Balanced diet for athletes

Everybody knows that people who are involved in a lot of physical activities need a lot of energy. The activity itself will determine just how much energy the person will need. A person can get this energy through the food he or she intakes. That food is stored and used as energy when the time is right. Athletes for instance go through much tougher physical activities than normal people and because of that they need higher energy levels. This is the reason why athletes need to balance their diet properly in order to get that needed energy. Energy requirements for athletes

Athletes are people who take part in field events such as jumping, throwing and especially running. Athletes need extra energy along with the basic energy requirements. The body weight of the person will determine what is the basic energy requirement. For each kilogram of body weight a person needs 1.3 calories. This is just the basic. When a person needs to intake the extra energy requirement he or she will need to intake 8.5 calories for every kilogram of the body weight. The duration of the training must be included into the calculation as well. For instance, if a person weights 60 kilograms and the training last for three hours the calculation will be 3 x 8.5 x 60 = 1530 calories. This amount is added to the number of calories needed for basic energy requirements. For the person who weights 60 kilograms the basic energy requirement will be 60 x 24 x 1.3 = 1872, which means that that person needs to intake 3402 calories every day.

How to meet the energy requirements?

Like all people athletes need to balance their diet as well. The diet of an athlete is usually 57% carbohydrates, 30% fats and 13% protein. For instance, every gram of protein and carbohydrates has 4 calories and 1 gram of fats has 9 calories. A person can calculate the amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates he needs. If a person needs to intake 3402 calories he or she will have to intake 1940 calories of carbohydrates which is 57%, 1020 calories of fat and 442 calories of protein. This means that an athlete weighting 60 kilograms needs to intake 485 grams of carbohydrates, 113 grams of fat and 110 grams of protein every day.

Balanced diet for athletes

A person can obtain carbs in the form of simple sugars which can be found in cakes, honey, biscuits and such. Starchy carbohydrates can be found in rice, potatoes, fruits, vegetables and beans among other foods. Dairy products, oils, beef, nuts and bacon are some of the products containing lots of fat.Proteins can be found in meat, eggs, fish and milk among other things.