Cold Turkey

I’ve finally had it with my weight not going anywhere (except for up). All winter my weight crept up, which is pretty normal since my activity level was zilch. But a few months ago, I slowly started working out again and eventually got my volume up a tad, but yet my weight refuses to budge. I told myself to give it time and that it’d eventually come around. A month or so later and no go.

So I’m going back to what’s tried and true. Dropping down to 1,500 to 2,000 calories a day until I hit my weight goals. I’m giving myself one good meal on my birthday and one good meal when I hit 160. Those two days, I’m allowed to go over that amount, but that’s it. Once I hit my target weight of 155 (in the early season), I’ll reevaluate.

I’ve read all the stuff about running huge calorie deficits and how your body learns not to process food and once you start eating again you gain all the weight back. But I’ve done this two years in a row and each time, I’m able to keep the weight off just fine when I resume a “normal” eating pattern. So despite what I’ve read, it’s hard to argue with what I know works.

I started my plan last Wednesday or Thursday and weighed in at 166. I’ll keep you all informed on my progress.

Oh… and I bought a new TV, one of my computers broke and I rebuilt it with Windows Media Center 2005 which is all kinds of cool, not made any progress with my bum Achilles tendon :( but have still been able to manage sub-8:30 pace for my weak three mile runs that I’m able to do :), been riding the trainer but absolutely can’t wait to start riding outside again, been swimming like a madman because it’s the only thing that’s climate controlled here and that doesn’t drive me mad, found out that one of the races that I already signed up and paid for is draft legal?! which I’m all sorts of pissed off about since they’re not doing refunds and they didn’t advertise it as being such when I signed up, and probably should go to bed soon before my hunger kicks in due to my original post topic above.

I am very, VERY sorry for slacking on reading and posting and will try and get better. My bum leg has me in a weird kind of funk where I just feel kind of detached from everything athletic. :(

21 Responses to Cold Turkey »»


Comments

  1. Sounds like a plan! Man, that’s some discipline and willpower ya got. Can I borrow some? :)

    Comment by Sara | 2006/03/22 at 07:07:42
  2. Hey, thats what works for me too. No tricks, just math and common sense. Good luck, I know you will make it to 155.

    Why does drafting make you want to withdraw? I always though drafting could really help me as I would be last out of the swim and be able to use others to pull ahead. Catch up, draft, catch my breath, catch up…

    Comment by William | 2006/03/22 at 07:22:09
  3. if it helps, i started at 165 with a target of 145, and am there.

    i ran a huge calorie deficit, with little training volume because the calories weren’t there to support it. lost some muscle — but, we know how to get that back!:

    make it happen.

    i know you can.

    ’cause you did it before, and now you’re an Ironman!

    [yes, i wrote you a poem, in a non Brokeback Mountain kinda way -- just to get you out of your funk!]

    Comment by bolder | 2006/03/22 at 08:01:36
  4. 1500-2000 sounds reasonable to me if that’s your net calorie intake. Hope you replace some of the calories burned during workouts. You can do it!!!!

    Comment by Linae | 2006/03/22 at 08:40:15
  5. That’s gross calorie intake, actually. Regardless of my physical activity for the day, all I get is 1,500-2000.

    It sucks, but it seems to work. :/

    Comment by Chris | 2006/03/22 at 09:06:10
  6. I’m in totally the same boat and have resorted to the same project. I hate it. But it does work…just keep your eyes on the prize and we’ll get there together… enough of the yo yo game!! it’ll be worth it later on…

    Comment by Spence | 2006/03/22 at 09:40:12
  7. Hey whatever works for you! I know my RMR and only add on the cals that I burn in exercise. So far, so good! I can’t wait to read about your progress. :)

    Take care of that ankle! That can be so frustrating.

    Comment by Jen | 2006/03/22 at 10:06:50
  8. Blogging is athletic? Cool….can i consider my blogging as cross trainnig time :D

    I have some ankle problems with my new runners too. A bit frustrating. Going ot keep in tabs of your weight lose b/c I aint’ losing a lb.

    Draft legal sucks……

    Comment by Cliff | 2006/03/22 at 10:24:25
  9. oh pls, chris we could care less about the topic of your post, we are just glad your posting.

    Comment by commodore | 2006/03/22 at 11:04:09
  10. Chris,

    Nice to see youre back.

