RDWC2012 - The Week One Wrap-Up

First things First!

Straight off the bat, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that read my last post, and for all of the positive feedback both here and on Facebook. 246 visitors in 24 hours is a new record for this blog! I love that I got to use my nerdy science powers for good rather than evil, and that it may have helped people to think about the way they approach a new diet plan. So big *MWAH* to you all!

So how did I go with Week 1 of the Roller Derby Workout Challenge?

Blah.

Sunday to Wednesday I had stuck pretty close to the meal plan. I spent most of the first week (Monday-Thursday) feeling pretty flat. I was lethargic, I tired very quickly, I was cranky, I had headaches, I couldn’t concentrate on work. I did do a long session of physio, followed by stair-runs, jumping jacks and planks, but I was knackered after only two sets of each. I tried to run one afternoon, and felt very faint even before the end of the first kilometer.  Basically, I’d get home from uni, try to exercise, and face a body that literally could not handle it. Enter the nutritional analysis.

After fixing my calorie intake, dropping the sodium, and upping the vegies, my body responded really well. I played kick-to-kick and tennis with my boyfriend, spent a half-hour swimming at the beach (actually swimming out the back of the breakers, not frolicking in the surf!), went for a run on the sand. And it felt GOOD! Ok, I didn’t stick strictly to the workout plan, but I was getting my heart-rate up, which I’m happy with.

This week has already started out much better, but I’ll fill you in on that in another post.

Tracking Progress

At the moment, I’m using Fleetly to track my exercise progress, and Myfitnesspal to track my food intake. I’ve found the Roller Derby Challenge groups on both websites, which I’m sure will be really helpful! I’ll probably start tracking my exercise through myfitnesspal too, so I have all my info in one spot, but I like the points set up in fleetly, it appeals to my competitive nature! I’ll also start logging my dietary intake once a week on Foodworks, just to keep an eye on my overall nutritional picture, but for now, I’m happy with a general idea of my intake, rather than a detailed one.

Hope you’re all having a good crack at it this week, look forward to seeing everyone’s progress!

Neysa xo

Nutritional analysis of the RDWC2012 Meal Plan (or, Why I’m Ditching the Meal Plan)

Roller Derby Workout Challenge

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to take part in the Roller Derby Workout Challenge 2012 (RDWC2012), an 8 week training program designed specifically for roller derby. The organisers repeatedly told us that it was not a weight-loss program, that is was designed to gain strength. This was perfect for me. I have no desire to lose weight, my only goal being to build fitness for derby, and strength to prevent yet another injury. Sounded too good to be true.

Turns out, it may well be.

After a few days following the meal plan as closely as allergies and availability allowed, I was getting sick of feeling hungry within half an hour of eating. As well as that, I felt flat, was having trouble concentrating, and just generally feeling like crap. A quick look at the group told me that several other girls were experiencing hunger pangs too. What concerned me, however, was that it was just being brushed off as ‘sugar/carb withdrawal’. Ok, that might fly for some people. Sugar is a hard thing to come off of. It makes you crave, it makes you cranky. But I didn’t have a high sugar intake to start off with, and my refined carb intake (White flours, pastas, rice, etc.) is usually pretty low (I think my two weeks in Italy in December could be forgiven!). For me, I didn’t feel like sugar withdrawal was the answer to what I was experiencing.

What’s a molecular nutritionist to do?

I work in a molecular nutrition laboratory. We routinely do trials that involve analyzing food diaries, designing nutritional interventions, and creating meal plans designed to combat a multitude of problems. So, naturally, I decided to run the meal plan through our typical protocol, and see what turned up.

We run a program in our lab called “Foodworks”, a software package developed by Xyris. It allows us to enter data from meal plans, food diaries, etc, utilizing a large database of items, just about any food you can think of, which can be modified as products change, or new data becomes available. It gives a full nutrition profile of kilojoules (or Calories), carbs, proteins, vitamins, minerals, breakdowns of fatty acid types. You name it, it probably looks at it. We are then able to compare this profile to recommended daily intake (RDI) guidelines, which we can tailor to reflect age, weight, gender, fitness and activity levels, whether you’re pregnant, or depending on your specific goals.

The Profile

I tailored the protocol to give me Australian RDIs for, well, me. 24, female, 65kg, 165cm, with a light activity load. This means I sit at a desk for most of my week, skate a few hours, and walk most places. I then transferred the meal plans (Week 1 & Week 2). Wherever possible, I have matched like for like. Where there has been a low salt option listed, I have selected that instead of the standard. Any salad was automatically assumed to contain lettuce/spinach, cucumber, capsicum and snowpeas (because they are representative, and correlate well to most substitutions), and was not dressed unless explicitly stated. If an amount was not specified, I went with the generally accepted serving size. The only two changes I made were the addition of 2L (8 glasses) of tap water per day, and string cheese, which due to lack of data I substituted for 2 slices of Colby cheese. How did the first two weeks of the diet stack up?

READ ME FIRST: Before starting any new diet plan, always consult your doctor or nutritionist. The data presented is tailored for my situation only, and should not be taken as nutritional advice, but rather as “food for thought”.

