Healthy Diet For Runners Who Want To Lose Weight
To plan a healthy diet for runners and estimate your daily caloric needs for maintaining your current weight, take your current weight (in pounds) and multiply it by 13. This will be the number of calories required per day to maintain your present weight.
If you weigh 160 pounds, you will need about 2,080 calories to maintain your present weight at your current activity level. Any daily calorie intake of less than this number will help you to lose weight.
Most nutritionists recommend losing no more than 2 pounds per week. Any weight loss of more than 2 pounds per week will cause a breakdown of muscle tissue. To lose 1 pound, you need to have a deficit of 500 calories a day. You can achieve a steady weight loss more easily if you add in your fitness training. A runner weighing 160 pounds running 5 miles and eats 2,080 calories a day will lose 1 pound per week.
Write down what you eat, and how much exercise you get each day is a great way to get a good perspective on your weight gain or loss. Be sure to have your breakfast every morning as this jump-starts your body and gets your metabolism going.
Be sure to get a good balance of high quality protein and complex carbohydrates to kick up your body’s metabolism to achieve a greater weight loss. Increase your daily intake of fresh fruit and vegetables.
The Perfect Runner’s Diet
A 50/25/25 eating plan will make an excellent diet for runners, where 50% of your calories come from complex carbohydrates, 25% from protein and 25% from fat.
Excellent sources of complex carbohydrates are fresh fruit and low-starch vegetables such as apples and oranges, celery, carrots and broccoli. Take smaller amounts of high-starch vegetables, brown rice and pasta. These high fiber foods make you feel full and it will help you to eat less, and eat less fat as well.
Choose the leanest protein possible. Good sources will be turkey and chicken breasts, salmon, trout, tuna and egg whites. Choose low-fat dairy products such as fat-free cottage cheese, low-fat yogurt and cheeses.
Good fats come from avocado, almonds and cashews, peanuts, pistachios and olives. Be sure to cut down on saturated fat from meat and dairy products.
Eating more often and eating smaller meals help maintain your body metabolism for a steady weight loss. However, avoid snacking too much, and be sure to snack only on healthy foods. Every calorie needs to be accounted for. Energy bars and meal replacement drinks can provide a great source of fuel especially if you are on a rigorous fitness program.
Water is an indispensable element in the diets for runners. Be sure to drink at least eight large glasses of water a day. Runners who drink plenty of water tend to consume fewer total calories and unhealthy foods than those who don’t drink as much.
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