Lightweight Eats

One of the fun things about living at GMS is living with a gaggle of rowers. Two of the other women living here also help coach the high school team. We got to talking about healthy eating and encouraging the kids to choose better foods—more fruits/vegetables/whole grains, less candy and general junk.

We thought it might be helpful if there was an example of what we, as full-time and generally healthy athletes, ate on a regular basis. I always think it's helpful to see what other athletes are eating. Food is definitely an individual choice, but seeing others' choices helps me understand my own choices better.

For example, if somebody else is eating lots of gels and sports drinks, and I'm not, I ask myself why I'm not doing that. I don't change my behavior, but rather understand my choices better.

So, here's what I ate this Monday. We had two workouts, 75 minutes in the morning and an afternoon weightlifting session.

7:15AM
steel cut oats (2 cups) with walnuts, dried cranberries, brown sugar, sunflower seeds
mug of coffee

WORKOUT #1

10:30
brown rice (1 cup) with olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper
sauteed kale (1 cup)
lentil loaf (lentils, mushrooms, bread crumbs, onions, etc.) (1.5 cups)

11:15
steel cut oats (1 cup) with 2T peanut butter, 1.5T jam

12:30PM
walnuts (0.5oz)
raisins (2T), banana
green tea

WORKOUT #2

5:00
walnuts (0.5oz)
pear

6:30
sweet potato (1 medium)
diced roasted russet potatoes (skin on, with salt, oil) (2 cups)
salad with baby kale, cucumbers, radish, carrot, fennel, lemon-garlic-oil dressing (3 cups)
chickpeas sauteed with onions, spices (1 cup)

As you can see, I focus most of my calories into three main meals of 500-1000 calories. I also sometimes add an auxiliary smaller fourth meal of 4-600 calories, and some (relatively) small snacks of 150-300 calories.

On days when I don't workout as much, I keep a similar eating pattern, but maybe cut out one snack and my fourth meal. It depends on my hunger levels. On days when I'm working out a lot (burning upwards of 2000 extra calories), I will increase the size of my 4th meal and maybe add a late night snack.

What do you eat on a daily basis? How do the quantities compare? Are you trying to lose weight? gain weight?

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