Racing to my Race Weight

So as previously mentioned there shall be a new experiment beginning tomorrow (I like to use myself as a guinea pig).  The general goal is to get down to my racing weight.

What is racing weight?

Racing weight tends to be a lot leaner than your day to day body weight. For those with sports goals, or wanting to become a sports endurance performer, you will have to flit between a racing weight and an off peak weight. The difference being that your racing weight is less as your body fat percentage is less therefore resulting in faster, more efficient performance times. Your off peak weight is a little higher with a more maintainable body fat percentage during gentler training periods outside of specific sports seasons.

How did I predict my optimal weight?

A bit of math basically! A few calculations here and there, figuring which performance percentile I was is and where I wanted to be to improve my speed. All of which can be done very easily if you know what your current body fat percentage is and what your lean muscle mass are.

An important consideration is, that first of all where you lie body fat wise to begin with and what sport it is that you are looking to enhance your performance in.

Here are some general guidelines of endurance sports and optimal body fat percentages:

Cycling: Male – 6-11%

                Female – 12-16 %

Rowing: Male - <8%

                Female – 12-16%

Running: Male – 7.3%

                 Female – 12.4%

Swimming: Male - 10-12%

                     Female – 19-21%

Triathlete: Male – 6-10%

                   Female – 12-16%

Please remember that these figures are for peak performers and don’t go on any crazy missions to get your body fat ridiculously low!

Starting Statistics

Gender: Female

Age: 21

Height: 5ft 6 inches

Weight:  62.2 KG   (9 stone 11.2 lbs)

Total Body Fat Percentage: 23%

Fat Mass: 2 stone 2 lbs

Muscle Mass: 7 stone 2.4 lbs

Hydration: 57.3 %

Bone Mass: 5.2 lbs

Metabolic Age: 13

Visceral Fat Rating: 1

BMI: 22.1

At the moment, I’m, currently in the 45^th percentile with my body fat, meaning that my body fat percentage is lower than 45% of women my age. Being competitive with myself that’s not good enough and I’m always looking for ways to test how I can push my body performance wise.

So hereth is whereth the experiment comes in. I will attempt to get my body fat down to around 18-19% which will place me in the 70-75^th percentile area and will hopefully make me nice and speedy!

Goal 1: To get my body weight down to 130 lbs this should result in a body fat percentage of around 19%

With a decrease in body fat, it is predicted that for every 5-10 pounds lost, you remove between 31 seconds and a minute off your total 5K time.

Goal 2: To see whether my “optimal body weight” will improve my current 3 mile personal best of 21 minutes 37 seconds to around 21 minutes.

The Plan

So I hear you all ask, how will you get your body fat down, just drop weight? Sadly it’s not quite that easy and will require a lot of effort on my behalf to get my portions and nutrition exact.

As a rule of thumb, I will need to lose a pound a week (however I may gain muscle so this does come into account).

In order to do so, I will need a calorie deficit of about 500 calories a day. As my current calorie requirement is 2532 per day, I will need to consume around 2000 calories.

Again it is all a numbers game, being an endurance athlete I need to consume adequate amounts of carbohydrate to fuel workouts. For this I will go on the principle that 20% of my calories will come from fat, 17% from protein and 63% from carbohydrate.

So the question is, does it work?! Let’s wait and see!!

Fingers crossed for a half marathon time of around  1 hour 40 –50 minutes when I’m done.

Getting down to race weight....

So I've done a pretty hefty jump, and reduced my body fat percentage by almost 2% in 3 weeks. As a keen runner I've noticed my performance increase significantly and decided to take on challenge number 2! The perfect timing of this experiment should hopefully improve my performance for the running season.

The goal: To get my body down to my racing weight.

I currently weigh 137 pounds with a body fat percentage of 23%. To be at my racing weight and peak performance for long distance running I need to have a body fat percentage of around 19%. To get to this level, it is estimated that I would need to lose 8 pounds (wow thats a lot!). This is assuming I would not gain any more muscle mass and purely lose body fat.

So my new challenge is to get down to my race weight. The experiment will begin on Saturday 28th May.

Will my time improve??? With a body fat percentage of 19% I would hope to get a half marathon time of under 1 hour 50 minutes.

Wish me luck guys and gals!!

No Sugar Experiment Results…

Alas the moment is here when I can tell you all the fabulous results of my experiment! For all those skeptics that thought it was “dangerous” please can I reiterate that the experiment did not cut out all sugar such as carbohydrates, merely refined sugars and sweeteners that have been added. I have included my beginning stats again as a point of reference:

Starting Statistics

Gender: Female (obviously)

Age: 21

Height: 5ft 6 inches

Weight:  63.6 KG   (10 stone 0.2 lbs)

Total Body Fat Percentage: 24.9% (Female professional athletes have body fat levels of 14-20%)

Fat Mass: 2 stone 7 lbs

Muscle Mass: 7 stone 1.8 lbs

Hydration: 53.1%

Bone Mass: 5.4 lbs

Metabolic Age: 17

Visceral Fat Rating: 1 (this is the fat surrounding your internal organs and is rated on a scale of 1-12 so I have virtually none!)

