When an athlete comes to me and says they want to lose weight, there are a lot of things going through my head. Is this person losing weight for performance? For personal reasons? Do they have weight to lose? Is this the right time for them to lose weight? But when a person who wants to lose weight thinks about losing weight, they (typically) think of only one thing: counting/reducing calories to lose weight.
Aside from being a difference in perspective (me telling you how to lose weight v. you telling you), there are a lot of other things to consider outside of cutting calories. As an active athlete, you have exercise on your side…but it’s how you use that exercise and support your body through food that matters. Here are some general tips for you as you consider managing your weight.
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GENERAL STRATEGIES
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Number One: Know your Basal Metabolic Rate.
This is the base # of calories you burn in a given day. This is important to know not just to limit calorie consumption, but rather to have a baseline with which you can operate. If you need 2,000 calories a day and want to lose weight as an athlete, I suggest you eat the 2,000 calories and create the caloric deficit via exercise (not starving your body).
Number Two: Starving Your Body Doesn’t Work
- Over time, metabolic rate adjusts downward, almost calorie-for-calorie, to decreased fat consumption.
- Metabolic rate adjusts downward in response to low calorie diets and returns to normal levels very slowly, if at all after calorie intake returns to normal.
- Muscle is burned during periods of low calorie intake, resulting in huge decreases in metabolic rate. Muscle is our metabolic friend.
- Extended periods without eating (4 hours or more) activate lipogenetic enzymes which store calories in fat cells.
Number Three: More Fat (Even Good Fat) Won’t Help Your Cause
You will want to reduce fat consumption to moderately low level as it has minimal effect on your metabolic rate.
- Over time, metabolic rate adjusts upward with increased consumption of protein and carbohydrate, but not fat consumption.
- When protein and carbohydrate are stored as fat, the conversion process uses more than 25% of the calories.
Number Four: Choose Nutrient-Dense Foods over Calorie-Dense Foods
This could also be referred to as: don’t eat energy bars as a snack during your day! Instead of filling up on artificial foods (like energy bars) that pack tons of calories into smaller servings, chose foods high in both fiber and water…yes, this means fruits and vegetables. This is effective becuase most people consume a very consistent weight and volume of food each day, and foods with fiber and water add significantly to the weight and volume of foods without adding calories. Enough said.
Number Five: Eat more frequent, but smaller meals spaced relatively evenly throughout the day.
This doesn’t mean that you need to start carrying around 16 lunch boxes a day, or that you have to give up a good-sized lunch either. It just means you need to plan better for your food. The reason behind this strategy are simple:
- Eating increases metabolic rate significantly for several hours after a meal.
- Small meals increase metabolic rate almost as much as large meals.
Therefore, try to eat more meals in a day. An example 2000 calorie day would be as follows:
- 150 cals — AM Snack 1 (Pre-Workout)
- 300 cals — Breakfast (Post- or No-Workout)
- 150 cals — AM Snack 2 (Mid-Morning)
- 500 cals — Lunch
- 150 cals — PM Snack (Pre-workout?)
- 600 cals — Dinner
- 150 cals — Desert
Number Six: Well-Rounded Meals Are Best
Combining protein, fat, and carbohydrate in each meal will help to prevent the insulin response as well as maintain your blood sugar level. You can also do this by picking carbs that are low on the glycemic index (sample chart here, more available via google, etc.). Bottom line is if you can prevent your blood sugar from spiking when you do eat, you won’t have a hunger pang in the 30-45′ following that meal. Or that inevitable crash that causes you to seek out sugary foods to “wake up” when your energy level drops.
Number Seven: Train Nutritional Moderation through Frequency + Exercise
A huge part of eating frequently throughout the day, instead of 3 big meals that are 4 (or more) hours apart is to decrease the body’s tendency to store calories. In our active, athletic context, big meals that are 4 or more hours apart are essentially binge sessions where you are taking on a lot of calories that will have to last a long time. In order to facilitate this “storage for later usage” request, your body will turn these calories into fat. Remember that exercise increases the body’s ability to store calories as carbohydrate (carbs are needed for workout fuel). By matching your frequent caloric intake with regular activity, you can lean up quickly.
Number Eight: Stay Hydrated
Nothing to do with food, I know, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the first “hunger pangs” people experience (when not at a feeding time) are actually physiological cues for water. Try drinking 8oz of water first…if you are still hungry, then have a healthy snack.
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Exercise Strategies
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Goal One: Well-Balanced Diet of Exercise
There is no single good training zone for burning fat. Low intensity exercise burns fat, while high intensity exercise burns carbohydrate and stimulates the metabolic rate. To be specific, fat-burning aerobic exercise at the appropriate intensity increases the percentage of fat burned at rest (this is your Aerobic Base value from a performance test, or roughly 70-75% of your LTHR). Strive to balance low- and high-intensity exercise optimally through each week to increase total metabolic rate and the percentage of fat burned.
Goal Two: Improved Specific Fat – Burning Activity
During exercise, the primary source of energy is carbohydrate for approximately the first 20 minutes of exercise, regardless of intensity. After approximately one hour of exercise at fat-burning intensity, the body begins secreting a greater level of cortisol. This shift greatly increases fat-burning. As a result, make sure all workouts @ fat-burning intensity last a minimum of 20 mins, with one (or more) workouts a week lasting well beyond an hour.
Goal Three: Raise Metabolic Rate Through Increased Muscle Mass
Not everything needs to be cardio and sweating! Despite what you might think, muscle is the only tissue in the body that can burn fat and accounts for about 95% of the total calories expended. As a result, incorporating several (2-3) strength sessions / week during your “leaning up” phase can significantly help you burn fat.
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Conclusions
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The bottom line is that improved body composition must be based in a focus on overall fitness & wellness, not just counting calories. The goal must be peak fitness, not ripped abs. By following the guidelines above, you will get leaner and fitter…and faster!
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