Anyone have any advice about what kind of diet to follow when you're in a triathlon training squad? I'm doing JC at the moment, and finding that the 2000 cal program is leaving me hungry all the time.



To give you an idea of where I'm at - I've never trained this hard before, I'm overweight, but since starting this training I haven't shown much loss despite the diet, which I'm mostly attributing to muscle gain.



I'm doing 5 or six days a week training with the squad:



Monday: 2-3Kms swim (really hard - traineo generally calculates this to be around 2K calories)

Tuesday: Velodrome 10-15Kms riding, really hard

Wednesday: same as monday

Thursday: Transition training - running & riding, really hard, about 60 - 75 mins

Friday: same as monday or day off

Saturday: running, riding, swimming, about 2 hours, hard to really hard.



Can anyone give me some advice for what kind of eating I should be doing?

There's probably a certain amount of accuracy to it. I've noticed over the last few weeks that my weight loss has plataued and once I even gained weight. I couldn't figure it out until I looked at what the charts (and my own knowledge of what I'm doing) really told me.



When I started this about 8 weeks ago, I was losing about 1.3 - 1.5 kilos a week. My exercise was regular, but low intensity and my diet was spot on for the plan I'm on.



The last few weeks I've stayed basically the same, despite a massive upswing in my exercise and moderate relaxation of my diet standards.



It's not just the amount I exercise, but how hard I do it which has changed - I'm really belting it out now. Pumping in high-gear through an hour-long street & trail bike ride, using long, slow powerful strokes in my swimming that absolutely cane my arms.



I don't use heart-rate monitors or spend much time in the gym, just get out on my bike or go to the pool or walk to town.



I couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing. Then I looked in the mirror at my arms, chest, lats & legs. I don't think I've ever seen them looking so good, lots more muscle than I've ever had before. Still got one hell of a spare tire and a double chin, but I'm getting there.



I'm going to swap from using weight as the be-all and end-all and adding measurements into the mix as I'm clearly losing fat and gaining muscle.



And I'm fine with that.

I've found that one of the most valuable motivators for me is the logging process. It helps me to see that my exercise is trending upwards over time and that I'm mostly maintaining my diet.



As time goes on, I think I'll be able to tell when my exercise levels off and how that will affect my weight loss. I think I'll be able to find the right balance of exercise and diet to help maintain a steady weight loss.



I've seen a lot of people who don't log and I can't imagine they're getting the full benefit of traineo!



So log, people, log! It'll help in the long run!

I'll be proposing when I reach my thinspiration. Not that my partner cares, but I just want to be able to look back at that day and have some great photos that I'm proud of.

The question is, is it sustainable? The problem with some diets is that they have no 'exit plan' - no way to train you to eat properly once you've lost the weight. So you just end up yo-yoing around with different fad diets.



There's plenty out there that can make you lose weight really fast - but can you keep it off after?



Better to learn to live with a more balanced and reasonable diet with occasional splurges (that you try and make up for with stricter diet days & exercise) than to go for a total fad.

You can get really creative with healthy snacking - there are some things which are considered 'free food' on JC which my partner and I snack on.



For example - fat-free salsa (for chips) is pretty low-cal and a lot of the stuff they use in it would be considered free food. Whack that in some tupperware with some carrot sticks and you've got a fairly portable low-cal snack.



Tomato slices on lite crisp-bread with some sea salt is yummo. We also put on 'Sambal Badjak' an Indian chilli chutney type thing. It's so hot we can't put enough on anything to count its calories.



For general food bulking out we make an awesome bake of slices of eggplant, zucchini, mushroom, onion, garlic, turnip with each layer drenched in a tomato-based pasta sauce.



I'd avoid ANYTHING with high-fructose corn-syrup. We have far too much sugar in our diets - what with all the breads, pastas and junk food we eat. That sort of thing will slow down your metabolism so fast it'll make your head turn.



Check out some of the low-cal recipe books. The pictures make it easier than online searches.



As to the lifestyle stuff:



At Uni I studied Opera at the Queensland Conservatorium. At the time it was the best vocal institute in the country. It was great and horrible at the same time. I was the only one in my class to graduate and the entire process destroyed my love of music and performance for many years to come. After a few years I got back into it, formed a band and gigged around Sydney. Enjoyable as it was, it was never the same and even today music is something I'm a little conflicted over.



