400 calorie fix may break triathletes

November 21, 3:24 PMSF Extreme Training ExaminerMark Davis

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the SF Extreme Training Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

The author never used a diet book during his journey from fatman to Ironman

Patrick Wong

Triathletes obsessed with how their weight affects their performance may turn to diets that promote rapid weight loss. Ultimately, diets such as Prevention magazine's 400 calorie fix may break triathletes. The soon to be released book recently promoted on Rachael Ray advocates eating three to four 400-calorie meals daily.

Registered Dietician Jae Berman has worked with many triathletes at The San Francisco Bay Club. "Triathletes should be eating about 400 calories every couple of hours. That could be reasonable for them. But six to seven times a day, not four times per day.

There is not one book that I would ever suggest that people read because there is not one quick fix for everybody. However the idea of smaller portions of around 400 calories if there is guaranteed to be protein and carbs, that I'm not against. But again how many times you eat... For someone to be only eating 4 meals a day, that couldn't be a triathlete waking up at 5 am.

Triathletes spend so much time exercising that they really forget how important nutrition is. The number one thing that most triathletes don't understand is you have to fuel muscle. If you lose weight quickly, you're likely not losing fat, because fat is often the last thing to go, especially in the abdominal region where it is trying to hold onto the organs, to create that padding for safety. Triathletes often go to a survival mode when they starve themselves, their stress hormones get so elevated and that causes a whole cascade of events. They think they're so healthy doing this wonderful thing for their bodies and actually it can be very harmful. Sometimes I wish my triathletes would focus on what they're eating to fuel themselves rather than looking at food as a way of gaining weight. It's a very negative relationship with food and a very positive relationship with exercise. If they could create a positive relationship with both, not only do I think they would enjoy the sport more, but they'd feel better about what they eat and how their bodies are working."

How should a triathlete eat? Stay tuned for future recommendations...