Basketball Nutrition Articles & Resources

1 Rethink Your Weight Goals A lot of guys start a weight-loss program thinking they'll lose 10 or 20 pounds of fat in a month, but that's just not realistic. In fact, the idea that you can dump excess weight quickly and afterward go back to eating the way you like is a sure route to defeat, says psychologist Diana Kopyt, ., deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center in Baltimore. "If you want to maintain fat loss in the long term, you need to set realistic goals," she advises. "That way you won't set yourself up for failure."

Even if you could dump a huge amount of weight quickly, it wouldn't be healthy. According to the American Society of Sports Medicine, more than a pound or two a week is likely to come off as water weight--or even muscle mass--in addition to fat.

2 Make Sure You Really Are Eating Right If you're hungry all the time, or if your body is craving nutrients, your chance of long-term success is virtually nil. "You should never start a food program that you don't want to maintain for the rest of your life," says Nancy Clark, ., author of Nancy Clark's Sport Nutrition Guidebook. That includes fad diets, ultra-low-calorie diets, and self-styled meal-skipping. "People who skimp at breakfast or lunch are the ones who end up craving chips and ice cream at the end of the day," Clark says.

It helps to learn the difference between food cravings and actual hunger, Kopyt suggests. "Physical hunger has its own symptoms--growling stomach, possibly weakness or lightheadedness. That's a signal that your body really does need food. Of course, if you just ate a meal, it's probably a craving rather than hunger." If you find you're getting hungry a lot, it's time to raise the volume of food you're eating with filling but relatively low-calorie foods such as vegetables, beans and soup. (Excessive hunger can also be the sign of a medical condition; see your doctor if you're worried.)

3 Make Things Easier on Yourself Guys tend to eat too much fast food, frozen dinners and crunchy snacks because they're convenient, and they're often the first thing you'll reach for when time becomes an issue. But if you plan ahead, you can make healthful eating just as quick and easy as the drive-thru. "Start in the supermarket," advises Clark. "Make sure you have fruit and vegetables and nonfat milk in the fridge; tuna, pasta and tomato sauce in the cupboard."

Remember, even relatively health-minded restaurants tend to use more sugar, salt and fat than is necessary to create delicious food, so get a couple of low-fat cookbooks and make meals at home. If you don't have time to cook every night, fix a huge pot of healthy chili or pasta sauce and freeze the leftovers in microwaveable containers. Likewise, if there aren't any healthy restaurants near your work, pack a bag with a turkey sandwich and some fruit. You can even keep nutrition bars and bottled water in the car if you're going on a long trip and you don't know if there will be anything besides truck stops and burger shacks along the way.

4 Don't Be a Perfectionist When guys start eating healthier, they'll often say, "I'm free of junk food forever." Then, when the inevitable Krispy Kreme attack hits, they think they've already lost--so they may as well go back to eating fatty snacks all day long.

"One of the key things to watch out for is a tendency to hold `perfectionistic' standards that say either you're perfect or you've failed, either you're on your food plan or you're off it," Kopyt says. "It's normal to slip up a little bit."

"People target a `perfect' diet, but a balanced plan can include a few treats," adds Clark. The exception, of course, is when a single taste of Rocky Road leads you to inhale the whole tub. If you have an uncontrollable appetite for some foods, it's best to stay away from them.

5 Get Support If you're having trouble doing things by yourself, get someone else involved. "Set up appointments with a personal trainer or a nutritionist," Kopyt suggests. "Not only will they help keep you on track, the fact that you're paying for it will motivate you to stick with your program." She also suggests finding a friend who's willing to reform his eating along with you--or, since you're guys, to compete with you and see who can hold out against the pepperoni pizza the longest.

Of course, the guys who really take care of their bodies are the ones who play a sport regularly or are training for an event such as a marathon. Do this, and you won't even worry about how healthy eating right can be--you'll just think about fueling yourself to stay energized on the basketball court longer than those punks you're playing against.

6 Reward Yourself "When you turn to junk food, your body is telling you it's unhappy," says Adam Drewnowski, ., director of the nutritional sciences program at the University of Washington in Seattle. "But you can reward yourself with healthful foods instead of salty snacks." He suggests you buy yourself a lean steak or some fish and grill it, along with some vegetables, in olive oil. "This will give you the protein, the fat and the salt you're looking for, but there's less energy density--it's not fried chicken and french fries."

Chopping the vegetables and cooking over a flame is therapeutic in and of itself, Drewnowski says, and will help relieve the stress of whatever's bothering you. "People who go on a diet often feel deprived, but who doesn't enjoy a meal like this?"

Kopyt suggests going even further and offering yourself real rewards--bribes, actually--such as buying a new CD or getting tickets to a ballgame when you've kept to your program for a week.

7 Get Back on That Horse Once you realize your plan is slipping, it's time to take action again. First, try to figure out what went wrong. "Having a lapse is normal," says Kopyt. "Rather than say, `I've blown it,' look at what happened: What led you to start eating junk food again or miss the gym for three weeks? Then use that knowledge to get back on track."

It's important that you don't wait to get started again. "The more time passes, the more likely it is that your fitness will go down, or the idea of picking up where you left off will feel exhausting or impossible," says Harvard University nutrition researcher George Blackburn ., ., president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. "So start right now with something simple and easy--decide that you'll have one really healthy meal each day. When you start getting the routine established again, you can build up to eating well at every meal."

Of course, there's no guarantee that you'll never slip up again, but so what? You're working toward a healthful eating plan and a firmer, fitter body that will last you the rest of your life. You don't have to do it perfectly--just indefinitely.

WHEN YOU AREN'T LOSING FAT

Guys who try to shed fat often encounter a "plateau" period during which the weight loss slows or stops entirely. Here's how to get past it without giving up.

1. Be patient. One of the ironic quirks of the human body is that weight loss slows your metabolism all by itself. As a result, the more you lose, the slower you will continue to lose. If you lost, say, six pounds last month and four pounds this month, it doesn't mean you're failing--it means you're normal.

2. Be sure you're actually still on your program. It's easy to fool yourself into thinking you're eating less, and exercising more, than you really are. To keep yourself in line, record everything you eat and all your exercise in a notebook--or, better yet, in a computer program that can calculate the number of calories you're taking in with food and burning off with exercise. This will let you know if you stopped following your plan without even realizing it.

3. Boost your metabolism. There are several ways to encourage your body to burn fat faster. First, eat several small meals a day. If your body thinks it isn't getting enough food, it will go into "starvation mode" and hold on to every bit of fat that it can. Next, change your exercise program to keep yourself revving on "high." When you lift weights, don't allow yourself more than 60 seconds between sets. (Be sure not to overtax yourself, though--if you feel dizzy or short of breath, stop.) When you're doing an aerobic workout, go full-out for a couple of minutes every 10 minutes or so, then return to your normal speed.

4. Give yourself a break. If you worry too much about how well you're succeeding, you're just going to derail your progress. Look at how far you've come, and congratulate yourself for changing the way you eat. Remember that the weight will come off eventually, but you're already living a better life.

Senior Writer Ben Kallen won't go near the Doritos aisle.