BMI: 22.6 (this will be slightly higher as I have a quite a high muscle mass)

Ideal body weight: 9 stone 10.4 lbs (if I were to reach this weight I would have a body fat percentage of about 21%)

 Here are the final bad boys:

End Statistics

Gender: Female (obviously)

Age: 21

Height: 5ft 6 inches

Weight:  62.2 KG   (9 stone 11.2 lbs)

Total Body Fat Percentage: 23% (Female professional athletes have body fat levels of 14-20%)

Fat Mass: 2 stone 2 lbs

Muscle Mass: 7 stone 2.4 lbs

Hydration: 57.3 %

Bone Mass: 5.2 lbs

Metabolic Age: 13

Visceral Fat Rating: 1 (this is the fat surrounding your internal organs and is rated on a scale of 1-12 so I have virtually none!)

BMI: 22.1 (this will be slightly higher as I have a quite a high muscle mass)

Ideal body weight: 9 stone 10.4 lbs (if I were to reach this weight I would have a body fat percentage of about 21%)

Ladies you will also love that I’ve dropped virtually a dress size, going from a 10-12 in jeans to a 10 being slightly big, and a size 8 on top to a 6.

Sports Performance Stats Before:

3 mile (5 km) run time: 23 minutes 34 seconds (just under an 8 minute mile pace)

Sports Performance Stats After:

3 mile (5 km) run time: 21 minutes 37 seconds (ever so slightly over a 7 minute mile)

First of all I think this deserves a BOOM! I didn’t expect the stats to be as good as they are. The main thing to emphasise is that at no point have I cut calories. This experiment wasn’t to lose weight it was merely to see what effect cutting out sugar would have on my body. Every day I met (if not exceeded) my calorie requirement for that day based on my activity levels. I never consumed under what I should, which would have resulted in a deficit. The results are purely through cutting out refined sugar.

Helen Buchan a  nutritionist based in Gosforth, whom I consulted with at the beginning of the experiment made a fantastic point about why my statistics were fantastic, but over 6-7 months could be incredible. She spoke about how the results will have improved as I was cutting out something that interfered with performance and the efficiency at which my body worked. The point made that really caught my attention was that despite seeing good results my body is potentially holding on to wastage. Why???? Because our bodies are taking in so much hidden refined sugars that they recognise it as a food group in itself and potentially become dependent on it. Once its cut out, the body sees this as cutting out a whole food group and holds on to weight and fat just in case; however over time once the body begins to function efficiently, realises that the refined sugar has been replaced by other food groups and will stop doing this.

To begin with it was hard. I felt like I had withdrawal symptoms and it was a toughie. However as the three weeks went on I realised that what I originally thought were physical withdrawal symptoms, weren’t. A lot of what I experienced over the 3 weeks was very much behavioural, and bad habits. The odd biscuit here, a snack that had a bit more sugar than I thought there.

As the experiment progressed I became a lot more in tune with what my body needed me to put in it, to fuel my days. Without the refined sugar in my blood stream resulting in highs and lows in the late mornings and afternoons, I was able to identify what was missing (essentially a mini meal), and what my body was really craving (it certainly wasn’t sugar!). In fact what I learnt about myself over the few weeks was firstly, that I wasn’t drinking enough water, and often times when I would reach for the occasional treat was when I was actually dehydrated and went for a sweet treat to perk me up. As we know biscuits certainly aren’t water so no beneficial effect would have been had! The second thing I realised was that my body was literally craving protein. I wasn’t consuming anywhere near enough (something I find with clients and should have known about myself but hey we can’t be perfect). I upped my protein intake at those points in the day when I may have reached for something quick and sugary or possibly a diet drink, and what a difference it made!

I think the overall result of the experiment isn’t my statistics; it’s my behavioural approach to my nutrition and my body. I look and feel incredible. I’m faster and more energetic than I ever have been in my life, and I thought I felt pretty good before I started it too! Now I wake up in the morning and I’m raring to go (once I get over my initial grumpy stage). Ironically my metabolic age is probably better now than it was when I was actually 13.

Will I go back to the way I was….will I chuff, I’d have to be a moron to do that! I feel fabulous, look fabulous and am performing at an excellent level, why would I want to go back in the opposite direction!?!?!?! From time to time I may have the odd alcoholic tipple (I’m only human), but sugar wise with food, I’m staying away!

So if you’re thinking about making a big change I recommend you do so (seek medical advice first to check you are ok to make such a drastic change).

If you would like extra advice please don’t hesitate to contact myself. Furthermore if you would like nutritional advice at a higher level, I recommend Helen Buchan highly.

Contact myself on: 07508222382 to book a free consultation and get moving towards a healthier lifestyle.

Contact Helen Buchan on: 07711 497243 or 0191 285 7326

Helens Webpage:  http://www.feelamazing.co.uk/index.php

This is what you drink...

