Two weeks ago, I decided to do a little experiment- to learn about portion size, what foods are really worth calorifically and what the level of exercise I do really affords me extra food wise, if anything.
I have been running for about 4 years now and my weight hasn't really changed. My diet is generally good, but like anyone's could always be better. So, this experiment is two-fold, to learn the above and to see if I can actually change the number on the scales.
Some background
When I trained for Paris, I was 78 kgs when I started and by race day I was 72 kgs. Interestingly I relied on carbohydrates for energy and was a gel and powerade user- more than likely more than I needed?
For New York I used a little more protein but still used a lot of gels and powerade style drinks. I didn't lose any weight until about 3 weeks before race day when I got down to 74kgs (after being back at about 78kgs since training had begun for that race).
My weight hasn't changed much, I hover around 76.5 most of the time, but I am 5'1" and I know I am carrying a lot of extra weight that I shouldn't be, but you would think that training for half marathons (and previously 2 marathons), I would have more success with weight loss.
For the NYC half, in the last 5 weeks of training, I significantly upped my protein intake and used Isowhey shakes with oats (I blended oats in my magic bullet to make a powder to mix with the protein shake powder). I dare say this helped my performance, and of course recovery. Although the scales hadn't changed, my clothes were started to get loose.
One of my other focuses was to also reduce my gel intake in training and rely less on powerade or other endurance drinks.
I have succeeded in doing this, something I am quite proud of.
So there you have the background.
I've given myself 1500 calories a day to work with and when I want more food, I have to go out an exercise- double benefit really as I am still trying to keep race fit running wise.
I have been tracking my food intake religiously, including milk in coffee, spreads etc. It's quite interesting actually. It's not to be obsessive but it is to actually find out more about the food I eat.
It makes you think a bit more about what you eat before shoving it in your pie hole (1 Tim Tam is 95 calories!!!).
My friend is a trainer, so she has been looking at my daily notes and giving feedback. We've changed the timing of certain foods as well. In the first week I noticed a change of 1.8 kgs on the scales (I started at 76.4kgs), possibly a bit of water weight, but still a different number and a smaller one at that.
I've been making a lot more food (I make a lot of my own food anyway), but have been preparing more stuff for taking to work to avoid trips to the bakery/sushi shop. I have also been measuring EVERYTHING- yep that's right, so I can count servings.
It takes a bit of time but at least I know what I am eating.
I'll post some recipes when I can and note my progress so you can read along.
Currently, today, I am weighing in at 74.1 kgs (on Friday I was 73.8, carbohydrate deprived after a very high protein week, but with some extra carbs for racing on Saturday and Sunday, seem to have gone backwards a little, but it is still a loss).
#healthyeating
#piehole
#dasherlife
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