Ok here is v.1 of this page. It will be a work in progress. You should be able to get started with one of the diets listed with this information. If you have questions, let me know in class, or in the comments here.
Nutrition:
First off, just as when you first start training, changing your eating habits is a challenge. The benefits are well worth the effort though. I’m going to go over briefly a few options here, and provide some resources for further research.
1. The better than what you’re doing now diet:
This one will get you started and you can see some decent results with it. It’s not the best, but it is most likely leaps and bound better than what you’re doing now if you’re following a standard American diet. Here it is then:
5 meals a day: 1 fist sized portion of lean protein, 1 fist sized portion of carbohydrate, 1-4 fist sized portions of vegetables and 1 serving fat (=5-6g of fat).
Take one day off of tracking your meals per week, if you feel the need.
That’s it. This eating plan will get you used to choosing better foods and be an introduction to portion control. With some tweaks, you really could follow this simple eating plan for some time and continue to see positive results.
Some examples of lean proteins: egg whites, lean beef, chicken breast, cottage cheese, almost any fish
Some examples of carbohydrates: whole wheat bread, potatoes, yams, carrots, peas, oats, millet, fruits
Some examples of vegetables: Anything green except peas and lima beans, cauliflower, tomatoes, mushrooms. Basically you’re looking for vegetables with around 4g of carbs or less per serving.
Some examples of fats: oils, peanuts butter, nuts
You can also choose from the favorable and moderately favorable foods listed in the “zone block quick reference list” below
2. The Zone Diet:
The zone diet is solid in principle and application. It will need some individual tweaks for most crossfitters though.
Here’s a simple way to get started.
Read: This
Calculate your blocks using this:
The Blocks are broken down into 5 meals breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, snack and the final number is Total Daily Blocks followed by body type.
2 2 2 2 2 10 Small Female
3 3 1 3 1 11 Medium Female
3 3 2 3 2 13 Large Female
4 4 1 4 1 14 Athletic well-muscled Female
4 4 2 4 2 16 Small Male
5 5 1 5 1 17 Medium Male
5 5 2 5 2 19 Large Male
4 4 4 4 4 20 Extra Large Male
5 5 3 5 3 21 Hard-gainer
5 5 4 5 4 23 Large Hard-gainer
5 5 5 5 5 25 Athletic well-muscled Male
Or here:
You’ll have to sign up, but it’s free.
I like to take the average between the 2 calculations, if there is a large discrepancy and just get started. It is better to start higher than lower, and then you can adjust down if you’re not getting the results you are after.
Choose from these foods:
Start Zoning.
