Hey Juvenation friends and others-
I recently started a new diet recommended to me by a guy who generally creates nutrition and diet plans for MMA fighters and pro wrestlers. I told him my goals, which were essentially to get leaner and stronger so that I'd ultimately become a better hill climber on my bike. Why spend an extra $2000 for a bike that weighs 2 pounds less when I can possibly lose the weight of an entire carbon road bike by modifying my eating and exercise habits somewhat?
What he came up with for me is nothing groundbreaking, but mimics a few different diets I'd heard about. The first change was going from 3 meals a day to 5 slightly smaller ones. He also cut all bread and pasta out and other "bad carbs". My carb intake overall is much lower on this diet. I am allowed two fruits a day though, along with 1-2 servings of starchier carbs (complex though, i.e. oats and brown rice). The rest gets filled up with 1-2 cups of vegetables at every meal and a serving of some kind of lean protein (i.e. fish/chicken/egg whites in the morning), and almonds which have become my favorite snack since starting this.
We also added some strength training to my week, two trips to the gym doing a full body low weight high reps type workout.
The first thing I noticed was how much less insulin I needed every day. Its amazing. I used to eat sandwiches and pasta and french fries and would require 10-12 units of humalog for each meal, if not more. Now each meal requires (honestly) 2-4 units. My blood sugars have been amazing too. I have not been outside of the 70-140 range since I started this.
I don't own a scale so I'm not sure exactly how my weight has changed thus far, but I've been feeling great in the short time I've been eating this way. Give it a shot!
Cheers,Max
In my next blog, I'll try to go into how the new diet has effected my cycling from a blood sugar perspective, particularly on my long ride day (Saturday, usually 80-90 miles).