I didn't realise how lean rowing makes you.

[GreenStratMan]

I have to really behave when I'm training hard or a I put weight on!

Higher intensity stuff leaves me feeling so hungry that I tend to consume huge amounts of junk unless I've prepared plenty of good food. I don't seem to have the will power to just say "no" to snacks - have to fill up on the good stuff or I pig out.

Years ago when I was a cyclist, I used to plunge the biscuits and cake after a bike ride. Was like a drug. I used to be a time-trialist. So I use to do a lot of miles at high intensity while attempting to raise the aerobic threshold.

Pre-preparing is key. I can get so much satisfaction from green beens and broccoli along with kale or cabbage. And I don't buy rubbish food, so I can't eat it. I live by myself so there is no temptation that way.

Hope you find a way to keep on the right side of the tracks ;o)

[GreenStratMan]

I have major, major envy of all of you that can increase your training & still lose weight without restricting your diet. Those days for me are over 30 yrs ago I'm my rear view mirror. I train approx 10 to 12 hours a week, erging, NT Skier, Ercolina (similar to skierg) & various BW exercises. And unless I'm strict with intake, I'll balloon up quicker than a fat grey tick on a hound dog's back. Green with envy! I guess I chose the wrong parents.

The whole weight thing is interesting. I have often thought that there was more to all of this than just the idea that if your calories in was greater than calories out, you'll gain weight.

I recently read a book called 10% Human. It's written by a scientist and she raises some really interesting ideas. Ideas about disease and looking at weight gain and obesity as diseases. And the premise is that the gut may be at fault, more specifically the microbiome. The community of, mainly, bacteria, which are all so crucial to our survival, health and wellbeing. She also suggest that weight gain may have it roots in injecting the animals we consume with high levels of antibiotics, which enable them to grow much larger. Quite refreshing to read someone who is more interested in root causes than of treating symptoms.

Years ago I visualised becoming leaner. I was quite bulky at the time at 110kg at 6'5", I was very muscular. The bulk kind of fell off in a couple of months. Some people who I didn't see often didn't recognise me. I can't remember how much weight I lost. But I was fed up of not being able to get jeans which fit correctly as my quads were huge. I don't remember losing anything as far performance went, I was still pushing the same weights in body pump and was still able to do spin classes to the same level, or even better. It's a funny thing. Powerful thing the mind.

[GreenStratMan]

I was 87kg after Christmas this year, with 23% body fat.

I'm now 74.9kg (this morning"s official Lwt weigh-in weight ) and 16% body fat.

My natural weight when not trying to get under 75kg for Lwt event seems to be about 78kg.

That's mostly from following the Pete Plan this year. I manage 100-150k metres during colder months, and 40-70k during Summer (when I switch to more cycling).

The other noticeable health benefit, is that my sleeping heart rate has reduced by 10bpm. I wrote a blogpost about it here.

I think a plan is so important. Since rowing five times a week, over the last 6 weeks, this is the first time that I have followed a concrete plan and documented it. I wish I hadn't been so lazy, as far as keeping a diary and following a plan, when I've competed in other sports.

I'll probably do the Pete Plan after the beginner plan. We'll see.

My heart rate has come back down to 46. While I was ill it was often in the 70's but I was on a lot of steroids.

[Dangerscouse]

I love eating, I could do it as a hobby. I turned vegan about nine years ago. I fell off the wagon in 2019 while I was in hospital, I suffered from malnutrition because they weren't able to accommodate me as far a protein went. They kept giving me green salads. I started eating meat again. But have eaten a plant based diet again for about the last year. You can eat tonnes without putting weight on. I eat loads of vegetable, just love it. I'd guess you'd lose your appetite if you stopped, hopefully. Maybe you'll never stop. ;o)

Haha, I'm with you on the professional eater status! I'm always thinking about what I'm going to eat next.

I've cut out a lot of meat since the start of the year, so I hardly eat it now, not least as my wife has totally gone meat free. I couldn't go vegan as I love eggs, tuna, salmon and cheese, too much. Possibly the lack of meat and more fruit and veggies is making a difference for me too

[mitchel674]

I love eating, I could do it as a hobby. I turned vegan about nine years ago. I fell off the wagon in 2019 while I was in hospital, I suffered from malnutrition because they weren't able to accommodate me as far a protein went. They kept giving me green salads. I started eating meat again. But have eaten a plant based diet again for about the last year. You can eat tonnes without putting weight on. I eat loads of vegetable, just love it. I'd guess you'd lose your appetite if you stopped, hopefully. Maybe you'll never stop. ;o)

I'm a vegan by default since my wife and daughters have all been vegan the past 7 years.

