TriAthlete Magazine Article on Weight

The November issue of TriAthlete magazine had an nice article about athletes and their weight issues. The article highlighted three athletes with three different issues with their diet and weight. The first one was the 'scale conscious under eater'. Basically this person was attempting to lose 5 lbs but just not seeing results even though the diet was pretty dialed in. After some testing it was determined that the athlete was under eating by about 600 calories per day which caused her to conserve fat. She had to start eating more to lose more weight. Seems counter-productive but it is true. You have to add fuel to the engine to keep it burning. The next profile was the 'carb junkie and serial snacker'. About 50% of this persons diet was snacks like crackers, yogurt, candy, fruits. There many small meals with inadequate calories. There was also a problem with low energy for the workouts. In the end an increase in protein and good fat led to more energy and faster times. The third profile was of the 'overly virtuous eater'. This athlete was super over the top about always eating only the best food to the point that going out to restaurants with friends and family wasn't an option. In the end learning how to relax a little bit and enjoy some of the bad food (i.e., pizza, ice cream, etc) occasionally led to a better balance in life with no effect on performance.