As you can probably see, I consider myself a healthy eater. But as I started running longer distances, and considering the possibility of training for a full marathon, I knew my diet needed a little makeover. I could read and read about it in books, but I couldn’t seem to figure out how much I should be eating overall.
A lot of people let their diets go when they start running. They think that a two mile jaunt justifies a pizza and sundae bender. I didn’t want to be that girl. But figuring out how many calories I should be eating was really confusing. I know the formulas, but the whole subtract-500-calories-a-day-to-lose-a-pound-a-week thing just was not working in my head. Like, did I still need to subtract 500 calories on the days when I was running 5 miles? Wasn’t adding more snacks just going to balance out? Shouldn’t I take in less calories on rest days? And how many carbs did I really need?
I knew that a great diet was key to better runs, but my head would spin every time I tried to figure out calories-in, calories-out, and proportions of nutrients. I’m not a math girl. And for the past year, to be honest, I haven’t been much of a carbs girl either. So…I decided to give myself a gift and visit an expert. Last week, I sat down with my very own nutritionist!
I started by Googling registered dietitians with a specialization in sports nutrition. The one I found seemed pretty legit. Her office was kind of a drive, but after a few e-mail exchanges, I set up an appointment. We talked a little bit about my goals, my lifestyle, etc. Then she said to just e-mail her a three-day food diary before my appointment. And then I got so nervous! What if I was like those people on the BBC show “You Are What You Eat”? I was afraid I was going to go in there and discover that chicken breast actually has 500 calories per serving or something. What we eat is a personal thing (yes, even when you take pictures of it and put it on the internet), and it’s scary to invite an expert in to judge that.
But, you know I like to do things that scare me, so to the nutritionist I went! The second I met her, all my fears went away. She was amazing. So warm, so engaging, so talkative. We chatted a bit and then she whipped out my meal diary. “Well,” she said. “You eat so healthy!”
!!!!
Once I passed that initial test, I was a lot more comfortable. She basically said that while my diet is really healthy, I need to make a few small adjustments to fuel my runs, build muscle, and still lose weight. More carbs. More fat. Less meat. More calories. (!!!!!!)
These were all things I was kind of aware of; it wasn’t a surprise. The protein-heavy aspect of my diet definitely happened in the past year, when I was living in NYC and dropped vegetarianism. (That city just loves its bacon!) I knew it wasn’t an optimal diet for running. But hearing it from a real person, as opposed to a book or a magazine, made a huge difference for me. And this woman was sitting there telling me to eat more food, even on the days when I am just sitting around. Of course I fell in love.
The changes in my proportions were pretty slight. She said that normally she’d want me to eat a lot more carbs, but because I love to eat fruit so much, and fruits are carbs, I just needed a couple extra servings of carbs instead of meat. And while I do get some healthy fat, I need more–so a little more olive oil, an extra tablespoon of nut butter, or a small serving of almonds.
For better running and recovery, I need a 3:1 carb-and-protein snack within an hour of finishing any runs that go longer than 45 minutes. Trying to figure out what I should eat for that snack proved to be a big challenge since I can’t do milk or cheese–we settled on a piece of bread with PB or a bar that has the 3:1 ratio. Oh, and I should drink a lot more water.
The cool thing is that RDs don’t count calories. They use “exchanges.” If you read the Self blog “Eat Like Me” or if you know anyone who is diabetic, you may be familiar with it. Exchanges are sort of like servings and they already have calories taken into account. For example, one carb exchange has about 80 calories and 15 grams of carbs. So if you eat the right amount of each exchange group, you’ll eat the right amount of calories, and in the right proportions.
Brrrrrrrilliant!
She gave me four different scenarios: rest day, normal 30-minutes-of-cardio day, 45 minutes of running/cardio/strength training day, and long run day. Because I eat a lot of the same things, am in control of my portions, and have a good schedule down, it was easy for me to look at any day and a typical meal and see where I could rearrange some things. I also realized that the best way to fix my protein problem was to stop eating meat at lunch. Since I’ve been missing the vegetarian days–and because I’m cooking so much soup, which is a perfect meat-free lunch–I was actually really happy about that!
