Athlete needs help on diet - please!

[Scottie_Bird]

Hi there, this is my sample diet for the next few months, comments are very welcome....

08:00 Breakfast: 6 egg whites & 1 cup of oatmeal with water
10:30 Snack 1: Protein Shake
13:00 Lunch: 1 x chicken breast with green leafy salad & ½ cup brown rice
15:00 Snack 2: 1 x chicken breast with green leafy salad
17:30 Pre WO: Egg whites
20:00 Post WO: Protein Shake
20:30 Dinner: Chicken with steamed veggies

I’m currently making a comeback from injury, as I’m a competitive runner, 200m – 400m, and during the time I was injured, I’ve put on around 12lbs of fat. So I need to lose it to get back competitive level, plus I need to fit back into my running kit!!

I’ll be doing 3 body circuit sessions a week (press ups, pull ups, squats etc etc) and 3 running sessions, Friday is my rest day. As I’m not a bodybuilder, I was told that bodybuilders are the most knowledgeable about diets, so I thought I would ask their opinion. Before I was injured I had 15% BF, now it is, I guess, around 25%. I weigh 150lbs at the moment and need to lose the excess. So any suggestions on supplements (ie. Creatine, glutamine, etc etc) would be so grateful. I basically copied this diet above, and changed some of the protein around. I won’t always eat chicken 3 times a day, I will change it to turkey and tuna so I don’t get bored.

would u suggest i go zero carb, or add some more carb. I know it is trial and error, but this is my first attempt!! I was temtped to ask a bodybuilder i seen in the gym last week for advice, cos she was so ripped, i was so impressed by her arms and abs, but i got scared off, she could probably crush me with one hand!

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great new year, and I look forward to your replies.

Cheers, Scottie bird xx

 

[Sassy69]

HEy SB! That's awesome for competition & sorry to hear about your injury - are you healed now?

How tall are you btw?

The diet is a pretty standard & good place to start. I would be sure to include some good quality fats, for example you can include 1 tbsp of flax oil or olive oil + vinegar w/ your salads. I might drop that first meal of 1 c oatmeal down to 1/2 c oatmeal - but I don't know what amount of running you do, so you might need that amount of carb for energy. I would never recommend no carb - after about 4 days of that you will realize that you really need those carbs. Not huge amounts, but you do need some. Same with fats. Not much but some. Just to check what you are really intending to consume you can put your daily meal plan into a food counts program like www.fitday.com to see what the total calories are as well macronutrient breakdown (%protein , fat, carb). You can do things like change the amount (or ratio) of carb over a 3-4 day cycle (low, low, high, e.g. only fibrous carbs aka veggies for the low days, then include the 1/2 c oatmeal & rice on day 3 --- you can research "carb cycling" or "carb rotation" for more information on that).

As far as supplements, l-glutamine is great for recovery. Creatine may help you build some muscle but it may also bloat you - if your goal is bodyfat loss & just maintain muscle I probably wouoldn't include it. Of course, a good multivitamin, you can add in EFAs (essential fatty acid pills or fish oil caps) , r-ALA (See www.anabolicfitness.net/shop for Glucorell) - a great anti-oxidant. Also if you are recovering from anythign w/ joint stress, I also include MSM / Glucosamine + Chondroitin.

 

[scorpiogirl]

...also, if your goal is fat loss, you may want to add a thermogenic 1-2x a day.

Need your height and training schedule too! Welcome!

 

[Scottie_Bird]

hey thanx sassy & scorpio girl!

Yes i'm all healed, it was my achilles tendon that i injured.

I'm 20, and i'm 1m 68cm (I think thats 5' 7"). I do quite a bit of running, this is my weekly training plan...

Sat: 200m-300m reps (short) Basically I get complete lactic in this session, normally finishes with me dying quietly on the track!

Sun: Body circuit, 8 sets of 9 exercises (1min rest between sets)

Mon: Speed endurance, so 100m-150m reps, again with lots of lactic

Tue: Same as sunday, but after I go for light jog

Wed: Similar to sat

Thur: Same as sunday, but after I go and do some hill sprints

Fri: REST YIPPEE!!

So endurance plays a large part in my training. However, after I get my endurance fitness to a decent level, i'll start to drop back down to more speed based sessions, but i hope when that point comes along, i'll have also dropped the fat!!

Ok, i;ll drop the oatmeal to 1/2 cup, and will buy some flax seed oil. this diet is harder than i thought. initially i was planning on doing weight watchers but i don't want to lose muscle, it has taken me ages to put muscle on! I really appreciate all your feedback, i;m learning lots about nutrition that i never knew before.

Cheers, Scottie Bird

 

[Sassy69]

See how your energy levels are w/ the 1/2 c of oatmeal -- since you are doing more endurance but your goal is bodyfat loss you need to find a happy medium between dropping bodyfat but having enough to run on so you don't start burning your muscle. On those run days you might want to up it to 1 c or just bring it all back up to 1 c. You are doign a slightly different regimen & goals than my experiences in BB -- the diet concepts are the same, but the training demands are slightly different and you can probably afford to run the higher carbs.