Well, a little bit of background should come first from 2011.
Like most cyclists, triathletes, and other endurance sports fanatics I tend to gain weight during the winter. For me the weight gain "was in the 4-5 pounds" range and an inch on my waist. Much to my disappointment last year I had trouble shedding the extra baggage in the Spring like I had done in previous years. It seemed that the weight would not shed when the weather improved, the days were longer, and my training hours increased. Much to my frustration I carried the "4-5 pounds" in to May.
Prior to my sabbatical last Summer I was carrying about 173 pounds and I am normally in the mid 160s for race season. I stepped on a scale at the Breckenridge rec center the week prior to Ride the Rockies and I came in at 174 and was really disappointed. About 10 days later I was back in Breck after RtR and the same scale had me at 165. Whew................it took a week of riding long every day and not overeating to get down to "Race Weight".
Fast forward to Fall of 2011 I set a goal of working hard during Cross season and not to gain weight during the winter months. This would only be achievable by cutting calories as almost all athletes ease back on the training in Winter.
So.................my challenge would be to give up something...............but what?????? I decided to give up eating three meals a day and stay focused on multiple small meals a day that would allow my metabolism to keep my weight down. In addition I kept swimming at least twice a week as it a great way to burn calories.
In the end nothing too fancy but here is a look at my typical Monday-Friday eating routine.
Morning Breakfast Burrito |
The above burrito is nothing more than a tortilla and a couple of eggs with some occasional crumbled cheese. I eat this at about 6 AM before I leave for the office. I started making them at home only after a bout of food poisoning from the breakfast burritos I would buy at the office cafeteria.
A Real Treat--mid-morning snack and lunch |
After a few hours at work I nuke my oatmeal and berries at about 9am. This will get me through the rest of the morning. I will occasionally take some of my coworkers honey and drizzle it on top!!
At about 11AM I break out the green concoction from the fridge or "British Racing Green" smoothie. This 20 oz of nirvana includes:
-a handful of frozen fruit with half a banana
-scoop of greek yoghurt
-spoonful of orange juice concentrate
-flax seed
-tablespoon of spirulina
-tablespoon of wheat grass
-handful of carrots
-tablespoon of chia seeds
-several vitamin pills
-half cup of muscle milk vanilla protein powder
-scoop of maltodextrin
-half cup of muscle milk vanilla protein powder
-scoop of maltodextrin
-a squirt of agave nectar
-some water
And then I put it all in my Vita-mix Blender--a vintage beauty from circa 1988--to make it creamy.
The Varsity of Blenders |
Needless to say when I started to add the spirulina and wheatgrass it took a few weeks to get used to the color but now drinking it is the highlight of my day.
Stirfry!! |
Later in the day I will snack a bit and it will include some cottage cheese, maybe some quinoa, but almost always a tupperware container of StirFry that I made on Sunday night. I will toss in to my wok a big pile of veggies, some chicken or sausage that I have cooked almost all of the fat out of and then divide it up for the week.
I decided that I needed to cut back on some carbs as well but not entirely as I need them for energy and my sanity but adding more veggie based proteins was definitely needed.
For those that know me well I can confess that I have not given up beer, chocolate chip cookies, nor pizza. I do however have fewer cookies, do not eat the whole pizza anymore, and have french fries twice in the last 4 months. On weekends I still make my smoothies, may have waffles in the morning, and will go out to eat and it is such a treat!
JOCMO: In cycling you can get free speed 2 ways. Being aerodynamic and losing weight--i.e. watts to weight ratio. In this instance I am approaching race season at race weight!!
I am jeolous - I need to dump 10 pounds from winter. But I am not drinking that green stuff. Bill
ReplyDeleteBill, my first blog comment! The green smoothie is tolerable, definitely not a milkshake, but tolerable.
ReplyDelete