“STOP EATING, YOU ARE A COW.”
Okay, I’m kidding. But she did listen carefully to my tales of eating woes (and eating everything in sight), and likened my “grazing” to a cow. And how in the world can cows get fat on grass? Well, because they eat all day long (in my case, all night long). That is my first problem. I typically graze. All night long.
My second problem is that I am able to hold together my nutrition from about 6am to noon. Then it typically goes to hell in a handbasket (I forget to eat from 12 until 6)…then by 7pm, I am starving and on a raging food binge.
My stress levels are ridiculous, and therefore, I declare myself an “all or nothing” person – meaning, that if I can’t have a perfect diet, I just say, screw it and hit the nearest drive-thru. This is also accurate.
I am not eating often enough, and definitely not the right combinations of food. So my levels are shooting up, crashing down, and holding on to my beautiful fat cells like crack cocaine.
She weighed me. She calipered me. I am 30% fat. Yes, that’s right. I am made up of one-third fat. Gotta love that realization.
However. She. Was. Awesome. Not the least bit judgmental – in fact, the complete opposite. And just coming off of Ironman Lake Placid, she is a true Ironman. She knows her stuff, and I feel armed and dangerous with all my new foodie knowledge and “ah-ha” moments.
My plan:
Eat more often (e.g., I have an actual “schedule”).
Stay away from the garbage (eat “real” food).
Eat protein at every meal.
If I eat a carb, snuggle it up with a protein.
I have tons of “basics” like that in my arsenal. Which seem so obvious. But I have failed to manage these “obvious things” thus far. So they are either, in actuality, un-obvious, or I just needed someone to say it to my face.
Accountability.
The conclusion: I need to follow the guidelines. Stay away from crap. Try not to stuff my face when I am stressed, or retreat to the starving cave when I am happy. Yes, I have issues with food (obviously) – issues that are tied to lots of other things. But the problem with food addiction (as opposed to other addictions), is that a person needs food to survive. And yet, food is also the very trigger. So, I must learn to balance the trigger because food isn’t going anywhere. Unlike alcohol or other addictions, I can’t just stop eating.
So I’ve gotta just make this transition part of my life. That’s the challenge. Transitions are hard. We all know that.
But with a fridge full of nice healthy expensive things, I feel like I am ready to tackle this last puzzle piece.
The most important thing she told me: do not worry about my weight for Ironman 70.3 Miami. Train hard, eat right, and the rest will come. While originally, I felt like I “needed” to lose this 20 pounds before the race….I walked out of there with a big sense of relief that I’m not actually going head-to-head with the scale.
I like the lady you saw, she sounds great. Bet you find taking the stress of "having" to loose that weight away is going to be a huge contributed to your success.
Good stuff. I'm sure she mentioned to not eat after 800p or 900p in the evening? During one of the lectures at the USAT coaches clinic, a great nutritionist went over way too much information to type up here, but aside from watching the amount of carbs we eat (he said that in general we all eat too many carbs) it was firmly stressed that we not eat after 800p or so in the evening. I saw some improvements with a couple athletes that I coach.
You're going to be great in Miami. Just keep working hard and as your doc said it'll all come around.
Thanks ya'll… @AG-Triathlete – yep! That's a big thing – to have "closure" with my last meal of the day and put it away. That's the challenge, but I know I can do it 🙂 🙂
Dude. For some reason, I got in a bodypod last year thinking I was gonna find out some good news…. It measures your lean muscle mass and body fat etc by doing cross-sections of your entire body. I guess I thought that since I has started triathlon and done 4 sprints and one Olympic, I would have a low body fat… 31.6! what in the %^&%*&? i was wearing a, 8 or 10 and i'm 5'11". talk about humbling! well, what i learned from that is to keep movin' just like you say, keep my diet that same (it's pretty darned clean), and stay away from the bodypod! Just thought that would make you feel better about your 30%!!! 🙂 Thanks for all of the motivation and stories that sounds like mine!!!!