Lately it is on everyone's lips, and doubts are very frequent: Can following a diet based on calorie restriction be beneficial, especially if we are popular runners? In Runnea we try to shed light on the matter, and we answer the question from the hand of a dietitian-nutritionist specializing in sports nutrition. We recommend you stay tuned to the post.
First of all, a nutritional strategy based on calorie restriction is usually associated with a weight loss goal. Here, there are no magic formulas, and the premise to follow to lose weight is to eat better and exercise, move more. "It is important to take into account one's physical condition and goal before using these types of strategies. In many cases, with a nutritional education and a proper adjustment of the diet can be enough, especially if you suffer from overweight or obesity, keeping this type of strategies in profiles with a more fat loss oriented objective", indicates the dietitian-nutritionist Sandra Gervilla Barbero.
Going into the subject, there are studies that corroborate that a caloric restriction diet favors the elimination of those extra kilos, improves cholesterol levels and blood pressure, as well as that there is a better control of blood sugar.
And all this benefits the popular runner? "When a person sets out on a diet with an energy deficit or calorie restriction they usually do so with the aim of losing weight, however, the first thing we must understand is that weight loss should not be our goal, but rather the loss of fat mass. A restriction of 15-20% can be very interesting for those athletes who want to lose fat mass; having as a base real or little processed foods", points out Sandra Gervilla Barbero, dietician-nutritionist, and member of the Department of Nutrition, Food Science and Gastronomy of the University of Barcelona.
An interesting detail to bear in mind is also that this type of calorie restriction diet should be rather moderate and always supervised by a nutrition professional, since "if it exceeds 20% of our energy needs it can affect both health - lack of some micronutrients - and sports performance", Sandra Gervilla clarifies.
That said, and in Runnea is a fact that we advocate from minute one, as the fact of generating habit and a healthy lifestyle around food, and whether you are a pro athlete or not, because "a proper diet, based on foods such as fruits, vegetables, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, lean meats, fish, eggs and dairy products will always help the athlete to improve, whether their goal is performance or improvement of body composition and health in general," stresses this graduate in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Lleida.
Dietary strategies with specific objectives, for example, the caloric deficit for fat loss or a caloric surplus to gain muscle mass, should be assessed according to the needs of the individual and always be supervised by a nutrition professional.
That being said, you should apply yourself to your part of the story.
Referring to the facts, and trying to provide more data on these calorie restriction diets, the professor of medicine and cardiology at Duke University, William Kraus, with his research team, and with the support of the National Institutes of Health of the United States, conducted a study on 238 people, men and women between 21 and 50 years of age, for 2 years, being 143 trained as they should apply calorie restriction in the menus of their day to day. While the remaining 74 maintained their dietary habits as normal.
In this particular analysis, the participants were trained on energy restriction and were provided with different meal plans adapted to any cultural preference. The results obtained after a 13% restriction ( 247.5Kcal on average) resulted in a reduction of body weight and fat mass in the calorie restriction group. In addition to improving cardiometabolic risk factors. Keep in mind that this is a scale that you exceed just by preparing a single plate of the acclaimed spaghetti bolognese (359 calories) or lentils with rice (445 calories), for example.
In this way, the study valor that people who carried out this diet with an energy deficit managed to improve their metabolic and cardiovascular parameters.
On the other hand, we cannot omit the link between nutrition and the prevention of sports injuries. Every athlete, regardless of his level, needs to cover all his needs in macronutrients and micronutrients in order to perform better, and also to keep possible injuries at bay.
Thus, the question is inevitable: Are athletes who follow a calorie-restricted diet more exposed to sports injuries such as fiber ruptures, among others? "If an energy restriction is applied properly, there is no reason why there should be a greater risk of fiber rupture. But it is true that proteins should play a leading role in our diet, since they are responsible for muscle recovery, and even in case of injury, protein needs may be increased to prevent the loss of muscle mass, mainly", stresses Sandra Gervilla.
As an alternative to configure a nutritional proposal that is based on a correct distribution of daily calories recommended for everyone, athlete or not, we look at the scale established by the World Health Organization (WHO), set at 55% carbohydrates, 15% protein and 30% fat.
How to meet these dietary requirements of the WHO? This is the proposal of our nutritionist-dietician, Sandra Gervilla: "Food based on healthy, real products, avoiding ultra-processed products (rich in salt, sugars and refined flours)". Therefore, the basis is summarized in:
Vegetables a minimum of 2 times a day, always occupying half of the plate.
A minimum of 3 fresh fruits a day.
A ration of whole grain farinaceous (cereals, corn, rice) at each meal.
Animal protein (meat, fish and eggs) and vegetable protein (legumes) 3 times a week.
Dairy products3 a day.
Nuts 3 handfuls per week.
And one last point regarding fats. " Virgin olive oil should be our choice for both dressing and cooking", recommendation to keep in mind from Runnea's nutritionist.
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