I've always been thin, but rowing has taken this to a new level. When I was rowing lots of volume earlier this year in preparation for a marathon row, I went from my usual 175lbs down to 155lbs despite eating throughout the day. I think this is too thin for me. I've had comments from friends and patients who say I've lost weight. I'm currently up to 157lbs, but with rowing 150-200km every month, I find it hard to put on weight.

[nick rockliff]

I'm currently up to 157lbs, but with rowing 150-200km every month, I find it hard to put on weight.

Cricky, come to our house for a couple of weeks, you'll soon put some weight on

Think it must be 50 years or more since I weighed that little

Back in 2005 when I was doing between 400k and 500k a month I was around 108kg, doing about 250k a month now and am a bit lighter at 103/4kg.

Just eat anything going except black pudding

[GreenStratMan]

I love eating, I could do it as a hobby. I turned vegan about nine years ago. I fell off the wagon in 2019 while I was in hospital, I suffered from malnutrition because they weren't able to accommodate me as far a protein went. They kept giving me green salads. I started eating meat again. But have eaten a plant based diet again for about the last year. You can eat tonnes without putting weight on. I eat loads of vegetable, just love it. I'd guess you'd lose your appetite if you stopped, hopefully. Maybe you'll never stop. ;o)

I'm a vegan by default since my wife and daughters have all been vegan the past 7 years.

I've always been thin, but rowing has taken this to a new level. When I was rowing lots of volume earlier this year in preparation for a marathon row, I went from my usual 175lbs down to 155lbs despite eating throughout the day. I think this is too thin for me. I've had comments from friends and patients who say I've lost weight. I'm currently up to 157lbs, but with rowing 150-200km every month, I find it hard to put on weight.

I tend to think that eating a lot of plant material, your metabolism is just much more efficient. I wonder if it encourages the microbes in the gut to work better and enable more of the more useful bacteria to thrive. In that 10% human book I mentioned, it suggested that we utilise the genes of the microbiome. Which may explain why an earthworm has more genes that we do, even though we are more complex creatures. It's like we borrow gene functionality from the gut bacteria.

But, I suppose, what is too thin. Indigenous peoples are often very thin. We have this idea of what we think healthy looks like. You can get people who look very fit on the outside but have dangerous levels of fat stored on the inside especially around the visceral cavity smothering the organs. I suppose the mistake is that we think we understand all of this. It would appear we don't. I think if we tune into our own body, it will direct us as to what is best to eat.

Another interesting aspect of the gut health thing is that, if we had the full complement of gut bacteria, they would synthesise what we can't get through our diet. But, sadly, most of us don't have all we need. Which may explain declining health in general.

[mitchel674]

I'm currently up to 157lbs, but with rowing 150-200km every month, I find it hard to put on weight.

Cricky, come to our house for a couple of weeks, you'll soon put some weight on

Think it must be 50 years or more since I weighed that little

Back in 2005 when I was doing between 400k and 500k a month I was around 108kg, doing about 250k a month now and am a bit lighter at 103/4kg.

Just eat anything going except black pudding

Nick, I'll be right over!

[flatbread]

I'm currently up to 157lbs, but with rowing 150-200km every month, I find it hard to put on weight.

1) eat more -- and not rubbish. good whole foods.

2) strength train. all 50+ should strength train a couple of times a week.


My diet may or may not be a good example (it's kind of whack). I only have about 10-15 min for breakfast and dinner, and everything else has to be eaten at school. So I eat a lot of what I think of as convenience food:

breakfast: 2 pita sandwiches. pita bread, a slice of cheese, some leafy greens (spinach, kale, or arugula), shredded carrots, pickles of some sort (dill slices, or okra, or kimchee).

school snack 1: two whole grain bagels with peanut butter and banana

school snack 2: a clif bar and a clif builder bar

school snack 3: 1 cup instant oats, 1 8oz milk, a handful of blueberries, a banana. slice the banana, mix with the oats and berries, pour in the milk. micowave

pre-training snack: a couple of squares of dark chocolate

dinner: same as breakfast, and a peanut-butter and jam sandwich or another clif bar.


as for strength training, a good home pull-up bar (one that swings down) and you've got pull ups and row-ups. do push-ups with a weight vest. dumb bells or kettle bells and single-leg exercises, and you can find loads that still get you to momentary muscle failure at 8-10 reps. speed skater dryland drills with a weight vest are also good.

