For athletes: 9 science based ways to lose weight

Recently I’ve come across an article that talks about 9 science-based ways for athletes to lose weight. When you think about it, it’s always more difficult to lose weight when you’re always training, always eating clean. Humans need a certain amount of bodyfat to maintain basic functions. Too much bodyfat – however – can negatively affect an athlete’s performance. So what can athletes do to ‘step up’ their weight loss to be in prime condition and shape?

  1.  The first point this article suggests is to lose weight off season. We are talking about b athletes in general. It does make sense to try and lose the excess bodyfat offseason because it’s very difficult to reach peak fitness while dieting. When you’re not eating enough calories, your athletic perfomance will suffer. Losing weight offseason will give you more time to lose the excess bodyfat as well, so that you don’t have to rush the fat loss and can stick to the healthy pace of 0.5 kg / week – minimising the muscle loss.
  2. Avoid crash diets. I think we don’t really need to prove this point, athletes know that they need a certain amount of calories to be able to perform at the training sessions. Also drastically reducing your caloric intake will affect your metabolism and hormonal balance. Athletes should only cut their calories by no more than 300-500 kcal a day.

  3. Eat less sugar and more fibre. Low carb diets are proven to be the best for fat loss. However restricting the carb intake too much will affect your athletic performance. To reduce the carb intake cut out added sugars, and avoid cane juice, dextrin, maltodextrin, barley malt, caramel, fruit juice concentrate, fruit juice crystals and any type of syrup. Instead increase your intake of vegetables high in fibre.

  4. Increase your protein intake. Protein promotes fat loss in several ways: high protein diets increase feelings of fullness and the number of calories burnt through digestion. High protein diets also prevent muscle loss during periods of weight loss. Therefore athletes restricting their calories to lose weight should eat between 1.7 – 2.8 gr protein / kg of bodyweight / day.

  5. Spread protein intake throughout the day. 20-30 gr protein per meal is sufficient to stimulate muscles to produce protein for the following 2-3 hrs. Eating a snack containing 40 gr protein before bed can increase muscle protein synthesis during night. This may help prevent some of the muscle loss expected during sleep.

  6. Refuel well after training. Eating the right foods after competing or training is very important for the athletes, especially when trying to lose bodyfat. Proper refuelling is very important especially on days when you have more than 1 events with less than 8 hours recovery time. Carbs with protein can speed up recovery time and promote protein production in your muscles.

  7. Strength training can also help holding on to the muscle when trying to lose bodyfat. Research shows that both protein intake and strength training stimulate muscle protein synthesis and combining the two can produce an even better effect.

  8. After your diet, increase your calories gradually. It may be tempting to start eating normally again after you’ve reached your desired body fat percentage, but that would lead you to gain bodyfat back. Gradually increasing your caloric intake can help restore your hormone levels and metabolism better, minimizing the weight gain.

  9. Here are some other ways you can achieve weight loss:

    • measuring your portions and keeping track of what you eat is scientifically proven to help you get better results.
    • drinking before consuming a meal can help you consume 22% less calories
    • eat slowly, aim to take at least 20 mins for a meal
    • avoid alcohol
    • get enough sleep, not enough sleep can increase hunger and appetite by 24%. Not getting enough sleep will also affect your athletic performance.
    • reduce your stress. Having high stress levels will increase cortisol levels which promotes food cravings and drive to eat. Mental and physical stress can also prevent proper recovery.

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About Creatine

Creatine is a protein that is naturally made of 3 amino acids: arginine, glycine and methionine. It can also be found in meat and fish, and can be taken as a supplement.

Creatine combines with phosphorus to form phosphocreatine (PC) in the muscle cells. This fuels your muscles during high intensity training, such as sprinting or lifting weights. Creatine raises PC levels around 2%, which means you can sustain all out effort for longer and recover faster between sets.

Protein promotes muscle hypertrophy and protein manufacture. Lot of studies show that short-term creatine supplementation increases body mass. Studies found that creatine supplements improved strength, the number of repetitions performed to fatigue, and the ability to perform repeated sprints.

How does creatine work?

The gains observed are partly due to the increase of cell volume and partly muscle synthesis.

Creatine cause water to move across cell membranes. When muscle cell creatine concentration goes up, water is drawn into the cell an effect that boosts the thickness of muscle fibres by about 15%. The water content of muscle fibres stretches the cell’s outer sheaths.

In aerobic sports there is less evidence for creatine use. This is probably due to the fact the PC energy system is less important during endurance training.

Who should use it?

If you train with weights, or do any sports that includes high-intensity movements (sprints, jumps or throws: rugby, football, hockey, gymnastics, tennis etc), creatine supplements may help increase your performance, strength and muscle mass.

Taking carbs with creatine can be beneficial, as carb intake increases insulin which helps creatine uptake by the muscle cells.

Creatine monohydrate is the most widely available form of creatine. It comprises a molecule of creatine with a molecule of water attached to it. It requires a loading phase. One way to do it is to take about 20-25 gr / day in 4-5 doses for 5 days. After the loading phase the dosage is 2 gr / day.

The side effects of Creatine:

The main side effect is weight gain. This is partly due to the extra water in the muscle cells, and party to increased muscle tissue. It could be disadvantageous in sports where there’s a critical ratio of bodyweight and speed (like running), or in sports where there are weight categories. 

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About L-Carnitine

L-Carnitine is one of the naturally occurring amino acids. It is often used as a weight loss supplement. It transports the fatty acids into the cells’ mitochondria where it gets burnt off to use as energy. Your body can produce L-Carnitine from the amino acids lysine and methionine. You can also obtain small amount of L-Carnitine from your diet by eating meat or fish.

