Welcome back to part 3 of our blog series looking at nutritional recommendations for the competitive athlete
So far, we have covered 'Why nutrition should be a priority' and 'How to set your calories and track accurately'
We are going to take it a step further and answer the all important question...
What should I be eating?!
This is one of the most common questions that athlete'sask and one they should definitely seek the answer for if peak performance is what you're after
To perform optimally in training we need to ensure we are consuming adequate amounts of our macronutrients; protein, carbohydrates and fats.
The macronutrients
This fancy word is simply what our food consists of - 'Macro' meaning big nutrients
Protein is necessary to enhance muscle and tissue repair and growth post training - optimal levels of protein intake will enhance our recovery, meaning we can train more often and therefore, improve our performance as we can handle more training volume and train more frequently.
Carbohydrates are gold dust to athletes. They serve as the main energy source to fuel high intensity activity. This is due to their simple structure being broken down rapidly to re-synthesize our primary fuel source - ATP. If we have insufficient carbohydrate intake, our body will begin to breakdown fat to fuel our exercise. However, this is sub-optimal in high intensity situations as it is a much longer process compared to carbohydrate breakdown. This means we cannot continue to function at this high intensity as our bodies simply cannot keep up.
In a simple analogy, you have a premium race car and two types of fuel. Fuel A is the fuel the car prefers, works best under at top speeds and takes little time to refuel. Fuel B can fuel the car, however, it takes longer to reach a fast speed, it may not reach it's top speed and it takes a long time to refuel once you take a pit stop. Which do you choose?
Our last macronutrient - fats - have received alot of bad press in the main stream media, leading to alot of athlete's limiting or cutting it out from their diet. However, fat is necessary for performance and health of the athlete. It's important roles include; energy provision for tissues and organs, forming part of the cell membrane, transportation of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K which is key for testosterone production, improve satiety and playing a crucial role in nerve signal transmission for muscular contraction (1). Instead of eliminating fat from our diet, we should seek to include it to aid the above functions, providing an optimal environment within the body for recovery and performance.
How much of each?
Now the importance of each macronutrient has been covered, we need to address how much of each we need.
To get stated we need to understand the energy value of each macronutrient;
Protein and carbohydrates- 4 calories per gram
Fats - 9 calories per gram
This will help with some simple calculations towards the end of the article!
Setting our protein intake
The first macronutrient we need to set is protein. This is because it's vital for recovery and growth from training and should not be compromised during any nutritional approach. By setting it first, we ensure that it's at optimal levels. We should aim for around 1g of protein per lbof bodyweight each day for optimal recovery and satiety.
Can we go over this amount?
Yes we can - you may have heard of the old tale of kidney damage but this is false!
Sometimes, I set my athlete's a little higher if they struggle with hunger as protein intake is linked to satiety or they generally struggle to not consume alot. However, it does come at the expense of other macronutrients - we will have to lower our carbohydrate or fat intake. Therefore, we should not overeat it by too much as the additional hunger satisfying effect begins to be outweighed by the potential performance or health gains from additional carbohydrate or fat intake. Essentially, it would be robbing Peter to pay Paul! An upper limit would be around 1.3g per lb or 3g per kg of bodyweight.
Calculating our fat intake
After we have set our protein, we then set out fat intake. This can range anywhere from 20%-35% of total calories - remember we have worked out our daily caloric intake from part 2 (http://strengthtrainingforyou.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/dave-carleton-series-issue-2-tracking.html).
This is based upon personal preference - anything within these values are optimal for performance and health. However, you will need to find a value which allows you to feel full between meals, have enough energy for daily function and enough energy for training. For example, if you consume the higher end of fat intake, your carbohydrate intake will be lower, which could lead to dips in energy during intense periods of training.
To begin with try 30% of total calories, if you feel you are lacking energy drop to 25% or if you feel you are constantly hungry, try bumping it up to 35%. There is no right or wrong here, it's about creating an environment which promotes your best performance!
Lastly, we set our carbohydrate intake. We set this last as we need to ensure we have our fat intake covered for health and our protein intake for growth and repair. Our carbohydrate intake consists of the remaining calories.
