Check Out My Diary?

I just made my diary public, I'd love for people to check it out and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome!

Do you never eat any fish ?

When I was your age I played lacrosse and soccer and dieted and ate too few calories. Today, I wish I hadn't put that unnecessary strain on my body. 1200ish calories is low for someone playing a daily endurance sport. If I had known at 18 what I know now, I would have eaten more and added in resistance training (instead of running in the AM and practice in the afternoon).

You're not eating enough.

When I was your age I played lacrosse and soccer and dieted and ate too few calories. Today, I wish I hadn't put that unnecessary strain on my body. 1200ish calories is low for someone playing a daily endurance sport. If I had known at 18 what I know now, I would have eaten more and added in resistance training (instead of running in the AM and practice in the afternoon).

It's really hard for me to get resistance training in since after practice and games I'm so tired. I made a strength training workout routine for may though, I'm going to try really hard to follow it.

You don't have to go to a gym- you can do bodyweight resistance exercises like pull-ups, push ups, dips, lunges etc. And it doesn't need to be everyday. In fact, the best results come from just a few times a week, say, on non practice days.

Could you explain the calorie deficit thing? Is that what the person up there was saying? Are they accurate?

Hmm...I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. Everyone has a certain amount of calories necessary for breathing and organ functioning, that sort of things- that number is called your BMR (Basal metabolic rate). Then, there are calories required for normal daily activities and non essential functions like growing hair, which is a multiplier of your Basal metabolic rate, say 1.55 for a moderately active person - but you would have to look at the activity multiplier chart to get your number. That number is known as your TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure. Finally, on top of your daily activity and keeping your organs functioning are the calories you spend working out, which you list in your diary as lacrosse or running calories. There's a pretty heated debate on whether to eat back those calories or not, which I'm not going to comment on here. But what's not debatable is that you need to eat enough calories to keep your organs functioning as well as support your regular daily activities. 1200 calories or less is not enough for these functions for a healthy weight, active 17 year old athlete. I would guess that the poster that said 2100 to 2300 calories is about right, but I have not plugged your numbers in. That means you can eat almost double what you're eating now and **not** get fat! You will have so much more energy and probably perform a lot better at lacrosse. I suggest going to fat2ftradio.com and using the tools there to figure out your BMR and total number of calories you can eat.

Could you explain the calorie deficit thing? Is that what the person up there was saying? Are they accurate?

Hmm...I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. Everyone has a certain amount of calories necessary for breathing and organ functioning, that sort of things- that number is called your BMR (Basal metabolic rate). Then, there are calories required for normal daily activities and non essential functions like growing hair, which is a multiplier of your Basal metabolic rate, say 1.55 for a moderately active person - but you would have to look at the activity multiplier chart to get your number. That number is known as your TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure. Finally, on top of your daily activity and keeping your organs functioning are the calories you spend working out, which you list in your diary as lacrosse or running calories. There's a pretty heated debate on whether to eat back those calories or not, which I'm not going to comment on here. But what's not debatable is that you need to eat enough calories to keep your organs functioning as well as support your regular daily activities. 1200 calories or less is not enough for these functions for a healthy weight, active 17 year old athlete. I would guess that the poster that said 2100 to 2300 calories is about right, but I have not plugged your numbers in. That means you can eat almost double what you're eating now and **not** get fat! You will have so much more energy and probably perform a lot better at lacrosse. I suggest going to fat2ftradio.com and using the tools there to figure out your BMR and total number of calories you can eat.

Ahhh, thank you so much! You really helped. I just don't know what to eat...

That is a whole other can of worms....Start with trying to get 1gm protein per lb of lean body mass, which you can figure out with those same tools. My guess is for you that's somewhere in the 100lb range, so 100 g protein. The rest of the calories should fall in to place of you make that one change, it will be a good start.

Hi.... doesn't look like you are eating enough veggies and fruit....Try to eat fruit, instead of drinking juice....The fiber in fruit will fill you up more...

First of all I think you should eat more. What should you eat more of? My suggestion is much more protein, that's really good for you since you want to gain more muscle. Try to aim for about 0.8-1g per lbs body weight. Eat lean meat, chicken turkey, eggs, protein shakes, protein bars, quinoa, bulgur etc. And don't be afraid of eating fat!
And I agree with previous poster suggesting to eat more veggies and fruit!