In a recent article published on Competitor.com, Professional triathlete Jesse Thomas, CEO of Picky Bars, shares a summary of his food journal he kept over 7 days. Here are some of the numbers he showcased:
Total Training Hours for the week: 26 hours
Average Daily Caloric Intake: 5 900 cal
Smallest Intake: 5 400 cal
Biggest intake: 6 500 cal
What shocked me the most initially was the amount of energy he was consuming on average. I figured that he must be gaining weight because those numbers are considerably high. I did some math to see if he would be theoretically in a positive energy balance and this is what I came up with. (Remember these are just estimates and not direct calculations) :
Resting Metabolic Rate: ~ 2000 cals*
- The equation used for calculating the Resting Metabolic Rate is defined here.
Energy intake required for week: ~14 000 cals
- energy required to maintain basic metabolic functions and weight if he all sat around the house all day
Total weekly energy intake: 41 400 cals
Excess energy: 27 400 cals
Energy consumed in training: 25 400 - 31 700 cals
- This calculation is based on his average oxygen consumption during training is 60-75% of his estimated VO2max (67ml/kg/min). Unfortunately, without knowing his true maximal oxygen consumption, nor his training intensities throughout the week, this value is an average of professional triathletes. However, it is not unlikely to see an athlete of his size expend 1000-1200 calories per hour at moderate intensities.
Energy balance at end of week: -2000 cals to 4300 cals
- Red denotes negative energy balance while green denotes positive energy balance.
As one can see through the math done, his energy intake should account for his energy consumption. This is crucial for endurance athletes as any tip of the scale in either direction can be costly. Unplanned weight gain can slow you down while weight loss may cause you to loose muscle mass.
The most shocking part of these findings is that if he was not consuming the excess energy through physical activity, he would have gained almost 8 lbs of weight during that week alone!
This would be an interesting project for myself to undertake for one week during base training of the winter. I would love to crunch the numbers and see if my intake is matching my consumption...
Saturday 25 August 2012
Thursday 9 August 2012
Running on Empty - Runner's World
Many people assume that weight loss is inversely related to becoming a faster runner. How it may be true that shedding a couple extra pounds may make you faster, just like making a sports car lighter, it needs to be done in a smart manor so that no harm is done to the body. In a recent article published on Runner's World, author Caleb Daniloff explains disordered eating and how it can impede on ones athletic abilities. Disordered eating varies from the eating disorders since food intake is not manipulated to combat depression or underlying psychological issues. Disordered eating is characterized by the elimination of food groups in ones diet, the replacement of meals with smaller ones, constant weighing, and compulsive exercise or feeling the need to exercise after having a 'cheat meal.'
Caleb also recounts people's stories while the suffered from disordered eating. Below is an excerpt of the recounts for Proctor, the captain of the Boston University Cross Country team:
A junior U.K. champion in the 800 meters, Proctor was recruited to BU on scholarship. Tall and naturally slim, after touching down in Boston in fall 2004, he embodied the "freshman 15," and then some. By mid-November, his weight had gone from 145 to more than 160 pounds. One day, Proctor's coach ribbed him about his affection for American cuisine.
"It was totally innocent, the way guys joke with each other," Proctor later told me. "But then I thought about it. My clothes don't fit the way they used to. And once I weighed myself and processed it, I felt like a failure. If putting on weight makes you slower, then I'm letting the team down. I'm failing at my job."
So just like that, Proctor all but cut out breakfast and lunch–disordered eating. "Any food that had very low to zero fat got a check mark," he says. "Anything that had more than one or two grams of fat per serving was out. Fruit was on the list until I found it had really high sugar."
He worked himself down to 500 calories a day, and within a couple of weeks, he'd shed almost 20 pounds. Not for a second did he see this as abnormal. "Track is so focused on numbers; you run your repetitions at this time, your recovery at this time," he says. "This just seemed like an extension of that."
Proctor was determined to break a school record, and every hunger pang confirmed his dedication to that goal. Soon, he was seeing the shaved-down numbers on his stopwatch. Like a greyhound chasing a mechanical rabbit, he kept pursuing that next ounce, that next half pound. By mid-December, the six-foot freshman stood a gaunt 133 pounds. Still, he scrutinized his reflection pinching a quarter inch of skin, convinced it was fat.
To read the full article, click the link below.
Running on Empty - Runner's World
Caleb also recounts people's stories while the suffered from disordered eating. Below is an excerpt of the recounts for Proctor, the captain of the Boston University Cross Country team:
A junior U.K. champion in the 800 meters, Proctor was recruited to BU on scholarship. Tall and naturally slim, after touching down in Boston in fall 2004, he embodied the "freshman 15," and then some. By mid-November, his weight had gone from 145 to more than 160 pounds. One day, Proctor's coach ribbed him about his affection for American cuisine.
"It was totally innocent, the way guys joke with each other," Proctor later told me. "But then I thought about it. My clothes don't fit the way they used to. And once I weighed myself and processed it, I felt like a failure. If putting on weight makes you slower, then I'm letting the team down. I'm failing at my job."
So just like that, Proctor all but cut out breakfast and lunch–disordered eating. "Any food that had very low to zero fat got a check mark," he says. "Anything that had more than one or two grams of fat per serving was out. Fruit was on the list until I found it had really high sugar."
He worked himself down to 500 calories a day, and within a couple of weeks, he'd shed almost 20 pounds. Not for a second did he see this as abnormal. "Track is so focused on numbers; you run your repetitions at this time, your recovery at this time," he says. "This just seemed like an extension of that."
Proctor was determined to break a school record, and every hunger pang confirmed his dedication to that goal. Soon, he was seeing the shaved-down numbers on his stopwatch. Like a greyhound chasing a mechanical rabbit, he kept pursuing that next ounce, that next half pound. By mid-December, the six-foot freshman stood a gaunt 133 pounds. Still, he scrutinized his reflection pinching a quarter inch of skin, convinced it was fat.
To read the full article, click the link below.
Running on Empty - Runner's World
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