Athletes – How do you eat enough calories

Chicagobikeguy

Hello. I’ll give you my quick story before I ask my question
I have always been very active and never had a weight problem but recently I slowed down a bit and packed on about 15 pounds. I lost most of it back and then I found this site. Now that I am tracking food and workouts, the data is making me a bit stir crazy.
I am set at a 1000 calorie a day deficit (2lbs a week) I still need to lose a few more pounds but I am afraid I am a bit too aggressive. Here is my problem, even at the 1000 calorie a week deficit; I am coming up short on calories. Ill bike 20-30 40 or so miles and end up burning 1200, 14000 or more calories. Add that to the already lowered calorie intake of 1450, that’s 2800 ingested overall (keeping in mind it’s already lowered for weight loss and would be higher without). If I eat a large sausage pizza or hit the Pepsi bottle again I can hit my calories but, that’s not the answer. While being consistently under calories, I am going over on protein. I’d be even higher on protein if I wanted to hit my calorie goal. Any input from high calorie burning athlete? Maybe I am the wrong type of person to have all this data to think about.

A_Valerie

I will start by stating that I am no expert. However, after peeking at your diary, I would suggest that you eat less lean cuts of meat. The more lean the cut of meat the lower the calories and higher the protein. In my humble opinion, go with a 70% lean instead of 85 or 90% and your calories will increase and protein will decrease. -Valerie

ninerbuff

It's practically impossible to eat only "clean" and achieve an 8,000 a day calorie goal. You'd have to be eating non stop on the hour. That's why even Olympic athletes eat junk food, so they can meet the calories needed.
When I was training to bulk up for competitions, my intake was 6500 calories. I tried to do it "clean" and even eating that way the most I could personally stomach was 4,000 calories. So I added in some junk with my good food and met my calorie goal.
My take has always been, meet your daily macros/micros and once you hit that, any calories left over are free for all. It's worked for me personally for over 29 years now.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

taunto

What Niner said. But if you're really trying to avoid Fast food (like I was) then try more dense foods like whole wheat milk, cooking more with butter, nuts and nut butters

scottb81

I eat chocolate. Also peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

jmilian825

yes thank you guys I was having some issues trying to meet my calories too

mlb929

I found very valuable information and better understanding of this in the book Racing Weight. It has plans for tri-athletes, runners and bikers. The Quick Start Guide is a good companion for jump starting weight loss and the original book provided me the understanding of the answers to your questions.

That said, I'm generally ill to my stomach on days that I do my long runs and can barely eat w/o getting sick. I've never worried too much about eating those specific calories back, just can't do it. I'm always of the mindset, I don't eat extra just to be eating, if I'm not hungry, I don't eat.

sjohnny

What Niner said. But if you're really trying to avoid Fast food (like I was) then try more dense foods like whole wheat milk, cooking more with butter, nuts and nut butters

I'm intrigued by this "whole wheat milk".


OP, don't worry about going over on what MFP says you should have for protein.

mikem45

I add maltodextrin to my protein drink that seems to help me.

taunto

What Niner said. But if you're really trying to avoid Fast food (like I was) then try more dense foods like whole wheat milk, cooking more with butter, nuts and nut butters

I'm intrigued by this "whole wheat milk".


OP, don't worry about going over on what MFP says you should have for protein.

errr....whole milk. Doi!

tappae

If you're looking for high-calorie, "healthy" foods, you should eat more oils, grains, nuts and root vegetables. Instead of roasting your veggies, you could sautee them in olive oil. Add walnuts to your cereal or oatmeal in the morning. Eat peanut butter sandwiches. Sweet potatoes, parsnips and potatoes are all pretty high calorie.

Chicagobikeguy

Hello everyone. Thanks for all of the responses. I was on a mini vacation in Vegas when these responses came in and just had that chance to read them. It sounds like some of you have the same issue as me. It funny because I tend to operate in one of two modes. Too many calories (large cheese and sausage pizza including cheese sticks for an appetizer with a large Pepsi or a few beers) and no workout or high calorie burn workout with grilled chicken and brown rice. I eat the grilled chicken cause I really like it. Fried chicken just doesn't sit well with me. I love nuts and that is a good suggestion. I really need to start eating more. My body tends to crave things in groups. Example. If I go with a greasy burger I really want the greasy fries. Baked potato or veggies don't cut it with the greasy but tasty food.. That tends to over do the calories, impact my workout so I'm not burning like I should and feel them even more as a result. When I eat grilled chicken, I want something better with i and the fries just don't taste as good with the better main dish. Visually seeing these numbers helps and should better prepare me to find that happy medium. Thanks for the responses and suggestions. Hello everyone. Thanks for all of the responses. I was on a mini vacation in Vegas when these responses came in and just had that chance to read them. It sounds liek some of you have the same issue as me.