Credit: Scott Warman / Unsplash

Are you overwhelmed by conflicting nutrition advice and endless dietary fads?

You’re not alone.

Many of the CrossFitters I work with in my nutrition Masterclass come in with confusing and head-scratching beliefs, influenced by the overwhelming amount of content available online.

• The problem isn’t a desire to “optimize” their diet; it’s what they’ve been led to believe will get them there rather than what is necessary.

So, let’s try to demystify this a bit.

Why Optimize Your Diet?

Optimizing your diet is about more than just losing weight or building muscle. It’s a crucial piece of the puzzle when it comes to overall health and well-being.

With the caveat that we all have limits set by our genetics, fine-tuning your nutrition can help:

• Achieve and maintain a healthy body composition.
• Support physical performance in the gym and out.
• Promote long-term health and disease prevention.

Key Areas for Diet Optimization

While some recommend optimizing your diet based on glucose spikes or food pairings, I believe there are four primary areas in which you can optimize your diet for weight, health, and fitness goals:

1. Protein intake: While I believe 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight is a great target for most active people, it’s not optimized for an individual. To do that, you’d need to systematically adjust up or down in small increments to assess the impact while measuring your desired outcome (e.g., back squat strength).
2. Total calories: Determine your daily caloric needs based on your current intake and goals. Similar to protein, you want to systematically increase or decrease this number until your desired outcome is maximized. Does 200 calories more per day help or hinder your 5k time? Many CrossFitters try to glean this information from websites or apps, neither of which account for your unique needs. A systematic approach is the only way to optimize this.
3. Macronutrient distribution: Once you’ve established an optimum intake of protein and total calories, experiment with different ratios of carbohydrates and fats. This means systemically holding calories and protein constant while you increase carbohydrates and decrease fat (and then vice versa). You settle on the ratio that best achieves your desired outcome.
4. Micronutrient quality: Ensure you meet recommended intakes for essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Analyze your diet and make adjustments to fill any nutritional gaps, all while tracking your desired outcome.

A Practical Approach to Diet Optimization

Hopefully, you see how tedious this optimization approach can be.

Every step requires this “systematic” approach of holding intake constant while gradually adjusting a variable to fine-tune where that variable maximizes performance or any other marker.

While this approach is expected for those in the top 1% of their sport, it’s not necessary for most recreational athletes who want to lean out or do more pull-ups — all while keeping up with job and family responsibilities.

So here’s a more practical path to optimization for the recreational athlete:

1. Prioritize quality. Aim to consume a diverse array of minimally processed foods to cover your micronutrient bases. The #800gChallenge®  (eating 800g of fruits and vegetables daily) is a good benchmark for most people to achieve this endpoint.
2. Ensure adequate protein. Strive for 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight from high-quality sources.
3. Manage calorie intake. Adjust calories as needed (with an eye toward long-term sustainability) to support your body composition and performance goals.

This is my Three Pillars Method®, which will get you on your way to a practically optimized diet without the need for exhaustive tracking and analysis or paying more attention to what people tell you on TikTok.

A diverse array of whole foods casts a wide net for micronutrient intake, a focus on protein supports lean mass and performance gains, and enough carbs and fat will be present for the same simply by rounding out one’s caloric need without needing precise ratios.

These guide rails are good enough, particularly until one has also maximized their training capacity and intensity and addressed other lifestyle practices like enough and consistent sleep.

The Bottom Line

For most, diet optimization is more about what is both practical and effective to achieve better results than what is theoretically optimal to achieve the best results.

While the top athletes need to focus on any potential improvement, the “juice isn’t worth the squeeze” for most with other life priorities. You can still make dramatic and significant improvements, even if you don’t fully realize your genetic potential.

By prioritizing whole foods, protein, and calorie control, you’ll build a solid nutritional foundation for the rest of your life.

—

EC Synkowski hosts the Consistency Project podcast, from which this article was adapted. She’s a CrossFit L4 Certified Coach, a Certified Nutrition Specialist®, and the creator of the #800gChallenge®.

(Advice Disclaimer: The content on Morning Chalk Up is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. When starting a new training regimen and/or diet, it is always a good idea to consult with a trusted medical professional. We are not a medical resource. The opinions and articles on this site are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional.)