First Timer....

Welcome Dan! Yes, be sure to slowly increase your training. A good rule of thumb is to increase 10% a week. As far as nutrition, there are many different options. I personally follow the Body For Life nutrition and have really transformed myself with it. In general, try to eat 5-6 smaller meals a day.

Great start and remember that we are all here to help each other out, so if you have a question just fire away!

Still Tri'n,
Michael

Hello Dan,

Welcome aboard! You have joined a very positive group of fitness minded people. I have also recently joined and love it already.

Anyways, I also eat 5-6 smaller meals per day as I started a weight reduction program 3-4 months ago. Also, drinking water for almost all my liquid intake instead of juice/milk cut out a lot of unnecessary calories. I do go a bit overboard though as I now count every calorie and log it electronically for accurate nutritional breakdowns and compare to my daily caloric expediture, etc. But basically, I follow a modified Zone diet targetting 40%/35%/25% carb/fat/protein. Also I stay away from processed sugars/starches/trans fats as much as possible by eating more raw/steamed whole foods like organic fruits and vegetables. It is not as hard as it seems and I still eat a fair amount of fast/processed food. However, since most of what I eat is much healthier my weight loss has been fairly constant. I started Aug at 185lbs and now I am down to almost 165 and still dropping. For me personally, the commitement with starting my tri training began with getting a good grasp on my nutrition. It takes some extra work but it is well worth it. Just walking into a health food store, I started substituting what I was already eating with healthier alternatives. Yes, they are more expensive but that is why the cheap stuff is worse for your nutrition - it is cheaper to make, etc. I get excited just walking into my local Whole Foods market, yikes I'm addicted.

Good luck. Keep your local group engaged and motivated and they will definitely keep you on the program. I wish I had a local group to train with, aha I need to find a local tri club ...

Lee

Edited by speedlee 2003-12-16 2:20 PM

This user's post has been ignored.

Thanks for the info! I'm curious what you use to electronically record your intake/calories?

One time previously I tried to increase my metabolism by eating alot of little meals during the day. It seemed like I just ate all the time and I was adding weight instead of burning it up!

I must say my diet may be my biggest challenge in this whole endeavor. Between being a really busy guy and often only eating once or twice a day (and usually towards the end of the day), and not always eating good, this could be a challenge.

Thanks for the encouragement!

I am going to join up with the local masters program after I've been in the pool a few weeks. I think I need to reaquaint myself with swim workouts before I start training with them.

I'll keep you all posted...

Where can I find some information on the "Body for Life" program? What sort of program is it?

On one hand I want avoid the carbs. On the other hand I read that a good diet for endurance training involves lots of complex carbs. I am not a nutrition expert (b elieve me, I'm FAR, FAR from it). I went to GNC for some advice and felt like the young guy there was just loading me up withall sorts of stuff that may or may not have been what I really needed...

Dan

A lot of great advice here. I drink 1/2 to 1 gallon of water a day and it helps keep you feeling full. Good advice on juice/soda, etc. The only drinks besides water for me are coffee and iced tea with Splenda, no sugar. Planning is another great tip. When I am on serious diet (taking break until Jan, but still eating good 75%), I will grill chicken breasts on Sunday and put in containers for the week. ALso chop up veggies and put in bags for meals, etc. Stay away from as much sugar (fructose, etc) and processed foods as you can. I will also use Myoplex Lite shakes on days when don't have enough food for convenience.

I have done the Atkins diet in the past and did lose weight, but I also lost a lot of muscle and had energy for the day, but not energy for training. The idea of no carbs is to stop the insulin spikes. With good carbs and 5-6 small meals, you can still stop the insulin spikes and have good energy. Of course, next question, what are good carbs BFL gives you lists of foods to choose from for each meal. It's not a complete list, but a good start. There is also a recipe book out. You can still have some great meals. Sorry if I promote BFL too much, but it has changed my life. I am not affilated with them or get money from them :-) You can either buy the book or go to http://www.bodyforlife.com You can also see what I ate from my web site @ http://www.csi-inc.com/~cam/bfl/index.php Go to challenge #1 for a more strict plan.

As far as GNC, you have to be careful. I am lucky and have gotten to know the guy who wons the one closest to me and I have gotten great advice without him pumping me for every supplement :-) I take the following: Whole food vitamins, Fish and body oils (for Omegas and my bad left wrist), and triflex (chondroitin, glucosamine & ???) for joints and my bad wrist. When lifting heavy weights to gain muscle, creatine, Whey protein and N02 have been great. And as said above, Myoplex lite shakes when can't get 6 meals a day in. You don't have to take a lot of supplements. Did you know that fat burners only increase fat loss <5%. Some do help with cravings and energy though. If on a budget, I have seen people have great results with no supplements but a multi-vitamin.

Another thing that helped me tremendously was journaling. TRack everything you eat and all your training. I used the BFL Sucecss Journal at first and when that was done, I made my own. For me, when I had to write down junk food, I found it easier to resist it. I also did my web site for public accountability that helped me.

Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions.

Edited by cameronw 2003-12-17 6:27 AM

For the electronic log of my nutritional program:

http://www.24hourfitness.com

I use the Fitness Tracking for "eClub members" on the 24Hour Fitness site. I am not sure if you have to be club member or not? I wasn't for a while and I still had access to the site. It is very detailed on providing tracking logs for vitals, cardio, resistance, activities and nutrition. The long-term charting is awesome. It does require a fairly meticulous program of measureing your food intake but I get a detailed breakdown of exactly what nutrients I eat everyday. It was especially helpful on balancing my carbs/fat/protein averages against my daily caloric intake/expenditure. I have been using it solid since Aug. It keeps me on track toward my goals.

Whatever you choose, take it slow and stick with it. Too drastic of a change may frustrate you and you may yo-yo back and forth. Don't cut your calories too low for loss. I didn't get anywhere on 2000-2200/day, even with a killer cardio workout schedule. I increased my caloric intake (2500-2700/day) and then started loosing again. Also, I've found you need to mix it up and keep it varied or your body will plateau w/ both the kinds of food and the workout regimen. My body seems to adapt quickly? A body building friend of mine recommended cutting down 500 cals during the week but keep to 3k on the weekends and that may trick my body into loosing during the week with less quick adaption, but I haveen't tried it yet? Advice on letting your body rest (one/two days per week, one week per month, etc.) is also very valid. And I've found gettinga good nights rest is crucial. Nights I don't I stop loosing weight no matter how hard I work. On top of a good 8 hours I now take 1hr naps a couple times a week, especially after a solid workout. (Oh and sorry, being a stay at home dad gives me a little more flexibility with the scheduling ... let's see if I can keep it up when I get back to work?) Just my 2 cents, I'm finding out the hard way...

Goodluck, Lee