Weighing In
This blog has always been a bit of a motivational tool for me. If I set a goal, and write about it here, I am accountable to you. At least somewhat anyway. Usually the first thought that goes through my head when I DNF a race, or when I finish a race well, is something like “this should make a good blog post” or, “how am I going to explain THIS?”
So, with that in mind I have decided to go public with something I have never been very good at, nor ever very concerned with.
Weight loss.
I am a stocky guy. I blame my baseball playing past. When you spend all your time squatting, you tend to develop what is affectionally knows as “baseball butt”. Tall people can hide their baseball butt. Shorter people however, are not so lucky. But being a short stocky mountain bike racer is not always a bad thing. I can go a long time and eat less than you smaller types. Which means I don’t have to carry as much food. I can carry heavier loads and not feel like the pack is pulling me to the ground on a steep climb. I don’t get as cold as you skinny people, so I don’t have to wear as many layers. And I can coast downhill faster, due to the extra 30-40 lbs. However, some of those advantages I would be willing to sacrifice for the pluses that come with being leaner. Like being able to climb long hills without those extra 30-40 lbs. Am I going to try and lose 30 lbs? No. Way.
Trying to losing weight usually go like this for me:
Start new diet.
2 days later I feel ornery and famished.
Give up and eat tasty stuff until I am dizzy.
Rinse. Repeat.
Here’s the catch though. I have not ever really put forth serious efforts. Usually in the normal course of riding and training I am able to get down to a respectable racing weight. However, with a little extra effort I am hoping I can shed a few more pounds, get a little leaner, and maximize my power to weight ratio. Whatever that is. I hear smarter people than me using that term, so it must be important.
The question is then, how am I going to do it?
Well, simple math is how. Since simple math was the only kind I could ever do, I think it will be the most effective way to shed the accumulated winter ice cream and cookies. That is, I am going to eat less than I burn. I am going to attempt to appear smarter than I am again, by demonstrating this with a (nonsensical?) formula:
C=calories consumed
B=calories burned
W=current weight
G=goal weight
W+C-B=G
See how simple and smart that looks? Me neither.
Each day, ala the Fat Cyclist, regardless of the content of my post, I will include my current weight. You then can heckle or encourage me as is appropriate.
The goal is to be 170 lbs ( I know, I know, you feathery types are gasping that my goal weight is still 20 lbs heavier than you are!) for the Moab Rim Ride on March 29th 2008. So how much weight do I need to lose then? This morning I stood and on the scale, and it groaned 186. So 16 lbs between now and March 29th. By the way, I was 182 going into Camp Lynda. Somehow all those miles turned into poundage. It must have been the mass quantities of food I ate before, during and after the rides.
As a reference, last year I was around 175 for the race season. So 170 will put me 5 lbs lighter than I ever was in 2007.
Let the deprivation begin!
15 Comments
the original big ring
January 17, 2008yer reading my mind.
good idea to put your weight at the end of your post – nothing like being heckled!
Ed
January 17, 2008This is gonna be fun!
You did your core workout today, right?
Ed
Cellarrat
January 17, 2008Could alway go with a tape worm?
seems I can’t get lower then 190 here so i’m in the same boat….
At least it well come in handy in the snow this weekend?
UltraRob
January 17, 2008I race well just below 170. I’m only 5′ 8″ so even that’s big compared to the climber types but I’ve been measured with over 150 lbs lean mass. Right now I’m at 203. I don’t put much stock in BMI but it says not only am I overweight but I’m obese. I went from training 20-30 hours a week for RAAM to riding 2-3 hours a week for the 6 months after. I’ve been around 200 pounds for the last year. I must get it off.
I find that for the first couple days after long back to back days my weight goes up. Some things I’ve heard is that my glycogen stores are loaded up or that my muscles have inflammation. It does seem after a few days my weight drops back down.