Calculating our carbohydrate intake
To calculate our intake, follow these steps;
1. Calculate your energy intake from protein - grams of protein x 4
2. Calculate your energy intake from fat - Daily caloric intake x 0.2-0.35 then divide by 9.
3. Add the above figures together and you have your calories from protein and fat
4. Take your daily caloric intake and subtract figure from 'Step 3' - this is your caloric intake from carbohydrates
5. Divide the value from 'Step 4' by 4 to obtain the grams of carbohydrates you should consume
After following these steps, you should have the amount of grams of each macronutrient you should aim to consume.
To help you understand a little more, we will use an example;
James is 200lb, trains 4x per week, is pretty active outside the gym and has a maintenance intake of around 3000 calories per day. We are going to aim for 1g per lb of protein and 25% of calories from fat as he likes his carbs.
Protein intake = 1g per pound = 200g which gives us 800 calories from protein (200x4)
Fat intake = 25% of total calories = 3000 x 0.25 = 750 calories from fat then divide by 9 to get our amount in grams = 83g of fat per day
Carbohydrate intake = Daily intake - fat and protein calories then divide by 4. This would be, 3000 calories - 1550 calories = 1450 divided by four = 362 grams of carbohydrate per day
How do I aim for these goals?
To begin to aim for these values, download a calorie tracking app such as myfitnesspal and log your food intake over a number of days, aiming for the values.
I have written an extensive guide to tracking your intake on my blog, check it out here - http://carletonperformanceandnutrition.co.uk/blog-post/454
If you aren't exact, don't worry! The difference will be minimal as long as you are close - I get my athlete's to focus on hitting their calories within 100-200, their protein and carbs within 10-15 grams and their fat intake within 5 grams.
We aim for slightly more accuracy with fat intake as it has a higher energy value and therefore, contributes more to our total energy intake.
Summary
At this point we should know our daily caloric goal to support our performance and body weight goals, be able to set up our macronutrients in an optimal way to promote peak performance and recovery, know the important of including all three macronutrients and why it may not be a good idea to over consume one or the other.
In our next installment we will cover meal frequency and what to eat pre, during and post training to help promote recovery.
If you have any questions please feel free to message me on the links below!
About the Author
Dave Carleton is a powerlifter who competes in the 66kg class and has represented Great Britain at European and World Championship level. He is currently study Sports and Exercise Science in Edinburgh and runs a nutrition and training coaching service, helping individuals improve their sporting performance, get stronger and achieve their body composition goals. He creates regular articles and tips through his blog and facebook page which are linked below. He also has a free facebook group with members interested in strength training, nutrition and sports performance. Within the group, helpful tips, training feedback and nutritional support is provided – if this sounds like it would be beneficial to you, request to join on the link below.
carletonperformanceandnutrition.co.uk/blog-3
References
1 – Antonio, J. et al. (2008). Essentials of Sports Nutrition and Supplements. Hamana Press, Totowa.
I hope you enjoyed this article
Thanks for reading
Kind regards
Andrew Richardson, Founder of Strength is Never a Weakness Blog
I have a BSc (Hons) in Applied Sport Science and a Merit in my MSc in Sport and Exercise Science and I passed my PGCE at Teesside University.
Now I will be commencing my PhD into "Investigating Sedentary Lifestyles of the Tees Valley" this October 2019.
I am employed by Teesside University Sport and WellBeing Department as a PT/Fitness Instructor.
My long term goal is to become a Sport Science and/or Sport and Exercise Lecturer. I am also keen to contribute to academia via continued research in a quest for new knowledge.
My most recent publications:
My passion is for Sport Science which has led to additional interests incorporating Sports Psychology, Body Dysmorphia, AAS, Doping and Strength and Conditioning.
Within these respective fields, I have a passion for Strength Training, Fitness Testing, Periodisation and Tapering.
I write for numerous websites across the UK and Ireland including my own blog Strength is Never a Weakness.
I had my own business for providing training plans for teams and athletes.
I was one of the Irish National Coaches for Powerlifting, and have attained two 3rd places at the first World University Championships,
in Belarus in July 2016.Feel free to email me or call me as I am always looking for the next challenge.
Contact details below;
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