Cardio
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emiemarsh2006
Posts: 1 Member
Good afternoon!
I have been looking at Eat More 2 Weigh Less for a few weeks now, but I have a couple reservations regarding cardio exercise. I have lots of fitness goals, but most of them are cardio-related. Long-term, I want to complete a full marathon and an Olympic triathlon within the next three years. Currently, I am training for a half marathon in April (my third) and a sprint triathlon in May (my first). I also work out at a group training gym where we do HIIT exercise 6 days per week. I really enjoy my group training for the community, but also for the coaching style. I do not do cardio because I believe it is the most effective for weight-loss, instead, I do it because I genuinely want to become a marathoner and triathlete. Would EM2WL work for me since I want to be an endurance athlete and do not want to give up cardio?
Any advice or suggestions is appreciated!
I have been looking at Eat More 2 Weigh Less for a few weeks now, but I have a couple reservations regarding cardio exercise. I have lots of fitness goals, but most of them are cardio-related. Long-term, I want to complete a full marathon and an Olympic triathlon within the next three years. Currently, I am training for a half marathon in April (my third) and a sprint triathlon in May (my first). I also work out at a group training gym where we do HIIT exercise 6 days per week. I really enjoy my group training for the community, but also for the coaching style. I do not do cardio because I believe it is the most effective for weight-loss, instead, I do it because I genuinely want to become a marathoner and triathlete. Would EM2WL work for me since I want to be an endurance athlete and do not want to give up cardio?
Any advice or suggestions is appreciated!
1
Replies
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Absolutely!
EM2WL can work for anyone!
The key for it to work for you will be eating for your activity level, as obviously your burns will be way higher than the average person.
You may also be able to cycle muscle gain seasons into your yearly training to try to minimise muscle loss from the triathlon training.
So yes, key is working out your calorie intake for your activity level http://eatmore2weighless.com/weight-loss-calculator/ making sure your protein intake is on point, although you may find you need to increase carbs above the 40% recommended to keep pace with your training.
Here are two blog posts from other marathon loving EM2WLers!
http://eatmore2weighless.com/marathon-muscle-loss-mrs_dwr/
And
http://eatmore2weighless.com/bulking-before-marathon/
Ichel
Team EM2WL2 -
Dittos to above.
Keep in the mind the philosophy of eating at a reasonable deficit for YOUR level of activity is always possible.
And always better to start top down for eating calorie level, not minimum bottom up - especially the more exercise you do.
I will suggest that with that level of workouts and goals - you'll likely find interference eventually getting a good workout in, no matter if you are eating correctly.
The body can only recover so fast.
Good workout meaning for your training goal, not a good calorie burner because hopefully that's not why you do them.
Both those distances are short at least and a good program can be squeezed in, but you should have a long run day that would NOT benefit from HIIT (or whatever it really is) the day after, let alone the day of or before.
Just remember a good workout tears the body down in some manner. The benefit doesn't actually come then.
The recovery and repair during rest is when the body can actually build itself back up stronger.0
