Olympics - The Fit, the Fat and the Forties page 2

[oxide]

Despite doing several high intensity gym sessions a week and eating relatively clean I struggle to maintain a healthy weight.

"Eating clean"... are you following the Eat Clean protocol as espoused by Tosca Reno and others? The protocol that recommends that you pack a cooler of raw veggies, eat six meals a day "to keep your metabolism up," eat whole grains in moderation, drink three liters of water, and eat steel-cut -- gotta be steel-cut -- oats for breakfast?

I tried this and I gained 3 pounds in 3 weeks. And had to pee every 30 minutes. No thank you! The only thing that seems to work consistently is to primalize the pantry cold turkey.

I noticed the fleshy coaches too.

[annedawso]

"Eating clean"... are you following the Eat Clean protocol as espoused by Tosca Reno and others? The protocol that recommends that you pack a cooler of raw veggies, eat six meals a day "to keep your metabolism up," eat whole grains in moderation, drink three liters of water, and eat steel-cut -- gotta be steel-cut -- oats for breakfast?

I tried this and I gained 3 pounds in 3 weeks. And had to pee every 30 minutes. No thank you! The only thing that seems to work consistently is to primalize the pantry cold turkey.
I noticed the fleshy coaches too.

My "eating clean" is 2 boiled eggs for breakfast, meat with salad and olive oil dressing for lunch, meat/ fish with veg for tea.
My downfalls are having a couple of pieces of dark chocolate and a bottle of coke zero once a day.
It doesn't take much to stop me losing weight - the joys of being in my 40's.

Now that I have gone primal it has made me really notice how many obese people there are around. I don't think I had really noticed before then. I was even more surprised to see so many at the Olympics. When will Public Health policy change.

[cantare]

It is actually very normal for athletes to gain a lot of weight once they stop training (i.e. become couches). In training the competitive athletes put in 6-8 hrs a day expanding huge resource, having huge external pressures to improve, i.e. intensifying their training. A lay person just doesn't have the time and drive to keep up with something like that, while the dietary changes are not as severe. Hence, a layer of fat. When I stopped swimming competitively at about 13 y.o (the crash of my very unsuccessful carrier, but still I was swimming 1.5 hrs 6 days a week), my mother was on me like a hawk to make sure I ate less. She knew what she was doing since she was a hurdler till she was 16 and went to the Uni (far more successful hurdler than i was a swimmer, lol!) and have faced an almost immediate weight gain.

Perhaps if athletes didn't train and habituate as carbo-loading sugar burners in the first place, then their appetites might naturally mirror their decreased activity level upon retirement, and they wouldn't blow up.

[Jaradel]

Now that I have gone primal it has made me really notice how many obese people there are around. I don't think I had really noticed before then. I was even more surprised to see so many at the Olympics. When will Public Health policy change.

This, so much this. I know I've said this somewhere else, that I felt like I was seeing the world with new eyes once I started eating Primal. As far as when the public health policy will change, well... at least in America, it'll be when Big Agra and Big Pharma no longer have the money to "buy" the government.

[noodletoy]

i live in a relatively slim city, but we are inundated with tourists. before they even open their mouths to expose their accents, i can tell the people who are not from here because they are utterly enormous.

the only exception is marathon weekend!

[sbhikes]

I'm sort of surprised how chunky the female swimmers and divers looked. Not all of them, but some of them. I haven't been watching much of the olympics but I glanced at it last night.

[JackieKessler]

I know I've said this somewhere else, that I felt like I was seeing the world with new eyes once I started eating Primal.

YES.

And it's both utterly stunning and quite upsetting to see how normal it is for people to be obese. These days, seeing adults (AND TEENAGERS!!!) who are lean is rare. (And not in a steak sort of way!)

[pace2race]

I'm sort of surprised how chunky the female swimmers and divers looked. Not all of them, but some of them. I haven't been watching much of the olympics but I glanced at it last night.

Remember the camera adds 10 pounds. Who knows how much the HD camera adds. The suits are very form fitting also. Although I haven't seen too much fat on the women's sand volleyball courts. My new favorite Olympic "sport".

[annedawso]

YES.

And it's both utterly stunning and quite upsetting to see how normal it is for people to be obese. These days, seeing adults (AND TEENAGERS!!!) who are lean is rare. (And not in a steak sort of way!)

In Liverpool, UK I would say it seems abut 50% overweight and 50% normal weight here. I can remember though years ago we would comment on all the overweight Americans in comparison to the UK and now we are nearly as bad.
I find it quite disturbing, I don't know why I haven't noticed before. I cant help now but mentally note each person I see as to whether the are overweight or not. It is my new pre-occupation.
I could cry when I see them buying 0% yogurts and low fat this and that. I feel like saying something but you know you cant.
I was talking to some bloke in the gym during circuit training and he was commenting on how fit I was (wayhay) I told him about paleo and his eyes glazed over and he told me he was going to drink low fat milk shakes for a month to lose weight quickly.

[Lynna]

Interesting write-up re:swimmers and body fat

Sportscience Compeat: Swimmers: Body fat mystery!

and here

Swimmers - Is fatter faster?