tracking to stay on track 🏃🏽‍

So here comes blog number two. I was overwhelmed by the positive feedback I received from my last post, thank you to everyone who responded with messages, likes and shares.

All The Gear With No Idea

Thinking about what to talk about next brought up a whole lot of maybes and buts, so after some pondering and chats with fellow athletes I narrowed it down to a couple of topics. So what else could a girl do next but ask Instagram of course?

The Instagram poll was:

Idea 1: Balancing work and athletics

Idea 2: An honest food diary of an athlete, including tracking calories, macros etc

There was a good response for both, and some feedback around the second idea. Along with a few comments about tracking diets being a negative. So of course, this made it clear to me that this was what I wanted to talk about next. I started this blog to try and dispel negatives and spread positivity, especially around food. So, for now this is going to be all about food.

Warning: This blog will make you hungry.

Where to start?

A little background; I have worked with Alex Boyle (Athlete Focused Nutrition) and the Scottish Institute of Sport to improve my knowledge around nutrition. After my initial meetings with Alex he provided me with detailed meal plans tailored to my individual needs and training requirements as well as weekly feedback.

However I am not saying it is something everyone needs to do. You can educate yourself.

Lets start with the basics:

What do you even burn?

As an athlete or someone that partakes in regular activity, our daily calories intake should be different to someone with a more sedentary lifestyle. This is the mistake that a lot of athletes make. We need to fuel for a whole lotta’ burning.

Take a test, what should you be eating?

https://tdeecalculator.net/

My statistics:

· Age: 22

· Height: 5'10

· Weight: 66kg

· Activity level: Very Active

· Average daily calorie target: 2500

This is just a rough estimate, but it highlights the fact I should be consuming more than an average female recommended calories intake.

What else that needs to be taken into account is the training load?

I usually work on low, medium and high calorie days- usually increasing carb intake for training and protein for recovery.

Balance That Diet

Yes, I do track what I eat, but not to lose weight. Which is another misconception that people have. Tracking is not all about restrictions.

Tracking is a good way to gauge if you are eating correctly and sufficiently. It is not needed all the time but even just one week can allow you to educate/re-educate on what really is in the foods you reach for on the daily.

I think the most common mistake for athletes is restricting their diet for performance gain, this does not work!

I tried to illustrate that in my previous blog post.

Breaking it down further:

Macronutrients are nutrients that provide calories or energy. There are three broad classes: protein, carbs and fats.

General percentages to aim for are:

· Carbs 30-65% of calories

· Fat 20-40% of calories

· Protein 10-35% of calories

Or look at your plate, your main meals should have a bit of everything!

• 1/2 veggies

• 1/4 protein

• 1/4 carbs

Where Is My Snack?

The best fact that I have learned is:

SNACKING IS IMPORTANT

What is your favourite go to snack?

I'd say yoghurt and granola.

Snacking allows you to fuel throughout the day and is a benefit to your energy, no more sugar lows.

My snacks usually follow a routine: a carb based pre training snack and a carb & protein based post training snack to refuel and recover.

You should always aim to eat something in the first 30minutes post exercise to begin replenishing glycogen stores and promote muscle repair.

Wednesday 27th February 2019

Ok now we are onto what I think you will be interested in, what I’ve eaten today.

Today’s training:

It’s a Wednesday today. Which for me means strength and conditioning and two runs. This is all relative to how I am feeling. Some days I only manage one run and if I’m feeling under the weather I’ll reduce my load in the gym. It is so important to listen to your body and adjust training if need be. I hurt my wrist around a month ago so this is the first day back lifting weights!

I’m not working today so apart from training I’ll have a good amount of rest/recovery time.

Down to the nitty gritty- Today's Meals:

Breakfast

Omlette & Actimel

• 3 eggs

• 1/2 red pepper

• 1/4 red onion

• Handful mozzarella cheese

Calories: 383kcal

Post training snack

FACT BITE- 1g of carbs per kg bodyweight in the first hour post session will help begin to replenish stores if you have a second session!

Arla Protein Raspberry & Strawberry Milk Shake

Calories: 171kcal

Lunch

Prawn Stir fry & Roasted cauliflower and mushrooms

• Prawns

• 1/2 red pepper

• 1 Spring onion

• 1/2 red chilli

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Udon straight to wok noodles

• 3 cauliflower springs

• Handful of mushrooms

• Spray oil

• Salt and pepper

Calories: 333kcal

Then 3 dark chocolate ginger biscuits because as I said before it is all about balance.

Total calories: 249kcal

Afternoon snack/ Pre evening run

FACT BITE- Minimise an upset stomach in training by keeping fats to meals away from training!

Muesli & Yoghurt

Calories: 195kcal

I couldn't get myself out of bed this morning to fit a proper one in before the gym.

Dinner

Steak, Sweet potato fries & Veg

Calories: 747kcal

And yes I managed to fit in a little more eating before the day is done.

Snack number 3

Cheese & crackers

Calories: 134kcal

Pre Bed Vitamins

• Vitamin D

• Multivitamin

• Cherry concentrate

So how do I track?:

I use my fitness pal to track, it's simple and easy. Just need to remember not to bin the packets before you scan them. Below is a screen shot of today's Macros.

Total calories: 2,315

As you can see I am a little off what the balance is set at. But I don't deliberately eat to hit those percentages, I eat intuitively and keep in mind of what types of food I have eaten in that day!

Tracking to stay on track

I track to stay on track, and by that I mean in relation to be able to finish my session. To be fit and healthy to run how I want to run and to enjoy eating! Food should be something that we enjoy and try not to think of food as cheating, you deserve it.

MY FINAL THOUGHT…

I'll end on this, don't ever worry about what the scales say. Stay healthy, happy. Eat often and eat scrumptious food that you enjoy!

#food #nutrition #athlete #athletics #health #fitness #lifestyle #wellbeing