Athletes commonly complain about fatigue and feeling too tired, too often. Granted, many of them wake up at early o-thirty to run, attend a morning spin class, or row with the crew team. Some do killer workouts that would leave anyone feeling exhausted. Many routinely get too little sleep. And the question remains: How can I have more energy?
My clients commonly ask me What should I weigh? — as if I had a crystal ball. Although I could look at weight charts, I find charts to often be misleading; each athlete’s body is unique. I prefer to suggest an appropriate weight range for a person based on a conversation with them, not by looking at a chart. Yet, many athletes pick a number that sounds good for their ideal weight. Sound familiar?
So you want to get buff, eh, and have nicely defined muscles, a six-pack ab, and compliments galore about “looking great”?
The ads in magazines such as Muscle & Fitness easily lead wanna-be-buff athletes to believe that anyone can look like a hulk by simply taking an assortment of protein powders, muscle builders, essential amino acids, and recovery drinks. While the primary key to being buff is not nutritional supplements but rather hard work (have you ever watched those hulks train???), eating optimally is indeed important for optimal workouts. Body builders certainly can benefit from a well-planned sports diet that supports their muscle-building efforts.
This article can help you evaluate the role of protein supplements in helping you acquire the physique of your dreams. The information is from Nancy Rodriguez PhD of the University of Connecticut and Stuart Phillips PhD of McMaster University. They are both well-respected protein researchers who shared their knowledge at SCAN’s Annual Conference in Colorado Springs, May 2015. SCAN is the 7,000-member Sports and Cardiovascular Nutrition practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. SCAN’s referral network (www.SCANdpg.org) can help you find a local Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics.
So you want to build some muscles…?
When it comes to building muscles, the prevailing beliefs are:
Let’s take a look at what the research says.
• The amount of protein needed to build muscles ranges between 0.6 to 0.8 grams protein/lb body weight (1.2 to 1.7 g pro/kg). Novice weight lifters should target the higher amount to support the growth of new muscles. Experienced lifters do fine with the lower amount.
• Dieters need more protein: about 1 gram per pound body weight (2 g/kg), when calorie intake is limited. During an energy deficit, protein gets burned for fuel, not for building muscles. That’s why it’s hard to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. To lose undesired body fat, chip away at fat-loss by knocking off only 200 to 500 calories in the evening, to create a small deficit.
• Consuming more than 0.6 to 0.8 grams protein per pound of body weight (1.2 to 1.7 g pro/kg) is not better. Your body can use just so much protein to build and repair muscles. Excess protein does not get stored as bulging muscles; rather, it gets burned for fuel. Excess calories from unused protein get stored as body fat.
• Food can naturally provide the 95 to 145 g protein needed by a 120-lb (55 kg) female or 170-lb (77 kg) male novice weight lifter.
• Evenly distributing your protein intake throughout the day is important to optimize your body’s ability to build muscle. Instead of skipping breakfast (0 protein), eating a light lunch (15 g protein) and chowing down on a huge dinner (80 g protein), the better bet is to consume about 25-30 grams of protein at each meal (a standard serving of meat, fish, chicken; a generous portion of plant protein) and 10 to 15 grams at afternoon and evening snacks.
• While consuming 30 grams of protein at dinner is simple (a small chicken breast), boosting protein intake at breakfast and lunch protein can be more of a challenge if you eat on the run. Protein-rich breakfast foods that add 20 to 30 g protein include:
• Muscles are most receptive to using amino acids (the building blocks of protein) within the 30 to 60 minutes after you exercise. Yet, muscles continue to utilize the amino acids (at a slower rate) over the course of the next 24 hours. The supplement industry urges you to consume their (conveniently available and expensive) recovery products ASAP, so you don’t miss the “anabolic window of opportunity.” That window doesn’t completely close!
• Leucine, an essential amino acid (EAA), triggers muscles to grow bigger and stronger. The recommended post-exercise dose of leucine is about 2 to 3 grams. That is the amount in a scoop of most whey protein powders. But you don’t have to buy whey protein to get leucine. Leucine is an all protein-rich foods, with animal proteins offering more than plant proteins. Drinking 16 ounces of chocolate milk gives a hefty leucine dose and is far tastier than many recovery protein shakes!
