Are you putting yourself into a chronic energy deficiency without even knowing it? Regardless of the athletic endeavour, studies have shown that many athletes are chronically energy deficient. This includes weight class athletes in strength sports like Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting, but also in endurance sports, the female training population, and bodybuilding competitors.Training and performing within a negative energy balance that is not properly constructed can be detrimental to your performance and void the benefits of your training.
We are going to examine what energy balance is, what factors play a role in it, and how we can reconstruct our thoughts about eating for performance for both the strength athlete and classical sport athlete. Because the reality is our energy balance has an effect on everything from our metabolism to our hormonal balance and mood.
What Is Energy Balance?
Energy balance refers to the relationship between the energy coming into your system and energy going out of your system. It's governed by the law of thermodynamics and decides whether you as an athlete you gain, maintain, or lose weight.
Energy balance is often spoken of as “calories in, calories out,” but taking this at face value for athletes will not produce the qualities needed to improve your athletic performance. What happens at your cellular level also plays an important role in this equation and is something to be considered when designing your nutritional performance program. That’s why looking at it as an equation of energy in vs. energy out with the goal of maintaining balance is more appropriate.
The goal of athletic nutrition is to maximize our performance. To do this, we train our bodies into the sport-specific size and strength that is required for success and focus on training the correct mix of energy systems relative to the requirements of our sport. Nutrition and working within energy balances can produce the changes that we seek for performance improvement and can sometimes be the difference in performance against competition.
Energy expenditure is a combination of your basal metabolic rate (BMR) plus the thermic effect of foods (TEF) plus the thermic effect of your activity (TEA). This essentially breaks down to your activity level and your energy requirements when you are at rest, as well as food and fluid absorption, digestion, and transport. Your energy intake is a combination of the protein, fats, and carbohydrates you eat, along with your fluid and supplement intake.
ENERGY EXPENDITURE
The energy you expend is dependent on what type of training you are doing, along with the duration, frequency of training, and intensity of that activity. Other items may play a factor such as the sex of the athlete and their prior nutritional status. Because many people don't have access to the equipment that can determine actual total-body expenditure, we use predictive equations in it's place.
The two prediction methods that best estimate energy expenditure are the Cunningham equation and the Harris-Benedict equation. Most sports dieticians use the Harris-Benedict equation.
To estimate your expenditure, BMR or RMR is multiplied by a factor of 1.8-2.3 dependent on your physical exertion levels. An alternative to this method could also be using METs, or metabolic equivalents, recorded during a 24-hour time period. Most find Harris-Benedict a sufficient starting point.
ENERGY BALANCE
There is a lot more to energy balance than just a change in your body weight. It also has to do with what is happening at a physiological level. When your body is in a chronically low energy balance it will turn to lean tissue and fat for fuel. When you lose lean tissue mass as a direct result of your nutrient intake, you also lose strength and endurance and have difficulty adapting to your training regimen.
In addition to performance, you may also compromise immune, endocrine, and musculoskeletal functions. With a chronic negative energy balance, athletes can see a reduction in their bone mass, thyroid hormones, testosterone levels, and metabolism, as well as a disruption of their endocrine system. All nasty stuff for athletes who want to perform optimally.
But almost all athletes will say, “But I am losing weight!” And while yes you are losing weight, your body has no idea in what way this is happening. Your body cannot tell the difference between a carefully constructed nutritional program and you being stranded alone on a desert island. All your body knows is that it is not getting the energy intake it requires. As such, your body will slow down or stop certain non-survival functions..
On the flip side, there are detriments to over-feeding or taking in more nutrients than your body requires for your sport. Blood pressure and cholesterol can increase, you could develop insulin resistance, and plaque can build up within your arteries. The human body is in constant motion, and with that it must be adaptable to the demands we place upon it. Micronutrients can help mitigate some of the issues mentioned above.
MICRONUTRIENTS
So what should be the goal of your nutritional intake be in regards to keeping a proper energy balance? Food quality and adjustment of your macro nutrients relative to the needs of your sport while accounting for fluid intake, micronutrients, and fiber. Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) act as co enzymes in freeing energy from your food, helping in the repair and growth of body tissues, oxygen transport and oxidative metabolism, antioxidants, immune function and more.
If micronutrient intake is not sufficient, this could lead the athlete to sub-optimal health and an athlete that is performing at a decreased level is unlikely to perform at their best. We want to maintain micronutrient intake so as to not disturb the athlete’s energy balance and reduce the chances of the unwanted side effects of under- or overeating.
Before all the diet fad people start chiming in, let’s revisit who we are talking about - competitive athletes. We are not discussing aesthetics in this case or about your recreational competitive athlete. If our food quality (rather than quantities) could provide even a 0.01% difference in training or performance, think of the resulting effect on game or meet day. What if the athlete next to you has been poorly managing his or her energy balance? Advantage - you. When scouts are watching and scholarships are on the line, that very small difference could have a meaningful impact for you.
High quality foods with the groups mentioned becomes very important due to the fact that weight class athletes are at risk for a low intake of important vitamins and minerals. Many athletes are still young and in periods of growth and development where the low intake of important minerals can lead to deficiencies. It should be noted that vitamins do not play a direct role in energy supply but do play an importance in regulating metabolism. An athlete deficient in B-group vitamins for instance, are at larger risk of premature fatigue along with the inability to maintain a heavy weight training program, necessary for athletic improvement.
Overeating on quality food choices can also happen. The athlete needs to be cognizant of extra calories coming in through high-density food choices, such as olive oil or mixed nuts. Eating these foods is great, but eating too much of them could be detrimental to your athletic performance and health.
One productive way for a coach to address athlete energy balance during competitive season can be through maintaining weight stability. Weight stability shows the proper energy requirements are being met, providing the athlete with the ideal balance to ensure optimized performance for competition. For the athlete, this can include checking weight before beginning the day’s training, then rechecking post-training to provide feedback on his or her hydration status, providing necessary feedback for hydration protocols.
IN CLOSING
For the athlete, the maintenance of an appropriate and specific energy balance can mean the difference between standing on the podium holding a trophy and shaking your head trying to figure out where it went wrong.
Are you cognizant of your energy balance? What have you noticed your needs for your sport consist of? Let us know in the comments below.
Article Source: http://blog.pantheratrainingsystems.com/understanding-energy-balance-for-athletic-performance
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