|
NUTRITION CALCULATORS Nutrition is an important part of endurance training - and not just on race day. If you are going to spend 4 to 6 months getting your legs and arms in shape for an Ironman, you want to make sure that your body can get you there. To stay healthy and injury free, you need to consume the right amount of calories in the right mix of carbohydrates, fat and protein. And you need to make sure that you are getting the enough vitamins minerals and electrolytes. You need a plan. But before you can plan where you are going, you need to know where you are. Many of the endurance sports nutrition books recommend that you track you current intake. In other words, keep a log of everything you eat and drink and you will need to do it for at least a month to get good trend. With the data, you can analyze where you are and what you need to change. There is a great web based program available at www.fitday.com which will help you in that endeavor. The other thing is to know how much you really need. There are lots of formulas around to help you determine what your daily calorie intake should be. The one below is based on age, weight, height and activity level. Other formulas may give you a different amount. None of them are 100% accurate but they do give you some where to start. If you compared the number you get below to your trended intake, you should be able to tell if you are close to where you need to be. There are a couple of thing to consider. It takes a change of 500 calories a day for a week to vary your weight by 1 pound. So if your goal is to loose some weight, you need to cut 500 calories out of you daily consumption. The other thing to consider is the amount of endurance training you do. If you bike for 3-4 hour and burn off 3,000 calories, and only eat a couple of gels along the way, you going to be in the hole by 2,800. So you can increase the calculated amount by 2,000 for the day and still be able to apply the 500 calorie reduction toward your weight loss. Try it: | |||||