Fat Loading
tkillion810
Posts: 591 Member
I'm starting a 10 day fat loading phase that will be followed by 3 days of carb loading in prep for my upcoming marathon. It's based on Matt Fitzgerald's New Rules of Marathon and Half Marathon Nutrition. The goal being to get the body to learn to utilize the fat and reduce the chances of hitting the wall. He suggests nuts, coconut oil and butter, avocado, olives, fatty fish and such. The goal is to reach 65-70% fat intake for these 10 days. Wondering if anyone has some meal suggestions or if you have tried it and whether you felt it helped in your race.
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regular tofu is like half fat or something crazy, which is okay occasionally unless you're allergic. Otherwise my go-to fats are nuts and nut butters. seriously, they are SO calorie dense, they would work perfectly, and you don't have worry about other nutritional fails like cholesterol (if you're avoiding it) or processed foods (like oil separate from the plant).
Olives are also nice for fat, but not quite as fat dense as some of the other foods.0 -
I have done it once, and will do so for my next marathon. That's a toughie without the dairy. 65 percent is a lot of fat. I actually lost a few lbs while doing it. Go figure. Anyway, I just ate a lot of extra nut butters, salad dressings, etc. Be prepared for a pretty serious loss of energy and a little crankiness. I was pretty happy when it was over, but I do feel like it was worth it.0
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Steak!
Adding coconut oil, olive oil, macadamia nut oil to basically any/all meals will get you there. You can put coconut oil in your coffee - YUM!0 -
I've had to increase healthy fats due to high cholesterol/triglycerides. Try coconut oil, almond milk (dark chocolate), coconut milk, almond butter on a bagel (highly recommended by Meb as his fave pre-run snack!), chia, flax, quinoa, and DARK chocolate (usually I'm adding some combo of the above if my fat macros are off at the end of the day)! intrigued by the concept but can't attempt that high a fat level in the middle of ultra training.0
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I've had to increase healthy fats due to high cholesterol/triglycerides. Try coconut oil, almond milk (dark chocolate), coconut milk, almond butter on a bagel (highly recommended by Meb as his fave pre-run snack!), chia, flax, quinoa, and DARK chocolate (usually I'm adding some combo of the above if my fat macros are off at the end of the day)! intrigued by the concept but can't attempt that high a fat level in the middle of ultra training.
The idea is to fat load for 10 days, and carb load for 3 days, right before the race, so it isn't something you would do in the middle of training. There is some research that suggests that 5 days fat loading / 1 day carb loading may accomplish the same thing. It's all very sketchy and the actual advantage gained may be very minimal. Having said that, I really felt great on marathon morning..like superman, really! And then I cramped up on mile 22 and ran/walked to 4:13, after a 1:57 half. So, imho, this is a very small piece of the pie. You still gotta do the training!
For more info: http://www.active.com/a3_articles/0ccd5250-c247-4ca7-93c6-fb87df023b40/1?page=10 -
I attempted something like that before my first marathon, but it didn't work very well for me (the reason I actually have a MFP account was to make sure I got enough % calories from fat during that time). I didn't typically eat most of my calories from fat, so the huge increase made my stomach pretty upset in the days before the marathon. The second time I did a marathon I stuck to my normal foods.0