Here's a little bit of sugar for thought. A challenge often faced with clients, drinks! Just because it's liquid doesn't mean it doesn't have calories and they are a nightmare for having hidden sugar. Below are some images to show the sugar equivalent in food to some favourite beverages...

Another point. Water is water, it shouldn't be flavoured guys and gals, this is why....

And the most popular beverages of all...

Tip of the day: think before you drink.

Before (ish) and after (almost) photos of the no sugar experiment!

Im not one for posing in my underwear for showing before and after progress on an experiment, so instead I did it in my running gear (keeping my modesty intact!)

Although I didn't take any starting photos (woops sorry guys!)....here are a couple of photos showing what my figure was like to begin with (a little outdated but I hadn't changed one bit (not even dress size or weight) in 2 years until I did the no sugar experiment)


Before:

This was me in November at my 21st (yes I'm dressed as Lara Croft), as I say I have been the same weight for 2 years. I had officially hit a plateau and no matter how had I trained, could not get my weight down even a pound!

This is me now after 2 weeks of no sugar...

Half a stone lighter...and 2 minutes faster with a 3 mile run time of 21 minutes 37 seconds....

Still 4 days to go.

Why Diets are sh**e… emotionally

The first thing I ask a client when I walk through the door is…are you on a diet or have you ever dieted? Why…because as the title of this blog states, diets are sh**e.

The majority of the population has been on a diet fact. Amount successful… not very many. It sounds harsh but it’s true, why, because diets don’t work.

There has been a lot of literature on the truths about why diets don’t work and a lot talk very successfully about the different emotional mechanisms and restrictive eating habits. But, a lot don’t get down to the nitty gritty point, the reason why in the long run, any one that uses the word diet fails.

di·et

Verb: Restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight

• - it's difficult to diet

Noun: A special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons

• - I'm going on a diet

So why don’t they work? Because a lot of people say “I’m going on a diet to lose this weight I put on”. What they don’t say is “why did I get to this point where I feel like I need to lose weight” or “why did I put on a large amount of weight”.

By saying you are going on a diet, you are skipping a whole step in the process of losing weight. You are missing the emotional part of the journey and focusing on the physical part. Until you address the emotional issues that resulted in the weight gain or body dissatisfaction, how will you ever truly reach acceptance? 

In order to live a successful and healthy lifestyle, the emotional barriers need to be overcome. The word diet tends to be used with those who have emotional attachments to food, as they restrict the foods that make them happy or provide them with comfort or protection from the problems in their life. In experience I have often found that those who have failed on diets, miss out their bad foods when reporting their nutritional lifestyle. Reason: because it is a hidden relationship and comfort between themselves and that item of food. 

By reporting that they indulge or binge on a particular food, they are hiding a relationship that they don’t want to lose. Again why? In admitting that they have a “treat” food, subconsciously they know that this is one of the first behaviours that will be tackles, and by removing the food from the equation they may have to consciously face up to the feelings that those bad or comforting foods are hiding.

Diets fail, because they merely cut out those emotional trigger foods, and don’t allow an individual to face up to why they gained weight through eating or binging on those “forbidden” foods. Furthermore, by going straight into the physical diet mode, an individual skips the emotional reason of why they are dissatisfied with their body and why they feel to lose weight.

Emotionally diets are tiring and unsuccessful as they force individuals to focus upon what they can’t put in their bodies, and food becomes stressful and the enemy.

Instead an individual should celebrate food, celebrate the nutritional benefits that foods have on everyday general wellbeing. Next time you go to eat a “bad” food, stop and ask yourself why you are tempted to eat that food. Does it have any nutritional benefit to your body? If not then begin to look at the food as an emotion instead, and assess why it is you are really eating that food.

When you eat a good/nutritional food, forget the calories and focus on the benefits it has on your body. Does it keep you full, does it give you carbohydrate/protein/essential fats and vitamins. If it does then go ahead and scoff to your hearts desire!

A typical day of food on the no sugar experiment…

Mini Breakfast:

One large orange (sometimes a quarter of a melon) and a handful of nuts (Brazil, cashew, pecan and almonds, all unsweetened).

Breakfast:

2 large slices of pumpkin seed and wholemeal toast with organic crunchy peanut butter (no added sugar).

Snack:

2 Large Raw Carrots, 1 Plum, 1 Apple

Lunch:

2 Multi-seed wraps with low fat houmous, stuffed with spinach and a large handful of cherry tomatoes

Snack:

1 Pear and a nakd bar (cold pressed fruit, nuts and oats)

Dinner:

Whole box or bag of stir fry vegetables (depending upon mood which type, usually mixed pepper or vegetable), cooked in sesame oil with whole-wheat noodles and mixed seeds.

Dessert:

Natural Low Fat Greek Yoghurt with Organic Honey

Drinks: 3 Litres of water (sometimes more depending upon training for the day), red bush and vanilla tea.

On a hard training day, extra food would include:

Potatoes (long distance running days)

Bananas (post workout snacks)