Nutrition Concerns

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Nutrition

Nutrition should be based on a couple factors:

1. Daily caloric intake
2. Activity
3. Convenience meals while training

First let’s examine your caloric intake.  Proper fueling and nutrient balance aids in building and proper recovery.  This is the key point in supplementation.  Your body needs certain nutrients in order to build and to recover.  If you don’t give your body those nutrients, then your building and recovery from racing and training will be impeded.

So, how can you make this work for you?  This is what you should do:

1. Get a body fat analysis.
2. List every thing that goes into your mouth for the next week.
3. List your daily activity

Body Fat Analysis

Get a body fat analysis.  This is usually reported as Body Fat percentage.  It is a comparison of fat mass to lean mass.  There are several ways to get a body fat analysis.  I have listed three common methods.  Most gyms will do it for a small fee.  An estimation of your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) can be made from your lean mass.  Your BMR is the amount of calories your body would burn if you were completely inactive.  With the addition of daily activity, an estimation of your Total Caloric Expenditure can be calculated.  For proper building and recovering, total calories expended should equal total calories consumed.

The most common measurement is probably the pinch fold method.  In this analysis, the tester will measure by pinch fold three to seven different areas of your body.  A calculation of these measurements is then made that will result in body fat percentage. 

Now, for the next 5-7 days, list all the food that you consume.  If you can write down the amounts, ounces, grams, and try to include calories.  If you are really ambitious, find out the amount of calories of fat, carbohydrates and protein in each food item you eat.  

Determine Your Activity Level

During the same time period list all of your activity.  List everything from swimming, biking and running to playing the guitar and reading a book.  Include the amount time spent doing the activity and give an indication of the intensity.  Everything you do has a caloric expenditure according to the amount time spent doing that activity.  It is relative to the intensity performed and body weight of the performer.

From this information an estimation of your caloric needs can be made.  Furthermore based on a recommended ratio of 60:30:10 for macronutrients by the AMA and AHA, calculations of the amount of Carbohydrates, Fats and Protein you should consume in your diet can be made.

The number of calories per gram for:

CARBOHYDRATES:        4 calories/gm             60% of caloric intake
FATS:                                 9 calories/gm             30% of caloric intake
PROTEINS:                       4 calories/gm             10% of caloric intake