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WEIGHT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR ATHLETES
Although most athletes participate in year-round strength and conditioning programs, some players will arrive at camp or start the beginning of the season either overweight or underweight.

Athletes who are not at their ideal playing weight fall short of their athletic potential. They fail to understand that proper nutrition, combined with a sound conditioning program, play a vital role in athletic performance.

WEIGHT LOSS
Caloric requirements differ for everyone and are determined by age, sex, weight, and activity level. SImply put weight is a matter of balance between caloric intake (in) and caloric expenditure (out). Body weight will change when there is an imbalance between calories in and calories out. To lose weight, caloric intake is less than caloric expenditure. In short, to lose weight you must eat less or exercise more, or both.

For the average athlete to lose one pound, he or she would have to run about 35 miles or eat 3,500 fewer calories. Obviously, it would be difficult to do either in one day. To put weight loss in perspective, use the formula below:

3,500 calories ÷ 7 days per week = 500 calories per day.

Eating 500 calories less per day will result in a weight loss of one pound per week. Eating 250 calories less per day combined with a 250 calorie deficit from exercise or training will also result in a weight loss of one pound per week. What's more, it would be a healthier, and more balanced way of losing weight. Weight loss is most successful when diet and exercise are combined together. A safe weight loss recommendation for athletes is no more than 2-3 pounds per week.

CRASH DIETS
Some athletes search for a quick way to lose weight. It may have taken the whole off-season to put on that excess 10 pounds, but they want it off in a week. Fad diets are popular because they promote rapid, temporary weight loss. But fad diets and crash dieting actually result in loss of lean muscle mass, water, and stored energy, not loss of excess body fat. As a result, most athletes on such diets become fatigued early in the day or game and have a hard time finding the energy to play at their potential.

To lose weight safely and effectively, it is important to eat a wide variety of foods from the Food Guide Pyramid, consuming enough high carbohydrate foods to fuel exercise and lowering fat consumption for calorie restriction, rather than following a very low calorie diet.

WEIGHT GAIN FOR MUSCULAR STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE
In order to gain weight, athletes need to consume more calories than what they expend in workouts and daily living. This may sound simple, but may not be since it sometimes takes longer to gain weight than to lose it.

Family history plays a major role in the natural development of an athletes physique. Athletes from naturally thin families are less likely to be able to transform their bodies from thin, svelte figures to bulky muscular ones. With improved nutrition and appropriate weight training, however, athletes can enhance their likelihood of gaining weight. With age, many young players will naturally gain weight.

KEYS TO GAINING WEIGHT
Muscle can be gained through intense strength training several times each week coupled with the consumption of additional calories. For each pound gained as muscle, the athlete will need to consume about 500-1000 additional calories each day. The extra calories should come from a variety of foods, milk, meat, fruits, vegetables, and grains.

Consistency is the key. Eating three meals a day with snacks in between is an essential part of gaining lean body mass. Athletes who sleep in and skip breakfast miss an opportunity to add extra calories to their diet. When trying to gain weight, athletes should eat enough to satisfy their appetite and then try to eat a little more. This can be accomplished by: eating larger than normal portions, eating an extra snack or additional meal (like a peanut butter sandwich with a glass of lowfat milk), drinking sports nutrition supplements or milkshakes with regular meals or as snacks. Bulky low-calorie foods, such as cereal, grains, and salads should be held to a minimum as they are too filling in relationship to the amount of calories they provide.

Whether it is losing weight or gaining weight, athletes who know how to do it properly have longer lasting results and maximize their athletic potential.