The Results

Fig 1. Based on average daily intake calculated form Weeks 1&2 of RDWC2012.

Your EERM, or estimated energy requirement for maintenance is “the dietary energy intake that is predicted to maintain energy balance… in healthy individuals or groups of individuals at current levels of body size and level of physical activity” (Source). Basically, that means for me to stay at the same level as I am now, I need to consume this amount of calories. 

If I follow the meal plan to the letter, I will only obtain about 61% of the energy I require to maintain my current level, and that means one of two things: a) If I continue at the same activity level, my body will take the energy from elsewhere, i.e. start eating itself, or b) in order to maintain my current body composition, I’d have to reduce my activity level. Neither of these are things that are conducive building fitness and muscle. The fact that it is a 39% deficit concerns me even more though. That is not just cutting back a little bit. That is a hardcore, shed-your-pounds, starvation-style diet.

No wonder I was so hungry!

The protein content is more than double the RDI, but as the aim is to improve muscle, this would normally be highly desirable. You have to eat protein to make protein! The only issue at the moment is that rather than going to building muscle, it is more likely being diverted toward creating energy to keep you running. Excess dietary protein can also exacerbate hypertension, and lead to renal damage. This is just one recent study that appeared in my inbox a few months ago, there are many more out there!

The big killer though, the one thing that would have put me off this diet within moments, whether or not I was looking for a quick weight-loss fix, was the sodium content. Basically, salt. 

Fig 2. Based on average daily intake calculated form Weeks 1&2 of RDWC2012.

29% extra ON TOP of the daily recommended MAXIMUM. That is 448% of what is called the ‘adequate’ intake, or what the average human will be able to consume and remain healthy. When that result came off, I actually went back and triple checked it was correct. The list of issues associated with a high-sodium diet is long and varied, and include increased blood pressure, heart disease, kidney problems, hormonal imbalance and insulin resistance to name a few, and that this diet is so high in sodium is cause for serious concern.

We all know that calcium is important for healthy bones, with low calcium levels increasing the risk of osteoporosis, or brittle bones, later in life. And I think we can all agree, brittle bones are the enemy of roller derby girls. However, rather than maximising calcium intake, this diet only provides 63% of the RDI (Fig 1). Iron, another nutrient that young women are often deficient in, was also only at 62% RDI (Fig 1). Iron deficiency limits oxygen delivery to cells due to anemia, resulting in fatigue, poor performance, and decreased immunity. Certainly not conducive to good derby!

Most of the B-group vitamins are well represented (with the exception of Folate, 79%RDI) as is Vitamin C and total Vitamin A (Fig 1). They fall below the suggested target for prevention of chronic disease, but that is another post for another time. There are also several issues with other micronutrients, but to write about any but the main ones would take a much longer blog than this, and I felt it important to outline the major issues, such as energy, calcium and iron.

Summing Up

I want to finish by saying that I *do* respect what the girls at the Roller Derby Workout are trying to do. The exercise regime is brilliant, the community they’re building is beautiful, and they are trying to encourage people to live healthier, fitter, derbylicious lives. However, their meal plan cannot be pushed as a “one-size-fits-all” dietary solution, and should only be used as a guideline, adapted to each individual's requirements. My mantra when it comes to changes in diet is “when in doubt, check it out”. Participants in any dietary plan, regardless of weight-loss goals, should always do their research, and if in doubt, consult a healthcare professional, such as a doctor or nutritionist. There are plenty of good, free food-tracking/calorie counting programs and websites online, which will give you a rough idea of how your diet is stacking up against your RDIs. For me personally, to achieve my desired results, I will have to increase my calories by almost double the meal plan in order to accommodate the extra exercise, cut the salt, and get my calcium and iron consumption back up to normal levels.

I hope this won’t discourage people from completing the challenge, but also hope that it will help some people who may be confused about why they are feeling less than stellar about the food side of things. As always, I’m happy to answer any questions, cop any criticism, and take any suggestions.

Neysa xo

The Roller Derby Workout Challenge 2012 – An Introduction

How Did I Find the Roller Derby Workout Challenge?

A few days ago, while catching up on the Derby Deeds podcast, I heard mention of the Roller Derby Workout Challenge (RDWC). Given my desire to improve my fitness for skating, I couldn’t help but check it out on Facebook, and found myself deciding to give it a crack. The challenge officially started on the 29^th January, and runs during the same period of time as my Fresh Meat training. I’ll be blogging about my experience with the program in addition to my roller derby progress.

So What IS It?

For those of you who haven’t heard of it (or can’t be stuffed looking it up), RDWC is an 8 week fitness and diet program designed for roller derby, by lovers of roller derby. Of course, you can also do it if you don’t do roller derby, looks like it’s going to be an amazing workout. The program focuses on building strength, rather than weight-loss, a very appealing proposition for someone with my aversion to fad diets. Every week, a meal plan, workout plan and a series of ‘homework’ questions get posted for members to follow, with the Facebook group providing a community to support and encourage, trade ideas, and generally be as awesome as roller derby communities tend to be.

