Functional Diet for the Tactical Athlete

[Geidi]

How long have you been counting calories? If it hasn't been long you might want to continue with it until you can estimate or guess. You can speed the process up by picking 5-6 meals you really like and repeating them through the week.

I personally don't think counting calories is necessary if you're doing a strength and conditioning combo. Guesstimating works for me. I use the old palm-sized-serving of protein, palm or two of carbohydrate, and thumb size serving of healthy fats. I believe that's roughly equivalent to 30gms protein, 30-60grams carb, and not sure about the fat. Adjust number of meals (or servings) up or down based on your goals. Since starting TB I like to err on the side of eating more, not less....so even if I'm fairly certain I've hit my mark for the day I try to eat an extra healthy snack or meal on top of that.

I've been counting for a few years now. And usually enter the bigger meals but it feel kind of ridiculous having to weight stuff like green beans and broccoli which have very few calories and like almonds. Yeah I had 31 almonds today, good to know.

Been there! Used to the do the 4 almonds per meal thing too. In hindsight, totally unnecessary.

[mikhou]

How long have you been counting calories? If it hasn't been long you might want to continue with it until you can estimate or guess. You can speed the process up by picking 5-6 meals you really like and repeating them through the week.

I personally don't think counting calories is necessary if you're doing a strength and conditioning combo. Guesstimating works for me. I use the old palm-sized-serving of protein, palm or two of carbohydrate, and thumb size serving of healthy fats. I believe that's roughly equivalent to 30gms protein, 30-60grams carb, and not sure about the fat. Adjust number of meals (or servings) up or down based on your goals. Since starting TB I like to err on the side of eating more, not less....so even if I'm fairly certain I've hit my mark for the day I try to eat an extra healthy snack or meal on top of that.

I've been counting for a few years now. And usually enter the bigger meals but it feel kind of ridiculous having to weight stuff like green beans and broccoli which have very few calories and like almonds. Yeah I had 31 almonds today, good to know.

Yep, I used to count calories, too. It was useful for awhile to get an idea of what my daily expenditure was along with a good approximation of what I should be heating. It also helped me to realize what was actually healthy and what wasn't! Now, I just eat when I'm hungry and I try to make good choices. When in doubt, I choose a protein! Like Geidi said, I try to err on the side of eating more, and with that I have seen my strength grow.

[ectional]

How long have you been counting calories? If it hasn't been long you might want to continue with it until you can estimate or guess. You can speed the process up by picking 5-6 meals you really like and repeating them through the week.

I personally don't think counting calories is necessary if you're doing a strength and conditioning combo. Guesstimating works for me. I use the old palm-sized-serving of protein, palm or two of carbohydrate, and thumb size serving of healthy fats. I believe that's roughly equivalent to 30gms protein, 30-60grams carb, and not sure about the fat. Adjust number of meals (or servings) up or down based on your goals. Since starting TB I like to err on the side of eating more, not less....so even if I'm fairly certain I've hit my mark for the day I try to eat an extra healthy snack or meal on top of that.

I've been counting for a few years now. And usually enter the bigger meals but it feel kind of ridiculous having to weight stuff like green beans and broccoli which have very few calories and like almonds. Yeah I had 31 almonds today, good to know.

Yep, I used to count calories, too. It was useful for awhile to get an idea of what my daily expenditure was along with a good approximation of what I should be heating. It also helped me to realize what was actually healthy and what wasn't! Now, I just eat when I'm hungry and I try to make good choices. When in doubt, I choose a protein! Like Geidi said, I try to err on the side of eating more, and with that I have seen my strength grow.

That's what I mean. It'd probably better to develop some form of common sense eating plan instead of relying on counting calories constantly. I'm far from anyone who'd have to know every macronutrient.

