There's a lot of confusion about proper nutrition and weight loss. It doesn't help that at this time of year there are plenty of commercials for weight loss pills, programs & meal plans. I'm not even going to get into nutrition during a race. I still have a lot to figure out, especially when distances get longer.
I was able to find a lot of this information on the web from companies that sell energy bars, gels & drinks. I think it makes it easier to find that information there than scouring the entire internet. It makes sense to have that information there as it helps support their claims for their products. I wish they all did that. I found a great deal of information from the PowerBar site. Let me make it clear that I'm not affiliated with PowerBar, nor do I use their products. I have used them, but stopped because of my personal preference to other products. The articles are written by Registered Dietitians & Board Certified Specialists and the information provided is well documented and does not necessarily endorse PowerBar, however some articles will make reference to individual PowerBar products for comparison.
The first article title "Fat Confusion" only confirms what many of us are already aware of, that we're not entirely sure what is good fat & bad fat based on a survey conducted by the International Food Information Council. I'm not sure and I'm starting to read more nutritional labels trying to make sense of it all. Here's a list of what are samples of good fats from foods that have 2 grams of saturated fat per serving and have more healthy fat.
- Almonds, dry-roasted
- Pecans, dry-roasted
- Walnuts
- Sunflower Seeds
- Flaxseed oil
- Olive oil
- Canola oil
- Soybean oil
- Safflower oil
- 70% vegetable oil spread
- Sardines
- Herring
- Salmon
- Snapper
- Trout
- Shrimp
- Tuna, light, canned in water
- Cod, Atlantic
Here's a list of foods to avoid.
- Butter
- whole-fat dairy
- Ground beef with more than 10% fat
- Skin on poultry
- Stick margarine
- Lard
- Deep-fried foods
- Foods with more than 1 gram of trans fat on the nutrition panel
- Potato & snack chips
- Doughnuts
Having a list of foods makes it easier to identify what's good or bad. Looking over the lists, I've done a really good job of avoiding even eliminating the bad fat. On the other hand, I can do a better job with the good fat. I love fish, but rarely eat it.
The next article deals with having enough fuel for your activities. This means calories & carbohydrates. The article titled "Compensating for Calories Burned" goes a little bit into weight loss and how some athletes that are looking to lose weight yet workout regularly are not able to lose any weight. Basically, you need to burn more calories than you take in. So you need to maintain your regular diet and workout more, cut your calories while maintaining your normal workout routine or a combination of both.
Sounds pretty simple. But an athlete needs fuel for their workout and race day and that's when things get a bit more complicated. There are guidelines for how much carb & protein are required based on the level of intensity and based on the individuals weight. This is the part I hate. I don't like counting calories, carbs or even measuring/weighing food. Here are the guidelines.
Carbohydrates
- 5 - 7g/kg/day (2.3 - 3.2g/lb/day) Athletes in general training
- 7 - 10g/kg/day (3.2 - 4.5g/lb/day) Endurance Athletes in heavy training
- 10 - 12g/kg/day (4.5 - 5.5g/lb/day) Extreme training like Ironman Triathlons
Protien
- 0.8 - 1.0g/kg/day (.36 - .45g/lb/day) Athletes in general training
- 1.0 - 1.2g/kg/day (.45 - .55g/lb/day) Endurance Athletes in heavy training
- 1.2 - 1.6g/kg/day (.55 - .73g/lb/day) Extreme training like Ironman Triathlons
To make more sense of this, I'm going to see how it applies to me. Level 1 will be base training phase, Level 2 will be when race season (increased intensity training) starts and Level 3 will be when I ramp up to half iron distance this year.
Based on the guidelines and my weight of 150 lb (I'm actually 151-152 with a 150 goal weight), here's what my intake should look like this:
Carbs
- Level 1: 345g - 480g
- Level 2: 480g - 675g
- Level 3: 675g - 825g
Protein
- Level 1: 54g - 67.5g
- Level 2: 67.5g - 82.5g
- Level 3: 82.5g - 109.5
I'm not sure how that will translate to my current diet, but it's a start into figuring out where I'm at. I'm not even going to get into counting calories.
I will probably focus more on protein as it's well documented that protein aids in recovery. Here's three recommended ways of when to get protein to support your workout.
- 10-20 grams just before and just after exercise
- 20-40 grams of protein just after exercise
- 5-10 grams of protein just after exercise and then again hourly for up to 3 hours after exercise
Basically, I need to get 20-40 grams of protein to recover properly. Seems like it would be easy to get that much from an energy drink, gel or bar. Actually, as I just looked at what I have, it's harder than you think. I use Clif Shot or Gu energy gels and they contain 0 grams of protein. Gatorade has 0 grams of protein. So although they provide plenty of carbs to fuel my workouts, they don't provide any protein to aid in recovery. I've also used Clif Bars and they contain 10 grams of protein. I've also recently purchased Mix1 protein drinks which contain 15 grams of protein. So a Clif Bar before my workout and a Mix1 post workout will provide me with the minimum amount of protein as recommended in the guidelines above. I'll have to give that a try. The Clif Bar has almost twice the amount of carbs & calories as an energy gel, however an energy gel is easier to consume and gets into your system quicker. I'll have to experiment during training to figure out what works best for me. I think I'll continue to used energy gels to fuel my longer workouts as long as I get my protein before or after my workouts.
So much information and so much to figure out. I'll keep you posted on how things are working out.
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