Does anyone recommend certain foods for athletes (swimmers) to eat? To maintain weight/have energy

emmanutrition3

I am an athlete myself, so this would be very helpful if someone could help me answer this question!

AnnPT77

Adequate calories is baseline for maintaining energy.

Get enough protein for muscle maintenance/growth, like maybe 1-1.2g per pound of lean body mass (or use the protein "calculator" in this guide: https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/).

We need a certain minimum of fats for overall good health. Something in the range of 0.35-0.45g daily per pound of bodyweight is the guideline I use, but men might get away with a bit less.

Carbs are technically more flexible (not an "essential nutrient" like fats/protein, because our body can manufacture carb-equivalents out of other intake, but can't do that for essential amino acids (EAAs) from protein or essential fatty acids (EFAs) from fats).

However, most cardiovascular athletes place a priority on adequate carbs to fuel activity. Personally, as a recreational athlete (rower, on water and machine), I focus on getting plenty of varied, colorful veggies and fruits for carbs, fiber, and micronutrients. I do choose quicker carbs (sugars) sometimes, though, especially if I'm feeling a bit low energy before a workout, or during long workouts.

For myself, I figure my protein and fats minimums using the rules of thumb and calculator mentioned above, then fill in the rest of my calories with some combination of a bit more protein/fat (to taste/happiness preference), but mostly carbs from so-called whole foods like fruit, veggies, grains.

There aren't really specific "superfoods" that do special things for athletes or anyone else. It's good, well-rounded overall nutrition (on average over a day or few) at appropriate calories that's the key thing IMO.

Best wishes!

Hobartlemagne

My niece was a competitive swimmer in high school, and would drink at least a quart of orange juice a day.

tomcustombuilder

Weight management comes down to how many weekly calories you take in in a week.

When I was swimming competitively it was heavy on carbs, lots of bananas and other fruits. I needed an obscene amount of calories so I ate whatever I could get my hands on.