Daily Nutrition Strategies

     Before getting into the meat and potatoes (see what I did there) of this post I should mention that I am not a Dietician. It is out of my scope of practice to design meal plans of the individual person. I have knowledge about food and an idea of what is healthy but cannot issue a meal plan. My scope of practice is Personal Training. Another disclaimer that I should mention is that there is no ideal diet. Diets (much like exercise) should be individualized. This is why you will see ranges within this post.

I hate the word diet. It implies restrictions. I prefer nutrition. Food is fuel. Certain foods elicit a certain response to training. With that said a normal average dude is going to eat differently than an athlete. An average person may be trying to lose weight or gain weight for health reasons. A lifter may be cutting or bulking. On a side note (insert soap box) ……why bulk? To me it is an excuse to eat shitty foods and rationalize it as “bulking”.  “I got to get my calories in so I got to eat five doughnuts” horrible logic.  I digress. 

A Strength/Speed or hybrid athlete is going to eat differently than a more aerobic exercises. This post is going to focus on the strength/speed type. I’ll use myself as an example. Currently, I am 190 pounds or roughly 86 kg.

In terms of carbohydrates, I should be eating 5-6g per day. That is a range of 430-516 grams per day. While that seems like a lot, keep in mind that carbs in grams add up quickly. A ½ cup of oatmeal is 28g, a banana is 19g. That's 47g for breakfast. Coupled with lunch, dinner and snacks carb goals are attainable. Carbs are essential for energy usage and to spare protein sources for energy. Protein wise I should shoot for at least 1.5g per body weight which equates to 129g. For reference: one scoop of protein powder is 20g and a 3 oz of chicken breast is 26 grams. In one meal I have a solid baseline of protein goals. Protein is used to sustain and build muscle. In terms of fat, fill in your caloric goals with fat. If it seems that I am glossing over fat as a macronutrient it is because I am. Focus should be on carbs and protein due to energy requirements of those two macronutrients. Fats do provide energy to the body (in fact for every 1 calorie they provide 9g of energy), however for this specific training. 

For water intake it is recommended to consume at least 3.7L of water every day. That is nearly a gallon of water. Water intake is one of the more variable aspects of fitness because it depends on so many factors. Weather plays a significant factor. Hot, Humid climates require more water due to sweating factors, time of exercise is another. Big difference is when I work out at 5am as opposed to noon. The goal is to not lose more than 2% of body weight sweating as that will detract from performance.

These are simply recommendations. If another nutrition strategy works for you and your able to perform well then "Send it"