Battling that scale.... AND WINNING!

So I was a little skeptical about the weight loss that would come with transitioning two way more Primal lifestyle. For those of you who don't know what this means, it is essentially means eating a very few carbs in your daily diet, limiting your protein intake and bringing up your fat consumption. In other words bring on the bacon butter and broccoli.

I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to stick with it, and I was skeptical that I would actually lose weight with it. One month in, I can't begin to explain how good I am physically feeling about myself. I have lost approximately 10 pounds since Timberman half Ironman, and my swim, run and bike times has improved significantly.

I am sleeping much better and I feel well rested every morning. My ability to focus is intense and awesome.

When I talk to friends about my new metabolic efficiency lifestyle, they seem quite skeptical and concerned that I am not getting enough fiber or veggies. But as I explained to them, it's not about not eating veggies. The trick is to eat greens/veggies that are loaded with fiber, because that essentially cancels out the impact of the carbs.

How does it work? Essentially a western diet trains us to burn carbs for fuel. But we can re-train our body to burn our fat stores (virtually unlimited stores in my case) instead of carbs. It's all about teaching your body to use the metabolic pathway that prefers fat as a source of fueling all your bodily functions rather than carbohydrates. Proof that this was working for me came the other day in the form of a 21 kilometer trail run. All I had with me was my water backpack and some salts because it was quite warm. Other than that I ate nothing even though traditionally I would have had a good three to four gels (if not more) during the run. And I felt fantastic!

I'm an absolute convert and firm believer bet nutrition fundamental for performance- and then even a stronger proponent of encouraging of metabolic efficiency!

Living my dream- LONG COURSE NATS AND PUCON 2017!!!!

Sometimes your dream big, but you don't actually believe in yourself. I realize this a few weeks ago when I kept talking about wanting to race the 70.3 Ironman in Chile, but yet I was never sure about timing, funding or even the ability to train for a mid January race. Committing to my dreams is very different than just thinking that my dreams can come true magically. Commitment seems to be a better route the magic most of the time.

So this year my dream is happening. I'm taking my best self to race for Pucon 70.3 Ironman 2017! This used to be my brothers favorite race in the entire world, and for many years I was his support crew and cheer-meister. But this year my family will be cheering me as I walk in my brothers footsteps. Regardless of the outcome, Pucon next year will certainly be one of the highlights of my athletic career.

I have also signed up for the USA Triathlon National Long Course Triathlon (70.3) Championships in Miami Florida on November 13. My brother lived in Miami and raced this particular race on a few occasions. It'll be a really cool adventure- and who knows, I may even qualify for WORLDS in Canada! With all run and biking done on the flats, my worries have shifted to sharks and humidity. Which considering that those are factors I've never really had to worry before, I'm not really sure how much I should be worried... Right?
I've also signed up for Lake Placid 70.3 next year.

 I think the biggest news is that I'm working closely with a sports nutritionist named Kitty Clark from Wisconsin. She is helping me revamp my body to become metabolically adaptive. In short- I've drastically reduced my carb intake, I'm feeling fabulous AND I've lost 6 pounds in the few weeks since Timberman!