• If you consume whey, your muscles quickly get the leucine they need for growth and repair. But if you consume a variety of proteins from natural foods, you’ll get a variety of quickly available and longer-lasting EAAs that support continual growth and repair over a longer period of time. Twenty-percent of the protein in milk is from whey (fast acting) and 80% is from casein (slow acting). They work in synergy.
• Protein powders can be convenient for making protein shakes, but a less expensive option is instant (dried) milk. To boost the protein in your breakfast shake, simply blend 1 cup milk (dairy or soy, not rice or almond!) + 1/3 cup instant milk + 2 Tbsp peanut butter + a banana. Voila, 25 grams of balanced protein from natural, yummy, standard foods!
• The benefits of using powdered milk instead of a protein powder include: it is a nutrient-rich “real food” that offers more than just protein. It is rich in calcium (for bones), riboflavin (to convert food into energy), vitamin D (to boost the immune system), and a multitude of other life-sustaining nutrients. I consider protein powders to be highly refined engineered products that lack natural goodness.
• When you use “real food” such as (instant) milk, you know you are getting the nutrients you paid for. But if you buy whey protein, you might be getting cheated. Whey has become very expensive. It is not uncommon for companies to “dilute” whey with less expensive protein sources or fillers (talcum powder!). Buyer beware!
Summary
By eating a protein-rich food at each meal and snack, you will get the protein/ essential amino acids/leucine needed to support your muscle-building training program. Be sure to also consume some grains, fruits, and vegetables (carbohydrates) along with the protein to fuel your muscles so they can perform hard lifting sessions. The goal is three times more calories from carbs than from protein, such as eggs + bagel; nuts + dried fruit; milk + chocolate flavoring; chicken + rice.
With hard work and optimal fueling, you should see changes in your physique. But take note: The amazingly buff bodies in muscle magazines can be deceptively photo-shopped. Muscles do have a genetic limit and you cannot completely redesign your body (without steroids or plastic surgery, that is).
P.S. Few people can achieve the “perfectly buff” body while enjoying a normal lifestyle. I encourage you to strive for an excellent body. Excellence is way more attainable then perfection. The high price of looking buff often interferes with meaningful relationships with people who likely could care less about how you look. Your best friends should love you from the inside out, not because of how you look!
From The Athlete’s Kitchen, May 2015
Copyright: Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD
Nancy Clark, MS, RD CSSD (Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics) counsels active people at her private practice in Newton, MA (617-795-1875). For more information, enjoy reading her Sports Nutrition Guidebook and food guides for marathoners, soccer players, and cyclists. They are available at www.nancyclarkrd.com. Also see www.NutritionSportsExerciseCEUs.com for online education.
Are you among the many athletes, referees, coaches, athletic trainers, and support crews—including parents, partners and siblings—who spend too much time on the road, traveling from one sporting event to the next?
Many athletes go to great extremes to eat healthfully. Needless to say, the definition of “eating healthfully” varies from person to person—and often takes on a religious zeal.
The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. ACSM members strive to advance the science of exercise. Their research, presented at ACSM’s Annual Meeting, offers the latest information to help you reach your athletic and health goals. Last month, I reported some of the weight-related research presented at ACSM’s 2014 Annual Meeting. This month, I’m sharing some fueling and training updates that might be helpful.
Beets, genetics, and weight were just a few of the topics highlighted at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ 2014 Food & Nutrition Conference and Exposition. Here’s an update with some food for thought. Beets and arugula are powerful nitrate-rich foods that can enhance both athletic performance and your overall health. These vegetables are rich sources of dietary nitrate, a potent food compound that converts into nitric oxide (NO), a gas.
Good grief! Are grains really all that bad for us? To listen to some athletes talk, you’d think grain foods are the dieter’s demon. Often demoted to being “just carbs,” whole grains are actually a beneficial part of a sports diet. But to the detriment of many athletes, grain foods—in particular, wheat— have gotten a bad rap in the past few years.
Some of my clients seem jealous of their teammates. “They eat twice as much as I do and they are skinny as a rail. I just smell cookies and I gain weight,” spouted one collegiate runner. She seemed miffed that she couldn’t eat as much as her peers—and she couldn’t understand why. They all ran the same mileage, did the same workouts, and were similar in body size. Life seemed so unfair!
