Concept2 Forum

I am a competitive DI collegiate rower in the United States. I have been rowing for 7 years. I am currently 6'2" and roughly 225-230 pounds. I've always been a relatively strong/muscle-bound individual, and I'm looking to cut down. Last year I successfully cut from 235 pounds down to 205 pounds, but I ultimately did it unhealthily and my erg scores/water performance suffered along with it. I've done a good amount of research on macronutrients and caloric intake and such, but I've always struggled with effective/efficient/consistent loss of weight, especially keeping the weight down once I lose it.

I'm looking to cut down to around 210 pounds as fast as I can without significantly affecting my performance. My current system has me taking in roughly 3000 calories, with 35% protein, 30% carbohydrates, and 35% fat. On a typical day I train 2-3 times for roughly 1-3 hours a session. Right now I'm roughly 15% body fat.

I've found a good amount of information through my searches but very little sources have information on how to diet with relation to the sport of rowing, with the intense volume and endurance required, on top of regular competition year-round.

If anyone has any advice or knows a source where I could get more information please let me know.

The first thing I would do is visit a reputable registered dietician and have them do a metabolic rate test on you. This will give you the best starting goal for how many calories you need to take in to maintain where you are at.

The second thing would be to map out different eating plans for your average day vs competition-eve/day. Obviously on the day before and morning of, you are going to want a more ready source of immediate energy (ie carbs) than on your average training days.

The third thing I'd recommend is upping your protein and reducing fat slightly... more like 40% protein, 30% carbs, 30% fats. In doing so, also watch what types of calories make up those percentages. Vary your sources of protein.. dont stick with just chicken and tuna. Include veggie proteins as well as red meats. For carbs, limit processed anything.. and try to keep sugars to a minimum... whole grains and fibers should be the bulk of the carbs you do get. Same with fats, keep naturally fatty whole foods and away from processed oils/fats (fatty fish, avacado, cashews/almonds, etc). Not all calories are created equal.

Lastly, I know you work out quite a bit during the day... but not all excercise will target fat loss... if you dont have a decent heart monitor I really recommend picking one up and make at least one of your workouts a day focus specifically on keeping your heart rate in the "target zone" for fat burning based on your resting and max heart rates.

Mostly though, out of all of this, I'd make visiting the dietician the priority... a good dietician will be able to best come up with an eating plan (menus as well as schedules) tailored to your specific body/metabolism to meet your specific goals. Anything else you get from folks like me or on random website is just going to be generally accepted good practices that tend to work for most people.

I would probably change your % of nutrients to 40% Carbs 40% Protein and 20% if you want to keep as much muscle as you can, I would also see a well known sports nutrionist in your area for a more detailed analysis