Diet and First Triathlon

Cowenlaw1

I'm doing my first sprint triathlon next Sunday.

I've been trying to maintain a 1,000 calorie a day deficit for weight loss. I was wondering whether I can keep that through the week, or whether I need to eat all the calories I burn for a day or two before the race.

Any advice?

thanks.

Rompa_87

Wow...that's fairly extreme for weight loss let alone someone aiming for a triathlon.

As a fellow triathlete I definitely say to eat you calories on the 2-3 days before and to load up on carbohydrates if you want to sprint through the event as fast as possible. If you do not care about performing well but simply want to cross the line (and probably feel like crap afterwards) then you could still maintain a deficit.

Still even for a sprint tri (750m swim, 20km ride, 5km run) I'd be eating between 3000-4000 calories after the tri

janf15

I too am very concerned with the amount of calories you get overall. When you are using MFP it will give you the calories for your BMR (basic metabolic rate), and you really should not go below that for a number of physiological reasons. Of most concern is you canibalize your muscles.

You really should be eating the calories which is shown on your MFP home page.

As for the triathlon. Make sure your diet have some complex carbohydrates in the latter part of the week. This is what I do on race day. I get a solid breakfast (oat meal or a bagel with peanut butter) Just before the race - I get a banana or a carb gel. In one of my two waterbottles I have maltodextrin (total of 200 cal) and if I need - I take a gel with carbs or two during the run - but make sure you have water with the gel.

Just so you know my background ~210lbs - 6 sprint, one olympic and one half IM distances is my experience.

Cowenlaw1

Thanks for the advice.

Just to be clear, my goal is to have about 1,900 net calories per day, which is what myfitnesspal.com says I should eat if I want to lose 2 pounds a week. I'm not purposefully trying to go below that, although sometimes I end up eating fewer NET calories on days when I have huge workouts, burning over 1,000 calories. Even then, I try to make sure I get at least 1,200 NET calories.