    You’ve got plenty of time until your race so take it easy and get back into it. On the leg issue: I’m someone who almost always has leg problems when running. Since I’ve been doing some strength and core work, I’ve had almost no problems. It’s pretty amazing.

    I also think that the issue about weight returning following low calorie diets doesn’t really apply to you. Most people who have that problem aren’t training for an IM and so they keep their caloric expenditure constant without adding any exercise. If you’ve found that it works for you in the past, seems like a good idea to stick with it…

    A draft legal race could be kind of fun. I mean, I’ve never done one before, but since youre a good swimmer you’ll get out of the water with the leaders and then you can just sit on someone’s wheel for the bike ride. You’ll probably do really well…

    Mike

    Comment by mike | 2006/03/22 at 12:33:25
  11. glad to see you are doing ok still. good luck with the weight thing. i agree. for me, i have to cut calories. it just works for me. the whole calorie in vs. calorie out equation.

    hope the achilles gets to feeling better asap. take care.

    Comment by mipper | 2006/03/22 at 15:12:54
  12. Oh, I hear you, Chris. And you know what you’re doing. I need to follow suit. Especially since Bolder up there said he was down to 145. 145?! I can’t let that guy be skinnier than me. I gots work to do.

    Comment by Heather | 2006/03/22 at 15:36:57
  13. Okay - so the 4,000 calories a day I consume must be making me fat?

    Comment by Susan | 2006/03/22 at 19:45:22
  14. Sounds like a reasonable plan. I suspect you don’t have problems keeping the weight off because of your massive training volume. You can eat like a horse if you train for 15 hours a week.

    Bolder! How tall are you man? 145? That’s scary!

    Comment by keryn | 2006/03/23 at 20:40:03
  15. OMG we are SO MUCH alike! I’ve read all the same mess about you’re body will burn muscle, etc. etc. etc. slow your metabolism, but you know what, screw that. I’ll put the muscle back when I can go faster for being 15 pounds lighter. It’s worked in the past - so I totally feel you there. Was hovering at a weight forever eating the “training diet” - when I cut to 1500 cal a day, finally it started coming off.

    Hang in there, you’ll start feeling good again when the sun starts coming out… which will be soon. Plus the weightloss will give you some good momentum here pretty quickly, too.

    Comment by Wil | 2006/03/23 at 20:49:53
  16. I’m in pretty much the same boat. Trying to go from 165 to 145 by sometime in June; I am half way there. My trick is to get my running miles up to around 20 miles or more per week. Sadly I don’t have the discipline to count my caloric intake, though. The 40 wings Saturday night can’t help either. Hope you feel better soon.

    Comment by qcmier | 2006/03/27 at 22:29:59
  17. you type with your feet, too? ;)

    hope your leg feels better!

    by the way, the weight thing… you’re not on birth control are you? (and, yes, i know you’re a guy… it’s a joke) that’s why my weight doesn’t change no matter my diet or exercise level.

    Comment by Nytro | 2006/03/28 at 15:32:00
  18. Good plan! Starting is half the battle so you will get there. :)

    Nitro is right, it could be the birth control pills - they sneak up on ya!

    Comment by Kewl Nitrox | 2006/03/29 at 01:41:23
  19. I am trying this “3-hour diet” that Al Roker on the Today Show was doing. It’s eating a SMALL healthy thing every three hours, before your blood-sugar drops and causes you to go nuts & eat everything in sight (and then go looking for everything out of sight afterward!). It actually is working very well. I have stopped going INSANE and eating bags of candy or full boxes of cookies at night.

    I have FINALLY lost about 4 pounds in the past 3 weeks. Small difference, but I feel MUCH better.

    Comment by *jeanne* | 2006/03/30 at 21:55:34
  20. i am eating ginger altoids

    Comment by tineefob | 2006/04/02 at 20:57:49

Trackbacks & Pingbacks »»

  1. Pingback by chivalry.net » Rain, Rain, Go Away | 2006/04/30 at 08:16:33

    [...] On the weight front, I had four straight days weighing in at 160. So it’s taken a little over a month since my max weigh in this off-season, but I’ve managed to lose six pounds since then without really watching what I eat too much. I’ll be at race weight by September 10th. I haven’t even done any “hard” training yet. [...]

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