Weight Loss and Sport Drinks/Gels/Fruit



Nick4444

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Apr 19, 2004
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I have 16 weeks to train and loose 75 pounds before the Hotter an Hell 100 (current wieght 263.) To help expedite my wieght loss, I no longer train with isotonic beverages, gels, etc, only plain water. In fact, I have pretty much given up food all together. My average daily caloric intake is about 2000 calories and most of my calories come from complex carbohydrates and lean proteins. So far, my weekly training miles have reached 150 and I have lost about 20 pounds over the past month. I was loosing 2~3 pounds per day untill I gave up the smokes and then my weight loss slowed down considerably.

All the literature I have read suggests that endurance training is greatly enhanced when your body is replentished with easily digestable carbohydrates during extended periods of training (90 minutes or more of hard training.)

Is it better for me to train without fuel replentishing in order to maximize weight loss or train with fuel replentishing and minimize my weight loss. Or somewhere in between?
 
I have lost 72kg over 3.5 years, and 47 of that in the past 13 months.

My main method was cardio training (75-85%) in 20 minute chunks, 2 bike and 2 rowing per day, and working out with light weights, fast reps. I have rest breaks beween each training session and end up spending 3-3.5 hours in the gym 6 days a week.

My diet is fairly well balanced, around 1600 calories a day, some carbs at each meal, snacks are protein, no gels or sport drinks, just water, no sugar, no salt, no fat, only 3 slices of bread/day. The diet is controlled by the Diet Therapy Dept of the local hospital where I have been treated successfuly for obesity for the past 3.5 years.

Also have your doctor do a full blood test to see if you lack anything, I came up B12 deficient after all the training.

cheers
George
 
Whoa, that's an ambitious goal, and I like it. I wouldn't say 2000 calories is giving up food, though! Some of us average about that without even specifically dieting...

If you can complete your goal workouts without calories, go for it. So long as that doesn't leave you starving, which then leads to a bigger than otherwise post-workout meal.

Me, I need some carbs to keep me going after an hour or so. If you are training at a high enough level (say more than 700kcal per hour), then a carb drink or gel might help you add more time to your workout. There's literally no way you can take in more calories than you expend when your intensity is moderate or higher. You stomach will put an end to that. So, if you can take in 100-300 calories per hour, and by doing so workout harder and longer, the extra calories will more than pay for themselves.

2-3lbs a day is unsustainable by anyone for long. That's 7000-10,500 calories per day. Clearly you weren't burning that many more calories than you were taking in.... that's more than a marathon per day. Likely a whole lot of that was water anyway. So don't give the cancer sticks any of the credit.
 
Woah. Nick, you have to re-think your goals. What you're trying to do is not only going to screw up your training/racing, but also is harmful to your body.

According to the literature, 1 pound of weight loss per week is recommended, 2 pounds at most, but that's really pushing it. Any more, and you're probably loosing lean muscle mass (which you'll need for your ride). If you do the max per week and loos 2 pounds, you're still only looking at 32 pounds by the time your ride starts. 75 pounds is WAY too lofty of a goal in the time you have. The amount of training that you're putting in per week is going to require you to take in a certain amount of calories. Whether that amount is 2000 or not, I can't say. You should definitely speak with a registered dietician or a sports nutritionist before trying to loose that much weight. They can help refine your goals and loose weight safely without compromising lean muscle mass and recovery.

What you said about the literature is completely right. During training (especially longer training sessions like you're doing), you need to take in carbohydrate in order to maintain blood glucose levels and help spare muscle glycogen (the storage form of glucose). If you only train with water, you'll eventually run out of muscle glycogen stores and begin burning fat (which I know is what you want to do), but that's going to severely limit your exercise capacity and especially your recovery. Not to mention that you'll probably be training in fairly hot and/or humid conditions to prepare for the heat in your ride, so only taking in water will completely eliminate your electrolyte consumption and lead to cramps, and those aren't fun.

To answer your question, you should train with fuel during your longer exercise sessions (60 minutes or more), but there is a happy medium between no fuel and fuel...that's something you can find out by trying out different things during training and by talking to an R.D. or sports nutritionist. That happy medium, though, will have to be A LOT closer to the "taking in fuel side" of things rather than the "not taking in fuel side", but just how much you can play with it depends on your own physiology.

Not knowing much about your training or diet, I would give a general recommendation of looking to take in enough calories (nearly all carbohydrate, easily digestible such as Gatorade, etc) during exercise, replenishing your stores with enough carbohydrate post-exercise (again, easily digestible carbohydrates such as Gatorade or other sports drinks to start, and then lower glycemic index foods [or complex carbs] later on in the recovery period). Your overall goals should be similar to loosing 1-2 pounds per week without limiting your total calories too much (again, talking to an RD or sports nutritionist can help you a lot), and maintaining or increasing lean muscle mass. Muscle burns fat, so by using lean muscle mass for energy by severe caloric restriction and inadequate replenishment of stores during and after exercise, you're effectively limiting your fat loss.

Hope this helps.
Good luck!



Originally posted by Nick4444
I have 16 weeks to train and loose 75 pounds before the Hotter an Hell 100 (current wieght 263.) To help expedite my wieght loss, I no longer train with isotonic beverages, gels, etc, only plain water. In fact, I have pretty much given up food all together. My average daily caloric intake is about 2000 calories and most of my calories come from complex carbohydrates and lean proteins. So far, my weekly training miles have reached 150 and I have lost about 20 pounds over the past month. I was loosing 2~3 pounds per day untill I gave up the smokes and then my weight loss slowed down considerably.

All the literature I have read suggests that endurance training is greatly enhanced when your body is replentished with easily digestable carbohydrates during extended periods of training (90 minutes or more of hard training.)

Is it better for me to train without fuel replentishing in order to maximize weight loss or train with fuel replentishing and minimize my weight loss. Or somewhere in between?
 
I didn't do the pounds/week calc, and you are right -- that's more than reasonable. Good catch.

On the other issue, if he can get through his workouts (90 mins) without fuel, then why not? If he 'needs' the fuel, or if he finds his recovery is poor because of smoking all his glycogen, then a carb drink (limiting to 100-300 calories per hour) would be a good idea. And of course a healthy post-workout meal.
 
Originally posted by Aztec
I didn't do the pounds/week calc, and you are right -- that's more than reasonable. Good catch.

On the other issue, if he can get through his workouts (90 mins) without fuel, then why not? If he 'needs' the fuel, or if he finds his recovery is poor because of smoking all his glycogen, then a carb drink (limiting to 100-300 calories per hour) would be a good idea. And of course a healthy post-workout meal.

Well, one main thing about getting through the workouts without fuel is that you have to look at the ride he's training for. This race is typically in 100 degree heat. With almost any humidity, the temperature will feel WAY more than 100 degrees. So, his training should be specific to the ride, at least as much as possible. This means that he should be riding in some pretty damn hot weather sometimes, especially as he gets closer to the event so as to acclimatize to the heat. If he's going to try this in training, then he's going to need to replenish his fluid and especially electrolytes to prevent cramping and heat stress, or heat stroke. It doesn't matter how much you weigh or how much weight you're looking to loose. If you don't take in sufficient calories in longer rides (90 mins or longer - which is extraordinarily short when training for a 100 mile ride), you're not going to be able to complete the training rides as easily as if you were taking in calories. There's no reason to starve your body of what it needs.
 
I was just posting on another thread when I realised it was pretty relevant here too: don't forget that by not injesting carbs during longer rides, Nick is increasing his risk of contracting an upper respiratory infection due to reduced immune response.

Lindsay.