Boot Camp

When I talk about Boot Camp, many people are intrigued as to what I mean by that. I adopted this concept from Oprah back in January of ’03, the year I began training for Ironman. The goal of Boot Camp is to “shock” your metabolism and get it revved up, with the goal of losing weight. This is especially important for me since my body seems to stubbornly hold onto weight and not let it go!

Back in ’03 I was successful in losing 10 pounds over a 6-week period and kept most of it off for the balance of the year. Since IM training is so grueling, I did not want to be “dieting” while training as my body needs food to recover. I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t gain any weight during training, which can easily happen as my appetite increases more than my metabolism does.

Six weeks is a LONG TIME to focus on one thing and restrict yourself so much. This time, I am trying to do it for 13 weeks, but that might be a little ambitious. I’ll have to reevaluate after six and see how I feel, mentally and physically.

The goal of this Boot Camp: Lose 20 pounds

Since I’m going to be training for Ironman Canada next year, I don’t want to be hauling any more weight up those mountains than I have to. That’s the reason why I took this year to train and try to lose weight because I didn’t want to do another Ironman at my previous weight (I think I was about 178 back then). In the 18 months after Ironman, my weight went back up to about 182 after the Christmas season. I was successful between January and March of this year when I lost 12 pounds in about eight weeks.

I’m being realistic about my weight-loss goal, though. I’d LOVE to lose 20 pounds in the next 13 weeks, but I don’t know if that’s possible. I’m entering virgin fat-loss territory as I’ve never weighed less than I weigh now (except on the way up, that is). If I could lose 12-15 pounds I would be very happy, but 20 is the goal. Based on my height, bone structure and musculature, I think I would be very healthy at 150-153 pounds (still enough to maintain my Athena status in races). The lowest I’ve been since I started trying to lose weight is 168 (a couple of months ago) and I’m around 172 right now (after vacation and recent debauchery).

My rules of Boot Camp are:

1. No alcohol (empty calories that slow down the metabolism). This can be hard when there are many social activities going on all through the fall. When I did Boot Camp the first time it was right after New Year’s so it wasn’t too hard as there weren’t many parties in January.

2. Sleep: Get seven hours of sleep per night, which usually isn’t a problem.

3. No junk food: this includes chips, popcorn, sweets, desserts, etc. This part is VERY HARD for me.

4. Journal all food: this is new to this incarnation of Boot Camp. I’m trying to see if writing down everything I eat will make a difference in what/how much I eat.

5. Portion control: also new this time. Trying to keep portion sizes smaller and eat fewer calories all around. My goal is to eat 1800-2000 calories per day. I may have to eat frozen entrees for lunch to help achieve this goal.

6. Cutting out refined carbs, especially the “white stuff”: This is also new for me this time, so I’ll have to ease into it. Meaning: no sugar, potatoes, white rice, white bread, etc. The goal is to eat whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meats and dairy. I don’t have a problem with the fruit/veggie thing as I love both. Cutting out the “starch” will be a tough thing. I actually like whole-wheat pasta, so that’s a good thing.

7. No eating after dinner and finish dinner by 7:30PM each night. Effectively, this results in a 12-hour fast every day as I don’t normally have breakfast until about 7AM (later on days when I exercise in the morning). The reasoning behind this is that I don’t want to go to bed with food in my stomach as my metabolism is slower at night. This might be tough when I am doing evening workouts as I don’t always get a chance to finish them by 7:30. I might have to make the odd exception and allow myself a post-workout snack (for recovery) even if it’s after 7:30.

8. Water: drink a minimum of 1L of water per day, with the goal being 2L (not including water consumed during exercise, which is usually about 500mL per hour). I have a 1L refillable water bottle that I keep with me at work, so I try to get through that by the time lunch is over and then work through a second one the rest of the day. It’s pretty hard because I hate having to pee all the time and when I’m teaching I don’t always have the flexibility to go when the urge strikes.

9. Vitamins: I take the following supplements daily:
Multi-vitamin (Jameson’s Level 3 high-potency)
1000mg Time-released Vitamin C (immune support)
400IU Vitamin E (anti-oxidant)
Calcium/Magnesium (for bones)
Glucosamine/Condroitin (for joints)
500mcg GTF Chromium (helps regulate blood sugar)

10. Workouts: Exercise six days a week (always allow myself one full rest day).

a) Strength and cardio four mornings a week. I find that I do best when I exercise early in the day. Depending on my work schedule (i.e., teaching), I may not have time to do more than 45 minutes of exercise in the morning, but the goal is 60 minutes (total), four times a week – roughly 30 minutes of strength and 30 minutes of cardio (elliptical, most likely).

b) Sport-specific workouts four evenings per week. Right now, this will be a combination of activities including: running, cycling, swimming, yoga and floor-hockey, depending on the day and the week. No fixed schedule yet.

c) Long (two-hour-ish) bike ride on Saturdays

d) Long (60- to 100-minute) run on Sundays

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So, that's it! How'd I do today?

Well, I didn't go to the gym this morning because I had a tiring day yesterday at the football game and I needed my beauty sleep. I did ride my bike to/from work and I went to the gym after work and did 35 minutes on the elliptical trainer (and then rode home).

On the food side, I did OK. I wrote everything down, although I'm not sure how to easily calculate the total number of calories I consumed. I did well on water, too. I'm almost to the 2L mark and I also drank 500mL of mineral water with dinner and that counts, too. The only slip was that I had an avocado and just HAD to make guacamole with it. That, in and of itself isn't bad as the only fat is what's in the avocado itself (no added fat). And I ate it with a chicken breast and some sliced tomato (with 1 tsp olive oil and 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar). So what was the slip, you ask? Well, I did have a handful of baked tortilla chips with my dinner (they just go so well with the guac!). I had a peach and a 100-calorie soy pudding for dessert. And now I'm done eating for the day.

I hope to be able to drag my ass out of bed and get to the gym early enough tomorrow morning that I can get in some cardio before my Gravity class.

Day one down; 90 more to go!