Nutrition in competitive sports

Because the topic is always topical for me at the beginning of the training, to lose the extra kilos, and due to some inquiries lately, you can now find a good article from a friend, who is an author Jörg Birkel, on the subject of training and weight management: (I currently have about eight kilos that have to be lost 😉

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Although many triathletes train immensely, some struggle with their weight. Sport alone is not enough. Proper nutrition is just as important. Here is an efficient weight loss concept for endurance athletes.

The key to losing weight is insulin levels. After every meal, nutrients flow into the blood, to which the body reacts by releasing the storage hormone insulin. Insulin primarily regulates the blood sugar level and ensures that nutrients get into the cells. At the same time, however, insulin suppresses fat burning. That is, as long as there is insulin in the blood, you won't burn fat.

The situation becomes dramatic when the insulin level rises sharply. This happens when you eat a lot of quickly usable carbohydrates (sugar, white flour products). In principle, carbohydrates are nothing more than sugars (saccharides) and are divided into single, double and multiple sugars. The simple sugar glucose is the body's universal currency.

Carbohydrates are nothing more than sugar
You take in different forms of sugar with your food. Table sugar, for example, is a double sugar and, to put it simply, consists of two glucose molecules. In bananas, on the other hand, you will also find so-called oligosaccharides, i.e. medium-length sugar chains, while whole grain products have complex structures (polysaccharides).

Now what happens when you are these different foods: Through digestion, all carbohydrates are broken down into small sugar molecules and absorbed into the blood through the intestines. Complex structures cannot pass through the intestinal wall, which is why glucose molecules have to be split off gradually. The more complex, the longer it takes.

Sugar increases insulin levels
After taking sugary or white flour products, the blood sugar level skyrockets. The body reacts to this with an equally erratic release of insulin in order to lower the blood sugar level again. First of all, the glucose is brought from the blood to where there is a need for energy, for example into the working muscles during exercise or to the brain. Then the glycogen stores are replenished.

If energy is still available in the blood in the form of sugar, the body stores this in the form of fat under the influence of insulin! At the same time, there is no fat burning in the body. That is the dilemma we are faced with.

And it gets worse: the blood sugar level rises by leaps and bounds after the intake of sugar, but also falls again just as quickly, while the insulin level remains high for a while and triggers a feeling of hunger as soon as the sugar level gets too low. The game then starts over with each additional meal.

Measure 1: Less carbohydrates
If you want to lose weight permanently, you have to control your insulin level. You can achieve this through various measures. The simplest, of course, is to just stop eating carbohydrates. This also works very well and quickly leads to visible results, but can hardly be sustained in the long term. In addition, you then lack the energy for more intensive units.

Olympic champion Jan Frodeno also recommends eating fewer carbohydrates for weight loss. In particular, white flour products and sugar are on the “Frodo” index. "If possible, I also try to eat gluten-free," says Jan Frodeno. "Instead of white flour products, I eat oatmeal and vegetables."

Measure 2: Three meals a day
Another measure is to eat your fill, but limit the number of meals. Eat a maximum of three times a day and make sure that there are at least 4 hours between meals in which you do not consume anything other than water, unsweetened green tea or black coffee. In these phases, the insulin level is reduced and fat burning starts. Any snack between meals, even if it is just a small piece of candy, interrupts this process.

The only exception: If you are planning an intensive exercise session in the afternoon or evening, you should have a small carbohydrate snack two hours in advance.

Combination of measures 1 and 2:
You can also combine the two measures and reduce the amount of carbohydrates in your meals towards the evening or, best of all, avoid carbohydrates entirely in the evening. This leads to the fact that you actually burn more fat overnight, because then the regeneration of the body runs at full speed and energy is required, which the body draws from the fat reserves. As long as the insulin level doesn't mind.

Measure 3: More protein
You should also increase the protein content in every meal. Protein protects your muscles and makes you feel full. In the evening you ideally eat a lot of protein with a little fat, while in the morning you can eat a little more carbohydrates. Roughly speaking: make sure that you maintain a constant fat content from healthy fats (omega-3 fatty acids) and reduce the carbohydrate intake towards the evening, while the protein content increases.

Measure 4: Sober runs
Another quick-acting measure are short empty runs. During the week, go for half an hour of easy running (GA1) in the morning before breakfast. Longer exposure damages your muscles and weakens your immune system. In addition, you should never do intensive training sessions on an empty stomach.

By running slowly in the GA1 area, you improve your fat metabolism and lose fat over time. But don't run too long, because the glycogen stores that are not completely full due to the low-carb diet are completely emptied by fasting and the body then uses your protein structures to gain the energy it needs to run!

Measure 5: strength training
The proportion of metabolically active tissue has a very important long-term role in weight control. In other words: more muscles = higher basal metabolic rate. If you build more muscles through regular strength training (2-3x 30min per week), your body simply uses more energy every day. Even in sleep!

This sounds like a counterproductive measure for a triathlete, but as long as there is still something to lose on the stomach, it doesn't hurt to do muscle training. On the contrary, you will lose weight in the long term and it will also be easier to maintain your weight with less training during the break of the season. However, controlling your insulin level by reducing the amount of carbohydrates in your diet remains crucial.
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