Thursday, April 23, 2015

4/21/15: Testing My Diet

    Over the weekend of 4/18-19,  I competed at a swim meet where I tried to follow the nutrient ratios prescribed by my last post. Before I share results, I would like to state that it was rather difficult to calculate a diet with exact ratios such as the 10 grams :7 grams carb:protein ratio from my previous post. Because of this, I did not exactly follow the diet but rather tried to keep the ratio close.
    Even though my used diet did not measure up exactly with the ratios, I did observe some results. Throughout the day, I stayed energized and not too full to race. My day started around 7:00AM, about 2 hours before the meet started. Because I had a significant amount of time, I decide to eat a more protein based breakfast consisting mainly of scrambled eggs. This set up a base for me to stay full throughout the day. After the meet started around 9:00AM, I had a small energy bar made mostly of carbs but with a little protein. This gave me energy for my first race. After my first race, I had about half an hour before my second, so I decided to stay away from food and opted for some Gatorade. This kept me hydrated and light enough to swim my second race. After my second race, I had about an hour until my last one, so I had another granola bar again made of mostly carbs. My last race ended around 12:00PM and not once over the course of the morning did I feel weighed down or de-energized. So far the diet seems to work.
    I will continue to work on measurements of macronutrients to set a more specific diet, but for now loosely maintaining the 10g carb:7g protein ratio seems to work well enough.

3 comments:

  1. I think you should broaden your research by trying it on multiple people who also swim the same races as you in order to compare the effects of the diet on them to the effect on you. Since everyone is different and may not react the same way to the same diet, this would allow you to find a better diet for everyone

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  2. I totally agree with Vincent in regard to the aspect of broadening your research. The most important research you can conduct is whether or not the diet effects other athletes who are competing in a similar event as you. If you can draw positive results from the experiment you can then fine tune some aspects of your meal plan. Overall, keep up the good work!
    - Shayan Moraveji

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