NOTE: After review it is obvious that my original calorie intake estimate was wrong. I've edited this post to revise it to 2,000 calories. I originally said that it was 1000, which makes no sense.
I am looking for dietary advice in order to maximize my results. Prior to getting into swimming I was consuming about 2,000 calories per day and trying to favor protein. Considering that I was sitting in front of a computer most of the day even 1,000 calories may have been too much. My weight pretty much stayed around the same 220lbs (lean weight target being somewhere around 185lbs).
Now that I am swimming I probably need to change my dietary intake. I do want to get rid of the extra pounds as soon as possible. However, with these 1 1/2 hour workouts and only 2000 calories I felt out of energy for the first couple of days. My lack of conditioning probably had a lot to do with it.
Some of the questions I have are:
Should I try to remain close to 2000 calories in order to expedite weight loss and then stabilize at a higher caloric intake?
My workouts are at 5:30AM. I can't have breakfast prior to the workout. This means that I am working off of energy from dinner and stored fat. Should I favor certain foods for dinner?
Also, what would be the best distribution of caloric intake throughout the day? Should I front load (heavy breakfast) or have a larger dinner to put some energy away for the morning workout?
Any other thoughts/advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Parents
Former Member
Caloric intake is by far the most important thing in weight loss.. Since you are exercising a lot I would suggest low calories + high protein as you initially did. I think ~1500/day for the first couple weeks while your body still won't have time to adjust it's metabolism and if you see good results up the calories some. IF you barely had results (which is highly unlikely at 1500) it means your metabolism is really quite slow and you may need to cut even more calories. Try to maintain high protein to preserve muscle if you can.
Also, cheat days are not bad like once a week after a few weeks of steady diet maybe, but remember calorie intake is what matters so still count what you do on those cheat days so you know how much you 'gained' on them. They will help prevent your metabolism from slowing down though.
lastly, count ALL your calories. I've seen way too many people not count that pretzel or potato chip here and there or the pack of gum etc. etc. It ALL COUNTS.
Caloric intake is by far the most important thing in weight loss.. Since you are exercising a lot I would suggest low calories + high protein as you initially did. I think ~1500/day for the first couple weeks while your body still won't have time to adjust it's metabolism and if you see good results up the calories some. IF you barely had results (which is highly unlikely at 1500) it means your metabolism is really quite slow and you may need to cut even more calories. Try to maintain high protein to preserve muscle if you can.
Also, cheat days are not bad like once a week after a few weeks of steady diet maybe, but remember calorie intake is what matters so still count what you do on those cheat days so you know how much you 'gained' on them. They will help prevent your metabolism from slowing down though.
lastly, count ALL your calories. I've seen way too many people not count that pretzel or potato chip here and there or the pack of gum etc. etc. It ALL COUNTS.