If you found the right institute that both pushed you hard AND encouraged you then the music angle could work out. Just bear in mind that there's *very* little call for classically trained musicians in any kind of venue that's likely to make you anything like a living wage. Doing it for the love gets old when you can't afford bread. You have to be better than every single one of your peers to be able to get the choice positions that provide enough for you to live on.



Otherwise you're stuck teaching music, either in school or privately and doing the odd show for your local community theatre. Either way, it's usually not enough to satisfy the passion that brought you to music in the first place.



I'm not trying to discourage you - just bear in mind that if you want it, you have to *really* want it. More than anything, more than breathing. And you have to be willing to give up anything, do anything and focus entirely on it as a goal. Only then can you hope to compete at the level that it's worthwhile.



As to design. I really love it. I spent nearly eight years developing and teaching multimedia, design and film courses in addition to doing most of the marketing for the multi-million-a-year college. Had about a $250K a year budget for my marketing & design.



These days I'm a freelancer. I work from home most days. Get up late, go riding around Melbourne's parks on my bike and come home to my office where I work with my wife in a big-ish loungeroom overlooking the water in Melbourne's docklands. It's great. I also work with a programmer to develop new web applications (similar to traineo, but for other industries) that make more regular income than just one-off design work.



I had an odd route to getting to where I am and for most people the first years of being a junior designer can be pretty lean, cash-wise. If you can get together a kick-ass portfolio, get a position as a junior in a cool firm or two and do that for a couple of years you can then go freelance, make great money, keep your own hours and choose the jobs you work on.



Overall, it's pretty cool.



My Dad was a maths major, in the top 1% of the country. He wound up a teacher too. Again, not a lot of call for maths unless you're super good, super motivated and want to work in some very esoteric areas.



No doctors in the family, but my doctor friends have done well in life. Bear in mind they're in their mid-30's, still studying hard for their specialties (the way to make great money in medicine) but they own their own houses and lead a great life. They can have some pretty antisocial hours tho!



If there's any more questions, feel free to ask.

My 2c - bear in mind there's a lot of variance in how people to choose to go about their diet modification.



At the end of the day, it's a pretty simple equation:



Calories In - Calories Out.



You've got to burn more calories in a day than you take in. Now just being alive and breathing you're burning calories. For some people just mild diet modification can make a massive difference.



You'd be surprised at how much some of the stuff you're eating is setting you back.



For example - that packet of chips has enough calories to sustain my evening meal.



But the Burger King is the real killer. Let's say you had a Whopper with cheese, regular fries and a coke - you'd be looking at almost 1700 calories!!!



That's almost my ENTIRE daily food intake at the moment.



To lose weight effectively, you need to know what the calorie count is of the food you're putting in, how much exercise burns how many calories for you and how much your body needs to start the process.



Now how you choose to affect your calorie intake is up to you and there's a lot to choose from. Whatever it is you go for, make sure that it has a good 'exit plan' - so that when you reach your goal weight you can eat healthily and enjoy life without falling back into bad habits.



Two examples of what I've done:



I'm currently on Jenny Craig. The reasons -



* you know exactly what you're putting into your body

* your consultant will work out the right calorie setting for your body

* it's easy - you buy most of the meals from them, supplement with general groceries

* it provides good methods for getting back into real life



If you check out my page you'll see I've averaged 1.5 kilos a week loss for the last three weeks. I expect that to slow over time, but it's good so far.



The only other time I've dieted was using the Atkins diet. A lot of people have a lot of scorn for this approach, but it worked wonders for me - you just have to make sure you get enough of the right kind of salad and veg and you can take it off so fast. If you follow their plan all the way through the 'lifetime maintenance' phase is not too different from what most people would normally eat, just not as many carbs in the diet.



However, I'd only recommend the most disciplined of people take this approach.



Anyway, good luck with it all - glad to see you're making the changes you need.

A friend of mine was anorexic for a long while. Even now her daily calorie intake is so low as to be ridiculous - but she gains weight on that extremely low intake unless she exercises like a crazy person. It's unbelievable.