L-Carnitine L-Tartrate is the most common form of L-Carnitine that is used in most sport supplements, because of its fast absorption and it may help with muscle soreness and recovery.

In human studies, taking acetyl-L-carnitine daily helped reverse the decline in brain function associated with Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases.

Some studies have demonstrated a potential benefit for reducing blood pressure and the inflammatory process associated with heart disease.

L-carnitine may benefit:

Recovery:It may improve exercise recovery.

Muscle oxygen supply: It may increase oxygen supply to the muscles

Stamina: It may increase blood flow and nitric oxide production, helping delay the “burn” and reduce fatigue

Muscle soreness: It may reduce muscle soreness after exercise

Red blood cell production: It may increase the production of red blood cells, which transport oxygen throughout your body and muscles.

L-carnitine has also been shown to reduce symptoms of type 2 diabetes and its associated risk factors.

The main foods high in L-Carnitine are:

  • – beef
  • – pork
  • – fish
  • – chicken
  • – milk

 L-Carnitine has a greater absorption rate from food than from supplements.

Doses of 2 grams or less per day seem to be well tolerated and safe for most people. Some people have reported nausea or other digestive side effects, but no serious issues have been found.

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About BCAAs

BCAAs are the most popular amino acid supplements. They contain:

  • Valine
  • Leucine
  • Isoleucine

 These 3 amino acids make up to one third of muscle in the body. The body breaks down muscle to get energy, especially during strenuous exercise, to get these amino acids.

 BCAAs are converted into 2 other amino acids:

  • glutamine and
  • alanine,

which are released in large quantities during aerobic exercise. They can also be used directly for fuel, especially when muscle glycogen is depleted.

 Foods high in BCAAs:

  • Meats: red meat is the highest in BCAAs. Other meats (poultry etc) are high in BCAAs, too because they’re primarily protein. Choose lean cuts, chicken breast without the skin etc
  • Eggs: they are packed with nutrition and BCAAs, and easy to add to your diet.
  • Dairy products are high in BCAAs: low fat cheese, milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, frozen yogurt. Additional dairy options could be: cheese, cream and butter.
  • Liquid and powder protein: very popular source, easy to prepare, drink and digest. If you mix your whey protein with milk, you boost the BCAA content of your shake.

Taking BCAA supplements before and during exercise can reduce muscle breakdown. They may also help preserve muscle in athletes on a low carb diet. It will probably not boost your endurance, however taking 6 – 15 gr of BCAAs daily may help improve your recovery.

 Side effects: BCAAs are relatively safe because they are normally found in protein in the diet.

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Answering some common questions 1.

I have been receiving a few questions related to my previous posts and in general. I will answer them on here regularly, so keep them coming.

What are electrolytes:

Electrolytes are mineral salts dissolved in the body’s fluid. They include:

* sodium,
* chloride,
* potassium and
* magnesium,
and help to regulate the fluid balance between different body compartments (for example, the amount of fluid inside and outside a muscle cell), and the volume of fluid in the bloodstream.

The water movement is controlled by the concentration of electrolytes on either side of the cell membrane. For example, an increase in the concentration of sodium outside a cell will cause water to move to it from inside the cell. Similarly, a drop in sodium concentration will cause water to move from the outside to the inside of the cell. Potassium draws water across a membrane, so a high potassium concentration inside cells increases the cell’s water content.

 

What are glucose polymers and maltodextrins?
Between a sugar (1– 2 units) and a starch (several 100,000 units), although
closer to the former, are glucose polymers (maltodextrins). These are chains
of between 4 and 20 glucose molecules produced from boiling corn-starch
under controlled commercial conditions.
The advantage of using glucose polymers instead of glucose or sucrose in a
drink is that a higher concentration of carbohydrate can be achieved (usually
between 10 and 20 g/ 100 ml) at a lower osmolality.

 

What are multiple transportable carbohydrates?
This term refers to a mixture of carbohydrates (e.g. glucose and fructose;
maltodextrin and fructose) in sports drinks. These carbohydrates are
absorbed from the intestine by different transporters, and using a mixture
rather than a single type of carbohydrate in a sports drink overcomes the
usual limitation of gut uptake of carbohydrate.

 

I would like to bulk up, how can I do that?
As you probably know, putting on muscle (or shredding fat) lies in your diet/nutrition. If you’d like to put on muscle mass, first thing you need to do is to revise your protein intake. Do you know how much protein you take in? 100 gr of chicken breast contains 25-30 gr protein, 100 gr of white fish has about 24 gr, 100 gr of steak has about 25 gr of protein, 100 gr cottage cheese about 10 gr. Endurance athletes usually take about 1.2 – 1.7 gr protein/kg of bodyweight/day, and bodybuilders take a lot more than that to build muscle. Then you need to revise your carbohydrate intake as well. Carbohydrates/muscle glycogen is the primary energy source when training. If you don’t have enough muscle glycogen, your performance will suffer (less intensity, lighter weights = less muscle), and your body will use amino acids to convert to glycogen (less muscle building). The amount of carb you need to eat depends on a lot of factors: your insulin sensitivity and the rate of your metabolism. People with high metabolism can eat more carbs, and people with high insulin sensitivity (and low metabolism) have to watch their carb intake otherwise they will put on a lot of fat as well along with the muscle.

Keep the questions coming, I will reply to them regularly on here!
hello@tamaramakar.me

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