A recreational athlete can be defined as a person who is physically active (e.g. those exercising 45–90 minutes, 2–3 times per week) but does not train for competition at the same intensity and focus as a competitive athlete. Recreational athletes’ nutritional needs are very different from the average person.
A low dietary energy intake relative to exercise energy demands (i.e. low energy availability) may result in various medical issues. Many recreational athletes following mainstream diets are under-eating. Most recreational athletes are not eating enough to fuel their workouts and to improve their body composition (decrease body fat while maintaining or increase lean muscle). 99.9% of recreational athletes are not getting enough micronutrients, like vitamins and minerals, in their diet to balance their hormones, strengthen their immune system, achieve their fitness goals, and increase their healthspan.
There is no one “best diet” for all recreational athletes. A recreational athlete’s nutritional needs are determined by training load (i.e. intensity, frequency and duration of workouts), type of exercise, gender, age, and body mass. However, most athletes are being exposed to “dietary norms” for the general population. Not only is the "best diet" different for each individual, but its also going to change as you age, change your goals, or as you change the way you train.
How do you know if you're eating enough to fuel your training?
The concept of ‘energy availability’ is useful for understanding an athlete's implications of an inadequate dietary energy intake. The “eat less and move more” mentality is harmful to our performance and to our health. Many recreational athletes follow a calorie-restrictive diet (restricting energy intake) and exercise 3+ times per week (creating an even bigger calorie deficit). Not eating enough to fuel your workout can have negative health implication on:
Metabolic rate
Menstrual function
Bone health
Immunity
Protein synthesis/growth and repair
Cardiovascular health
Digestive health
Hormone balance
The impacts of undereating and overtraining can be significant, and the effects can result in an array of different signs and symptoms. For female athletes, irregular or absent menstrual cycles are an obvious clinical indicator of insufficient energy availability (Women’s Health: Diet, Training and Hormones Part-1). Besides, decreased testosterone/oestrogen and/or thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3 ), or an increase in cortisol (stress hormone) causing anxiety and poor quality sleep.
Two of the most likely scenarios associated with insufficient energy availability in recreational athletes relate to bone stress injuries and/or nutrient deficiencies such as iron status.
Two well-researched formulas for calculating dietary energy needs are the Harris-Benedict Formula or the Mifflin-St. Jeor Formula.
Note: Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories you would burn if you were asleep all day.
What if you want to lose weight?
If your goals are to lose weight while exercising you should not be cutting calories, contrary to popular belief. If you're eating under your recommended calorie needs, then you’re going to engage hardwired survival mechanisms that will shift your hormones into a fat-storage state. This will have downstream impacts on your healthspan and performance because your body is simply trying to survive; it doesn't have the energy to exercise and stay healthy.
Gary Taubes, author of Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It, sums this up by saying "the science itself makes clear that hormones, enzymes, and growth factors regulate our fat tissue, just as they do everything else in the human body, and that we do not get fat because we overeat." He goes on to say "the science tells us that obesity is ultimately the result of a hormonal imbalance, not a caloric one."
Keep in mind that you don't lose fat because you cut calories; you lose fat because you cut out the foods that make you fat and you eat enough of the foods that support your hormones. You can eat your daily calorie needs and improve your body fat to lean muscle mass ratio (lose fat and increase/maintain lean muscle) by making smarter food choices and avoiding food such as refined sugar, industrial seed oils, processed foods, and grains (especially gluten-containing grains).
Total calorie intake is the most important determinant of your lean muscle mass; it's even more important than your protein, fat or carbohydrate intake. Inadequate calorie intake is prevalent in recreational athletes because they are easily misguided by mainstream diets that fail to consider physical activity demands.
Experiment:
For how long have you been eating a calorie deficit?
How many times have you lost weight and then put it back on?
Have you ever tried to increase your calorie intake from real whole food? A more holistic approach.
Real Whole Dood Diet
fuel your workouts with real whole food
For 66,000 generations, humans ate meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and some starchy plants primarily. We were physically active. We lived in sync with the natural rhythms of light and dark, direct contact with nature, and close-knit tribal social groups.
What if you experimented for 30 days with a real whole food diet that delivered your daily calorie needs?
You might be thinking, "What if I get fat?"
But, what if you lose body fat, increase energy levels, increase exercise performance, improve your sleep, feel more energised, increase your libido, and discover that eating healthy is not about cutting calories? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Isn’t it time to try something different?
What do you really have to lose? Besides a few Kgs?
Health Coaching for Recreational Athletes
Are you a recreational athlete who is confused by the conflicting nutrition advice for optimal health and performance? Are you low on energy, feeling fatigued and hitting the wall in your training? Do you have niggling injuries that don’t seem to go away? Do you feel that your health is declining even though you live a healthy lifestyle? Have you been following mainstream nutrition advice and wondering why you’re not in better shape?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should start to experiment with your diet to find what works best for you.
Where do you start?