get tested but I don't do it every year because of cost and once you have had it done, and know how the body works, you CAN get a pretty good feel for where you are.   I pretty much guessed that my new AT was about 142-143 before I was tested last year.    

My V02 max is 49.5 ml/kg/min which is above average for my age, which of course makes me happy.   Apparently this doesn't increase because it is largely genetically predetermined and has little to do with the efficiency of our metabolism, but it can decrease.  

One of the biggest things this test showed, both times, is that my legs gave out before my heart, and I know I need some strength training.   Just can't seem to get it done on my own, so have signed up for some PT sessions at a club here where they work with athletes including triathletes and focus on metabolic training and efficiency.   I'm hoping it works.  

Might have gotten a bit side-tracked here.    Anyway, I'm all in for trying to drop some more weight! 

Anne