95% of the time I swim 1500m and I try to get a good time on that. 26:30 is good for me in a 25m pool, and 27:45 or so good in a 50m pool.
As for interval training, I do 10 x 100m @ 1:45 w/ 1:15 rest (so I give myself 3 minutes for each interval). Always in a 50m pool. Warm up and down too, of course. I actually start at 1:38 and deteriorate to 1:47 by the end.
Don’t know what to say about motivation. Maybe try a HIIT workout? 20 x 50m with rest? I would feel very motivated with that. But I just swim once a week so I want to do something specific to my tri race distance (750m or 1500m). Your 2000m always would bore most so maybe mixing things up would be good. And keep timing yourself and thinking of ways to tweak your form. The clock is your friend and it’s always possible to improve your form.
That’s a seriously awesome low-carb meal. It’s supposed to be heavy: the goal is to feel full so that you don’t snack on Oreos all evening. Personally I would have had a bigger salad, but it doesn’t look in any way unhealthy.
I’m a weissbier fan too. In fact, I just got one from Carrefour, and it probably needs drinking …
a) If I’m trying to do some sort of low carb/keto, how bad is a 7-11 hot dog (no bun). For reference, here are the Costco hot dog specs:
There are 370 calories in a 1 hot dog serving of Costco Hot Dog (No Bun). Calorie breakdown: 75% fat, 5% carbs, 19% protein.
I just had a 7-11 hot dog without a bun for an afternoon snack and it really hit the spot.
b) I’m happy with my progress and don’t plan on changing things (my method is to try to go low carb as much as possible and have a low calorie lunch most days). But in my research of low carb/keto, I keep coming across intermittent fasting. The most popular routine seems to be eating from 1 pm to 9 pm, then fasting for the rest of the time- 16/8 it’s called for the 16 hours of fasting and the 8 hour window to have normal meals. It seems to me that if this works, it would be very good for some people. Thoughts?
When I’m on a genuine low-carb cycle (which isn’t often these days) I have been known to partake of 7-11 mystery meat. A hot dog is mostly fat and protein (of indeterminate origin), which is exactly what you want. They do also add sugar, but it’s not a lot. I’m also very fond of those street BBQ sticks that feature low-quality meat and chicken organs.
One of the real benefits of low-carb is that you never get ravenously hungry. I eat twice a day. I occasionally eat once a day without feeling any need to top up. Once you get your body in this mode of working, it has access to an almost limitless supply of fatty acids and glucose from metabolism of bodyfat. Your stomach feels empty, of course, but you don’t experience an overwhelming need to eat.
The reason why I ask is that I was recently talking to someone about dieting. She told me that she has been skipping breakfast as part of her new routine. I told her that was probably exactly the wrong thing to do, adding that you want to get that metabolism motor going as soon as possible in the morning. Drink a big glass of water right when you get up and then get in breakfast as soon as you can is what I told her.
After watching a couple of intermittent fasting videos, though, I wonder if maybe it would be just the right thing for some people. If this friend is already skipping breakfast, then it seems it wouldn’t be too hard for her to extend things three hours or so more. Not for me, but maybe for others.
But I believe you when you say there are higher success rates for a low carb and high fat diet.
I would say “it depends”. If she’s doing low calorie then skipping breakfast is a really bad idea; the critical aspect of low-calorie (when it works at all) is to convince your body that it isn’t starving. You therefore need to eat little and often.
On low-carb it matters much less what you eat and when. My first meal is breakfast and it’s usually a big breakfast. OTOH I sometimes have important stuff to do and I end up eating lunch instead. If I’m really busy I just go the whole day without eating and then have a large evening meal. It doesn’t seem to make any difference to my BF%.
I obviously don’t know what videos you are referring to but I know the fasting that is really popular right now, popularised by kevin rose I think, is simply a 12 hr fast which you partake by not eating past dinner.
I’ve been skipping breakfast for years. There is no evidence that metabolism is lowered when you go a longer period of time without eating. In fact, metabolism rises 13% after going a few days without eating. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=fasting+bmr
"As food intake goes to zero, the body switches energy inputs from food to stored food (fat). This strategy significantly increases the availability of “food” which is matched by an increase in energy expenditure,”
Here’s a good read for anyone considering fasting but a fitness perspective.
Laochris, thanks for that. But now I’m confused as hell. My instinct at the moment is to say screw it all and stick to what has worked for 8 kilos of weight loss for me since April (and maintaining at that level). That article goes against just about everything I’ve been reading over the last few months.
I think the problem with the article is not that it’s wrong as such, but it doesn’t take into account that different bodies have radically different reactions to carbohydrates. What happens on average might not necessarily happen to you. If you look at the studies on low-calorie diets (all of which use USDA standard nutrient profiles) there’s an enormous variation in response. Some people do indeed lose a lot of weight. Most lose a bit. Some gain.
Low-carb experimental results, in contrast, are incredibly consistent. It works because it’s so crude: you’re simply giving your body no other options except to burn fat for energy. Once your body has other options, you have to start juggling the underlying chemistry to make things turn out the way you want. Personally I ain’t got time for that.
I support Keto and have done it before but it’s unrealistic (for me) to consistently do it. Fasting is a much simpler strategy for me, cause it’s easier for me to eat no food during an allotted time instead of eating kids meals.
I’m pretty drastic with my methods to keep low body fat. I like to fast for long periods of time like 24-48 hours a few times a week. I’m used to it and I don’t suffer strength losses at the gym, and I can deadlift about 3x body weight and almost squat 2x bw. Another interesting article.
Cool. I think I could do it, but I’m at the weight I want to be at and I don’t see a need to change things. I’m still going hungry every afternoon Monday through Friday, and I know that has gotten easier over time. Coffee really helps. A low calorie snack helps as well. But I’m sure that if I were way overweight I could do something like this 44 hour fasting, as long as I could work toward that goal slowly.
Well at 4:15 in the afernoon I’m almost there. I plan to have a good dinner. Probably teppanyaki with a beer. No rice. Then a 10k run tomorrow. By the way, I’m convinced that exercise is getting a bad rap in recent years and is underrated. Exercise alone with bad eating habits won’t get you anywhere, I agree, but I’m convinced that adding exercise to good eating habits makes weight loss and control much, much, much easier. I imagine for some, it’s a necessary component.
I suppose it all depends what your goals are and (again) your own body’s unique quirks. What you’re doing clearly works, and nobody can possibly tell you it “shouldn’t work”. For me personally, though (and apparently for marasan), if I’m hungry, I eat. Also, I’m old, and my primary focus is to increase strength and muscle mass, so I eat as regularly as I can be bothered mainly as a protein top-up, not for energy. Often that just means an egg or two from 7-11 in between meals.
That’s one of my go-to options too, when I’m feeling too lazy to cook
Down one more kilo! So it’s 9 kilos total. Really tempted to go one more just for that nice number, but I’m fine with my weight now.
Low carb, exercise, and my low calorie lunch on work days. Relying more on low carb these days, and the fact that I didn’t gain over the long weekend when I ate much is proof of that. Been at this present weight for two weeks now.