We talked and talked; she answered all my questions and did all the math for me. We talked about calcium, strength training, energy gels for long runs, sports drinks. By the time I left, an hour later, I felt great! I was relieved, motivated, and excited. She said I can e-mail her whenever I need to, and I should come back in a month or so when I start doing the looooong runs.
I went to the grocery store the next day to get a few things: whole-wheat mini bagels, whole-wheat bread, soup supplies. I was reading labels like crazy because it’s important to know how many grams of carbs or protein are in a food when you’re using exchanges. You’d think an English muffin would be one exchange, but it’s actually two, because it has more carbs than a slice of bread. And while I hate math, I love reading, so I was scanning nutrition labels like I was flipping through the New York Times.
I’ve been eating with the new changes for four days now, and so far, so good! The best part is definitely the post-run snack. Last week I could have stopped at four miles, but I kept going to five just so I could have it. I wouldn’t say I feel super different, but damn…it’s so nice to not stress about pasta. I am so thrilled. I’ve been waiting to say something, but the success of the appointment was the final thing that made me decide…I am registering for a full marathon tomorrow!!!!
.jpg)
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
this is soooo informative! i know eventually I do want to go see a nutritionist… but money doesn’t allow me to do so at this time. But with the whole running thing, it is definitely a challenge to still keep my eating habits in balance– i think for my Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner — i’m pretty solid. But then I falter with dessert! dessert is my biggest weakness… I’ve switched over to greek yogurt — add my own honey, and try to eat it with berries (but the berries this year haven’t been that great). or i’ll end up with ice cream or something, but i eat it in a mug so it’s not a crazy amount like boyfriend — who eats it in a bowl! my biggest issue besides dessert — is protein! i think i probably don’t eat nearly enough – I don’t eat meat (maybe 1 time every 2 weeks), fish – i like, but my grocer has a habit of freezing, thawing out, refreezing. YUK! and it’s pricey! so I eat mostly vegetables, with smaller portions of carbs. it’s a challenge to maintain a balance that’s for sure!
oh and another comment — i was reading Women’s health magazine, Oct 2009 — they had this small bit — where it says if you wanted to lose a pound a week, do your weight x 11. so if by my calculations, that’s like 1430 calories. then i started wondering, if that was just the calorie count for just on a daily basis, then how much more calories do you factor in for a run, or a strength training session that lasts 45 minutes? a lot of these bits of information never seems like quite enough! it’s too many numbers!
it’s nice to see a post about this, since i’ve been struggling with my diet and training for a half marathon since the summer. this might actually justify paying to go see a nutritionist to make sure i’m getting the right balance of foods during the day [especially considering how hungry i am after a long run].
Greek yogurt is great, and it has protein so that’s good!! You know what is a great sub for dessert? Two frozen bananas, blended until they reach ice cream-like consistency. Peel/chop them up, freeze, and blend. It takes about 5 minutes, so be patient, but seriously, this blew my mind the first time I tasted it!! You don’t need to add a thing, but it’s really good drizzled with PB or chocolate or butterscotch chips.
Also I am about to get into that Women’s Health, but seriously, I cannot deal with the formulas!!! They don’t answer any of those other questions! Ugh.
I debated for a while; the cost was definitely the biggest thing holding me back. (Mine charges $50/hr in case you were curious.) I might have been able to find a less expensive dietitian through a university, but MSU wasn’t getting back to me, so I just moved on from that plan. It might be worth looking into if you’re near a college though! Anyway, eventually, I was just kind of like, well, training at this level does cost some money, and there’s no point in spending $50 on shoes to make me run better when I truly felt like my biggest problems were in the kitchen. And in this economy, for some reason, I feel better about paying people for services than buying more stuff.