Ryan Duckworth tells his story:
I’ve never been an endurance athlete, that’s never been one
of my strengths. I played your typical fast twitched sports in high school:
football, basketball and track. I’m 6’3” and my college football weight was
about 235 pounds with muscle.
In 2005 a friend introduced me to triathlon and I got hooked
on it. I ended up training and bulking up until I weighed over 250 pounds.
Then I lost some weight and weighed about 220 on race day of the
2010 St George Ironman. I set a goal to be competitive at the half ironman and
qualify for Worlds.
In December 2012, I recommitted to losing weight and to get to where I needed to be health wise, because I really wanted to do well
at the St George Half Ironman in May of 2013. Our whole family was in Las Vegas
on vacation. On Christmas Eve I ate at a buffet and I ate everything I wanted
to eat. The next day, Christmas Day, I was as sick as could be. I’d gotten food
poisoning. My family was all out doing stuff and I was in a hotel room puking
my guts out. All day long, on Christmas, I never left the bed. While there I
had time to reflect on things. I decided that I was going to completely change
the way I ate, including removing all refined sugars from my diet.
There is actually no way to avoid all sugars because it is
the biggest poison in the world and all manufactures put it in their food to
make it addictive. So you just do the best you can to reduce that.
I avoided all soda, candy, ice cream and junk food. I was
totally done with all that. I also started eating smarter and switched from simple
carbs to complex carbs. I switched from white rice to brown and stopped eating
white bread and noodles. I ate whole grains instead. That new way of eating, along with a workout
plan made a huge difference. I was able to lose all my extra weight. Right now
I weigh 190 pounds instead of 230-250, where I was at the start of my tri
career.
My first week off sugar I went through withdrawals and I had
to find things to substitute to make it work. I’ve had to educate myself over
the past few years to find out what my body is really craving. If you’re
craving sugar you probably need more protein.
I try to eat fruit during the first part of the day and
vegetables at night. Just like most people I’ll have those cravings at night for
something sweet. Most people go right to the ice cream. I had to figure out
something else that would work for me. Dried fruit that’s low in acid is one of
my substitutes. Or I’ll make a protein shake by blending a couple frozen berries, a
banana and milk of some kind. While the rest of the family is eating their ice
cream I’m having my treat. When you stop eating sugar you can take weight off
and keep the muscle.
It is amazing when you eliminate the sugar from your diet,
what it does to you emotionally. The problem with sugar is you have your high highs
and your low lows. Without the sugar you still have your highs but your lows aren’t
as low. If you eat sugar you will get a short sugar high but then afterwards that
crash is so far down.
Now my energy levels are more consistent. That was the
biggest thing I noticed by just getting rid of sugar.
The other thing about eliminating sugar and losing weight is
that you feel so much better, especially when you’re racing. I can’t tell you
how much better of a runner I’ve gotten from being lighter on my feet.
My training is a lot difference. I had some testing done
that showed my body burns fat a lot better than it did before. Also, when I go
out for an hour training run I can go out with only water. I don’t need any
sugar drinks and I can sustain my energy for a longer period of time without
that stuff.
In 2014 at the St George Ironman I was able to qualify for the world championships in the half and I went to Mont Tremblant, Canada in 2014. It was awesome to check
that off the bucket list. My next goal is to get to Hawaii and race in the big
dance, in Kona, and so I’ll keep working at that.
Going off sugar helps me reach my goals. It’s also not just
for health reasons. I want to feel the way I do now verses the way I used to
feel.
