Monday, January 08, 2007

Low Carb

In a desperate attempt to shed a few kilos before my next 10K race in just over two weeks I've decided to go on a low carb diet from today. I say desperate because under normal circumstances I wouldn't consider it, love my beer, pasta, and bread, but I put on 4 kilos over the holidays and if I don't lose a bit of weight I may be throwing away my chances at a PB for my coming 10K, Marathon, and Half Marathon races.

I've never done one of these low carb diets so I'd appreciate any advice. My plan is to simply cut out and down the rice, and bread and pasta that is my staple thesedays.
I'll do this for two weeks and slowly bring back the carbs but in smaller portions until the weight is down or the 18th of Feb comes around, that's the Tokyo Marathon.

10 comments:

  1. Smaller portions on every meal will reduce the total calorie intake. You will have to reduce 3500 a week to lose a pound.
    They say also that the weight gain on december, normally never goes back, so let's not be another number for the stat and let's encourage each other taking care of our weight.
    Good luck!

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  2. Good luck with the diet! This seems to be a good way to lose weight quickly.

    Tenaciously yours
    RU ;0

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  3. mmmm I would cut out the beer to start.

    I agree with Hilda - cut out the amount but keep eating the stuff. Increase the veges.

    Change from white to brown (more fibre less calorie).

    Run an extra km each day. Tell yourself that it is for the weight and focus yourself on it.

    Miso soup with some chicken for lunch is a meal I usually have (without rice) when I am trying to watch the weight but need the nutrients and calories to keep training.

    Aside from that I think when someone really wants to lose weight - they will. It is very much about will power. I don't have much :) so find it harder than others.

    Best of luck with it.

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  4. I won't be much help, I'm a carboholic. I just wanted to see what others had suggested.

    All I could think was replace the pasta meal with some protein with salad or veges. You can still sneak a piece or two of (rye or similarly healthy) bread in with it, I do :-)

    Just hope you don't cut down so much that you don't have the energy to train properly and get through those long runs.


    PS Might be worth dropping The Eagle a line, he has been on a low carb thing for some months and it hasn't affected his marathons and ultras.

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  5. I wouldn't recommend starting 2 weeks before a race you want to PB at. Anything radical at this late stage will only upset the apple cart.

    It takes your body time to adjust to using different fuels in different ratios.

    Yes low carb ie less than 20grams total carb per day will see you shed weight quickly - but if you are like the vast majority of the population you will feel like crap for at least the first 3 days and maybe longer....

    I'd just be sensible like Hilda suggests and then after the race go a bit harder on the diet.

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  6. I agree with the others, I would limit the amount of KJ's instead of cutting out the major fuel our bodies use. Smaller portions, lower the amount of sugar and fats in your current diet and you will loose the Festive flab in no time.

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  7. Glad you're not cutting the beer... although I'm told there is such a thing as low carb beer.

    2P is the resident expert Scott. You'll probably feel bad training - get back on the carbs before racing.

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  8. One more vote here for not doing anything too radical. I really have my doubts that you can shed 4 kg in two weeks. But just cut back the quantities and cut out any crap food and focus on training well, as in lots, over the next three weeks and you ought to shed them before Tokyo. And you'll definitely need to be back on the carbs before Tokyo. Personally I can't imagine how it could be possible to maintain reasonable marathon training on minimal carbs, but if Tesso says that Eagle has done it, I'll take her word for it. Good luck.

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  9. p.s. sorry, you probably need some support rather than the grumbly nay-saying tone of my last commment. I'm sure that giving this a try for at least one week will be a very interesting exercise to see how effective it is in weight loss and how difficult it is to maintain. It will surely be a great exercise in will-power and control. I'm sure you can do it!

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  10. Don't mess with your food intake. That's all I learned from several self-experiments.

    Your body is a pretty complex system overall and you never know what will tip over on the right side of the equation once you change parameters on the left side...

    All you will get is many runs to the loo and other surprises which you definitely don't want to experience during a run. But hey, if you ever wanted to know how fast you can find a public toilet in the city, that's the way to find out - and don't forget to carry some paper with you. May come in handy (since there are no leaves in winter).

    Seriously, don't do it - better ramp up the mileage if you can take it. Mata, Ingo

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