Skating and appetite

[tstop4me]

Several years ago, I had a career change that landed me in front of a computer for 9 hrs/day, 5 days/wk.  Unsurprisingly, I put on 28 lbs.  Flash forward.  Rearranged my life; upped my skating from ~1 hr/wk to ~7 hr/wk (plus upped workouts in support of my skating habit).  Within the first 9 mos, I lost 18 lbs.  That's the good news.  Six months later, I haven't lost any further weight.  That's the bad news.  It's not a matter of regaining weight and losing it again; it's just remained fairly constant (+/- 2 lbs), even during the recent Thanksgiving – New Year's holiday period.

I don't snack on junk food, and I've stopped guzzling OJ to cut back on sugars.  The main problem is that the increased skating has increased my appetite, so I eat larger portions at lunch and dinner than I used to.  I skate mid morning.  For breakfast I eat cereal and a banana.  I read some articles that recommended protein and fat (bacon and eggs!) before heavy exercise to curb appetite.  Tried it for a week; made me a bit nauseous.  Any suggestions from those who have worked through the same or similar situation?  Those remaining 10 lbs seem so elusive.  By the way, those excess pounds are not desirable increased muscle mass; they are belly fat I need to shed.

[AgnesNitt]

I'd recommend Weight Watchers.  It recently became high protein, low sugar (while still being healthy). If not that then get a book like Weight Loss for Dummies from the library along with The Diet Fix. You'll need to buy  a calorie counter book too.

My experience is the only people who lose weight on their own are physically active men under  32 who can drop 20 lbs 'cutting back.' Then eventually they run into a point where  'cutting back' isn't enough and they have to get to cold hard effort. IF that's you then you've reached the end of the advantage you can get from picking on the margins of your diet.

Eventually you need to actually track your food, measure your portions, in addition to exercise.

[Doubletoe]

What kind of cereal do you eat in the morning?  I find that oatmeal (the slow-cooked kind or the 3-minute kind, not instant) holds me better than cold, sugared cereals.  I put dried tart cherries or raisins in my oatmeal, add water, then microwave it.  The fruit plumps up and gives it a pie-like flavor but without the added processed sugar.  For lunch (after skating), I keep carbs low and focus on protein and vegetables.  It gets me through the day!

[lutefisk]

I have found that a half of a peanut butter sandwich, eaten within 30 minutes after the end of a two hour public session, helps curb my appetite.  I take a piece of multi-grain bread, cut in half, and coat one half with smart balance PB. I tend to eat this little snack in the car on the way out of the rink parking lot.  I think the timing is important.  Put off later than 30 minutes and I'm home and tempted to wash it down with a beer!

[Theresa_H]

I can't eat anything heavy before I skate (or any other workout) - it tends to weigh me down. For breakfast, I like to have a smoothie made with mixed berries, a banana, and high-protein greek yogurt. I also have coffee/milk with my breakfast. Three days a week, I teach in a classroom for ~5 hours before I skate in the early afternoon. My energy starts to wane about halfway through teaching, so I think I need to start bringing a snack, but I haven't figured out what will work, yet!

About 30 min - 1 hour before skating, I eat a lunch of rice, veggies, low-fat protein like chicken, and maybe some cheese (I've been known to have sushi instead). I find that this timing and food combination gives me enough energy for a good skate. After I skate, I eat a high-protein / higher fat snack/meal, and then I have another snack in the late evening. My late-night snack is usually not healthy, so I need to work on that.

I don't know if this is "right," but it's been working for me.

[Query]

After being told I had diabetes, I switched diets. Although diabetes diets are somewhat high in protein (you get that too high could kill your liver and you, right? Don't go overboard.), I think the main things were:

(1) Most of my food is vegetables - most of that should be non-starchy vegetables, which have relatively few calories, but still fill the stomach.

(2) More frequent meals. Instead of 2 or 3 meals a day, try for 5 snack-size meals. Also do not eat much if anything before going to bed - you don't metabolize well at night.

(3) Lots of exercise, lots of types. Skating alone doesn't do it. You get too used to one type of exercise, and your body becomes efficient at it. Lots of different types of exercise is better.

However, I too have stopped losing. I think my body is designed to compensate for whatever I do, and makes me want to eat enough to maintain weight. Plus I sometimes cheat. COSTCO has a lot of free samples, which are high in carbs and fat.

Of course, heavier isn't always worse - if the weight is muscle. But some of us aren't mostly muscle any more. The upper part of my body still floats quite well in the water.

[theoreticalgirl]

I err on the side of high-protein, veggie-focused meals w/r/t my own nutritional needs (i.e. low sodium, low potassium). I recently crossed paths with this NYT article, which helped me understand the way my body might be dealing with appetite:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?ref=health

[Query]

My experience is the only people who lose weight on their own are physically active men under 32

If you weren't a lady, I might have thought you were sexist. I know women who have lost weight, including a close relative who was at least 70.