Matt
January 17, 2008Hey Adam –
Hairball hooked me up on Diet Power (www.dietpower.com) and I’ve enjoyed using it as a food grading tool. It’s a calorie counter but it also guide you to better food choices if you shoot for a high daily score. Taught me a lot – like the best example I use is a typical Subway meal. I USED to order a 6″ sub and chips, and then sometimes would still feel hungry so I’d order a couple of cookies. Doh! Calorie intake spiked well above 1000. No I just order a 12-in sub and I can’t eat the whole thing. No more than 700-calories.
It takes a little bit of work but it does do the trick.
Oh, and say good bye to sugar!
One thing for you too is that over a 3-4 year period you should lose some lbs magically if you stick with endurance trend. You have so much muscle that eventually you are going to start wearing down your upper body mass. Just don’t lift more than 1 rep upper body and stopp building mass there. No sh!t.
M
Matt
January 17, 2008errr…set not rep. 🙂
UltraRob
January 17, 2008I’ve used DietPower off and on for the last 5 years. When I use it consistently and pay attention, I eat healthier and my weight goes down. I don’t log my food and my weight goes up.
uncadan8
January 17, 2008186? I’d be ecstatic to be there! Incidentally, that is my goal weight for LOTOJA this year. I’m lumbering around at 260 right now. Talk about deprivation! I’ve dropped almost 60 pounds already over the last couple years.
I look forward to the heckling over at Fatty’s place.
Jason
January 17, 2008Good luck Adam. You’ll do it. Just don’t get run down or sacrifice strength for weight loss. I tried that in the past and just got sick all the time.
Best of luck.
j
Dave Harris
January 17, 2008You are a brave soul. Way to hang it all out.
Dietpower rocks. Fitday is a similar online tool that has a free version. I strongly recommend religious use of Dietpower for your quest and adopt a diet that puts you at no more than a 500 calorie deficit/day. That may be too much even. It will educate you. I recently popped it open and was surprised at the stuff going in my piehole. Jeez.
Get friendly with a veggie steamer.
Go with confidence amigo. Lots of folks talk about losing power if they lose weight – but for every cyclist I’ve seen lose weight and had their power files in hand, w/kg has only increased with weight loss. IOW, I have never seen reduced weigth result in less performance.
Sure sounds like a good movie subject to me.
Dave Harris
January 17, 2008Oh, and the +4 lbs post camp? One word: bloat. Happens all the time after enduros, it means your body has some repairing to get done. Roughly 3600 calories equates a pound, so to gain 4 lbs you would have needed to ingest about that much each day for 4 days above and beyond your basal metabolic rate (BMR) + calories burned. BMR + calories burned was roughly 6500/day for you so that would put your daily intake about 10,000/day. That’d be challenging!
dicky
January 17, 2008I’d suggest lite beer, but…unnnhh….
forget that.
Skinny guys get all the chicks. Keep up the hard work.
soutahrider
January 17, 2008Start reading the ingredient labels.
Watch out for High fructose corn syrup and partially hydrodenated oils. Start looking for the word natural on your food. Although natural doesn’t always mean good, its a start. Read the ingredients. Cut the crap, you’ll be suprised. Fuller longer and no gross feeling aftermath. Smaller meals more often too. That should get you there. oh, and suger free Jell-o for emergencies. I know it’s got a bunch of $hit in it but 0 cals.
KC
January 18, 2008Not to be a nay sayer, but to loose 16 pounds in 8 weeks, you would have to loose 2 pounds per week. as a pound of fat equals 3,500 calories, you would need a daily caloric deficit of 1000 calories per day. that is a lot of calories! I wish you the best of luck–not that you are going to need it.
gwadzilla
January 28, 2008maybe I should become more vocal about my desire to me less grand
blog about my weight
and my effort to lose weight
than maybe I would do something about it
instead of just complaining about it
-jg
6’4″ tall
~235
baseball but without ever playing an organized game of baseball