Modified CLEAN

For the past 2 months I have really been focusing on dropping the pounds. I have always known the efficiencies of training and racing at a lighter body weight would improve my performance drastically. The week I decided the weight loss was going to happen in 2011, the January issue of Outside magazine showed up at my doorstep. They featured several Health & Fitness articles that focused on different plans for self improvement. Outside Magazine staff writers carried out these life changing fitness and nutritional tasks for the specified periods of time. Their reporting of the findings were informative and inspiring. Almost instantaneously, my brother Jared and I, while on the phone, mentioned the success that one writer had while carrying out the CLEAN program developed by New York cardiologist Alejandro Junger.

Having been a multi-sport athlete since the mid 1990s I have always struggled with "Race Weight". The YoYo-ing of my size during the off season, pre-season and even peak race season is comical. You succumb to the fact that maybe, just maybe, I DO work out this much just so I can eat ALL the time. It was nothing to consume 5 to 6,000 calories a day. You justify this by running two times a day, toss in a swim workout and bike around town. No worries. Start over the next day, maybe you don't get in the same workouts, but the caloric intake remains the same. This cycle was problematic for me.

My body was now wired to consume that many calories. And those calories were not fruits and veggies. We are talking about chocolate chips, bagels, peanut butter and other snacks by the arm full. Not terrible foods, but not the right foods or the right amounts for my body and my goals. You throw this on top of my meal time habits and it was disaster. My wife is an amazing cook and I am blessed. You combine her culinary talents and my insatiable appetite and there were no leftovers in our house. This despite the recipe clearly stating it served 4 people. And anyone that knows my wife, it is apparent that it is not her making up for the two other nightly guests that weren't at the dinner table. I needed a shock for my body. Something drastic.

The CLEAN program provided this SHOCK AND AWE. I did not follow the program to the letter, but my modified CLEAN program yielded results. I cut out bread and red meat (I haven't eaten pork for years, so mostly fish and chicken now), dropped as much sugar as possible, no candy, no cookies. I would consume a juice for breakfast, an Odwalla for lunch and a small, nutritious meal for dinner. Snacks might be a banana, an apple or some almonds. My friend Heath constantly jokes that I have the caloric intake of a 15 girl. Teenagers can be so mean!

Within two weeks, I was down 17 pounds and after a month, my habits were altered. I eat far less junk, smaller portions and am down 24 pounds since the turn of the year. Running is easier and I am faster. I am still looking to get down another 10 pounds. Then maybe I will head to Nordstrom and get some pants that fit.

http://www.cleanprogram.com/