Trying to lose weight in the middle of the season is a bad idea

Having a good body composition is essential to obtain or pursue optimal sports performance. For this reason, many athletes decide to lose weight to refine and improve their sensations in training and competitions.

However, when it is advisable to try lose weight? The answer is simple: or before or after facing the season of competition. Which It's not advisable is to face a weight loss strategy during competitive period because hardly any benefit will be obtained and, with complete certainty, sports performance will be affected.

So, dieting to try to lose weight in the middle of the season (and therefore competing and demanding maximum performance from the body) is a bad idea because it will not bring benefits and, nevertheless, it will bring harm.

Losing weight during the season penalizes performance

Depending on the type of sport that is practiced, one or another body composition will be needed. For example, in sports in which strength prevails, such as weightlifting, a more voluminous complexion and great power at the muscular level are needed. Instead, in endurance sports (how is he running, cycling, triathlon, etc.) and resistance using strength (such as football, martial arts, tennis, etc.) a thinner and lighter complexion is required.

That is, to run a test like the marathon, the lower the weight of the athlete, the less the sensation of "carrying a backpack" that is suffered during the 3-5 hours (in the case of popular runners) of the race. . It is indisputable that body weight affects performance in the running (or running, as some prefer to refer to running) more than in other endurance sports such as cycling or swimming.

Getting to the right or optimal weight can be very beneficial for any regular runner who has competitive goals like a half marathon or marathon or a long distance trail event. Because with the right weight or optimum it is possible to obtain a better performance and, therefore, increase rhythms and decrease times, but it is also very important because decreases the risk of injury at a muscular and joint level and the athlete will suffer less during the competition.

Knowing all the benefits of running with the right weight and not with a few extra kilos, it is not surprising that this improvement in body composition is sought (lower fat mass and increase muscle mass). But is it advisable to start a treatment to lose weight at any stage of the season? My answer is resounding: NO.

A diet to lose weight worsens sports performance

If a weight loss diet is carried out, it should be done outside of the competition season or when we are not assuming highly demanding training.

The reasons why it is not advisable to go on a diet to lose weight in the middle of the season are the following:

1. First of all, trying to lose weight must be ruled out to avoid a decrease in sports performance. Let's use an analogy: if a car spends €50 of gasoline to make a trip but only €30 of fuel has been refueled, there comes a time when the car stops. The same thing happens to the athlete: if thelimentation gives you less energy than you need, after 2, 3 or 4 weeks, your performance will begin to suffer and you will finally suffer a "puncture" in your performance; and from that moment on there will be little that can be done because your body will no longer respond correctly to the demands of the effort.
2. In addition, between one training session and another you need a significant supply of energy and nutrients, which probably will not be achieved with a low-calorie weight loss treatment. For this reason, the athlete will not arrive fully recovered at the next training session.
3. During training sessions and competitions, a constant supply of energy is necessary to maintain performance. If this is not the case, the athlete gradually decreases performance.

Lose fat in the middle of the season

But is it possible to lose or lose fat in the middle of the season? Yes, but trying not to lose weight.

If you want to lose fat in the middle of the season, it is advisable to have a weight maintenance diet and a negative caloric balance (i.e. spend more kilocalories than those that are ingested) introducing walks of more than an hour daily in a state of postabsorptive fasting, that is, allowing a few 3 or more hours after ingestinglimein (The postabsorptive state is the metabolic state that occurs after digestion, when ingested food is no longer the body's source of energy and depends on stored glycogen).

Therefore, and by way of summary, the ideal is to carry out a weight loss strategy during the pre-season or after the competitive period has finished, but it should be emphasized that it is not a good idea to lose weight in the middle of the season because the result will be disappointing.

Below you can see in the following infographic a schematic summary of what was explained above.

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Ismael Martinez Garcia

Dietitian-nutritionist

Dietitian - Nutritionist from the University of Valencia. Master in Nutrition in performance in endurance/ultra-resistance sports from the Spanish Academy of Nutrition. Collegiate number CV00678 in the College of Dietitians and Nutritionists of the Valencian Community
Diet Valencia

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