Balancing food/calorie intake during base/build/peak phases

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Just want to get an idea on what others do for different stages of the season when working through base, build and peak phases? Is it a case that you run a calorie deficit for the base and build to get down close to race weight and the peak phase is about maintaining food intake to match with the heavy workload?

Talking about calorie deficits what numbers are people running off? I have often heard (probably misguided) that a deficit of 500cals a day will result in a weight loss of 1lb of weight, 1lb = 3500cals?

In terms of the type of foods people are eating is this something that people track to see what there breakdown of macronutrients are? What ideally should one be aiming for in terms of split or is it athlete dependant?

Hopefully we get some discussion going on this topic as its something i am starting to look a lot closer at rather than just using the DQS method in racing weight.

Given the higher workload triathletes put their bodies through i think it is very important to maintain a good balance between dropping weight and keeping enough fuel going in by replenishing the body with the right type of foods.

BennyMul

Hey, this is something I seriously struggle with, been a person who has to starve themselves to lose a pound and very interested in what the correct way to address it is.
Personally I try and run a deficit, mainly down to been over weight. I do aim for the 500 a day, as every piece of material I read suggests this number for proper weight loss.
Now I have to be honest I do not track what I eat or what the calorie content is, my rule of thumb is “eating is cheating”:p

My question is when do you stop running a deficit and simply balance calorie expenditure with intake.
Does anyone else go for their long runs, bike on an empty stomach(possible a black coffee to rise metabolism) and only eat after an hour?

pgibbo

I did a fair bit of training on empty last year. 90% of my swims, up to 4k were done on empty with only water with me at the pool. I have run for up to 90 minutes on empty without issue (easy run) and biked for 2 hours with some work on empty. Straight after these sessions I'll have 8oz of fruit juice with some protein accompanied with a banana. Within an hour I'll have a decent recovery meal.

Your diet should follow/fuel your training. Most people eat the same portions and quantities every day regardless of training load. In reality your training should dictate how much you do or don't eat.

mloc123

I have been on a 500kcal/day deficit now for 2-3 months and lose about 1-1.5lbs a week.

It means my daily net intake (food - training) is 1700kcal. This does not seem like much to some maybe but it is a lot of food providing you eat well.

When to stop the deficit? When you hit race weight.

I pissed about las year not counting calories and didn't lose anything, for me it is he only way that works. myfinesspal.com is decent for tracking and has an iPhone app etc..

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

BennyMul wrote: »

Hey, this is something I seriously struggle with, been a person who has to starve themselves to lose a pound and very interested in what the correct way to address it is.
Personally I try and run a deficit, mainly down to been over weight. I do aim for the 500 a day, as every piece of material I read suggests this number for proper weight loss.
Now I have to be honest I do not track what I eat or what the calorie content is, my rule of thumb is “eating is cheating”:p

My question is when do you stop running a deficit and simply balance calorie expenditure with intake.
Does anyone else go for their long runs, bike on an empty stomach(possible a black coffee to rise metabolism) and only eat after an hour?

Well starving is defineatly not the way to go, risking sickness and not being properly fueled for your sessions. I would be pretty sure the slowly measured approach is the way to go rather than the big bang approach. Regards long runs i rarely take anything up to 2hrs and only fluids on bikes up to 2.5hours. After long tough sessions some quick protein/carbs within a few minutes and then a good meal as soon as i can.
I am going to work on going empty on some of my longer bikes this season and see how i go.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

mloc123 wrote: »

I have been on a 500kcal/day deficit now for 2-3 months and lose about 1-1.5lbs a week.

It means my daily net intake (food - training) is 1700kcal. This does not seem like much to some maybe but it is a lot of food providing you eat well.

When to stop the deficit? When you hit race weight.

I pissed about las year not counting calories and didn't lose anything, for me it is he only way that works. myfinesspal.com is decent for tracking and has an iPhone app etc..

So you work off 2200cals a day as opposed to 2550cals a day. If on a busy day of training were i am burning 2000cals are we saying my intake should be 3700cals using the same formula you use for that 500cal deficit? That seems like a huge number of cals to be taking in on one day.

Yeah myfitnesspal is good thankfully TPeaks have an Iphone app as well so given i have the phone with me at all times it will be easy to update after each meal and the coach can easily check over along with the training sessions itself.

mloc123

Emery Fresh Styrofoam wrote: »

So you work off 2200cals a day as opposed to 2550cals a day. If on a busy day of training were i am burning 2000cals are we saying my intake should be 3700cals using the same formula you use for that 500cal deficit? That seems like a huge number of cals to be taking in on one day.

