Losing 5 lbs is great. It’s noticeable and can make a difference in whatever you’re doing. Your knees feel better, riding hills feels better and your tight pants feel better! By working with many of the same clients over the last 15 years, you get to know what works for people without turning their life upside down.
We have a simple case study from a veteran client who made few positive changes and got his weight back down to his “2010 race-weight.” We did a baseline measurement in May consisting of a Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) assessment and Body Fat. Some simple but scientific measures to see where the client was at and what we could realistically do in 3 months.
This client was already training consistently 8-10 hours per week which we believe is more than enough to lose 5 lbs! These workouts consisted of cycling classes, strength training and running. Overall, a very active 54 year old client. The secret then lies in when and how are you exercising? At TCR, we promote a lot of “fasting” workouts in the morning. Get up, do the workout and then have breakfast. After the initial challenge of believing that you will not run out of energy, the vast majority of clients do very well with this form of training. Once we explain that the body has over 90 min (2000 calories) of glycogen at wake and over 80,000 calories of fat just waiting to be used, they should have no fear that the body can handle a 60 minute workout! Here are the pre and post results of the RMR, body weight, body fat and food burning rates at rest.
After 3 months of regular fasting workouts, the client achieved the 5 lbs weight loss goal. Yes, we could have lost more weight by doing an extreme diet or adding more volume, but all he did was change his workout times to the morning in a fasted state. If you look at the data, the most interesting results, besides the body fat and weight, is his metabolism. His “engine” was still roaring even with weight loss (1681 vs 1693 calories per day). However, the biggest change which can be correlated to his weight loss is his increased fat burning at rest (59 vs 72%). This is what we want to see, more fat burning in the 70-80% range.
To summarize, you can lose that 5 lbs and improve your metabolism by simply changing when you workout and holding off on your breakfast until post workout.
Questions? Please email us