PLAN AHEAD. Here's G-ma recording her intake after each meal. I'd rather see her plan out her meals ahead of time and then simply check them off after consumption.
MAKE HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES. Check out G-ma eating an apple. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
PUMP THE GUNS. Here's G-ma in the house of pain getting ripped. We want to maintain our strength.
LOSE THE BOOZE. Margaritas are tasty and make you feel great but they don't have a place in a Shredder Program. Go back to the bottle once the weight is lost and maintainable.
THE RESULT is being chiseled like The D-Horn. Not everyone will get results like The D-Horn but we can certainly try our best.
Endurance sports such as triathlon, cycling, and running tend to favor the athletes that are trim and strong. Carrying around excess fat means giving away free time to your competitors. When people are willing to pay hundreds and thousands of dollars to shave grams off of their equipment why not put in a little extra effort to shave pounds off of your body? I see guys riding the lightest bikes and training countless hours to get better results but they overlook the fact that losing the excess fat will get them immediate results without spending a dime or spending much time.
Below is a list of things that I try to do when I'm trying to chisel my way down to my race weight. I'm not a registered dietician or certified sports nutritionist but I have used the method below multiple times to shave off those last 5-10 pounds. There are many different ways to get from point A to point B and this is just the way that I've done it successfully in the past. This doesn't just apply to endurance athletes. It can easily be applied to anyone trying to lose some unwanted baggage.
Plan Ahead
I try to plan my daily intake just as I would plan out my training for the day. Actually, I plan out my nutrition plan to coincide with my training plan. I'll figure out how much I need to eat for the day and then plan the timing of the meals and snacks around my workouts. That way all I need to do throughout the day is eat off of my list and check each meal and snack off as I go.
Drink Lots of Water
Water plays an important role in my ability to shed pounds. It helps to regulate how much food I eat and keeps me hydrated for my upcoming workouts. We lose fluids while sleeping through breathing, sweating, and waking to pee (for some people) in the middle of the night so I take down anywhere from 16-24oz of water right after my morning weigh in. I also take down 16oz of water before every meal and snack and take down another 16oz of water with each meal and snack. This helps to keep me from overeating and ensures that my food gets diluted properly. And last but not least, I don't drink any calories unless it is during or directly after a training session (sports drink or recovery drink). This means no milk, juice, soda (even caffeine free), etc. It's water only when I'm trying to cut down to race weight.
Timing and Makeup of Food Intake
I don't really change my daily ratios of macronutrients (carb, protein, fat) all that much while trying to lose weight but I do focus more on the placement of each within the daily meal structure. For instance, I will ensure that my main meals of breakfast, lunch, and dinner all contain a higher ratio of protein and good fats than carbs because the protein and fat will subside my hunger longer and I typically only take in carbs during my training sessions so it balances everything out over the course of the day. Before and during a training session I eat a much higher percentage of carbohydrates to fuel for the workout. Directly after the workout I have a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein to promote quick recovery. All other snacks are a good mix of carbs, protein, and fat. An important thing to note is that if you are trying to cut weight while training a lot you have to fuel up on carbs before, during, and directly after exercise to ensure that your workouts don't suffer.
Make Good Food Choices
The cleaner the food you put in your mouth the more you can put in for the day and the better your body will work for you. Lean cuts of meat, poultry, fish, and fruits are all packed with nutrients and don't have a high caloric cost so you can eat more food. I try to stay away from packaged foods when cutting down because they are typically packed with calories and the high glycemic index foods make me hungry a lot quicker.
Lose The Booze
Alcohol adds tons of unwanted calories. It's tough to get shredded while drinking alcohol. Simply put.....cut out the beer, wine, tequila, vodka, etc. Drink no calories.
Record Your Progress Daily BUT Review At Aggregate Level
I've got a scale that tells me my weight, body fat %, and water %. Each morning (when trying to trim down) I wake up, go pee, weight myself naked, and record the date, weight, fat %, and water %. I don't look at these numbers on a day to day basis because they can sway drastically from day to day based on hydration status, amount of carbs and/or salt in previous meals (carbs and salt retain water), when you took your last dump, etc. To see if you are trending downward you can take the average weight over the last 7-14 days or you can find a body fat % and water % that are exactly the same as your current values and make sure that your current weight is less than the previous weight. People make a big mistake when "dieting" by looking at the scale each day or once a week and only taking their weight into consideration. When they see that they've been eating well but they gained two pounds in one day they get discouraged and say screw it and go on a binge. I've seen day to day swings of 3-5 pounds before depending on how well hydrated or dehydrated I was and what I at the night before. You have to look at aggregate data to get a better picture of which way you are trending. That's why I record it every morning and review the data in an aggregate form.
Pump Those Guns
Strength training will help to maintain muscle mass while trying to lose fat. We don't want to lose muscle because we want to keep our current strength while losing fat. This will improve our strength to weight ratio on the bike and we will have less of a chance for injury.
Even though this seems like a lot of work it really isn't once you get into a routine. What it really comes down to is consuming less calories than you expend on a daily basis. The examples above are just in place to keep me on track and keep my mood and workouts stable when I'm trying to shred that last bit of fat for improved performance.