I got into cycling to loose weight and I did! And almost 100 pounds. That was 5 years ago and I got into triathlon as a reward for all the hard work. I have gotten faster and faster each year but in the last 2 I reached a self induced plateau. I was still ALWAYS in weight loss mode as I was terrified of putting the weight back on so I ate as little as I could.
COVID really changed the way I worked out and ate. I jettisoned and form of structure and just rode and ran and didn’t worry too much about my weekend binge eating. Come December I had put on 5-7 pounds and was ready to get back into structured training.
So obviously to loose that weight I started to starve myself all the while seeing no weight loss and no real power gains. I never food tracked so I had no idea how starved I actually was.
Fire up MyFitnessPal and come to find out some days I was over 1500 calories short of breaking even. The sharp smell of ammonia is what even started me down this path. I’ve never smelled it on me before but this week I stunk every single day.
So now I have a great drink mix that should let me get to 80grams of carbs an hour while working out, a good recovery drink, a good protein shake and lots of sweet things to power my running.
Not even a week in and I can already see positive body changes. I never thought in a million years it would be OK to eat as much as I am now. I’m still not eating ‘enough’ but I am finally on the right path and increasing my caloric intake week over week doesn’t seem like the daunting task it once was.
I’ve been right at 4 w/kg for like 2 years so hopefully this change will jumpstart some more strength gains. I spend too much time on the bike and running to plateau and not get the gains for the work I put in.
Excited to start this journey and hopefully see some real progress again!