Matt Fitzgeralds 6 steps to optimising your RACING WEIGHT

A summary of the 6 steps that help athletes develop great eating habits to ensure they get lean for peak performance. This expands the points raised in Matt Fitzgerald's book "Racing Weight" (2012) 2nd edition.

Rule 1 – Improving your diet quality

Increasing your nutrition-per-calorie ratio of your diet will help you to get all the nutrients you require for performance from lower kcal consumed enabling you to get lean. Basically eat more fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds, lean meat, fish, and high quality low processed carbs e.g. brown rice, wholegrain bread and quinoa. Avoiding white bread, white rice, and sugar laced crap. It really is pretty simple. Most people know the difference between quality nutrient rich food and processed crap. It’s about gradually making changes to your eating habits to improve the fuel you put in your mouth. Dairy isn’t as bad as some nutritionists make out. Matt Fitzgerald states in his book “Racing Weight” that dairy foods can support a lean body composition through their high protein and calcium content. Calcuim reduces the activity of calcitriol – which is a hormone that promotes fat storage.

Chris Horner (American Pro cyclist) is a great example of this. He had raced most of his career at 68kg (150 pounds) eating a diet of coca cola and candy bars. As he was a low body weight and low fat % he figured he was already at his ideal body weight. When he made some simple changes to his eating he lost 5kg, and dropped to 63kg (140 pounds) and had a great season in 2010, and continuing with his new eating lifestyle won the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) in 2013.

Rule 2 – Manage your appetite

Our modern food environment is set up with highly processed poor nutrition food. We overeat without even realising it. We need to plan out weekly shops, so we have the right food at home, and then prepare the food we are going to eat during the day (prepare your lunch and snacks for work) so take always/vending machines isn’t the fall back when “poor planning” hunger strikes us. We have to start learning the difference between “head” hunger and “belly” hunger. With good appetite management you learn to control the amount of food you eat by “feel” plus by changing your food environment. Calorie counting is a pain and doesn’t really work. Wild animals can’t count kcal yet they rarely overeat. Why do people eat the way they do? There are physiological, psychological, and sociological factors. Remember the most powerful psychological determinant of how much we eat and full we get is INTENT. So combat this by being more aware of what you eat, keep healthy foods handy, plan for temptation, and avoid habit grazing.

Rule 3 – Balance your energy sources

The fact that none of the marketable “diets” out there can agree on the “magical” proportions of carbs, fats, and proteins tend to suggest there isn’t one. The proportions of the macronutrients will need to change depending on what you are trying to achieve, what training you have on, and what time of the day it is. We are all individuals and trying to rely on general dietary advice is not smart. Low carb diets for endurance athletes are not the best way to get leaner as it compromises training capacity. Having carb content around specific sessions will enhance training performance and these effects will improve your body composition. All three energy sources (macronutrients) in the diet carbs, fat, and protein are important. A serious endurance athlete during specific heavy phases may need between 2-3 x as much carbs as the average person. The % of carbs should fluctuate in your weekly diet based on your training load.

In terms of fats there has been a lot stated over the importance of Omega – 3. These fatty acids may promote a lean body composition by enhancing the fat burning effect of exercise (Hill et al. 2007), and they may even boost aerobic exercise performance, and decrease inflammation. The best sources of Omega – 3 is salmon, sardines, and mackerel (oily fish), and walnuts, almonds, and chia seeds. During the tour de France the head nutritionist of team Sky (pro cycling team) was ensuring that all the cyclists were getting 3grms of Omega – 3grms per day (John West Wild Pink Salmon is the most cost effective source I can find)

To keep it simple to meet your fat requirements keep your diet quality up, and eat fish 3 x week, and for protein you should be getting 1.2g/kg per day and 1/3g/kg if you’re vegan.

Rule 4- Monitor yourself

The most common weight management practise for people who have lost weight and kept it off are self management practises such as regular weighing and food journaling. For athlete’s success in enhanced with monitoring diet, body composition, weight, and matching that with performance. A 2007 study published in the journal Clinical Nutrition that compared measurements obtained form a Tanita (bioelectrical impedance) body-fat scale and DEXA scanning (expensive) reported a better than 96 % level of agreement between the two methods (Thomson et al. 2007). Everfit Coaching has a pair of these scales if athletes want to start a monitoring plan. So start weighing yourself at the same time on a particular day at least once a week and track your weight.

Keep your eating habits honest with a food diary. Make it simple so it’s not a hassle; include info on portion sizes, and record what you consume a day broken up into occasions. You can then match your weight with specific training sessions or races and start to get an idea about how your weight affects performance. Remember you can’t manage what you can’t measure.

Rule 5- Timing your nutrition

When you eat affects your body as much as what you eat. Timing of your food intake has a big impact on ENERGY PARTITIONING – this is what becomes of your kcal you consume. Basically there are three destinations of food in your body, muscle, fat cells, and energy. If you want to become leaner you need to shift the balance of energy partitioning so more kcal are incorporated into muscle, less stored as fat, and more used to supply immediate energy concerns. Basically the shift we all want athlete or otherwise is making this shift so there is less “poor health” associated fat tissue, and more metabolism-boosting muscle tissue. Practising nutrient timing will help you achieve your optimum performance weight.

-Try and eat early – when you wake up in the morning, your liver is approx 50% glycogen depleted owing to having powered your nervous system while you slept.

- Eat carbs early and protein late – concentrating protein intake later in the day will enhance muscle regeneration in the evening and throughout the night.

-Eat on a consistent schedule that suits your lifestyle. There is no single optimal meal frequency for everyone. Research has shown that eating on the same schedule daily in more important than eating more frequently throughout the day.

-Eat before exercise. This will help you get the most out of your session by improving performance and therefore fat burning after the workout.

-Eat nutrients during your harder sessions will help you become leaner by enhancing the training effect. Research by Melby et al. 2002 showed that if you consume carbs during exercise you will consume fewer kcal for that day and more fat gets burned post workout. It’s not necessary to take carbs in every workout – only the long and hard ones.

-Eat after exercise to promote leanness by shifting energy partitioning toward muscle protein and glycogen synthesis and away from fat storage. It also accelerates muscle recovery so the athlete can perform with a better training effect in the next workout. Look at a 1grm protein / 4grm CHO ratio and hydrate (1.2grms CHO/kg)

-Minimise eating after dark. If you need to eat a high protein snack is best.

Rule 6- Train Right!

Exercise is the most powerful factor in successful weight management. More than 90% of people who succeed in losing weight and keeping it off exercise regularly. For most athletes weight management is not the primary goal. Usually getting better performance is (among other reasons). Performance enhancement and weight management go hand in hand. The best results come from a programme where roughly 80% of training is EASY/STEADY, 10% is STEADY+/MODHARD, and 10% is HARD (or over your anaerobic threshold). Strength training in the form of functional body weight exercises and heavier weights also improves body composition and performance.

*Racing Weight: How to get lean for peak performance, 2012, Matt Fitzgerald

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