Topic: Losing fat whilst olympic lifting

[Roy Lopez]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post in here, and it is regarding about dieting,

How can I lose fat effectively whilst olympic lifting?

I am currently training 4 times a week,still learning the lifts, but are somewhat strong (130 something kilo FS, 150 something kilo BS). I am 88 kilos bodyweight, high teens body fat %.

Ive decided to stop overthinking (as after all it is simple) and just go by eating less. Ive reduced carbs to less than 100, as well as fat. I believe olympic lifting provides all the exercise for burning fat needed. I also want to keep getting stronger, and improve my Oly's. Would like to get a six pack and drop down to under 85 kilos, currently top four abs are showing.

Any opinions or reccomendations?

Many thanks

[Paul LaDuke]

I strongly discourage athletes in training to limit carb intake.  Carbs are the energy source for exercise, especially high intensity exercise (Oly lifting certainly is high intensity).  Carbs should make up 60-70% of your diet.  The key to weight loss  while still maintaining carb intake is the glycemic index.  You want to eat carbs that have a low glycemic index (Google "glycemic index" for more information).  

As you probably also know, the only way to lose fat is to burn more calories than you intake.  1 hour of weight lifting will burn 600-1000 calories depending on intensity and density of the exercises.  This will vary to some extent based on conditioning and body weight also.  1 lb. of fat = 3,500 calories so you will need to create an energy intake deficit of 3,500 calories to lose 1 lb. of body fat.  Creating an energy deficit of 500 calories per day will mean a loss of 1 lb. of body fat per week.  The rest of the weight that you lose during a session is all from water and this all needs to be replaced or performance WILL suffer.  Don't be too happy that you lost 5 lbs. during a lift.  That was 5 lbs. of water that you need back in your system for the body, brain, organs and muscles to perform at their peak.

This sounds easier than it is and means really keeping track of all your energy needs and caloric intake.  It is also so slow, that it can be discouraging.  Weigh yourself once a week at the same time of the day to get the most accurate results.  If you weigh yourself throughout the day, you will notice a 3-4 lb. range of weight so losing a lb. per week will not even be noticed if you are weighing yourself 3-4 times per day.

[Mark Limbaga]

Start by cleaning up your diet. Don't excessively drop any macro or calories for that matter.  Do it slow and steady

About abs, your genetic makeup will determine if you have a four pack or a six pack.

[Matt Denslinger]

I strongly discourage athletes in training to limit carb intake.  Carbs are the energy source for exercise, especially high intensity exercise (Oly lifting certainly is high intensity).  Carbs should make up 60-70% of your diet.  The key to weight loss  while still maintaining carb intake is the glycemic index.  You want to eat carbs that have a low glycemic index (Google "glycemic index" for more information).  

Isn't 60-70% a little too much?

[patrick ward]

what does your diet look like?  It sounds like you are undereating which can be almost worse then over-eating!

[Paul LaDuke]

Matt Denslinger wrote "Isn't 60-70% a little too much?

Good question, Matt.  With all the information from Atkins, it would seem that high carbohydrate diets are bad.  But the Atkins diet is meant for the morbidly obese who have to lose a huge amount of fat.  In the short term, Atkins turns the body into a fat burner from a carbohydrate burner.  But weightlifters depend almost solely on the body stores of muscle glycogen.  Only a high carbohydrate diet will ensure the quick refueling of those stores.

Check out http://www.gssiweb.org for more information.  I searched "carbohydrate intake" and got 5 documents.  I cut and pasted the last paragraph of one of them below.  


DIETARY CARBOHYDRATE AND PERFORMANCE OF BRIEF, INTENSE EXERCISE
Sports Science Exchange 79 VOLUME 13 (2000) - NUMBER 4

by Janet Walberg Rankin, Ph.D.



PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Many athletes involved in high-intensity sports do not focus on consuming a high-carbohydrate training diet, nor do they use carbohydrate supplements just before their events because this has not been traditionally believed to be critical to their performance. Although the research is less plentiful than for prolonged, aerobic exercise, a low-carbohydrate diet (3-15% carbohydrate) has almost uniformly been shown to impair performance of high-intensity single or multiple sprints compared to a moderate- or high-carbohydrate intake. Several studies show superior performance of single and repeated sprints when athletes have consumed high-carbohydrate diets (66-84% carbohydrate) compared to moderate-carbohydrate diets (40-50%), but this is not consistent among studies. Given that there is no known detriment to consumption of a high-carbohydrate diet (other than body weight gain due to water retention) and some research reports a benefit, it is recommended that all athletes consume a high-carbohydrate training diet, i.e., at least 60-70% of energy as carbohydrate (7-10 g/kg), and increase this to 65-85% for the few days before competition. Use of a carbohydrate supplement before and during exercise will likely improve performance of intermittent, high-intensity sprints.


Patrick Ward also raises a great question about how much you are eating.  Again, search the Gatorade Sports Science website for information on how much you should eat.  (Can you tell that I like their website, extremely good and trusted information, no fad diets there!)

[patrick ward]

yea, but with diets, one size does not fit all (as with training).  We have to seek idividualization.  Some can handle a lower carb diet and others can not.  I can go with much higher carbs but my metabolism is fast.  my girlfriend has to eat much lower cabrs though.  You have to find a good balance of macro nutrients that work for you.  Also, the carbohydrates wont have much effect on a single attempt strength event that is using something like the ATP-CP metabolic pathway.  Comparing sprints to olympic lifting is a little off.....One takes about 9sec to complete and the other takes about 1-2sec.  The energy systems are different after about 3sec you are going to have to shift to start using carbohydrates to rapidly convert energy.  However, under 100g is very low.  You can defenitly do more then that.  Also, eating a moderate amount of carbs will be protein (and muscle) sparring which will help to keep your metabolism up.  More muscle = more energy burned at the end of the day.  Can you post your diet?

[Matt Denslinger]

Matt Denslinger wrote "Isn't 60-70% a little too much?

Good question, Matt.  With all the information from Atkins, it would seem that high carbohydrate diets are bad.  But the Atkins diet is meant for the morbidly obese who have to lose a huge amount of fat.  In the short term, Atkins turns the body into a fat burner from a carbohydrate burner.  But weightlifters depend almost solely on the body stores of muscle glycogen.  Only a high carbohydrate diet will ensure the quick refueling of those stores.

yeah, I don't think a ketogenic diet would help athletes too much.

I like the range in 40-50% around there. Even in the article it states that studies haven't shown consitency in what carb range. I guess it comes down to the athletes personal preference.