DIET AND WEIGHT MANAGEMENT

Athletes will at times overlook the importance of caloric intake as a component of weight training. A few simple formulas can prove to be of great benefit in helping you reach your body weight goals. For many of you formulating a special diet might not be practical because your home is not a restaurant and you can’t just show up demanding that you be served a particular dish. Of course you must make every effort to eat the right foods so that your body is provided the proper nutrients that will allow you to attain general overall health and as a result improve your performance on the field. However, an often overlooked component of weight gain or weight loss centers on the intake of calories.

The average male teenager needs about 20.45 calories to maintain each pound of weight. Using the following formula will allow you to ascertain how many calories you need daily to maintain weight:

 WEIGHT IN POUNDS  X  20.45  =  THE BASIC CALORIES NEEDED DAILY

Because you are involved in strenuous exercise and training you must compensate for this in your daily caloric intake. The value of 3.8 calories/pound/hour can be used to roughly determine your personal caloric needs for strenuous activity. So here’s all you need to do. First multiply 3.8 by your body weight and then multiply this sum by the total hours of heavy exercise that you do in one week. This sum will equal the average weekly calories needed to compensate for strenuous exercise. Divide this number by 7 and this will give you the number of daily calories needed to compensate for strenuous exercise.

 You can then add this total to the basic daily caloric intake in order to determine the average daily calories you need to maintain your body weight. Of course many of you want to gain weight and in order to do this you will need to supplement your basic caloric intake. A 500 calorie increase daily above your basic need will add 3,500 calories to your weekly total or a gain of one pound. The formula can also be used to lose weight if this is something that you are attempting to do.