I'm the same, but at the opposite end of the spectrum.



I gained all my weight at uni by living on 6-8 litres of Coke a day, eating only McDonalds, Pizza Hut and KFC and doing no exercise. Over the last 5 years I've learned to make really good food choices - My day to day diet is stable and healthy. I drink in moderation and virtually never eat junk food. The reason I've never lost the weight is because I don't get enough exercise and I haven't spread my food out over the day. If I don't pay attention, I'll forget to eat for most of the day. As a result, I'd probably get *less* calories than when I'm on a diet. It's only when I increase my calorie intake and eat 6 times a day as well as exercising that I lose weight.



If you starve yourself, your body will conserve fat and the moment you eat again will try and store as much as possible. You can't do that to yourself as you're just messing with your metabolism.



Also - 61kg is really low for 6'1". Unless your build is incredibly slight, I'd put it to you that you're probably aiming far too low. Bear in mind also that if you have more muscle mass it's easier to lose fat. I've got a fairly big build, and anything less than 85kgs without muscle would make me look far too skinny.



Have you seen a doctor? At your height and weight, trying to get even lower sounds pretty extreme. Is it possible you have a mild eating disorder?

Cycling is great, especially if you have a purpose.



When I first moved interstate and decided to lose weight, I bought a bike to ride to work. I never intended to do it all the time and I never have, but it's nice to get out there. It's also great as a day-trip activity with your significant other or with friends.



My partner and I loved it so much we eventually started doing 100K rides along the coastline of Melbourne's bay area in Australia. A beautiful day out, we'd pack everything we needed for the trip - it would take about five hours - and then enjoy a fantastic lunch when we arrived, sound in the knowledge we'd earned it.



If you get a bike, don't skimp and choose the right bike for your purpose.



Unless you're planning on racing from the start, don't bother with a road bike. Sure, they're fast and sleek, but they're harder to maintain and harder to sit on for long periods of time. My partner and I got hybrids. We bought a spare set of wheels - the standard semi-chunky hybrid tyres that came with the bike and a set of thinner racing tyres.



I changed out my seat for something for comfortable for my butt, we added two water bottle holders and pannier racks and bags - two bags each, enough for a decent length day trip.



We also added extra poles to our handlebars that attach at right-angles facing forward. This helps with having more options for gripping over a longer trip and is very comfortable.



Cycling can be a great pleasure, especially if you've got somewhere to go.

The low alcohol beer often doesn't change its calorie content - try something like Pure Blonde (if you can even get it - it's an Australian brew) that's a low-carb beer. A nice, fresh summer beer, it's full strength, tastes damn fine and with much lower calories is a really great choice.

Sources vary, but to give you an idea:



A small serve (that tiny amount of chips in the paper packet) of McDonald's french fries is listed as being anywhere between 210 and 330 calories.



A 50g packet of crisps is about 350 Calories, depending on the brand.



Now the lunch you had sounds fairly hefty anyway. I'd cut out the chips. They may look small (and god knows they're certainly enticing!) but depending on the serving size, all things being equal, they could be contributing to anywhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of a pound of weight gain every week.



350 calories would be about 1/5 my daily calorie intake.

I found a couple of sites about Senna, here's a couple:



http://www.viable-herbal.com/herbdesc3/1senna.htm

http://www.drugs.com/MTM/senna.html



Both say that it's a pretty powerful laxative and shouldn't be taken regularly beyond a week or two. Prolonged use can cause 'lazy bowel' which means that bowel movements become impossible without chemical stimulation.



If she really is taking it every night and has been taking it for a while she should see someone.



That is assuming it isn't prescribed anyway - crazy question, but have you tried talking to her about it?



Having said all that, 2 or 3 BM a day isn't terribly unusual if it's happening naturally.

Most of us tend to 'cheat' a little here and there and I think that's where the problem comes in for most of us. I get the feeling that a lot of people associate the weight of a product with the actual weight they think they'll gain by eating it. You look at a 50g packet of crisps and it doesn't look like much, it's small, it's light - how bad can it be?



Except that it's the calorie-weight of a good healthy dinner serve.



