How do you find a balance between eating for performance and eating like a human being?

Stay on a serious schedule for 6 days then have a day where you eat whatever you want?

My diet if iffy right now. But I find when I have a 6 day plan and 1 day to do whatever, by the time that indulgence day comes around I don't vary too much from what would be sensible. Meaning, I don't eat a large pepperoni and extra cheese pizza and a 12 pack of bud light and a couple bags of oreos and a bag of doritos and a pint of chocolate fudge brownie ice cream...etc.

Instead, my splurge would be one meal at a restaurant where I get a big burger and fries and dessert. That lets me spend time with friends and get a little stress eating done. One meal won't side track anything, but it will keep you satsfied enough to stay focused the other 6.

That's just me and I'm a weirdo.

Well to give perspective it was so strict that like, I had to have my plain yogurt with fruit at 3:30PM every day. It couldn't be sweetened yogurt and it couldn't be at 3:00PM. Yes, I'm seeing a professional about this, but part of what she recommended was getting input from other runners, figuring out what they do.

I try to include at least a fruit and vegetable or 2 at every meal and eat only whole grains. I eat about 2 lbs of red meat a week for iron and try to include beans at meals for the same reason. Other than that, I don't worry about it too much. I used to really stress over diet, nutrient timing, and all the rest but decided I'd rather just run more. I was very diet conscious in hs, but going from 70 to 140 mpw over the course of my 4 years of college changed that. So run more.

My coach doesn't want me running any more yet, haha. Eventually! I'm doing 70mpw as a female half-marathoner going into my sixth year of running. I'm going to focus more on the quality this year than I have in the past honestly. I've only been doing quality for about a year and a half now.

Um, I eat whenever I'm hungry. I eat until I'm full. I do not regulate my appetite. I let my appetite regulate my eating.

I also indulge almost daily, but only at night after a day of eating healthy foods with each meal. I do not indulge if my diet has been unusually bad (e.g. holiday parties) or off-kilter (e.g., fast food, restaurant food).

Hmmmm...I'm not sure being that scheduled is bad. You just have to shift your perspective to incorporate moderate moderation into your diet. I know that sounds weird, but all I mean is learn to plan a little chaos I to your diet.

After your long run a little fruit and nuts with skim milk isn't going to replace all the stuff you just burned. Knowing that, you could try to plan an indulgent meal afterwards. Not a tub of crisco and a super big gulp. But you can go have a steak, mixed veggies, a couple beers, and a desert. That's a "human" meal. And doing it with the BF and friends is a great environment because it should be happy and supportive which should reenforce that behavior as positive.

Maybe think of it as editing your code?

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Doclove wrote:

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You have to find that sweet spot where your calorie intake is enough that you have the energy to hit your workouts hard, not too much that you're carrying unnecessary fat or muscle mass, enough that your bones are getting adequate nutrition to support the pressure on them, etcetera. Individual results vary.

Only you can find what balances you. I personally cannot balance anything. Everything I do is done with a singular focus. No overlap of thought beyond each individual activity. Sleep, run, work, eat dinner, spend time girlfriend, sleep. I skip both breakfast and lunch. Still manage 3000-4000 calories a day with low fat.

I decided to focus my food related obsessiveness on what I eat, not how much or when. I just can't be bothered to count calories or quantities or schedule when I eat. I have a bunch or rules about what I won't eat (white flour, potatoes, rice, no sugar of any kind including fruit juice, no flavoring or coloring added, either artificial or natural, etc.). What I've found is that sticking to nutritionally dense and low glycemic (yet delicious) food makes me less likely to mindlessly stuff my face and it doesn't feel like a big sacrifice. I'm strict but not rigid; I'll go out for pizza (with verboten white flour) with friends on a weekend but won't get takeout pizza on a Tuesday night to eat by myself.

xenonscreams wrote:

Doclove wrote:

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Standard deviation wrote:

I decided to focus my food related obsessiveness on what I eat, not how much or when. I just can't be bothered to count calories or quantities or schedule when I eat. I have a bunch or rules about what I won't eat (white flour, potatoes, rice, no sugar of any kind including fruit juice, no flavoring or coloring added, either artificial or natural, etc.). What I've found is that sticking to nutritionally dense and low glycemic (yet delicious) food makes me less likely to mindlessly stuff my face and it doesn't feel like a big sacrifice. I'm strict but not rigid; I'll go out for pizza (with verboten white flour) with friends on a weekend but won't get takeout pizza on a Tuesday night to eat by myself.

That's still not a healthy attitude IMO. I mean it's better than not eating enough, but I was eating enough through most of my obsessive period and it still caused a lot of anxiety and negatively impacted my work and social life.

OK, sounds like you have other things going on. I wanted to eat better and maintain weight without worrying about it. Limiting what I eat but not how much accomplishes that for me. I've never been anxious about food or my diet. Good luck.

If you're not getting paid to run or winning prize money you are an idiot if you focus on your diet that much.

Become a vegan, supplementing with B-12, and you will transform yourself and your running. The program is restrictive and challenging at first, but the body and energy transformation will be worth it.

Not really sure what the point of that would be. I dig my heme iron and calcium.

You might blend with your obsessiveness. Just eat the same thing every day, during the week. Getting into a routine is good for training, anyway. Go out for dinner with your SO on the weekend and don't worry about it. Your professional can help you to learn to handle the days that your schedule is disrupted.

I can't stick to a schedule, when I do that I get way too obsessive, not to mention my hunger varies on a day-to-day basis so sometimes I'm hungry before the contrived schedule says I should eat and sometimes I'm not hungry when it says I should. I don't think eating according to a schedule is a healthy thing and it amazes me that so many people are suggesting that it's OK to do.