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Johnny is a well-meaning
kid. As a football player, he lifts hard and spends nearly
three hours per day on the field. After five months he's
still not heavily muscled enough, though, so his strength
coach and athletic trainer make the referral to me.
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Now, every good professional-level
nutrition assessment begins with the statement of a problem. You
know, the old "why are you here?" question. This is
a good thing. It cuts through the extraneous crap and sets the
direction for the rest of the session. Unfortunately, John's response
to said question is:
"I can't gain
weight; I need you to put me on a diet quick, doc!"
Although I appreciate
the athlete's earnestness, this desire betrays a fundamental lack
of understanding that needs to be addressed.
That lack of understanding
involves the classic American "I want it all, I want it now!"
mentality. And perhaps we could throw in "I don't want to
think about it myself!" Many athletes want to get big…
and strong… and ripped at the same time. Further, they want
a secret plan to get there - yesterday.
Unfortunately, neither
biology nor behavior change work that way.
Johnny does not need
to be put on a diet. Why? Because that would be Dr. Lowery's diet.
Dr. Lowery's diet (i.e. detailed daily plan) is likely to be so
unlike Johnny's usual intake that compliance is bound to fade
over just two to four weeks. If Dr. Lowery's diet includes mixed
nuts and peanut butter, but Johnny hates mixed nuts and peanut
butter, where does that leave Johnny?
If Dr. Lowery's diet
includes plenty of skim milk but Johnny is lactose intolerant,
where does that leave Johnny? If Dr. Lowery's diet plan involves
the consumption of eggs for breakfast but Johnny has to be at
practice before 5:45 AM - or has no reliable car to get to the
grocer - where does that leave Johnny?
These hard facts are
why long term diet plans are based on a principle that seems foreign
and lackluster to many athletes:
Lasting
behavioral and physical change happens in small steps.
We live in an exaggerated
society that pushes our "wow" button so often and so
flippantly, that almost nothing real is appreciated anymore. We
become desensitized to realistic but valuable dietary improvements.
It's not responsible as a healthcare professional to just roll
with this sort of "American hyperbole".
Instructing someone
to suddenly eat 4,500 kcal per day or to consume nine servings
of fruits and vegetables daily is almost always folly. Can you
see how this differs from having an athlete simply consume a sports
drink during exercise rather than water? Or snack on vegetable
chips instead of French fries during the day?
If changes are to stick,
we have to start realistically. Not all athletes are at the level
of an experienced bodybuilder, with established, purposefully
planned dietary habits. Johnny needs to use Johnny's existing
diet as a baseline, not Dr. Lowery's.
Further, any change
in usual dietary intake should be based on another sound principle:
Dietary
instruction must be actionable.
Those carefully planned
eggs simply don't get bought if Johnny can't get to a grocery
store. That nicely planned, big protein-rich breakfast doesn't
get eaten when Johnny has to wake up at 5:15 AM and be out of
the door by 5:30. (You may be thinking that Johnny should just
wake up earlier but realize that Johnny may only be getting six
hours of sleep each night due to school and work. See? Existing
and established behavioral patterns require attention. Asking
too much too soon increases the athlete's chance of failure.)
So what does a legitimate
nutrition assessment and plan involve? A hard look - applying
numbers where possible - at many aspects of an athlete's lifestyle.
A typical day needs to be hashed out.
Factors such as emotional
stress, sleep, attempts at purposeful recovery, work schedule,
medications, supplements, food allergies, food dislikes and preferences,
transportation, cooking talent, family history, medical history
and still other issues should be considered. And after all of
this, a sports nutritionist may simply try to set one to three
goals. The goals may appear to lack awesomeness but they will
be a guide.
Compliance with these
few goals over the following couple of weeks must be shown for
further goals to be set. Otherwise, what's the point?
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In the end,
not all athletes are starting like Johnny - from a
place of nutritional and behavioral ignorance or a busy,
obstacle-laden lifestyle. But many are. If you have made
progress to the point that your typical day is reasonably
planned, be grateful. If you are actually periodizing
your nutrition, you are way ahead of the pack. Rome wasn't
built in a day and neither is a powerful, well-muscled
physique.
Continue to
seek realistic, specific, time-lined little goals that
will add another 5% to your diet quality. READ, LEARN
and THINK as much as possible, always with a proverbial
grain of salt. Protect your "awe button" from
the exaggerated nonsense promised by gurus, diet books
and muscle magazines. Deep down you know what's real.
And remember, although it may not be instant improvement
tomorrow, there is indeed motivation in knowing this:
The
body you will display next Spring is actually being built
right now.
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