113--The Plan is Working

I'm down about 1.5 lbs. in 6 days and pretty sure it was fat. I've been tracking my calorie intake and calculating daily and cumulative deficit in 2 ways (cuz I'm anal): first, based on what I was told about a year ago the last time I had my BMR/RMR measured, which was to just plug in 500 calories per hour for any type of exercise I do (swim, bike, run, lift) and second, based on what I have estimated my actual burn rates to be for different types of exercise taking average pace into consideration.

I'm pretty sure I don't generally burn 500 calories per hour swimming, although the last time I used an HRM in an Ironman, I think my swim came out to about 750, so under the stress and excitement of a race, that may be true. For biking, the Ergomo tells me exactly what I am burning based on my power output, and on an average basis, it comes out to about 550. For running, I definitely don't meet the 100 calories/mile estimate because I am so small, but if I remember from when I used an HRM, it was around 525-550/hour. Strength I have no clue!

So my 6-day deficit as measured with what I believe to be my burn rates is about 3800 calories, which should be a little over a pound. I've been adding about 10 minutes of extra stuff per day that is not included in my calories burned total, and if you figure on 500 calories per hour for that, it comes out to another 500 calories, so maybe 4300 (although I'm not including that extra stuff in my calories burned for purposes of dropping weight), and 4300/3500 is 1.3. Nice!

It is good to see that the old calories in/calories out equation is working the way it should. I frequently hear people bitching and moaning about how they can't lose weight even though they believe they are technically creating a significant calorie deficit. I always tell them that the only way to prove their statements is by having their RMR/BMR measured, their exercise burn rates approximated based on that (which requires a bodyfat % calculation, too), and then keep meticulous records of intake and output. But then one needs to recognize that as you drop weight, your RMR for sure is going to change, and unless you keep adding more exercise, your BMR would drop, too. So it is true that there's a delicate balance between how much you eat, how much exercise you do (on average), how lean you are and to an extent, age. Which is why I have had rules of thumb about what I will and won't eat based on the average number of training hours per week that I do, and I knew full well that I was not paying close attention to that this winter, and presto, extra fat. DUH.

Why should RMR/BMR be affected by age, all other things being equal? Technically, it may not be. That is, if you maintain the same bodyfat %, then as you age, all other things being equal, your RMR/BMR should stay pretty much level. Many RMR/BMR estimates will use your age but not your bodyfat %. So the assumption is that as you age that you get fatter, which is true for most sedentary to moderately active people. Is it more difficult to maintain lean mass as you age? I think that may be true to an extent, but is it biochemically based? I doubt it. I think that as we age we adjust our standards to be "OK" with a little more fat than we had when we were younger. I mean, face it, it's hard work to stay lean and muscular. Like I always say, if it were easy, then everyone would be ripped and gorgeous!

I can tell you from my pre-endurance days that I was able to maintain a weight of around 118 lbs. on very few calories--maybe 1800 per day. I think there is an individual daily quantity of food that makes you feel "not deprived." I remember when I was watching my intake like a hawk and that 1800 did not seem like a whole lot of food. Since I've been tracking things again for almost a week, it "feels" like around 2000-2200 is satiating to me. But if I wasn't doing all the CV stuff, that would be enough for me to get fat pretty fast.

A nice by product of the extra stuff that I'm doing is that I'm using/developing muscles that don't normally come with the "triathlon" package. It feels really good! Jumping rope is an excellent warmup for anything else and is awesome for your calves, core and arms, the pushups and pullups may be helping me in the water, and changing up/supplementing my abs work was something I needed to do anyway.

Where this will all lead, who knows. In case you're asking the question, am I vain? Of course. I'd like to stop/slow down the aging process as much as the next person, but I also want to feel strong in my daily activities aside from triathlon. It's nice, for example, to be able to shovel my driveway when I feel like it and not be sore, or to rake leaves for 4 hours or be bent over for a few hours gardening. And it was really nice to be able to weather a stupid back injury--I'm not saying I did it with aplomb, but it could have been much, much worse.

I'm sure some of you are wondering when I will post pics of my work. Give me another week and we'll see what I think after dropping another pound.