T Nation

Lost 70 Lbs, but I Need Help with the Rest!!

Supplements and Nutrition
#1

I’ll get right into it…I’m 25 5’9 and am now 175 20% bf down from 245 35% bf.
I’ve been doing paleo with 1 cheat meal a week. No supplements.
Workouts have been mostly crossfit MWF and Tu Th Sa Su swim bike run.

My goal is be competitive (podium) in triathlons and increase power to weight.
I have thought about creatine and a fat burner, but can’t really find on the posts anyone using both at the same time.
Any thoughts? Maybe I’m searching wrong? Suggestions on brands of creatine and fat burners?

Also if you could clear up what the best school of thought for taking creatine is.

Thank you in advance

#2

Of course you can use creatine while cutting fat. It will give you an advantage as far as weight lifting goes and anything else that requires explosive power (think sprinting). It won’t help much with the training you need to do for triathlons, which is mostly endurance. Use in the off-season may be your best option, since it will cause you to retain a fair amount of water weight, which will not help your prospects in a triathlon.

For brands, use any good creatine monohydrate, preferably a micronized one. The one sold on this site is good. I would not recommend a fat burner, as your normal training will cause you to lose the rest of the fat.

#3

Pcdude thanks for the advice!!! I have 2 races scheduled to finish off the year. The first tri I want to be competitive for is in june so I might start the creatine now to start preping.

#4

[quote]danesta wrote:
I’ll get right into it…I’m 25 5’9 and am now 175 20% bf down from 245 35% bf.
[/quote]
245*.35= 159.25LBM
175*.20= 140LBM

1)From the look of your numbers you may want to check out your calorie intake or most importantly your protein intake. You lost 70 pounds but according to your numbers almost 20 pounds was muscle.

  1. Why the cross Fit? if your goal is to finish a triathlon on the podium you need to log hours in a pool, on a bike, and jogging. These activities burn just as much calories as cross fit which will result in weight loss but they translate into making you better at triathlons.

  2. Not that you asked me to psychoanalyze you but you strike me as a guy that is doing triathlons to lose weight which is fine but it won’t have you winning any of them. You are currently pursuing two goals so my suggestion would be for you to dedicate yourself to one goal, ie triathlons and when you lose fat it will just be a happy accident. That means increase caloric intake and start logging miles. You will still lose weight but at a much slower level.

Also, creatine is fine when trying to lose weight but as stated will hinder endurance performance.

#5

[quote]JLone wrote:

[quote]danesta wrote:
I’ll get right into it…I’m 25 5’9 and am now 175 20% bf down from 245 35% bf.
[/quote]
245*.35= 159.25LBM
175*.20= 140LBM

1)From the look of your numbers you may want to check out your calorie intake or most importantly your protein intake. You lost 70 pounds but according to your numbers almost 20 pounds was muscle.

  1. Why the cross Fit? if your goal is to finish a triathlon on the podium you need to log hours in a pool, on a bike, and jogging. These activities burn just as much calories as cross fit which will result in weight loss but they translate into making you better at triathlons.

  2. Not that you asked me to psychoanalyze you but you strike me as a guy that is doing triathlons to lose weight which is fine but it won’t have you winning any of them. You are currently pursuing two goals so my suggestion would be for you to dedicate yourself to one goal, ie triathlons and when you lose fat it will just be a happy accident. That means increase caloric intake and start logging miles. You will still lose weight but at a much slower level.

Also, creatine is fine when trying to lose weight but as stated will hinder endurance performance. [/quote]

Thanks for the input and no worries about the psychoanalysis…I’m doing cross fit to try and help my sprints and my muscular endurance ie for power gains. Word is that it helps with both, and it has a little. Also I got kinda flabby after the major weight loss and wanted cross fit to help tighten me up. I understand that it might be a vain reason but thats all I have in relation to the cross fit thing. I understand what your saying about logging hours in the 3 disciplines but, its off season right now and I was looking into gaining some power now and hitting endurance as the season approaches. What do you think?

#6

[quote]danesta wrote:
Thanks for the input and no worries about the psychoanalysis…I’m doing cross fit to try and help my sprints and my muscular endurance ie for power gains. Word is that it helps with both, and it has a little. Also I got kinda flabby after the major weight loss and wanted cross fit to help tighten me up. I understand that it might be a vain reason but thats all I have in relation to the cross fit thing. I understand what your saying about logging hours in the 3 disciplines but, its off season right now and I was looking into gaining some power now and hitting endurance as the season approaches. What do you think?
[/quote]
You sound like you have a plan so don’t let some armchair quarterback get in your way.

Good Luck.