Triathlon Racing Weight: Do you need to lose weight to race faster?

[@NutritionTriathlon]

I thought carefully about this topic before putting this video out because it can be a sensitive one. But it's also incredibly important. Do you have any thoughts on this, or experiences you would be happy to share?

[@rebeccalwin707]

Hi James, I've just found your channel and currently bingeing on it ;) Your content is spot-on!! For myself, I like my "aesthetics" better when I'm lighter (BMI~21); however, I seem to always be injured and can't recover. Now that I've allowed myself to really fuel adequately, my BMI is now 22- and "magically" my injuries healed and my training is actually making me fitter- go figure! Thanks for your great content!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Hey, thank you - and thank you for sharing! It's amazing how much of a difference it can make, isn't it? 🙂💪

[@FRANCJ02]

Top notch advise, as always

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thank you! 😊

[@martinrose9794]

Going through this now and its is awesome. Only thing is I am doing this during my race season but I do listen to my body and on my rest days I tend to eat full meals because that one day a week the deficit puts me at only 1600 calories a day and that is really hard mentally as it is not much. On a normal training day I can consume 2500-3000 calories or more and it feels satisfying since I can eat a lot of other smaller snacks after a training session. I do eat very healthy whole food diets and mostly plants with a 500 calorie deficit a day.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Glad to hear you're listening to your body, it's so important! Sounds like you're managing it well - good stuff 😊

[@yijuntey]

I know I’m late to this video but it was super helpful and exactly what Im looking for right now. I’m preparing for an upcoming sprint distance triathlon and aiming for 1hr flat - 1:01 as a goal which is quite achievable for me but I just want to really do well in this race as I’m trying to qualify for the national team, hence I’ve been trying to lose some weight to improve my weight/power ratio. But I’ve been having issues with feeling hungry and going back-and-forth between feeling like im starving and bloated after eating too much at once and too fast. This video has rlly explained some things well and convinced me to be comfortable with the fact that I don’t actually need to lose that much weight at all but should rather focus on improving my strength and maintaining weight (im 173cm and 61kg rn). Thanks!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

New viewers are always welcome! 🙂 Really glad this video helped you out. I'd definitely agree with your assessment. Your weight is fine - focus on fuelling your sessions as well as possible and train for performance 💪 those gains will far outstrip losing a little bit of weight. Good luck with qualification, that's an awesome goal!

[@blaquaman1739]

I lost weight last year by fasting and training on my bike past exhaustion but to destruction. I got on the bike one morning and my knees were in extreme pain on the first pedal stroke. I could barely go up stairs and walking was painful for months. Let’s just say I’m okay being a heavier racer at 180lbs.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Sounds like a bit of a tough 'learn through experience' scenario. Hope you've settled and back to normal now!

[@paulmelde919]

Great video, thanks for posting! The question I have is, let’s say you’ve lowered the intensity of your training and lost some weight; how do you avoid putting the weight back on after you’ve raised the intensity of your training back up and start eating more again?

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thanks Paul. Good question! This is simply matching energy expenditure to calorie intake. If you get to your goal weight, add more food in and then start gaining weight then you're in a calorie surplus i.e. eating more than you need. At that point it would just be about trying to fine-tune it, typically being reducing calories ever so slightly until you're neither losing or gaining weight, and importantly feel good whilst training, recovering well etc

[@JakobWheler]

I know this is an old but i am a huge fan of your channel, and experience some of the things you are talking about in this video. I hope you can answer my question. I’m 183 cm and weigh around 73-74 kg. I do about 9-10 hours of cardio per week split up into 5 days. Strength training on the other days. Whenever i get below 72 kg i feel like i gas out during my cardio sessions, and my sleep and mood also starts to change for the worse. However when i weigh around 73-74 kg i can sustain the same intensity throughout my cardio sessions and don’t experience any negative side effects at all. Do you think this is a sign that any weight below 72 kg is too low for me, and that i should try to maintain 73-74 kg instead? I should also mention that I’m not training for anything in particular. I just like endurance training cause it keeps me fit and healthy.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Hey, thanks for commenting! Really good question. Personally I would say yes, it sounds like maintaining 73-74kg is better for you. Everyone will have different baseline points, and if you notice mood, performance etc are worse when you're at that lower weight then that sounds like it's just not right for you! The only caveat I would add is that ensuring if you drop weight it's slowly, controlled and isn't via any sort of significant calorie deficit/crash diet, but yeah otherwise sounds like the extra weight is what you need!

[@JakobWheler]

Thanks a lot for the reply!@@NutritionTriathlon