Yes, life is unfair when it comes to weight management. Some people gain (or lose) body fat more easily than others. Unfortunately, fat gain (or loss) is not as mathematical as we would like it to be. That is, if you persistently overeat (or undereat) by 100 calories a day, in theory you will gain (or lose) 10 pounds of body fat a year. But this theory does not hold up in reality. People vary greatly in their susceptibility to gain or lose body fat in response to over- or under-eating.
In general, research has suggested when people overeat, about 85% of the excess calories get stored as fat and the rest gets lost as heat. Overfed fat cells grow in size and in number and provide a storehouse of energy. Obese people commonly have enough fat stores to last a year or more; even lean athletes have enough fat stores to fuel a month or more. Fat can be advantageous during a time of severe illness or a famine.
Lets take a closer look at the four primary ways you burn calories:
Purposeful exercise: This is what you burn during your workouts. This can vary considerably from day to day.To better understand why some people lose or gain weight more easily than others, Dr. James Levine PhD of the Mayo Clinic designed a study to look at the biological mechanisms that hinder fat-gain. Dr. Levine studied 16 non-obese subjects (12 males and 4 females), ranging in age from 25 to 36 years. They volunteered to eat 1,000 excess calories a day (above what they needed to maintain weight) for 8 weeks. The subjects were healthy, did not do purposeful exercise more than twice a week, and maintained a stable weight. Prior to being overfed, the researchers monitored the subjects for two weeks to learn how much food they regularly consumed to maintain their weight.
During the study, the subjects lived at their homes but ate supervised meals at the research center. The food had been carefully prepared and measured in a metabolic kitchen. The weight-gain diet was high in protein (20% of total calories) and fat (40% of calories), and low in carbohydrate (40%). The researchers accounted for almost all of the excess 1,000-calories a day. On average, ~430 of the 1,000 calories were stored and ~530 were dissipated via increased energy expenditure. The researches even measured 3 days of poop before and at the end of the study to be sure the subjects did not excrete calories during overfeeding. Only 38 calories a day got flushed down the toilet during overfeeding — 13 calories more than during normal eating.
Here is the fate of the 1,000 excess calories the subjects ate:
The researchers used highly accurate methods to measure changes in body fat (DXA). Some of the subjects gained 10 times more fat than others, ranging from 0.8 to 9 lbs (0.36 – 4.23 kg). The overall weight gain ranged from 3 to 12 lbs (1.4 -5.5 kg), some of which was additional muscle. NEAT explained the big variation in weight gain that occurred with the subjects in this overfeeding study. The subjects who were good fidgeters and putterers gained less.
The average increase in NEAT was 336 calories a day, but this actually ranged from burning 98 calories less than baseline to burning 690 calories more than baseline. The subject who burned the most calories strolled around the research facility (or did equivalent movement) about 15 minutes more per hour than the other subjects.
Despite popular belief, the ease of gaining weight is unlikely due to having a “slow metabolism.” Most often, athletes who are easy gainers are mellow, sit calmly, and don’t fidget. This contrasts to teammates that are bouncing around the locker room. If you are the mellow-type, blame your genetics — not a slow metabolism — for your ease of weight gain. And perhaps you can be grateful you can spend less money on food because you don’t eat as much?
References
Levine J, N Eberhardt, M Jensen. Role of Nonexercise Activity Thermogenesis in Resistance to Fat Gain in Humans. Science 283:212-214, 1999.
Levine J, Vander Weg M, Hill J, Klesges R. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis: the crouching tiger hidden dragon of societal weight gain. Arterioscler Thromb 26(4):729-36, 2006.
From The Athlete’s Kitchen; Copyright: Nancy Clark, October 2014
Boston-area sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, MS, RD offers one-on-one consults with both casual and competitive athletes. Her private practice is in Newton, MA (617-795-1875). For information about her Sports Nutrition Guidebook (2014) and food guides for runners, cyclists and soccer players, see www.nancyclarkrd.com. For online education, see www.NutritionSportsExerciseCEUs.com