Weight loss guide for triathletes | How to lose weight with triathlon training

[@Adammajdoub]

Great video. Thanks mate! Any advice for insulin-resistant athletes? While I understand the rule and importance of carbohydrates I find that when I eat what is considered "enough" for another person the scale does not budge. The only thing that seems to work for me to lose fat while still allowing adequate carbohydrate intake is intermittent-fasting. Of course I do my best to follow the "train high, sleep low" method and do my sessions during my eating window (unless it is an easy run/cycle which I do as a fasted session). I am Just wondering If you know of any other way as IF is not always possible with my shift-work schedule.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thank you, and you're welcome! Good question and I've got a couple of thoughts for you. Firstly, nutrition around your workouts, especially the hard workouts, may be worth paying even more attention to. Having a high carb meal a few hours before your workout should be enough to get your through most high intensity sessions, and for longer ones a gel or similar during it would work well. Then prioritising carbs and protein straight after would help replenish your carb stores as efficiently as possible, meaning you could then reduce your carbohydrates throughout the day at other points if you felt that worked well for you (so essentially a low carb approach for the rest of the time). That being said, have you ever tracked your overall daily calorie intake on a regular eating day vs an intermittent fasting day? Although there may be some non-calorie related benefits to IF (eg. metabolic, hormonal), generally the changes in weight due to IF are simply due to calorie restriction helping with a calorie deficit - as in you have less time in the day to eat and as a result you lose weight. I would be interested to know this because still having carbs in your day shouldn't actually limit weight loss as long as you are in a calorie deficit sufficient to trigger weight loss. So I'm wondering whether your food intake is simply higher on a non IF day vs IF? Hope that provides some extra things to consider, and let me know if I can help further!

[@samenticott9658]

Really useful points here. There’s so many different views around techniques to lose weight and sometimes in all that noise you can get lost. Focusing on a small, sustainable deficit has helped so much! Thanks man!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Yep, too true! Glad to hear!

[@raptor186]

Thanks James! Love the tips about the important of hydrating. I have found drinking a pint of water before a meal makes it so much easier not to eat more than you need to. And as you say... consistency and focus are absolutely key!

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Yeah the water around meal times is a big one for wanting to lose weight. Especially helpful with dealing with post eating cravings for something like dessert! Thank you!

[@joelharfield6316]

Good content and very easy to follow. Thank you James

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Thank you Joel!

[@IvanRaykov]

Thank you 🙏🏼

[@NutritionTriathlon]

You're welcome! 🙂

[@robfetty6497]

Question. I have seen a number of DRs and nutrition experts citing research that shows when a person calorie restricts - that their bodies react by adjusting metabolism down the new level of calories. So what happens is that a person has to continue to restrict even more calories to lose weight. Then when they go back to their initial calorie intake they add the weight right back, and in some cases add additional weight. Is that true or not?

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Hey Rob, great question! So yes, there is a potential that if someone calorie restricts their metabolism can slow down. In theory this would mean you would have to consume even less calories to stimulate weight loss. However, practically this often isn't actually the case. Usually a 500 calorie deficit per day and maintaining exercise is sufficient to cause weight loss for months, without any sort of plateau. I find that people are much more likely to run into this problem if A) they are in a bigger calorie deficit than 500 calories per day (so trying to lose weight at a faster rate than I would recommend) or B) if they are trying to train hard and for performance while losing weight. The basic premise is that your body is not getting sufficient energy to maintain all of its normal processes, so it reduces its metabolism to balance this. But by aiming for slow, steady weight loss and training for weight loss rather than performance (ie. Listen to your body. If you feel knackered and rubbish, stop and add in more calories) this is much less likely to happen. In my opinion, weight regain after weight loss is usually due to changes in activity levels and eating habits (ie. Less exercise and eating more than you need) rather than directly due to metabolism changes. I hope that makes sense, let me know if you have any more questions!