My Nutritional Strategy

After I started racing, I soon realized that being a tub of lard was not going to get me anywhere, much less up the side of a mountain on a bike during a race. Until the beginning of 2007, I was trying, without success, to shed fat. Jan 2007, I removed all forms of grain based foods from my nutrition-no more bread, no more pasta and no more pizza. I shifted my macronutrients to about 50% fat, 30% protein, and 20% carbohydrates. All of my carbs now come from vegetables and fruits. Only a few days before a race, will I sometimes would eat a pizza, but most of the time when I need to increase my carb intake, I gorge myself on dried figs and prunes and honey soaked dinkel-cookies. The pictures speak for themselves. Since August 2007 my weight was stable around 80 kg. Jan 2008, I decided to drop to 75 kg and this has not been so easy only insofar as the remaining fat I have, is going away much slower. In spite of burning almost 100,000 calories just through training in the last two months, I have only managed to drop 2 kg in 6 months. No big deal. I don´t want to starve myself. 

Last week I decided to try IF, intermittent fasting. The idea is to eat only between 2 pm and 10 pm, monday through fridays and on the weekends eat normally. So far it has worked and I have dropped 1 kg without any difficulties. Actually, I feel much better as I was getting hungry about 1 hour after breakfast and feeling really tired in the mornings. The past few days I have much more energy and mental clarity in the mornings and no hunger whatsoever. 

Over the last 3 years, I was lifting weights 3x a week. Since March 2008, I have cut this down to 1x a week and this involves only full olympic squats, dead lifts, standing shoulder presses and pull ups. I do pushups and planks almost every day in the mornings when I get out of bed.

Summary:

My nutritional protocol

50% fat, 30% protein, 20% Carbs

My favorite foods:

eggs, meat, fish, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, figs, prunes, all fruits, all veggies and dark chocolate.

What I don´t eat:

Bread, pasta, potatoes, beans, candy, peanuts, and I derive no calories from liquids. I consume no milk products other than dark chocolate I take no vitamins, no pills and no supplements.

Daily Caloric Requirements:

Based on spirometry and some other formulas, my daily caloric requirement is about 1850 calories just to exist-if I was to remain in bed for 24 hours and make no movement. So a normal non-training day (work and walking around), I need about 2500 calories to fulfill my energy needs (eucaloric). On training days, I burn any where from an additional 1500-3000 calories.