Of course, we could all "try" (ha!) a serious hard core exercise program. Michael Phelps is said to eat 12,000 calories a day, yet he looks (I guess) OK. Serious backpacking burns over 8000 calories a day.

(Confession: I've never managed to use that many calories. Maybe 4000 or 5000 calories tops. I tended to gain weight after hard backpacks, because I and my backpacking friends often ate fast food afterwords, and ate high calorie food during hikes. Now that I'm diabetic, I'd be afraid not to.)

You'd need a lot of ice skating to burn that much. And, if my experience is typical, you still have to be careful about what you eat.

[PhysicsOnIce]

I've been using myfitnesspal.com to track my food and exercise regimes on a regular bases since I started working with a sports nutritionist last year. It has helped dramatically. I've come down 8 kg and still have about 5 kg to loose to get into what would be considered a proper body fat ratio for a figure skater of my size (17-18%). This means really weighing and tracking everything you eat and drink as well as all your sports. The progress is slow and you have to be completely honest with yourself, because you have to maintain enough calories to keep your training from suffering due to lack of energy and/or fatigue but a 0.5 kg loss per week is possible.

For me that means between 1,500 -1,800 kcal per day depending on my training schedule. My base cals is 1,240 kcal and MFP gives me around 400 kcals per hour of skating ( which is consistent with measurements from the USFA) which are added to my base value. So for a day in which I skate two hours, I'm allowed to consume up to 2,040 kcals.  Most of those calories are made up of proteins and high quality non refined carbs which reduce my cravings and my stabilizes my sugar levels. On a typical skating day I will be consuming around 100-120 grams of protein per day depending on my training schedule. 25 grams of protein at each meal and 25 to 40 grams during for protein snacks. An hour/ 30 minutes before skating, I'll either have a protein shake and an/a apple/banana or an all natural PB sandwich with banana and a bit of honey, and for dinner something like a chicken breast/salmon and non starchy veggies.

Also, something to keep in mind is that high protein doesn't necessarily need to be heavy. My favorite breakfast is a 170g of low fat greek yoghurt, 15 grams of muesli, 40 grams of fresh fruit of some sort and a coffee with soy milk. keeps me full until lunch time, but isn't heavy on the stomach. Honestly, most people who eat cereal in the morning are eating multiple times the recommend portion of it and already overloading their caloric intake. It wasn't until I started weighting my food that I realized what 45 grams actually look like. Take a look at your portion sizes.

Also, the keep in mind that the lower your weight the less you have to eat, and also the slower the progress will be. You just simply don't have a lot of room for "error" anymore. Keep in that loosing 10 kg when you weight 80 means losing 12.5 your body weight, while losing 10 kg when you weight 60 means losing 16.6% your body weight. By definition it will be harder. That fact that you have been stable the last 6 months suggest that your body has gotten use to eat a certain caloric count, which is probably really close to your maintenance level at the moment, to drop the last kilos/pounds you'll need to drop that calorie count and be much more careful what you are eating and look for those "hidden"  extra calories.

[tstop4me]

Thanks for the tips, everyone.  Since I first posted in early Feb, I've actually managed to drop another 5 lbs.  I've upped my overall (on ice and off ice) exercise intensity and duration.  At the same time, I've managed to maintain portion sizes and live with the hunger pangs.  I'm still hungry after lunch and dinner, but when I finish my meal, I don't go for seconds.  Now I'm at the upper end of my target range.  If I lose 5 more pounds, I'll be back in the middle of my target range.  One article I read said that if I can mentally stave off the hunger pangs long enough ("get over the hump", literally and figuratively), my body will get used to them, and they will diminish.  Hoping that's true.

[Query]

A former swim coach told me that one shouldn't eat for two hours before swimming (maybe partly because you swim more efficiently if you float high in the water?), or 1 hour after.

At one time the meal before was supposed to be high carbohydrate, because they are a good energy source. But I'm somewhat diabetic, may not be a great idea.

Maybe the delay afterwards helps overcome the increased appetite from exercise. Though, at least at one time, the theory was that you should a high protein meal within 1 hour after exercise to increase muscle mass.

That said, I learned long ago that one has to learn how my body responds to food and exercise - generic rules don't always work.

[tstop4me]

I did it!  I've dropped an additional 5 pounds and reached the middle of my target range.  I've upped my skating and my non-skating exercise.  No food scales, no log books.  When I finish my regular meal, and if I still feel hungry, I force myself not to go for seconds.  I munch a carrot instead.  I have an image of Bugs Bunny munching on a carrot and asking "Ehhhh ....What's Up, Doc?"  Well, at least not my weight.  And judging from the notch position on my belt, I know I've slimmed my waist.