Are you trying to make the womens hate you?

If I ate that way I'd be as big as a house.

Agreed.

Maybe you need to be taking this rationale over to the main forum. :P

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I know I'm promiscuous, but in a classy way

I'm still youngish (32), so maybe my metabolism will slow down. But for now, I can eat what I want. Like you, I do monitor calories sometimes. Here's what I've done, and what I've found.

I've gone for ~4 months of eating healthy unprocessed foods. During this time I did lose a little weight, down to 123 (i'm 5'6").

When eating what I want (80% unprocessed good stuff, and 20% what I like) I can also get to 123 lbs. Its a little more work. Without working at it, I'm about 127 pounds.

Like you, I've found that lighter is faster - so being at 123 is better.

I've also found that if I eat something for recovery - be it unprocessed or processed - this makes me feel so much better for the next workout. No hard data, just feeling good. If I ignore post workout nutrition, the next workout feels harder and I am less motivated.

I did not notice a boost in performance from eating healthily. The only benefit I saw was that it was much easier for me to maintain my lower weight. I monitor body fat using an impedance scale, and *perhaps* I had more muscle when I was eating heathily. *Maybe* I was leaner at the same weight when eating healthily. The error on that scale for BF% is so great, its hard to say.

Ha!....I did not say I ate alot...around 2200/2300 calories a day...but I dont eat "good"...(I hardly ever have a vegetable)... I just dont eat much......

I have a tested slower metabolism, I have to watch the calories, so I do....

I am really curious if anyone else has come to the same conclusions about performance....

first post in the womens forum :)

I was actually thinking about this on my run this morning. As I have gotten older (I'm 32, not old, but feeling older from an aches and pains perspective) generally I feel better intestinally on my runs if I eat a better diet. For me eating a poor diet has not had an effect on performance overall, but a bad meal the night before a long run might make an individual run miserable. For example, I had pizza last night and ice cream earlier in the day and had my worst run in forever this morning. But lately my diet has been horrible and except for this morning, my runs have been good. Oh, and I'm a triathlete turned runner only so can't speak about the other disciplines...

oh, one other thing. Like someone said - if I improve my diet generally I lose weight, which translates to better performance.

Do you think you would have a faster metabolism if you ate better? :)

I agree with the weighing lighter is better. Now if I can just lose those 20 lbs. I can test that. :)

well, I have never considered that...seriously, is there some studies that indicate some correlation?...I do have 20oz of coffee every morning (4 packages of splenda and 4 creams)...with peanut butter toast...coffee will kick up your metabolism, right?

I just polished off a rice crispy bar and lemonade from the vend machine...put me down for 450 calories..... : )

This is a setiment I hear quite frequently and quite frankly tend to disagree with. Another one I hear all the time is that eating healthy is expensive.

Healthy foods don't taste bad. Take my breakfast this AM. Oatmeal.....Blahh right.....Well, a spoonful of sugar and sprinkled with cinnamon (super healthy spice) and a dap of french vanilla yogurt makes a tastey treat. Ok, it ain't bacon and eggs with hash browns but it certainly ain't tofu either.

To an extent I will agree that diet may not be a major direct impact on performance but I do believe you can not live up to your potential with out a good diet. As we age, I'm 43, our bodies require more of some and less of others and diet becomes even more important. I try to make sure my diet includes several of the "super foods" Salmon, spinach, melon, beans, berries, tomatoes, yogurt, oats, nuts.....Looking at that list nothing looks bad to me. Here's a little dish I like.

Schmittys Spinach Salad

Bowl of Spinach
1 can drained Tuna in water
1 can diced tomatoes with chilies drained
1 cup rasberries
1 cup almond slivers

Mix contents, drizzle with olive oil and serve with Balsamic Vinaigrette on the side. Chicken works in place of tuna. And if you want a treat.......add some bacon bits.

There are foods that if I eat will have a drastic impact on my performance.......anything deep fried. It takes me a day or two to recover. That type of fat just isn't a regular part of my diet so if I do indulge I'm going to pay for it.

I do eat my sweets........I have a weakness for ice cream. I also have an uncommonly high metabolism. I eat a daily Vend Size Little Debby Nutty Bar.....Damn I love those things.....I'm 6' 0" and 164lbs. I can't beat up on people that say they have a tough time losing weight because if I had to diet to maintain a weight I'd have a rough time too. Plus I'll never give up the beer!

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Hurry Up Every Chance You Get

(formerly LuctorEtEmergo)

I guess the real question is how you'll perform after your by-pass surgery.

Nope, when I eat like that I feel sluggish and like crap. When I eat fresh fruits and veggies etc, I feel a lot better. Training for IMAZ I was on the 3 weeks good eating, 1 week crap eating, I also had 3 weeks of good training and one week of bad training to coincide with it.