The Food Plan

Now, I should point out that while it does include a diet-plan, I probably won’t be following it too strictly as I’m not worried about my weight, it is too meat-heavy, doesn’t seem to incorporate enough variation for my liking, and doesn’t match with what is seasonally available here. That said, I like most of the underlying principles they have used in the creation of the food-plan, such as cutting out highly refined sugars and carbs, reducing processed meat, upping your vege intake, and putting a stop to that pesky drinking habit. I’ll probably be switching around some proteins (chickpeas instead of all that chicken!), having salads instead of cooked veges, and finding some form of substitute for nuts considering my seriously allergic housemate comes home in a couple of weeks. One thing I would like to see is the nutrient breakdown (Carbs, Protein, Fats, Calories, etc.) that they used, so that I can work with it in my own way, rather than trying to figure out what appropriate substitutes for each individual meal are. I’m going to give it a week, and then decide whether or not to continue with it.

The Exercise Regime

Whilst the exercise program originally calls for a copy of the official workout DVD, the admins have also provided an alternative workout for people who do not have the DVD, a god-send for someone like me that can’t afford the extra cost at the moment. This program is obviously designed to be supplementary to derby training, with two days using it as the primary exercise, but I’m guessing it could be substituted for any high-intensity activity, like a good long run, gym session, swimming, etc. I’ll only be having 1 derby practice a week, so I’ll have to experiment to find a replacement for the other.

Progress

Day 1 was interesting. It was the first day I’d actually had enough money to go grocery shopping since coming back from my trekking around, so contrary to my usual method of “feed what the body is asking for”, I actually sat down with the meal plan, made a shopping list, and then went to the supermarket. Took forever, but in the end came home relatively happy with my choices, including a few substitutions based on availability or preference (i.e. switching lunch ‘meat’ for tuna, pears for bananas, brussel sprouts for green beans etc). I decided to pre-cook a few things for during the week, like turkey mince or pork fillet, so I could just throw some in to a container with salad and rice for uni. I also made a batch of tahini dressing based on Bonzai Aphrodite’s offerings, which, due to its immense yumminess, I can foresee going on EVERYTHING! In terms of what I actually ate, it was a bit of a shambles. I’ll save it for a later ‘Week in Review’ post, but suffice to say it wasn’t the best start. *grins*

Outside of RDWC2012

I utterly failed in my aim this week to start getting back to my strict physio routine, mostly because my usual exercises have been making my ankle hurt a lot more than is usual, and I’d prefer to see my physiotherapist before continuing too hard. Because I was only doing some exercises, that meant I slacked off a lot with the others too, so this week, it’s back on the table: Physio for Neysa!

The last week, with Australia Day, glorious warm weather, and a fridge full of ciders, I drank more than I should, and the tennis has been on so it’s been a lot of late nights (But last night’s final, WOW!), so I’m looking forward to using February as my ‘reset’ for the new year, and getting my butt back on track!

I hope you’ll all join in on my journey, be it encouragement, chastisement, or just having a general chat.

Neysa xo

This Is Roller Derby.

Darby, by Myka Jelina

Today was the day. Today, I became part of something bigger than myself. Today I started roller derby.

The Geelong Roller Derby League had their sign-up day today, so at 4.30pm myself and about 10 other women were sitting in the sweltering heat of the big blue Barwon Valley Activity Centre shed, listening to some of my derby heroes talk about what we are going to work through during our Fresh Meat course. Can I just say, Ace of Hearts, Eva War, and Boneyard Betsy are really wonderful in person, and I now respect them even more than I did for their on-skate performances.

The tenish of us are all different. I didn’t get a chance to really talk to anyone before everyone left, but we’re all different ages, have different body shapes and sizes. Some have piercings and tats, others (like me) had none. Some came in full make up, hair up etc, some didn’t. And pretty much everyone signed the form to start training. I like that we have such a diverse group, and look forward to getting to know the other women in my intake, as well as the rest of the league, in the weeks to come.

Fresh Meat starts on Sunday in 2 weeks time, and will include both off-skate fitness & strength training, as well as learning how to skate safely, fall, lean and all the other fun derby stuff. Some people looked surprised at the prospect of having to do push-ups and sit-ups, something which I was already anticipating from years in other sports, and from my research of derby. Being honest, the prospect of the fitness training excites me, as I’m really looking forward for a new opportunity to push myself.

And I am going to have to start pushing myself. Over the two months since I left on conference leave, I’ve been very very slack with my physio, and it’s starting to show. If I’m going to be any good at derby, and avoid needless injury, I have to start getting back in to it, so that’s what I’m going to do. As of right… NOW! I’m going to work hard, train hard, and get back to my peak. I’ll be aiming to run through my full physio program twice a day, as I was when I hurt my shoulder this time last year. I’ll also be aiming to spend at least 30mins on my skates every day, even if it is only around the house, as I was doing before I went overseas.

I’m very excited that I am finally able to make a start in the sport of roller derby, after a couple of years of waiting, watching, and wishing.  Bring. It. On.

Neysa xo