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The Feed Zone: Select the proper menu for 2009
So here we are two weeks into 2009 and you did it again, didn’t you? Despite all the good intentions to lightly tap on the brakes this holiday season, you pigged out over the holidays, eating and drinking like there was no tomorrow. Well, tomorrow is here, and while you may not have totally obliterated some of the good eating habits that you developed last season, it is time to get your 2009 nutritional plan into shape.
First, decide what your nutritional goals are for this first quarter of 2009. For many of us, training is taking place mainly indoors due to colder weather and shorter periods of daylight. Your nutritional plan needs to reflect your training schedule and the intensity and duration of your workouts. Your nutritional goals can focus on a number of strategies, but start by keeping your plan focused and somewhat simple. You still have time to build on your early nutrition goals and improve your diet as the first race on the calendar approaches.
Think back to last season. What nutritional changes could have helped your performance and/or improved your health? Some broader goals could include improving the quality of your diet, resulting in a more optimal nutrient intake and giving your immune system a boost. If this is your plan, quantify how you would accomplish this.
A good place to start could be increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables as this does much to improve diet quality. What steps would you have to take to reach this goal? Break it down to measurable steps. It might mean more regular grocery shopping, purchasing a greater variety of fresh produce more often, and packing these fruits and vegetables for snacks and lunches.
Other suggested nutrition goals for the New Year include:
- Making time for a whole-grain cereal at breakfast, along with skim or soy milk, and a piece of fruit.
- Packing a lunch several days weekly to save on calories and fat (and dollars) and increase nutrient intake.
- Planning ahead for dinner, buying the needed ingredients weekly, and cooking in quantity for reheating as appropriate.
- Trying out new foods and recipes.
- Fine-tuning your recovery-nutrition strategies.
- Trying out new sports nutrition products and refining hydration and fueling skills on the bike.
Of course this time of year is often associated with weight loss and body-composition goals. You can affect body composition with sensible food changes, or be quite focused in your attempts to decrease body fat and lose weight
Cyclists often place a high value on a low level of body fat, and achieving an appropriately lean physique does allow you to move more quickly and efficiently when cycling, particularly during a hilly workout or race. Indoor training encourages more resistance training, which of course builds muscle and is a good metabolism booster. Modest cutbacks in calories may also be tolerated, as there is time to decrease body fat and there is less chance of compromising the fuel stores needed for tough workouts as a result of creating too large of a calorie deficit in an attempt to lose weight.
For your best performance results, you should aim for your own ideal body composition, based on your physique, genetics, and training level. Trying to become excessively lean is not recommended as it poses negative risks regarding your health and performance. Excess weight loss can result in loss of power and strength, while disordered eating can result from extreme weight loss efforts.
Fat check
Your ideal body fat should:
- Not necessarily be associated with the minimum levels of professional cyclists achieved at certain points in the season.
- Account for your own individuality, including genetics.
- Support a strong immune system and good health for the racing season.
- Be associated with improved performance over time and for your important races, not in the short term.
- Not require extreme dieting or training measures that can only be maintained for a short period of time.
Any time during the season, the scale is best used for monitoring changes in fluid balance and muscle glycogen stores, so get an initial body-composition assessment. Once you have established your body composition the scale can be used to monitor weight changes over time, along with period rechecks of body fat levels.
Techniques for checking body composition include hydrostatic or underwater weighting, Air displacement or the Body Pod, bioelectrical impedance, and skinfold calipers. All of these are indirect measures of body fat and have a degree of error ranging from 2 to 4 percent.
Choose a method that is available to you throughout the season (same technique, same technician) so that you can monitor changes in fat and fat free mass over time, and have a qualified professional interpret your results and make recommendations.
You can set goals around both body fat loss and building muscle. Muscle burns at least twice as many calories as fat, even at rest, so it allows for increased strength and good eating.
Metabolic check
To determine how many calories you need to consume for weight loss, it could be helpful to have your resting metabolic rate (RMR) checked. RMR is the amount of calories that your body needs to survive at a state of complete rest.
RMR is determined by body composition, sex, age, and genetics, and typically accounts for 60 to 70 percent of total energy expenditure. RMR can be estimated from equations, but can actually vary among individuals, so an accurate check is best, particularly if you have history of struggling with weight loss.
RMR can be measured at a performance laboratory or with the use of a metabolic cart. Several companies have developed portable metabolic carts for RMR testing, and this service can be offered at a reasonable rate. Other calories factored into your energy expenditure come from daily activity (life, school, work), and of course training. You even burn some calories when burning, digesting and absorbing food.
Training caloric expenditure can vary greatly, but this early in the season may account for only modest calorie burning on certain days. Perhaps you have a heart rate monitor, power tap, or other device that allows you to estimate caloric output during various training sessions. Your RMR, daily activity, and training account for your daily calorie burning. While at best this represents an estimate, it does give you some ammunition for determining your energy requirements, and then making a smart decision about “cutting back.” A sports dietitian can also help determine your energy needs for various types of training days.
Dietary check
It is also important to lose weight or body fat the smart way. Regulation of body weight doesn’t always abide by seemingly rational rules and is actually a complicated and dynamic process. Reducing your caloric intake can cause your body to lower its resting metabolic rate. The greater the caloric cutback, the greater the RMR drop. Creating a daily caloric deficit of 300 to 500 calories, or a weight loss of a half-pound to one pound weekly, should not result in as great a drop in RMR.
This early in the season, cutting back on calories from carbohydrate and protein should not compromise recovery, tissue repair and energy levels as it could during a build phase or race cycle. But during any training period, too low a carbohydrate intake can compromise your muscle glycogen stores, and limit your ability to have a quality workout.
Some longer workouts could still warrant paying close attention to recovery nutrition. For easier intensity and shorter training sessions, having carbohydrate before and during training is likely not as essential as during heavy training periods. But for more important workouts, still focus on nutrition around those training sessions, and decrease caloric intake away from the training session. Training on no carbohydrate can increase fat burning for the session (not calorie burning), but likely would not be well tolerated during more demanding workouts and could compromise recovery and your immune system.
Healthy fats
Healthy fats such as olive oil, canola oil, nuts and seeds, and avocado should still constitute part of your diet, but keep an eye on portions. More importantly, watch out for hidden fats in prepared foods and at restaurants. One of the best tools for assessment and monitoring of eating habits is a food journal. Look for sources of hidden fat, areas that could use some portion control, and some ongoing food habits that can trip you up in your quest for weight control and fat loss, or just areas where you could plug in some higher quality foods. A few weeks of keeping a food journal can help you stay on track and make the new habits more permanent.
This time of the season is also a great time in the season to try new foods, recipes and menus. Emphasize plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and dried beans that provide a broad spectrum of phytonutrients and antioxidants that keep your immune system strong.
Another useful goal for 2009 might simply be to get enough rest. The hormonal effects of sleep deprivation can result in difficulty losing weight and affect appetite regulation. So make sure you get in your ZZZs.
