While busy athletes typically prioritize breakfast and have an array of post-workout dinner recipes on hand, many are all too often missing a key time during the day during their lunch breaks.
A routine of sad salads or handful of nuts grows stale and letting your mid-day meal fall to the wayside does not allow for optimal performance nutrition. Revitalize your second meal of the day by avoiding these common athletes' lunch mistakes.
Mistake #1: Not planning ahead
When we leave nutrition choices until we are hungry, we have to rely on will-power. Numerous studies have shown will power alone should not be relied on as we tend to make poorer choices.
The fix: Meal prep on Sunday. Include whole grains, proteins like legumes, roasted chicken, or canned salmon; and chopped veggies, like cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumber. The combinations are endless, which can keep the midday meal more exciting and give active bodies more of the nutrition they need to perform at a higher level.
Mistake #2: Skipping lunch altogether
Forgoing your mid-day meal shuts down your body's metabolism and usually results in eating larger meals later in the day, explains Krista Austin, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., a performance and nutrition coach based in San Diego, California. “The metabolism works best when its fire is kept steadily burning throughout the day.”
The fix: Eat at the rate you burn. A 135-pound athlete who is five-foot-five, for example, would have a resting metabolic rate of about 1,608 calories, explains Austin. To account for activities such as walking, breathing, and commuting, you multiply that number by 1.3 to land on a daily number of calories (in this case 2,090 calories). “If we eat five times a day, about every three hours, we would need to eat about 418 calories at lunch to eat at the rate we burn,” she says. Add in exercise and you’ll need to plan not only for lunch but pre- and post-workout snacks, too.
Mistake #3: Skimping on protein
Protein is the most satiating macronutrient. It will hold you over more effectively than carbs every time, preventing snacking and keeping calories in check. Protein also helps to boost metabolism and build and preserve precious lean mass, which keeps strength from deteriorating.
The fix: Incorporate one to two palm-sized portions of a protein-rich food such as chicken, fish, eggs, cottage cheese, or beans and legumes in your lunch. This will help you eat less while minimizing hunger, build muscle, and burn fat.
Mistake #4: Eating the same thing every day
Often, we get disinterested in food if we eat it over and over again. Giving yourself variety keeps you more interested and committed to reaching your goals. Plus, we usually enjoy our food more this way.
The fix: Come up with 10 to 15 on-the-go lunches to cycle through, then prep for your chosen options over the weekend, suggests Austin. This will help you from falling back on a go-to that can grow stale and also expose you to different ingredients, which means you'll be getting more varied nutrients.
Mistake #5: Distracted eating
Studies show that people who eat while doing something else are more likely to overeat later on. When you eat with your mind elsewhere, you don’t register the meal the same way; You miss out on noticing satiety cues, so you just end up hungry again sooner.
The fix: Focus on your meals instead of your computer or phone. Eat lunch outside and take time to focus on your surroundings. This helps your brain connect with the food you’re eating, which could prevent overeating later. Eating more slowly than you think you should has also been shown to help you be mindful of how full you actually are.
Review these five mistakes and tackle the ones that affect you – This will make your afternoon practices or meetings much more productive