I wont go into the full details about what I eat, but essentially its a
big breakfast (lots of oats, protein powder, banana, raisins, milk and almonds).
lunch (salad + mackeral or similar)
Evening meal - 10 different types of veggies, chicken, couple of sausages, couple of eggs, cheese
Snacks include Almonds and some fruit
I exercise for about 1.5 hours straight after waking up (before eating). I then do between 30 mins - 1.5 hours in the afternoon (depending on the day of week). Never take on fuel during sessions - even longer 3 hour rides…
I have switched to a more Paleo type diet… (about 9/10 months now). Whilst I never feel hungry, I don’t ever really feel full. Even if I eat a big meal (one that most cant finish), I am still thinking I could eat more… Looking at my stats, I reckon I am on the lower limit for my weight. I’m often refereed to as skinny.
I don’t feel my recovery is that good at the moment, I often feel tired outside of training. Performance has been mediocre and I feel like higher intensity sessions are taking longer to recover from (im 30) that they have done in the past
Wondering if my body is currently on the verge of just receiving enough calories to keep me going but not enough to want to fully repair?
Obvious answer is to eat more and see what happens I suppose… Like many athletes, I like having the very low BF though
You exercise nearly 3 hours a day without fueling during, you are at the lower limit for your weight, you never feel full, you often feel tired and are not recovering well…hmm let’s see here, I’m no expert but I’d say you answered the question yourself.
Start eating some calories during your work out sessions. You used to general terms to really provide you with any other ideas. Keep a food diary for three days and get back to us.
You should aim for about 2300 on a day you do not work out and 2700 on a day you do work out this should keep you at your current weight. Your BMI is 19.7 (using 145lbs)
I’m the same height but about 150lbs morning weight. You should take into account body composition as I for example am closer to 6% body fat and relatively speaking (for a triathlete) do have a lot of lean muscle mass.
As for the my general diet it’s something like this:
Breakfast: Also big usually I have some sort of combination of cereal or yogurt and maybe a banana. The cereal I eat is heavily nut-based and based on the nutrition facts I probably average around 1500 calories at breakfast.
Lunch: A small plate of pasta, bowl of salad and some chicken or other meat. Plus fruit (apples, oranges, peaches, bananas) that I usually take with me.
Afternoon Snack(s): Either the fruit from lunch and/or almonds. Sometimes I eat pretzel sticks as for the (low) amount of calories it takes a long time to consume all of them so it keeps you occupied so to speak.
Dinner: Usually light. Examples can be a sandwich (rye bread) with 100-150 grams of meat. Usually prosciutto or mortadella. Sometimes I have another plate of pasta and I always have a salad or a few pieces of fruit.
The only workouts I eat during are bike rides whenever it’s over two hours I’ll take something with me. I think this is key because if you’re doing a long ride you’re simply not able to completely refuel afterwards, this has to start while on the ride.
Looking at the differences between our two diets, although of course no two people are the same, I would recommend adding some carbs at lunch that should probably help you recover more from the morning and have more energy for the afternoon workout.
If you are over 6’1" and 145 you either are less than 8% bf or have no muscle. If you want to be somewhat competitive you need to focus on strength, not being light weight. Carbs are not a bad thing, neither is fat.
I don’t see why people try to get down to such low bf percentages and sacrifice other things. Eat to perform. If you do not fuel any for any workouts that last 3 hours then it is not a good training session unless you are trashed afterwards. Then your next workout is going to be crap.
As an example, I can benchpress 28Kg dumbells, Shoulder press 22Kg dumbells, deadlift around 70Kg… (not that I do loads of weights, maybe once or twice a week).
You could have stopped after the height and weight stats and I could have told you that you are not eating enough. Usually if you have to ask the question, you are not. Much like someone who asks if they are eating too much, usually they are.
I am not talking about that kind of strength, I am talking about hill repeats on the bike and run. Do 10 hill repeats and then have enough power for the next workout or to not decouple like crazy
For a reference most pros are around 158-165 at your height, they have a lot more muscle and lower bf%
If you are over 6’1" and 145 you either are less than 8% bf or have no muscle. If you want to be somewhat competitive you need to focus on strength, not being light weight. Carbs are not a bad thing, neither is fat.
Some of us are just built that way. I’m 6’2" and 140lbs (if I did my conversion from metric right), have been since my couch-potato highschool days up until now, training 15-20 hours a week. BF dropped from 10% to ~6% according to the calipers at my yearly checkup, if only because I went from no muscle at all to, well, something. If I could gain a few kilos’ worth of muscle that’d be great - especially for my swimming - but I’m not that far away from the front of the pack. Not elite in any way, but skinny lean is pretty much the equal of the typical powerful and overbuilt athlete. At the end of the day, the fastest performers are exactly in the middle of these two camps.
Your lean body mass is 130lbs(ish)? In addition to eating you might want to work on gaining a few pounds of muscle. At your build, you’d be blown away at the performance increase if you gained just 5lbs of muscle! =O /jealous
This is exactly how every “how’s my diet?” thread goes:
Poster: “I eat X, am Y tall and weigh Z”
Response: “Well I am taller/shorter and fatter/skinnier than you so I can tell you immediately that you have a problem because I am the standard for normalcy/excellence. Here are some random benchmarks I pulled out of my ass/the internets. Self Affirmation Complete!”
You don’t know this guys background, maybe he is primarily a runner/cyclist in which case his weight is perfectly normal. Hell, there are lots of ITU triathletes in that weight range. He could be just a couple pounds below optimal and could probably use some more carbs throughout the day (paleo is not “low carb”) but his weight isn’t an overt problem.
Actually this one is pretty easy. The OP said he feels tired throughout the day and not recovering after his workouts. On top of that he is not satisfied with his performance, defined it as mediocre. I don’t care about counting his calories, micro nutrients, or whatever, just matters how he feels. He asked if he should eat more and the answer is yes, it is the easiest thing to try to see if he feels better.
Add some calories and see how you feel. If you feel good add some more, still. I would suggest not doing that many fasted workouts if you are focused on performance. Fuel properly before, during, and after to see gains.
