Meal frequency, fat loss and athletic performance

[dydde]

Hello

 

There is so much information and stuff out there in terms of intermittent fasting, meal frequency and all that so i wanted to hear what people here are saying and experiencing with.

 

Say yo eat 2000 calories and burn 2500 calories so you are in a defficit wich will mean we will loose weight. So then come to question. Wich approach in terms of meal frequency is the best one to take when maximum fat loss, athletic performance and body composition is your goal. Intermittent fasting, 1 meal a day or 6+ meals a day? My sport is soccer and weight lifting. Remember calories are the same.

[MikeVanTso]

Dydde,

This is my first post, and first time visiting this forum, but as a vegan athlete, and having had the same goals as you, I figured I could help.

I have never had good experience trying to lose weight and gain performance at the same time. Spring of 2010 I was swimming a lot, training for triathlon, and spending a lot of time weight training. I was eating often and felt GREAT! At the time I was about 172lbs (I'm 6'1"). Over the summer my focus, in part, switched to cycling and I spent less time in the gym, and less time eating. By Chicago Triathlon in August I was 157lbs and although I became a better climber (cycling - attributed mainly to weight loss) as a whole my performance declined. My endurance was lacking, and my split times in Chicago were dismal.

I learned here that trying to lose weight CAN be counter productive to gaining performance. I do believe that if you are over-weight, just losing the excess weight will help, but be sure to feed your body. Muscles need to eat and it's just as easy to lose muscle as it is to lose fat. Make sure you are cross training, and that you are getting enough time in both cardio and fat burn zones. Most importantly, don't rush it! The easiest way to fail at your goal is to pick up a nasty injury.

Hope this helps!

[dydde]

Ey

Thanx a ton for reply and i totally understand what you are saying. Its really important to make the progress slow so performance etc dont suffer. I write down my lifts and everything in the gym so i notice if my performance/strength decreases then i know something is wrong

[MikeVanTso]

Sounds like you're on the right track!

 

For what its worth, I normally eat 5-6 times a day. My breakfast is generally a little larger than it should be, and my dinner a little earlier than it should be. I usually have one off day a week, and on that day its a struggle to eat 3 times, mainly b/c im super busy trying to catch up on all the things i wasnt doing while I was at the gym, or training, but also b/c im just not hungry.