[ampire]

10 years ago, I reached the leanest I had ever gotten. Granted I was 24 and single so it was pretty easy. I was eating large quantities of meat protein and vegetables. No alcohol. Using calorie tracking software, I was eating similar calories (around 3000) to my normal diet but the sources were mostly protein. The more protein I ate as a percentage of the total meal, the leaner I got. I dropped from mid 150s to about 140 and I had veins on my abdominals. My strength was still quite good, I could still deadlift 405 and benchpress 255 or so. Doing pullups and muscleups was quite easy at that weight. My training was pretty simplistic, I think something like M: Benchpress & Dumbbell Row T: 5 mile run, W: Pullups & Dips, TR: 5 Mile run, Fr: BB Squat OR BB Deadlift. Sa: 5 Mile run, Sun: Off. I don't believe CICO (calories in, calories out) is the best model for weight loss diet, I think it matters what you eat and when you eat it, and that might be individualistic. For me, trying to take in most of my calories from lean pieces of meat and vegetables such as broccoli resulted in weight loss, and it required a lot of meat because there aren't that many calories in a piece of chicken breast, it wasn't very enjoyable to eat it. I think I was eating around 3000 calories based on the calculator and food scale.

[mitchel674]

Admittedly, I don't eat much. My typical diet coupled with the volume of rowing caused my unintentional weight loss. I had been doing more regular weight training pre-covid, but I have not been back to my gym in months. I still do push-ups and pull-ups regularly in my home, but I no longer do bench press, squats or dead lifts which had been part of my gym ritual 2-3 days/week.

[ampire]

Admittedly, I don't eat much. My typical diet coupled with the volume of rowing caused my unintentional weight loss. I had been doing more regular weight training pre-covid, but I have not been back to my gym in months. I still do push-ups and pull-ups regularly in my home, but I no longer do bench press, squats or dead lifts which had been part of my gym ritual 2-3 days/week.

You are only a few pounds heavier then me but you are much taller, so you must be very lean indeed. I am pretty thin myself. I am exactly 150lb at the moment.

It is easy for me to calorie restrict because I don't have much appetite normally, food doesn't really give me as much pleasure as others seem to have. I could go hours without food and not really think about it until I start to get lightheaded and realize it. Therefore I have to keep to an eating schedule or I lose weight.

[flatbread]

Admittedly, I don't eat much. My typical diet coupled with the volume of rowing caused my unintentional weight loss. I had been doing more regular weight training pre-covid, but I have not been back to my gym in months. I still do push-ups and pull-ups regularly in my home, but I no longer do bench press, squats or dead lifts which had been part of my gym ritual 2-3 days/week.

weight vest push-ups. kettle or dumb bells -- I'll rattle it on again, you can single-leg yourself to death and do things that encourage hypertrophy.

[mitchel674]

Admittedly, I don't eat much. My typical diet coupled with the volume of rowing caused my unintentional weight loss. I had been doing more regular weight training pre-covid, but I have not been back to my gym in months. I still do push-ups and pull-ups regularly in my home, but I no longer do bench press, squats or dead lifts which had been part of my gym ritual 2-3 days/week.

You are only a few pounds heavier then me but you are much taller, so you must be very lean indeed. I am pretty thin myself. I am exactly 150lb at the moment.

It is easy for me to calorie restrict because I don't have much appetite normally, food doesn't really give me as much pleasure as others seem to have. I could go hours without food and not really think about it until I start to get lightheaded and realize it. Therefore I have to keep to an eating schedule or I lose weight.

156lbs this morning. I wouldn't mind weighing 165lbs.

I typically do not eat breakfast. I have surgery early most mornings and usually just have a cup of coffee until lunch which is usually just a salad with some whole grain bread. I come home and row for 30-60 minutes and then make a fruit smoothie with protein added. Dinner is usually a vegan dish with lentils or tofu mixed with vegetables and rice.

[ampire]

Admittedly, I don't eat much. My typical diet coupled with the volume of rowing caused my unintentional weight loss. I had been doing more regular weight training pre-covid, but I have not been back to my gym in months. I still do push-ups and pull-ups regularly in my home, but I no longer do bench press, squats or dead lifts which had been part of my gym ritual 2-3 days/week.

You are only a few pounds heavier then me but you are much taller, so you must be very lean indeed. I am pretty thin myself. I am exactly 150lb at the moment.

It is easy for me to calorie restrict because I don't have much appetite normally, food doesn't really give me as much pleasure as others seem to have. I could go hours without food and not really think about it until I start to get lightheaded and realize it. Therefore I have to keep to an eating schedule or I lose weight.

156lbs this morning. I wouldn't mind weighing 165lbs.

I typically do not eat breakfast. I have surgery early most mornings and usually just have a cup of coffee until lunch which is usually just a salad with some whole grain bread. I come home and row for 30-60 minutes and then make a fruit smoothie with protein added. Dinner is usually a vegan dish with lentils or tofu mixed with vegetables and rice.

I eat probably 2-3x that amount . That isn't very much.