Erica
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 11767 total posts
Name:
|
Nancy Clark - losing weight:
Saw this on another MB I'm on and thought I'd pass it on.
The Athlete’s Kitchen
Copyright; Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD January 2010
When you want to
lose weight quickly…
Some athletes, such as wrestlers or rowers trying to make weight for an
event, need to lose weight quickly. Others, like my client who insisted
that slow weight loss would not work for her, just want to lose weight
quickly. “I know everyone says to lose weight slowly, but I want to get
rid of this excess flab NOW!!!!” she declared with disgust.
So what is the best way to lose weight quickly? Do you simply “starve
yourself” by eating as little as possible? The answer depends on your
long-term goals:
• If you want to lose weight quickly for an event and don't mind
regaining the weight quickly, you can indeed “starve yourself” for a few
days to drop to the desired number on the scale. Obviously, the better
plan is to lose the weight pre-season, to minimize the agony and
optimize performance.
• If you want to lose weight and keep it off for the rest of your life,
don't even think about quick weight loss. It backfires.
Why “quick weight loss” is a fantasy
While the promise of quick weight loss is enticing, dieters who lose
weight quickly on a severe diet inevitably regain the weight, if not
more. That's because the body overcompensates for extreme dieting with overeating. You will never win the war against hunger...
Hunger is physiological. Just as your body needs to breathe, urinate and
sleep, your body also needs to eat. Urges to overeat (that is, blow your
diet) often have less to do with will power and more to do with the
physiology of hunger. Just as you will gasp for air after having been
trapped under-water without oxygen, you will devour food after having
been denied calories during a crash diet. Yes, you can white-knuckle
yourself to stick to your crash diet, but your well-meaning plan to
quickly shed some pounds has a high likelihood of exploding into a
demoralizing pattern of binge eating followed by yet-another attempt to
crash-diet. Don't go there.... it’s depressing.
Tips for successful weight loss
To lose weight and keep it off, you must keep in perspective you did not
gain the weight quickly and you should not plan to lose the weight
quickly. The better plan is to chip away at slow but steady weight loss,
targeting 0.5 to 2 pounds a week. Why, by just knocking off 100 calories
at the end of the day (one cookie, one heaping spoonful of ice cream),
you can theoretically lose 10 pounds a year. Knock off 200 calories at
the end of the day (16 ounces of cola, 4 Oreos), and you've lost 20
pounds a year. By eliminating just a few hundred evening calories, you
will lose weight when you are sleeping, not when you are training or
trying to deal with the stresses of your busy day. Plan to eat your
calories during the day, when they can help you the most. Then, diet (by
eating just a little bit less) by night.
Tips for athletes who need to lose weight for an event
Wrestlers, rowers and figure skaters who need to shed pounds for an
event generally try to eat as little as possible. They fail to
understand they could reach their goals by eating more than air. That
is, if you eat less than 1,000 to 1,500 calories, your metabolism slows
to compensate for the “famine.” The less you eat, the more your body
conserves:
•You will feel cold all the time, especially your hands and feet. You
won’t “waste calories” keeping your extremities warm.
• You will feel lethargic and have little energy to (enjoy) exercise, to
say nothing of perform well. Observe how you conserve precious calories
by fidgeting less, moving minimally and doing less spontaneous activity
than usual in the non-exercise parts of your day.
• Your resting metabolic rate can drop by as much as 20%. This conserves
calories and slows weight loss.
• Weight loss might be half muscle, half fat. Losing muscle is
counter-productive to athletic performance. (Be sure to lift weights and
eat some protein with each meal to help reduce loss of muscle.)
Should you add on extra cardio to burn calories and hasten fat loss? No.
Research suggests exercising while crash dieting does not result in
additional weight loss as compared to crash dieting without exercise.
Plus, you might end up injured and overtrained, to say nothing of
fighting deeper hunger. That is, after grinding through an extra spin
class to burn off 600 additional calories, you could quickly wipe out
that calorie deficit in less than 3 minutes by succumbing to 12 Oreos
the instant you get home. White-knuckling yourself away from food is not
fun—and is not sustainable.
Instead of doing extra hard training, plan to increase your non-training
activity by walking more, doing projects, cleaning the house, playing
with the kids and staying off the couch. Daily activity counts; keep
moving during your waking hours so you do not become a “sedentary athlete.”
You certainly should not eat less than your weight x 10 calories per
pound (your resting metabolic rate—what you body requires to breathe,
pump blood, and function). Targeting 13-15 calories per pound is still
very restrictive for an athlete. That’s about 2,000-2,200 calories if
you weigh ~150 lbs. Alternatively to counting calories, reduce your food
portions by about 20-30%, depending on how much time you have to lose
the weight. (A sports nutritionist can design a successful reducing plan
for you. To find a local RD, use the referral network at SCANdpg.org.)
Divide your limited calories, eating evenly sized meals on a time-line,
at least every four hours throughout the day. That could be 500 calories
at 7:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m (either a second lunch, or divide the
calories into pre- and post-workout fuel) and 7:00 p.m. Spend your
calories on wholesome foods that include protein (to help keep you from
feeling hungry) and “bulky” foods like vegetables and brothy soups that
help fill your tummy with less calories that compact foods (burgers,
fries).
Athletes who need to lose weight quickly often restrict fluids. One
pound of water can be easier to lose than one pound of fat—but this
option should be a last resort. Ideally, you should have planned ahead
and lost the weight in the off-season! Do not sweat away more than 2% of
your body weight. (That's three pounds of sweat for a 150-pound person.)
More than that can hurt your performance, to say nothing of endanger
your health. Hence, if you currently weigh 150 lbs. but need to be 140
in two weeks, you can reasonably lose about 3 pounds of sweat. You will
then need to lose “only” 7 pounds of fat, of which half will likely be
muscle, if you crash diet.
The bottom line
Losing weight quickly is hard work. The smarter plan is to lose weight
slowly and be able to keep it off for the wrestling, crew or other
sport’s season—and the rest of your life. Although slow weight loss
sounds less enticing, it is easier and sustainable! Do you really want
to do suffer through a restrictive weight reduction diet, regain the
weight, and then have to lose it again?
Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD (Board Certified Specialist in Sports
Dietetics) counsels both casual and competitive athletes in her practice
at Healthworks, the premier fitness center in Chestnut Hill MA
(617-383-6100). For weight loss help, read her Sports Nutrition
Guidebook and food guides for new runners, marathoners and cyclists,
available at www.nancyclarkrd.com. See also sportsnutritionworkshop.com.
References:
Position Stand of the American College of Sports Medicine: Appropriate
Physical Activity Intervention Strategies for Weight Loss and Prevention
of Weight Regain for Adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
41(2):459-471, 2009
Position Stand of the American Dietetic Association: Weight Management.
Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 109: 330-346, 2009.
Thompson JL, Manore MM, Skinner JS, Ravussin E, Spraul M. Daily energy
expenditure in male endurance athletes with differing energy intakes.
Med Sci Sports Exerc 27::347-54, 1995.
|
