The Stomach Pains of Metabolic Efficiency Training Pt.1

If you thought doing a triathlon was hard...try metabolic efficiency training! What is metabolic efficiency training you ask??? In the most basic of terms it is "going on a diet." Now in reality its CHANGING my diet, since we all are on a diet already. Some diets just happen to be better than others. Changing my diet so that my body will burn primarily fats while at rest and almost exclusively while exercising at a low-moderate intensity is metabolic efficiency training. I am not doing this because I thought I was fat, or was eating junk food 24/7. The whole idea behind choosing to do this was to become a better triathlete with a more ideal body composition. In the end I hope to become a healthier me at the same time.

This may be the hardest thing I've done in my short triathlete life so far. I love to eat. I love to eat pasta and breads and potatoes. Unfortunately I am cutting all three of those to a minimum if not all together. Needless to say, I haven't been sticking to the plan 100% either. The point is to train my body to not want carbs all the time. To do this I need to take away extremely carb dense foods, and replace them with other foods that have carbs, but also contain other stuff, like fiber and water and other nutrients. The goal is to eat TONS more fruits and veggies. I also eat more fats as well to try and get my body used to them (enter 4 grams of fish oil a day). Protein is probably right where it always has been. I sure do love my meat! What is hard about all this is that my body is so used to using carbs as it's energy source that the reduction in readily available carbs causes my body to scream.

For example, I will eat what I think is a pretty large dinner. A whole plate of spinach salad with an array of veggies on top and several pieces of fruit on the side (mostly apples because they are cheapest). After that I will also have a relatively large piece of meat or other protein, like eggs, that is on par with a regular restaurant serving size of the same. So that's basically two whole courses, right? Well, why after eating them do I feel so hungry!?!? This is what I like to call my "fake" hunger. I tell you what, the discipline it is going to take to get past this is going to be a lot. Especially with the holidays coming up. My goal is to stick with the plan, without fail, for the next month and a half (before Christmas roles around). Hopefully by then I will have achieved some kind of progress and will allow myself a cookie on Christmas day ;-)

That's all for Pt.1 of this story. There is more to tell, but I am saving that for another post. If you have any questions about this topic don't hesitate to ask. I'm going to use this opportunity to help teach you all a bit about exercise physiology!

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