It is my belief that many people get into endurance sport to control their weight.
Understandably, they believe that training to high volumes will mean they burn a ton of energy which in turn will mean they can finally see their abs – Like that guy/gal on the front of your favourite fitness mag.
Let me explain why this doesn’t work for most people and what to do instead:
I will use Fraser as an example.
Fraser is 42 and is approx 2 stone overweight.
He doesn’t exercise and has a sedentary job.
His current Basal Metabolic Rate is 2600 calories.
When he begins his Triathlon training he burns an average of 400 calories a day putting him in a nice deficit and he loses a stone in 2 months.
Purely by losing this weight, his BMR reduces to 2400.
This means the previous deficit of 400 is now down to 200 and weight loss slows.
As an aside, Fraser’s physiology has adapted and he has become more efficient at burning fuel. Good for survival, not good for fat loss!
He now has two options:
1 – Reduce calories
2 – Increase training
He has no more time to train and he does not want to go hungry, so neither is appealing.
As such weight loss stops and whilst happy that he has lost 1 stone he wants to lose another.
This is where Fraser must get a little more intelligent.
Fraser’s options include:
Begin cycling carbohydrates/calories
Adding some intermittent fasting
Changing training stimulus
Adding some strength training
And many more
The above will do two things:
1 – Unsettle his physiology.
In doing this, the body will naturally burn more fuel.
2 – Manipulate his calorie intake to be higher around training when he needs the energy and lower on days/times he doesn’t.
Fraser though hasn’t got a clue how to do this.
He searches the internet, asks some questions on Facebook and tries to fix it.
He experiments and learns a lot.
The thing is he wants the result now, not in 6 months.
What should Fraser have done differently?
He should have hired a coach at the beginning of this process instead of trying to figure it out on his own. Sure it would have cost him a little bit but he would have taken a massive shortcut.
If you hadn’t guessed – this is actually a true story of one of my clients who has now lost his 2 stone.
He’s running faster, has more energy and in his own words:
“Feels like an athlete”
Jamie “shortcut” Leighton