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A Smart Diet is a Performance Diet

Written by Dr. Skiba

Last week, I wrote about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, which led to some questions. Readers asked me why it is that they had followed similar diets, but had not lost any weight. This got me thinking about all the misunderstandings people have about diet and exercise. There are hundreds of diet plans which are all absolutely guaranteed to help you lose pounds/dress sizes/etc. So why is it that people are fatter than ever? Today we are going to talk about sane changes to your diet that will make a big difference if you give them a little time.

The ugly truth.
A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. It was always thus, and always thus shall be. If you are consuming many more calories than you burn, you are going to gain weight over time. If you are reading this, you are more than likely already doing the most important part towards weight loss: you are exercising. If you are enjoying triathlon and are not simply suffering, I'm willing to bet you exercise a lot. Good for you! Another important point for you to realize is that because you exercise, you are burning extra calories, even when you aren't exercising. So, why aren't you as skinny as you might like?

Energy input versus Energy Output
You have improved energy output through exercise, now it is time to address the input side of things. In my article about the Mediterranean diet, I wrote about the sorts of things you should be eating: nuts, fruits, carbohydrates, and unsaturated fats like olive oil. What I failed to address was what you should not be eating and drinking, so let's look at that a little bit.

Fact: Every glass of soda, juice, or sweet drink you consume contains lots of unneeded calories.
If you can cut back on sweetened drinks and maintain your exercise, you are going to lose weight. You are an athlete, and you require things like sports drinks during long exercise (i.e. anything over 45 min to 1 hour). That is the only time you require them. All of us consider our bottle of Gatorade a sort of status symbol. Gatorade has sold you on an image. Don't fall for it. If you aren't exercising, you don't need it. Leave the Gatorade in your bike bottles, and leave your bike bottles on your bike. Get used to drinking water. This alone is estimated to be worth 5-10 pounds over a year.

Fact: PowerBars are not a food group.
"Sports Nutrition" bars are loaded with calories. Like sports drinks, they are designed to keep you trucking over longer workouts. They are formulated to be easily digestible and portable. That is all they are designed for. If you aren't exercising, don't eat them. Have an apple for a snack instead. It has less than half the calories, and you get vitamins and fiber with the apple.

Fact: "Junk Food" is called "Junk Food" for a reason.
Put down the Twinkie and step away from the cupboard. Every time you eat junk food, you are undoing some of your hard work. A 200 calorie snack cake will cost you about 2 miles of running. Would you rather run the extra two miles, or do your planned workout and skip the snack cake. In a like manner, fast food is an absolute no-no. It is incredibly calorie dense for the volume you are consuming. If you travel a lot, and are stuck with fast food from time to time, ask yourself: can I get by with the salad and a little bit of dressing? Can I have the regular hamburger rather than the Whopper with cheese and bacon? All of these small changes add up to big calories.

Making Smart Choices
The reason people quit diets is that all of them are unreasonable. Honestly, was your body designed to eat only protein and fat, a la Atkins? Of course not. People quit diets because overly restrictive diets make people miserable. You need not weigh out your food portions, count calories, record points, or subscribe to any expensive plans. All you need to do is look at your diet with a critical eye and decide what you could lose without a great impact on your happiness. You don't need to make all of the above changes right away. Pick one thing to work on for a couple of months. For example, in the last four months I worked on cutting back on my sports beverage and soft drink consumption. In the off-season, I did not gain the usual 5 pounds I have in past years. This was a real benefit without much sacrifice. Now, my habit is to drink water, and I don't even think about it any more because I am no longer used to drinking something sweet all the time. Over the next few months, I am going to work on my chocolate chip cookie habit. Rather than having 4 or 5 after dinner, I am going to have 2 or 3. That will be worth a couple of more pounds over the year. You are looking for small changes over many years. Don't get discouraged. This is how it has to happen if you want changes to be permanent.

Smart Choices = Performance
Your body was built to run lean and mean. Every pound you lose is worth more than double it's weight in terms of wear and tear on your joints. Every pound lost gets you over the next hill a little bit faster. Every pound you lose is less stress on your heart on an everyday basis. Every pound you lose is making you a better athlete, and moreover, healthier. This does not mean that you are trying to lose weight as a primary goal. Your primary goal is to be healthy, the result of the search for that goal is weight loss and improved performance. Don't set unreasonable goals for yourself. Dropping 5 pounds is a huge accomplishment, even if that is all you lose!

There are very few of us that who are professional athletes, for whom every ounce counts. At some point, it may become a matter of weighing portions and carefully monitoring input versus output. For the rest of us, it is perfectly acceptable to simply eat sanely, as I have indicated above. By eating better, our bodies will eventually find their way into optimal condition for the circumstances. You might not get down to the dress size you were at age 16, but maybe you'll drop down a size or two, and that is ok. Each of us is supposed to look different, because each of us is different. Genetically, each of us will store more or less fat in different places, just as some of us develop more muscle from exercise than others. Your goal can't be to look like someone on a magazine cover, but your goal can be to look your personal best. If you can cut out the junk, and keep on truckin', you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

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