I came across two great articles that are well worth the time. This first article discusses the reasons behind why some people gain weight on a particular diet while others shed them like there’s no tomorrow. The article makes a great case for how you can match up to a diet that will help you specifically lose weight.

FAST Oxidizers. Oxidization rate refers to the rate at which cells convert food into energy. Some people are fast oxidizers, because they rapidly convert food into energy. In order to balance their systems, fast oxidizers need to eat heavier proteins and fats to that burn slowly, and restrict carbohydrate intake.

SLOW Oxidizers. Slow oxidizers convert food into energy at a slow rate. In order to balance their systems, it’s recommended that they eat mainly carbohydrates rather than protein and fat.

Check out the Full Article at Trifuel Here

Another great Trifuel article discussed when and what to eat during your training build up. While it is important to maintain a healthy weight, us triathletes have to be aware of how our training effects what we are eating.

Once we start thinking about food as fuel, it becomes clearer. When you are in your highest volume of training, your body needs extra fuel to give your body the energy it needs to get through your workouts. When in the offseason or a lower volume cycle, the goal should be eating clean foods and managing or losing any extra weight.

Check the full article out here.

Happy Training!
- Trihead

Quite simply, we want to cut carbohydrates from our evening meals. In order to do this we need to ensure that we are adequately fueled going into our evening training session. We need to consume carbs during this session if it is a long one and following the session we should have a SMALL carbohydrate-rich snack and then that’s it for carbs for the rest of the evening.

The evening meal should consist of protein and fat combined with a side of salad or vegetables. It is important to ensure that you get enough calories in this meal. Remember vegetables are not high-calorie foods, so the fat and protein content needs to be HIGH!

Trifuel Article by Alun Woodward

I have now lost over 40 pounds since the holidays. I know this is an extreme fat loss and I’ve been doing it by eating healthy, exercising six days a week and keeping my calories to around 1500 per day. Now that I am getting close to my goal weight I began to wonder what my calorie intake should be to increase my energy levels, fuel the strenuous workouts I continue to do and maintain my weight (or at least slow down the weight loss).

The wonders of Google had me come across this great Calorie Calculator at FreeDieting.com.

This tool should not be taken as gospel but it certainly provides a good foundation for those looking to get an understanding of the level of calories they should be consuming on a daily basis.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

Wise Geek posted this great article entitled: What Does 200 Calories Look Like?

While this can be somewhat misleading in that this only focuses on calories and a basic understanding on what that looks like on a plate, it does not include nutritional information such as protein, carbs or fats. Now…with that said, it still is a very interesting article and well worth the look. If you want to sit down and eat while you’re sitting on your couch, you can grab a large plate of apples or carrots. Or you can grab a small handful of M&Ms. They have the same calories (obviously less nutrition with the chocolate) but which would be more filling?

Thoughts?

A few quick highlights to share with those that are also struggling with nutrition.

#1) First and foremost, you need to Count Your Calories. Period. This is not an easy task and many people have different techniques for how to do this but everything boils down to the calories you intake and the calories you burn.

#2) Online Resources. There are dozens and dozens of sites like Need2Tri out there. These people have years of experience in sports physiology and understanding the impact nutrition has. Use them. My strongest recommendation is Calorie Count: http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-fruits-fruit-juices-ic0900. This site has a list of restaurants and dozens of raw ingredients, what their calories are and allow you to create your own foods to determine the calories.

#3) Use a Program. All of these diet programs are based on calories. Whether its is Body for Life, South Beach, Weight Watchers, etc. All of these programs attempt to make it easier to determine what is healthy and what is not. They all of their benefits but these can help you on the right foot. Here is a detailed article on how Weight Watchers calculates their point system. It really boils down to calories and is slightly impacted by fat and fiber content.

#4) Focus on Whole. We spend too much time in some of these programs focusing on protein, fat, carbs, etc. etc. While it is important to be aware of all of these, people know what is good for them. Period. You know that the 140 calories in a Pepsi are not as good as a can of green beans’ 140 calories. Just be smart about what your calories include. An article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune discussed this in more detail.

#5) Track Your Food. Sometimes it helps just to hold yourself accountable and actually see over time the food you are eating. There are dozens of sites (including Calorie Count above) that allow you to do this. I recommend the free site Buckeye Outdoors. This site allows daily intake tracking and your training log.

#6) Accountability. People pay big bucks for weight loss clinics that really get you only one thing: Accountability. You know that every time you go in there, someone will know whether you’ve been following your plan. Find a training partner, put a blog of your weight loss, have a friend call and check on your weight each week. More than anything else this is imperative to successful training and weight loss.

Feel free to add tricks that work for you below. Just a note that I hope to engage with a specialized nutritionist in the coming months to assist with recommendations and adding their insights here. Stay tuned.

~ Joel

Update
Additional Calorie Sites
#1) Daily Plate
#2) My Fitness Pal
#3) Calorie King
#4) Shape Fit
#5) Diet Facts
#6) Fat Secret
#7 Personal Favorite: Chipotle Nutrition