Pick and Commit: How to Decide What Your Nutrition Plan Should Look Like- Part One
I’ve found myself having to take my own advice recently as I’ve been training more for this year's annual death hike.
As much time as I spend talking about the importance of fueling, the fact remains that it’s hard for me to talk myself into consuming the amount of fuel it takes to train 6-10 hours per week (and we’re only halfway as of the time of this writing!).
However, I recognize doing so provides the outcome I want: recovery from the hard effort, improved performance, and being ready to go when we tackle the hike in early July.
There’s always concessions in the world of nutrition. We’re all constantly weighing one thing in exchange for another and sometimes what seems like the better option isn’t always right option. For example:
It’s worth giving up a week of great progress in exchange for enjoying cultural food on a family vacation overseas.
It’s worth going 200 calories over budget to have a donut with your kid at Dad’s Donut Day (coming in May for us!)
It’s WORTH letting go of the fear to eat more in exchange for better training, recovery from the higher training load, and improved performance.
While [too much] of any food can cause us to weigh an amount that makes us uncomfortable, cause health issues, or other problems- it’s also food that lets us all take on the hardest endeavors- whether that’s in an mountainous environment or simply keeping up with our kids at the park. Don’t fear it.
The question isn’t if something is good or bad in nutrition….it’s “is _______ worth exchanging for _______ to me?” Sometimes it is.
Check out part 2 of our article here on how to choose the path for your nutrition plan based on your goal (calorie targets to aim for based on your goals of building muscle/endurance, maintenance, or weight loss).