I'm trying desparately to clean up my diet again this go round, and when I do eat right it's great, when I eat all the junk and, my workouts suffer a lot

This is a troll if I ever saw one. Seriously dude. Are we supposed to feel bad for you or happy, cuz I'd like to slap you upside the head :)

report back in 12 years after your bypass when you suddenly NEED to change your diet to live - but you can't because you've lived by the "can eat bad whenever I want to" motto and struggle to change to a truly healthy (for your heart, liver and cardiovascular system) diet...

I must have good heridity in that department because I have always had excellent numbers, cholesterol, etc....(no history of heart desease in my family)...

but my future health is not my question...the original questions remains : Have people noticed improved performace by changing their diet...I didn't...and I find that by eating what I want and what tastes good helps me limit my calories and weight...which does improve my performance...

I think some people are just lucky. If I eat the way I want I definately suffer. I do find that if I take in calories when I train, even for workouts under an hour, I don't eat as much afterwards and feel better during the workout. Junk food as my primary diet gives me junk workouts.

Lucky dog you....

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

ok, in answer to the real question: although I am a health food nut 90% of the time, I have found in the past that a Mars Bar prior to an event lasting under one hour has worked very well for me - and coffee too...and dark chocolate, well, above 80% cocoa conveniently lands in the healthy food list for me...oh, and some nice salty rice chips after exercise can work ok too..

OMG Steve OH--
Just found your post and I am headed to bed but will respond at length soon. 1st of all, how old are you?
Ummm, not only from a dietary standpoint, but from a social and eco standpoint your diet needs a major overhaul. I don't know if you are taunting or serious------

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leslie myers
http://www.foodsensenow.com

as Sally O Malley said: "I'm Fifty!...Fifty Years Old!".... :)

actually I am serious and not taunting....or a troll as someone has suggested....I have been an infrequent poster for years....my motivation for posting was this:

I have, at many times in my life, tried to live life by commonly accepted practices...such as "if you imporve your diet, you will perform better" ONLY to find out that certain commonly held truths dont work for me..

I have traiied an average of 7 hours/week non stop for 24 years and always raced to do my best....times have always been important to me (and still are to a certain extent)...

In my experience, changing my diet did NOT help me perform better, my times did not improve and I missed the foods that tasted good and were enjoyable to me...so I went back to eating whatever tasted good....

This coming from a guy that lived with a strict vegan gilrfriend (no dairy powder in diet) for years..."Diet for a New America" was the book that inspired her...

I wondered if anyone else has come to this conclusion....looks like I may be alone on this one : ) but that is ok...everyone has to do what works for them....seems diet needs ar VERY different from person to person....

and to give you an idea of my diet here is what I ate yesterday (and its a bit "trashier" than my norm):

2 pieces of low calorie toast and peanut butter
20z of coffee
Rice Crispy bar from vend
20 oz Lemondade from vend
8 pieces of hard candy/5 starburst chews
1 ice cream/cookie bar
1 Jimmy Johns Slim Roast Beef Sandwich...no mayo, no cheese...just meat and bread
2 Reeces peanut butter cup 15 oz of Skim Milk
1 Diet Pepsi
3 oz of tortilla chips

and I feel good today...racing a Triathlon Sunday


From a health standpoint, which I wasnt really asking about, I told a doctor that I dont eat very good..his response "Well, your numbers look good so it hasn't effected you...."

Well la ti da for you. Perhaps this post was better suited in the main forum then, because you posted it for a bunch of women who may (or may not) have a hard time with their weight and are in a constant struggle to stay on track. 2200-2300 calories on training 7 hours a week is much more than many of us could ingest without being a little pudgy. So great for you for what you are doing, but your audience choice was a bit poor (imo, and apparently others too).

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I know I'm promiscuous, but in a classy way

Wow, not everyone gets a personalized video response to their slowtwitch questions by a noted 'expert'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Y_gNaZ8uk

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Fight............Finish

Damn it! I don't have sound here at work. GAH!

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I know I'm promiscuous, but in a classy way

Let me know when you get it to bacon & eggs with hash browns. I'll accept sausage & eggs w/ hash browns as well.

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<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
Get Fitter!
Proud member of the Smartasscrew, MONSTER CLUB
Get your FIX today?

One of the most common (and dangerous) misconceptions regarding health is that if you don't weigh alot you are healthy. It should be noted that you don't have to be overweight (in fact you can be at your perfect weight) to have diabetes, heart disease, pancreaities, kidney stones, endocrine gland issues, etc. It is natural to assume that fat = bad, skinny = good so as long as your skinny it doesn't matter how you got\are that way...its just faulty logic. You may be fine now eating what you want, and your weight and athletic performance may not flucuate based on all the bad food in your diet, but in my opinion you are setting yourself up for some serious health issues in the future.

I'll echo this, many people believe it's all about the calories in versus calories out.
So as long as they are at negative or net zero it's fine, regardless of the crap they ingest, this can work in the short run, wee good for you.
In the long run, you are in serious trouble. The lack of nutrients will eventually catch up, usually in the form of diabetes, endocrine issues (kinda like diabetes) and even cancer (many nutrients, from natural foods, are proven to prevent cancer, replace it w/ cancer causing crap, you can figure it out)
Didn't really answer the question, but meh.