Yeah myfitnesspal is good thankfully TPeaks have an Iphone app as well so given i have the phone with me at all times it will be easy to update after each meal and the coach can easily check over along with the training sessions itself.

It works for me. The only day I will burn 2000+ kcal is on my long bike, and I will take on 2-300/hour on the bike so its not as if I am coming home and eating a huge amount after.

2500/day seems high to me.. I worked out mine based on height, weight and how active I am in work (sitting at a desk). I under count what my garmin says I burned, yesterday for 45mins easy it said 550, I recorded it as 450 etc.. Swim wise, I dunno.. I stick down 3-400/hour .

Again, it works for me and I may hit a point that it no longer does.

Edit: I presume you do not have much to lose?

Rawhead

BennyMul wrote: »

Hey, this is something I seriously struggle with, been a person who has to starve themselves to lose a pound and very interested in what the correct way to address it is.
Personally I try and run a deficit, mainly down to been over weight. I do aim for the 500 a day, as every piece of material I read suggests this number for proper weight loss.
Now I have to be honest I do not track what I eat or what the calorie content is, my rule of thumb is “eating is cheating”:p

My question is when do you stop running a deficit and simply balance calorie expenditure with intake.
Does anyone else go for their long runs, bike on an empty stomach(possible a black coffee to rise metabolism) and only eat after an hour?

I was at the same crap last year when I was trying to get a lot of weight off. I ended up with my body literally shutting down on a couple of occasions. It made me ill. If your training at a fairly tough intensity then you should be losing weight anyway unless your eating savage amounts of stuff. I'm training twice as hard this year and the problem I have now is losing weight even when I'm not trying. I just eat well and often. I'm taking protein powder to aid recovery and I find it has helped me loads. I also like an athletic build as opposed to looking like a Biafran.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

mloc123 wrote: »

It works for me. The only day I will burn 2000+ kcal is on my long bike, and I will take on 2-300/hour on the bike so its not as if I am coming home and eating a huge amount after.

2500/day seems high to me.. I worked out mine based on height, weight and how active I am in work (sitting at a desk). I under count what my garmin says I burned, yesterday for 45mins easy it said 550, I recorded it as 450 etc.. Swim wise, I dunno.. I stick down 3-400/hour .

Again, it works for me and I may hit a point that it no longer does.

Edit: I presume you do not have much to lose?

Actually MLoc i think your right with 2200 as opposed to 2500, i am a desk jockey as well so i think the 2500 is based on someone who is active in work. Might check the calories burnt on TPeaks tonight as todays interval session has me down as burning 1300cals over a 1:20 run with about 45mins of that at a high pace but it seems a little high to me.
Only 2kg to lose to get to race weight which is 65kg but i am finding it tough now to shed the last few lbs. The other reason i am looking at this closely is trying to get the food intake to follow the training load. I am a nightmare for eating the same on a non training day which essentially is an extra 1500cals when not burning it off. Equally on the really heavy days not taking enough in.
Great going yourself btw on weight loss, keep it going.

Rawhead

Emery Fresh Styrofoam wrote: »

Only 2kg to lose to get to race weight which is 65kg but i am finding it tough now to shed the last few lbs.

Surely this early in the year you would benefit from being a kg or two over race weight. As the training intensifies you will undoubtedly lose the weight closer to the racing season. Running at or below your target weight this early in the year would surely add extra strain to the body and leave you running at a deficit all the time.

Oryx

My weight stays steady mostly, during this latest base phase Ive lost about 4lbs. I keep an eye on the scales and eat according to whether Im losing or gaining at any given time. I do train on empty, but never for the bike. I cant handle that and tend to bonk.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Rawhead wrote: »

Surely this early in the year you would benefit from being a kg or two over race weight. As the training intensifies you will undoubtedly lose the weight closer to the racing season. Running at or below your target weight this early in the year would surely add extra strain to the body and leave you running at a deficit all the time.

Not when i have an A race in 5 weeks time!! Not going to stress though if i do no not hit 65kg as long as i get close to it and feel strong at whatever weight that is. I will naturally put on a few kg after the A race during recovery and then start the process again for Roth.