Thursday, May 24, 2018

Nutrition Part 1

I am currently on a personal quest to dial in my own nutrition.  I figured I would document this journey as I go along and maybe it will serve as a reference point for someone else. 

Nutrition is a tough area to really dial in, and it is true that you cannot train enough to compensate for a bad diet.  I decided to go back to the basics and look at my CrossFit Level 1 Training Manual where I was reminded about the Zone diet and the importance of balanced macro nutrients at each meal. I have dabbled with the Zone Diet before, but I am looking to really dial it in over my summer break when I am not teaching and coaching students. This will give me more time to do some food prep which includes weighing and measuring my food.  I am hoping to have some sort of rhythm going into the next school year so that I can keep the momentum going and successfully transfer that experience and information to my student athletes.  I don't want to overwhelm anyone here, so let's start with the basics.  The Zone Diet is made up of blocks/portions of Proteins, Carbs, & Fats.  Depending on your lean body mass, you can roughly calculate the number of macros you need to support lean muscle while decreasing your body fat.  A block consists of 7 grams of protein, 9 grams of Carbs, and 3 grams of fat.  It is really important to track your Body Fat % so that you know if you are losing fat, gaining lean mass, etc.  Once you know your lean mass, you must define your activity level.  If you are an average CrossFitter and perform 4-7 workouts per week, use the following formula to start and then you can dial it in further once you have established a baseline.

Lean Mass x 0.7 / 7  

For me personally, this equates to 161 lbs of lean mass x 0.7 / 7 which equals 16 blocks of protein/carbs/fats per day.  This is where I am starting to establish some kind of baseline before making slight adjustments based on increases or decreases in training volume, workout performance, and measurements (body measurements, body fat %, BMI, lean mass, etc.).  I'll let you know how it goes and hopefully give some useful tips along the way.