I think we just don't realise how much each little fudging at the edges of our diets affects our eventual and overall weight loss.



To give you an example, when I tried doing JC as a personal plan - that is, choosing any meal for any day and making up my own breakfasts and snacks I never lost weight. I never gained either, even without exercise, which I'm happy about - I feel I'd be happy to live like that: when I reach my goal weight.



When I go on the fully planned menu I lose anywhere between 1 and 2.5 KILOGRAMS a week, with only very moderate exercise.



Now granted, it's not a hell of a lot of fun, but seeing those numbers add up bolsters my resolve significantly!



So if you're not on a strictly planned diet, start keeping a diary of everything, count the calories and see if there's some fudging there that's causing the problems.



I've only ever been on two major diets. Both have worked with my only failing being not sticking it through. Here's what I've found:





Atkins

I liked Atkins - but low-carb doesn't mean 'no carb'. You absolutely MUST get the daily recommended level of vege and salad. You've got to read the book and follow it strictly or all you'll do is fatty foods and not realise how much sugar you're still getting.



Best Bits

* Brain feels like it's on rocket fuel. Clear thinking, fast, alert. Starting about a week in I had whacky crazy dreams all night long for weeks - I don't usually dream.

* Better sleep

* More energy

* You know when you're full very quickly (due to the protein)

* Constant weight loss

* Free foods are fun food

* Good testing method (Use ketosticks to see if you're in ketosis - I know there's controversy about all of Atkins including this, but it was a good indicator for me)



Bad Bits

* Meat meat and more meat. And smelling meaty

* Cleaning out the grease-trap on your extraction filter

* Getting through the first couple of weeks after giving up potatoes, bread, coffee and alcohol

* Lack of fruit in the early stages



I lost about 30 kilos in about six months doing this and it was a total walk in the park. The caveat being that I started seeing someone around the end of that time, she had bad food habits and I had low willpower. We both piled it all back on through a combination of bingeing and semi-atkins. If you only do Atkins half-assed, then you're better off not doing it. She's now my wife, but over time we found that Atkins just did not agree with her - she went nuts without fruit. She did lose a bucketload of weight when she did it properly tho.



Overall, if it was just me, I'd do Atkins.



Jenny Craig

This is a really good system, I really would recommend it - you've got a strict daily calorie limit. You go to consults, you plan your entire week ahead and buy specific food for each day both from JC and from the supermarket. If you stick to it, you also get great results.



Best Bits

* Totally planned, no thought and little effort. Negates alot of the 'emotional eating' problems

* Total control over calorie intake. No 'cheats' or you know you're screwing with it

* Nicely balanced diet.

* Most of the food is actually pretty good

* Good losses



Worst Bits

* You get over the 'totally planned' thing real quick. Then it's just a grind

* Vegetables, vegetables and more vegetables. You absolutely must come up with some interesting vege recipies if you're to survive.

* Some of the food is god awful

* A little too much sugar and dairy for my liking - but that's a personal pref

* No emphasis whatsoever on avoiding artificial sweetners



Overall when we do the proper planned menu, my partner and I do very well on this, but it gets a little tedious.



General thoughts

I really think that no matter what you do, you've got to pay attention to the bits of the diet that are strict - with Atkins there are three things:



1. Low 'bad' carbs - no bread, no pizza, no chips

2. Lots of salad and 'good' carbs - heaps of most types of veges

3. Pay attention to hidden carbs in food labeled as 'low fat'



With JC it's really only two things:



1. Stick exactly to the plan no matter what

2. Stick to the calorie limit

I used to drink anywhere between 4 and 8 litres of Coke a day.



Giving up that sucked big time. This would've been about 5 or 6 years ago when my day to day diet was so bad that nausea and acid indigestion was a constant part of life.



When giving up that I had rotten headaches constantly for about a week.



Until about a year ago, I would've probably managed about 600mls of diet coke a day. Not at all hard to give up.



I now avoid anything with sucralose or aspartme in it. Even the taste of those artificial sweeteners make me feel ill. There seems to be some fairly convincing evidence that they're pretty damn bad for you too.



Splenda only for me these days - which makes Torqay De-lite softdrinks the only fizzy stuff I drink.



Apart from Champagne!!

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