Fat Tuesday
Height - 5' 10"Weight - 170.5 Lbs.
BMR - 1779.215
BMI - 24.5
Weight Goal - 157 Lbs.
This is the beginning of a human experiment. Over the next two months or so I will be applying principles gathered from the new book by Matt Fitzgerald: "Racing Weight - How to Get Lean for Peak Performance" in a desperate attempt to...get lean for peak performance. I'll be dedicating Tuesdays from now until race season starts in April to documenting my progress.
While my family and some friends (besides Jon Bruno) tell me that I'm already too thin, I know that amongst the ranks of wanna-be-professional cyclists I am pretty overweight. I'm sure Jay Leno's family tells him that he doesn't have an incredibly over-sized head. This is nice but it's not true. We're cyclists, we have a different idea of what ideal weight is. It has nothing to do with "looking good" or "being sexy." It has everything to do feeling good and going fast. If we wanted to look good and be sexy, we'd hit the gym, go tanning, then do laundry. Um...bro.
Part One of "Racing Weight" outlines why an endurance athlete will benefit from losing weight. Fitzgerald discusses Lance Armstrong's huge transformation from powerhouse sprinter to Tour De France winner: "Do you need to get cancer and lose a lot of weight to become a better endurance athlete? Absolutely not!"
Phew! I'm relieved that I don't have to go out and get cancer. I have no idea how to do that, and I don't live anywhere near a DuPont plant.
The first step is finding your optimum racing weight. According to Fitzgerald: "If you're close to your ultimate performance level, you're close to your optimal performance weight." This blog may seem to serve no purpose whatsoever but it does serve some purpose...to me...sometimes. I don't keep a training log but, thanks to the blog, I can go back and really see what was going on at a given time. To determine what my "ultimate performance level" is, I just had to look at the best race of my best season: Root 66, Hodges Village Dam 2008. At the time I weighed about 157 Lbs. That is not what I weighed at any point last season and it is far from what I weigh now.
Next step was to calculate my Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR. This tells me how many calories someone of my height, weight, and age should ingest in a day. The calculator defaults to the "female" setting so my first calculation gave me a start — 1561.175 calories, AAH! I take in that many calories before breakfast. Recalibrate for male and calculate...1779.215. That's better. Still a little intimidating, probably no more Bacon, Egg, and Cheese on Boston Cream Donuts anytime soon. Apparently counting calories-in is key to successful weight loss, so this is a start.
I'm going to begin calorie counting today, I'm only three chapters into the book at this point, I'll apply any other awesome weight loss tricks I learn over the next week and report back Tuesday.
A guy named Michael Pollan is on NPR right now. He may have s simpler plan: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Maybe I'm over-thinning this. Over-thinking...thinking.
1.19.10 Morning weigh-in 170.5 Lbs.See, I don't look all that skinny, do I?
Body Dysmorphia my fat ass (and man-boobs).
7 comments:
I was trying to listen to him while I worked; sounds like a good book.
Whenever I think I look good, my family always asks me if I'm sick.
I cant believe I weigh less than you, This must be some kind of mind trick to make me think i'll climb better than you. Until you go flying by,that is...
g.t.l.
Sounds like a fair weight goal. I think...
Your goal should be Dicky's weight. hahaha
that calculator just told me I only need 1392.3 calories a day. I beg to differ.
you're going the wrong way! clydesdale: less competition and more donuts.
Pollan says you can eat whatever you want so long as you make it yourself. This is the easiest way to restrict your eating. Just don't eat out, ever. We have food available 24/7, prepared and ready to consume in minutes, with zero effort. Hell cyclists have gels because who the hell wants to waste energy chewing when they're out trying to get some exercise? Take any animal on the planet and put them in this situation with an unlimited food supply and they will get fat.
FWIW I am also 5' 10" and currently around 170 and I look almost as gross as you do in that pic. Clearly the cameras are playing tricks on us. 157 is out of reach for me though. I'd be 2% body fat if I ever got there.
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