There is actually a lot of evidence to suggest that those engaged in long duration exercise do NOT manage their weight particularly well.
My theory is this:
Very often they got involved in such exercise, like triathlon in an attempt to improve their health and manage their weight
Very often at first they will make some impressive gains but then it slows down and very often they do not reach their “ideal” weight.
Why is this?
Lots of reasons……..
As the body gets used to more exercise, the metabolic rate will alter, in short it will slow down.
This is because it senses the danger of the body essentially consuming itself (burning too much fat and muscle).
This slow in metabolic rate stops this from happening but it also makes it more difficult to lose fat.
What is the answer?
Do more training?
Eat even less?
Neither of these are particularly appealing, rest assured their is a better way.
I would imaging from the 12,500 triathletes reading this that there are an awful lot of you in this situation, so the next part of this email is very important:
Firstly we must accept that doing MORE aerobic training is not always necessary, especially for fat loss.
The leanest people around are usually sprinters, fitness models and body builders and none of this lot do endurance training.
I know you don’t want to stand on stage in your undies and wear fake tan, neither do I, don’t worry you can still do triathlon and be lean.
There are some key things that you probably aren’t doing at all or enough of that can make a big difference.
Do you eat only single ingredient foods?
Think about what that actually means for a second and NO, cake doesn’t only have one ingredient unfortunately.
When you eat “healthily” do you enjoy the food?
Do you see healthy food as boring?
Do you do any strength training?
This time of year is a great time to add some S&C work and will not only help with body composition but also help fend off injury and work on weaknesses and imbalances.
And if you’ve done triathlon for any length of time you will no injury is an unfortunate side effect of long miles.
The big reason that bodybuilders in particular are lean apart from steroids is due to extreme vigilance of their diet.
That neither is a particularly good option.
Doing all the training you are doing, you can afford a slightly more relaxed approach.
But…..
You must enjoy the food you eat.
This is why I wrote my E book – The Triathlete Nutrition Code:
Full of recipes which are quick and easy.
Their is a chapter explaining metabolic rate.
A chapter on eating for you body type.
A chapter on how to manage stress and how this could be holding you back.
And even a chapter on alcohol!
For £9.99/14 USD it’s worth a read and if applied will make a huge difference to you health, body fat and ultimately triathlon performance.
Get it now:
Jamie “why do they wear that fake tan?” Leighton