[spemma]

i've taken a liking to reading a lot about diets and nutrition over the past few years. it was set off by the primal blueprint and then the paleo stuff. i had a lot of success with paleo type eating, but grew disenchanted with the cultish-like aspect of it and the mounting evidence against the evolutionary claims behind it. furthermore, my energy for BJJ was almost non-existent and my lifting suffered.

the nail in the coffin was alan aragon's presentation linked below on the paleo diet.

http://www.alanaragonblog.com/wp-conten ... idence.pdf

i now follow flexible dieting for the most part. although it's pretty easy to to track cals on the myfitness pal app. the below book is probably the most no nonsense, non-gimmicky, straightforward approach to dieting, backed by science there is. you probably don't even need to read the book, just go to lyle mcdonald's website (author of the below) and read the abundance of free material on there.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/a-guid ... e-dieting/

[Tyr0331]

Started this thread almost six months ago. Been off the grid for a bit but I'm glad to see this still going. I hope someone has benefited from all the great information posted on here

[Aelian]

Started this thread almost six months ago. Been off the grid for a bit but I'm glad to see this still going. I hope someone has benefited from all the great information posted on here

How has the low carb/Paleo been working out for you?

[Tyr0331]

Started this thread almost six months ago. Been off the grid for a bit but I'm glad to see this still going. I hope someone has benefited from all the great information posted on here

How has the low carb/Paleo been working out for you?

I'm a little more relaxed about it now but I'm staying with it. Added in a little dairy and some forms of dark chocolate. Overall the main noticeable difference is the ability to ride off fats and not having to snack all the time to feel full. I feel like my metabolism is a lot more flexible on burning fats now as where before I always craved carbs all day.

It's a pain in the ass traveling to some of these places that just don't have a lot of good food options. If I know I'm going to travel somewhere like that, I prepare what I can and order some backpacking meals I use in the field that are based off a paleo diet. More carbs than I would like but I try keep my activity levels high and strength sessions more frequent if I know the best options for eating is higher carb meals. Usually when I start eating more carbs I can notice the water retention right away.

[Tyr0331]

Oh and I unintentionally dipped into ketosis one time and it wasn't fun. Brain fog and lack of energy. I thought about trying to get through it and go full ketogenic but I had too much work stuff going on at the time so started eating some simple carbs and snapped out of it within a day

[Aelian]

Started this thread almost six months ago. Been off the grid for a bit but I'm glad to see this still going. I hope someone has benefited from all the great information posted on here

How has the low carb/Paleo been working out for you?

I'm a little more relaxed about it now but I'm staying with it. Added in a little dairy and some forms of dark chocolate. Overall the main noticeable difference is the ability to ride off fats and not having to snack all the time to feel full. I feel like my metabolism is a lot more flexible on burning fats now as where before I always craved carbs all day.

It's a pain in the ass traveling to some of these places that just don't have a lot of good food options. If I know I'm going to travel somewhere like that, I prepare what I can and order some backpacking meals I use in the field that are based off a paleo diet. More carbs than I would like but I try keep my activity levels high and strength sessions more frequent if I know the best options for eating is higher carb meals. Usually when I start eating more carbs I can notice the water retention right away.

Thanks for the update. I was curious as to whether you noticed your performance deteriorate at all with the low-carb. Particularly in relation to HIC and strength training.

[Tyr0331]

Code: Select all

How has the low carb/Paleo been working out for you?

I'm a little more relaxed about it now but I'm staying with it. Added in a little dairy and some forms of dark chocolate. Overall the main noticeable difference is the ability to ride off fats and not having to snack all the time to feel full. I feel like my metabolism is a lot more flexible on burning fats now as where before I always craved carbs all day.

It's a pain in the ass traveling to some of these places that just don't have a lot of good food options. If I know I'm going to travel somewhere like that, I prepare what I can and order some backpacking meals I use in the field that are based off a paleo diet. More carbs than I would like but I try keep my activity levels high and strength sessions more frequent if I know the best options for eating is higher carb meals. Usually when I start eating more carbs I can notice the water retention right away.

Thanks for the update. I was curious as to whether you noticed your performance deteriorate at all with the low-carb. Particularly in relation to HIC and strength training.

Strength gains have been at a stand still. That's mainly why I'm adding in some more carbs to see if it helps. I'm getting enough calories per day it's just different when a majority are from fats. Didn't notice any decline on HIC tolerance, which for me is mostly BJJ and sled drags/pulls