Eating to Lose
Two weeks ago I told you all about getting my metabolism measured. They set me on a diet that should have me losing about 3/4 of a pound a week. At first, nothing much happened, except that I was astounded by how much I was encouraged to eat.
See, all these miles, all this time on the bike, I haven't really been fueling myself properly. I've tried eating for the weight you want to be, but when you're carrying around an extra person in your skin and riding 200 miles a week, that doesn't quite work. I then tried eating for the body I have and the work load I was doing. I felt better, but I wasn't losing. I tried cutting back the activity and food, but plateaued after a certain amount of loss.
And, when I say cut back I mean cut back. The list of dietary restrictions I dance with on a daily basis to help manage my autism can be pretty daunting. If I need to work with people, then I need to be fairly certain that my inflammation and gut pain is tolerable. If not, well, I can be the most unreasonable bitch you've ever had the misfortune to meet. That means no gluten, no dairy, no eggs, no soy--or if any of these do happen, the encounters need to be small and infrequent (or there be hell to pay). Basically, I'm vegan, except that I do eat meat a few times a week.
This has pretty much been my diet for the past 2 1/2 years, but I've been most serious about it over the last year. It's been amazing how changing my fueling choices has reduced physical pain that I used to just tolerate because...well, life was pain to me. Every day. All the time. I didn't know it could be reduced or even removed. Last summer, I discovered vegan protein drinks, and pretty much started living off them, dropping my daily caloric intake down to about 1,200 to 1,400. It worked for a time, and I dropped about 22 pounds that I had put on following an injury that kept me off bike for a while. Then I plateaued. Gave up. And gained 10 of it back right away.
I kept trying, and the problem with having so many dietary restrictions means there simply is no food to grab on the go. I would turn away from the salads because they were filled with cheese and wheat croutons, opting to snack on a banana and some nuts, instead of having a meal. The problem was: not enough fuel. My body shut itself down. And when I did eat, it held onto as much as it could for later.
Two weeks ago that RMR and VO2 test gave me specific training zones for my workouts, assuring that I stick with the zones that will best teach my body to become more efficient with fat burning. Also, those tests told me exactly how many calories I need to eat in order to sustain myself: 1,525 a day if I do nothing but lay in bed all day, 1824 if I get up and about some. My Phase IV trainer told me to shoot for 1,500 net calories, so that I would run about a 3/4 pound deficit each week.
The net concept was huge! With the results of the tests and hooking myself up to a heart rate monitor with each workout, I can calculate (pretty accurately) the actual calorie burn per work out. That means, I need to eat my 1,500 calories to sustain myself, and add to it any calories I burned with exercise. The idea is to not stress the metabolism too much, but rather to teach it to burn rather that save--so the deficits are kept small. There were a few other tips, but I was surprised how little I actually modified my diet (aside from the fact that I have to EAT enough). I found a nice, easy hour spin can burn upwards of 800 calories--calories I was depriving myself of previously. Result?
After months of plateau, in the two weeks since I started this program, I've lost almost 5 pounds.
Painlessly. Pretty much effortlessly, too--except the effort to actually cook, grocery shop, plan meals and diary what I ate. Thing is, the diary isn't keeping me "honest" as much as it is forcing me to think ahead, realize that I can't just grab a sandwich somewhere, and plan accordingly.
Here's to one small step of success. Have a huge long way to go yet, but I feel like I finally have a way of dealing with food and exercise that is sustainable. This is very good news indeed.
See, all these miles, all this time on the bike, I haven't really been fueling myself properly. I've tried eating for the weight you want to be, but when you're carrying around an extra person in your skin and riding 200 miles a week, that doesn't quite work. I then tried eating for the body I have and the work load I was doing. I felt better, but I wasn't losing. I tried cutting back the activity and food, but plateaued after a certain amount of loss.
And, when I say cut back I mean cut back. The list of dietary restrictions I dance with on a daily basis to help manage my autism can be pretty daunting. If I need to work with people, then I need to be fairly certain that my inflammation and gut pain is tolerable. If not, well, I can be the most unreasonable bitch you've ever had the misfortune to meet. That means no gluten, no dairy, no eggs, no soy--or if any of these do happen, the encounters need to be small and infrequent (or there be hell to pay). Basically, I'm vegan, except that I do eat meat a few times a week.
This has pretty much been my diet for the past 2 1/2 years, but I've been most serious about it over the last year. It's been amazing how changing my fueling choices has reduced physical pain that I used to just tolerate because...well, life was pain to me. Every day. All the time. I didn't know it could be reduced or even removed. Last summer, I discovered vegan protein drinks, and pretty much started living off them, dropping my daily caloric intake down to about 1,200 to 1,400. It worked for a time, and I dropped about 22 pounds that I had put on following an injury that kept me off bike for a while. Then I plateaued. Gave up. And gained 10 of it back right away.
I kept trying, and the problem with having so many dietary restrictions means there simply is no food to grab on the go. I would turn away from the salads because they were filled with cheese and wheat croutons, opting to snack on a banana and some nuts, instead of having a meal. The problem was: not enough fuel. My body shut itself down. And when I did eat, it held onto as much as it could for later.
Two weeks ago that RMR and VO2 test gave me specific training zones for my workouts, assuring that I stick with the zones that will best teach my body to become more efficient with fat burning. Also, those tests told me exactly how many calories I need to eat in order to sustain myself: 1,525 a day if I do nothing but lay in bed all day, 1824 if I get up and about some. My Phase IV trainer told me to shoot for 1,500 net calories, so that I would run about a 3/4 pound deficit each week.
The net concept was huge! With the results of the tests and hooking myself up to a heart rate monitor with each workout, I can calculate (pretty accurately) the actual calorie burn per work out. That means, I need to eat my 1,500 calories to sustain myself, and add to it any calories I burned with exercise. The idea is to not stress the metabolism too much, but rather to teach it to burn rather that save--so the deficits are kept small. There were a few other tips, but I was surprised how little I actually modified my diet (aside from the fact that I have to EAT enough). I found a nice, easy hour spin can burn upwards of 800 calories--calories I was depriving myself of previously. Result?
After months of plateau, in the two weeks since I started this program, I've lost almost 5 pounds.
Painlessly. Pretty much effortlessly, too--except the effort to actually cook, grocery shop, plan meals and diary what I ate. Thing is, the diary isn't keeping me "honest" as much as it is forcing me to think ahead, realize that I can't just grab a sandwich somewhere, and plan accordingly.
Here's to one small step of success. Have a huge long way to go yet, but I feel like I finally have a way of dealing with food and exercise that is sustainable. This is very good news indeed.