Swimming is a high-intensity activity, and it burns a lot of energy from your body. A Swimmers’s diet plan to gain weight and muscle mass would have been easy to formulate if the swimmer’s age and genetics were not taken into consideration. If you are a teenager reading this article, you would know that not all of your friends are growing up at the same rate as you. This article is for teenagers, but it is suitable for a grown man or woman, so whatever your age, if you are looking for solid advice on a diet plan for swimmers to gain weight, read further.
As a teenager, you are naturally a ‘fast burner’ of the calories you are consuming. Your ‘non-exercise activity thermogenesis’ is also very high, which means your active lifestyle also helps burn more calories. You are also accelerating your muscle growth thanks to your hormones, which can always get you a ripped body with the proper dieting plan.
Formulating the proper swimmer’s diet Plan for gaining and maintaining that weight you have gained involves having nutrient-dense high-calorie foods at suitable intervals, taking adequate protein for your body type, and the right choice of supplements. But before that, you need to calculate your resting metabolic rate.
You are burning about 75% of your calorie intake every day; the rest is what you spend on doing mild exercises or work. You need to maintain extra calories in your food because your body would burn up the fat stored in your body to gain the extra calories. It might be suitable for an overweight swimmer, but it’s awful for a lean or average swimmer. Your body may break down your muscle mass to get the required energy to burn. So calculating your metabolic rate is essential in deciding how much more calories you need to add to your existing diet.
How to calculate your resting metabolic rate –
- Change your weight from lbs to Kilograms.you can do that by dividing your weight in lbs by 2.2.
2. If you know your height, then convert it from feet to inches. Do that by multiplying your height in feet by 12 and then adding the remaining inches to the result. I am 5 foot 9 inches tall, so what I should do is 5 x 12 = 60 and then add nine, making it 69 inches. Once we have our height in inches, do this 69 (your height in inches) x 2.54 =175.26 cm. Your size is now in centimeters. Now let’s apply the formula.
Resting metabolic rate for Women -> (9.99 x weight (kg)) + (6.25 x height (cm)) – (4.92 x age) – 161 = RMR.
Resting metabolic rate for Men -> (9.99 x weight (kg)) + (6.25 x height (cm)) – (4.92 x age) + 5 = RMR.
Nutrient-dense high-calorie foods – A good swimmer’s diet plan for weight gain focus on planning and consuming high-calorie foods and cutting those fatty junk foods out of your life. You should have four meals a day, your 3rd meal should be anywhere between 4-6 PM, and your 4th meal should be between 9:00 to 10:00 PM. You can also have protein snacks in between your meals. Once you start this diet plan, stick to it, never skip it.
Consuming High-Calorie, nutritious foods – You need not make drastic changes to your meals while starting. It would be best if you had the same meals that you have daily. You can add more nuts like cashews, almonds, brazils, peanuts, pistachios to your breakfast.
Raisins, apricots, dates can also be added on intermittent dates. Wholegrain sandwiches with cheese, chicken, or tuna are ideal for lunches. Tasty peanut butter or egg wraps can easily be made in the comfort of your home. You can find a lot of videos on youtube which help you make different variety of Wraps. Your coke should be replaced with milk or milkshakes. Porridge or wholegrain cereal with milk is ideal for dinner. Olive oil, rapeseed, and oil-based dressing also replenish your body with 3-6-9 Omega.You can always have a toast with peanut butter or cheese as your evening meal.For snacking in between the meals, Oat-based cereal bars,
granola bars are the best. Even if you don’t feel like eating has a glass of milk or 100-percent fruit juice.
Here is a Nutritional Chart for your reference – https://whatscookingamerica.net/NutritionalChart.htm
Taking the Right Amount of Protein is essential for a Swimmer. Non-athletic bodybuilders advertise 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. You should 15–20g extra. The right time to consume your protein shake is after your training session. Limit your swimming training sessions to 30 minutes a day if you are lean-built. What we are doing is causing enough muscle damage without going overkill on your muscles.
When you consume 20g-25g of protein after a workout, you provide the right amount of protein for muscle synthesis. You can also have a snack that provides you with a good amount of carbohydrates and healthy fats like Peanut butter on wholegrain bread. If you hate having protein drinks, blend 300 ml milk with two tablespoons milk powder, a 125g pot of yogurt, and a banana and consume it twice a day. Once after your swimming training sessions and one before going to bed.
Ideal Supplements For Your Body Type – I always believed that your daily nutrients and minerals should come from your meals, not supplements. You can go here -https://www.informed-sport.com/supplement_search and find out which one works best for you.
You can have multivitamins. Purchasing a good multivitamin and using those multivitamins every day for 30 days and then not having them for the next 30 days make your body absorb more nutrients. When you are using vitamins, your body will quickly get the recommended daily vitamins and minerals in the proper doses. When you stop having these vitamin tablets, your body will try to get them through your meals. You have to keep the cycle of consuming and non consuming vitamin tablets going. You also need to drink enough water throughout the day to prevent dehydration and tiredness.
