Don’t Make The Same Mistake I Did…

Wanna hear a funny story?

When I first got into nutrition, I did what was probably the worst thing I could’ve done for my athletic performance…

At the time, I was just about to start my first season playing basketball at the collegiate level…

I was doing everything “right” (or at least I thought I was)…

I was in the gym every single day, working my ass off…

But I wasn’t seeing the results should have been seeing…

That’s when nutrition finally came into the picture…

Unfortunately, like I said, I did what was probably the worst thing I could have done for my performance on the court…

Ever heard of the “Paleo diet?”

Well, if you haven’t, the main idea behind it is eating “like the cavemen did” by focusing on meats, veggies, fruits, etc. In theory, it sounds pretty healthy, right?

Absolutely.

For someone simply trying to improve overall health or lose some extra body fat, Paleo can actually be a valid option. But, for a high-performing athlete, it’s missing a very crucial piece of the puzzle…

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are literally rocket fuel for your performance and without them, you’re likely leaving quite a bit on the table…

And by excluding grains from your diet, like you would in a paleo style approach, you’re making it that much more difficult to get the appropriate amount of carbs on a daily basis…

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to try getting 300+ grams of carbs per day from just fruits and veggies…

As a result of lacking the proper fuel needed to sustain my performance in the gym and on the court, I ended up losing 21lbs in just over a month (definitely not a good thing in my case). My performance went to crap, and I was feeling lightheaded towards the end of practice on a regular basis.

After a couple of months of unknowingly running myself into the ground by under eating, I actually came down with pneumonia. Now, I’m definitely not saying that it was caused by under eating; however, the stress response to under eating in combination with the high levels of training stress along with the added load of college classes in a new environment very well could have compounded and weakened my immune system.

Now, this blog post isn’t gonna go deep into the science of all that (topic for another day). The main takeaway I need you to understand from today’s post is that the nutrition requirements for an athlete cannot be met with a fad diet meant for the average person…

[To learn more about how to fuel properly, click HERE to read my free ebook I wrote just for athletes]

As an athlete, your goal is performance, not dropping a couple of pounds of body fat…

You need to be fueling yourself properly to excel in your training sessions and your competitions. If you are chronically under-eating because you are following a dietary approach meant for a sedentary desk-job worker looking to drop 15lbs, you’re not going to be maximizing your performance (you’ll likely be harming it quite a bit)…

Am I saying that you can never try to get lean or drop body fat as an athlete? Not at all. If you’re in the correct phase of your periodization cycle (more on that HERE), you can definitely make it happen in a safe, healthy, practical way that won’t tank your performance in your sport.

So, hopefully this quick blog post helped to shed some light on what not to do when it comes to your eating habits as an athlete. If you need any help with this stuff, just go ahead and shoot me a message on IG, facebook, or via email!

Also, if you want to learn exactly how to create a nutrition plan tailored for your sport, your goals, and your lifestyle just click HERE to download the free ebook I wrote that outlines, step-by-step, the exact process I’ve used with myself and all of my athletes to take their performance to the next level.

See you on the other side ;)