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Free Meal Plan Gymnast

[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.christinaandersonrdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/How-to-Meal-Plan-for-the-Gymnast.pdf” title=”How to Meal Plan for the Gymnast”]

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3 Reasons Your Gymnast’s Nutrition is SABOTAGING

3 Reasons Your Gymnast’s Nutrition is SABOTAGING her off-season performance and recovery…

1. They haven’t trained their body to fuel (even when not “hungry”). Skipping breakfast will tank a performance, recovery, and keep them stuck and struggling (compared to how much progress they COULD make)
2. They’re not eating enough in and around training to support ongoing repair/recovery…leading to injuries that will kill their next competition season.
3. You both are just “winging it” when it comes to nutrition and crowd-sourcing info in the FB groups (even though what your gymnast needs is 100% individual to them)

There’s still time to fix these issues before summer is really underway…

We all get so busy and caught up with season, summer, pre-season, etc that we don't take a moment to think about the previous year and decide if there are things that we can get rid of that aren't helping are gymnasts...

But, I’m here to help!

Start with our podcast. It’s a treasure trove of FREE information that parents LOVE.

💗Some must-listens!?

🎙Episode 9- How to Get your Gymnast to Eat Breakfast
🎙Episode 48- Do Gymnasts Need Snack Breaks?
🎙Episode 4-Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport and Gymnastics

Need more support? I’ve got 3 spots open for 1:1 coaching (level 9/10/elite) gymnasts in June, DM for more info.

Hands up if you’ve heard “sports drinks are to

Hands up if you’ve heard “sports drinks are toxic” or “gymnasts just need water” 🙌🏻🙌🏻

I want to be clear…
 Water 💧 IS just fine for lower level gymnasts. Needing more than water is based on intensity and duration of training.

I’m talking about high level gymnasts training 20+ hours a week or engaging in very intense, long duration training ESPECIALLY when it’s hot/humid out (aka, most gyms with no AC).

There are some very “well know” self-proclaimed gymnastics “nutritionists” that say sports drinks are toxic and gymnasts should NEVER drink them. 🙄

This is laughable…

If you’ve ver had a physiology or biology class…you’d understand that sugar and salt (carbs/sodium) help facilitate hydration.

The composition of a sports drink mimics the composition of electrolytes and fluid in the blood. Same concept as pedialyte or an I.V. This is important for optimal rehydration.

And…intraworkout carbs can be strategically used to decrease fatigue and provide more energy (muscles, brain🧠) even during shorter bouts of intense exercise…aka high level gymnastics.

The crazy thing is that 16 oz of a sports drink is equivalent to a big piece of fruit in “sugar”. I’m not saying these are nutritionally the same…but the hype is way overblown about the sugar.

And…simple sugars are what they body prefers during intense exercise. Well-absorbed, no GI distress, etc. ☺️

There are a lot of ways to add in carbs and electrolytes during a workout…but I find with my upper level gymnasts that there’s really only time/desire to take some drinks of a sports drink most often. 3 birds, one stone…hydration, carbs, electrolytes all in one. 💪🏻

If you want to learn how you can level up your performance…

Listen to today’s podcast all about SNACKS BREAKS at gym to learn the difference between “Fueling vs Snacking”

Listen to The Gymnast Nutritionist® Podcast on iTunes, Spotify; link in bio

https://christinaandersonrdn.com/episode-48-do-gymnasts-need-snack-breaks/

I say this with so much love…

As a parent, it’s your job to keep your child or adolescent gymnast safe.

So much of what you’re taught about nutrition as a parent isn’t helpful, and it’s not your fault ☺️

And there is no “parenting manual” for how to deal with all the various challenges you’ll face parenting a high level gymnast.

Your gymnast’s prefrontal cortex is not fully developed and they will often struggle with “fast-forwarding the tape” and realizing the consequences of their actions.

Going to gymnastics for 4-5+ hours a day is a privilege🤸🏻‍♀️

And, it’s your job to keep them safe 💗

Would you let them drive at 16 without wearing their seatbelt? Surely not.

And likewise, adequate fueling + hydration is THE best thing you can do to protect them in this sport.

🚩Sometimes they don’t want to eat or drink enough because they’re just stubborn (or need to hear it from someone else or be able to connect the WHY with their goals, benefits, etc).

🚩But sometimes there are underlying issues like disordered eating and body dysmorphia at play.

🚩Or, sometimes, there’s such anxiety that is making it difficult to eat/drink before gym (which often points to cultural issues if they’re that afraid of what is going to happen at practice that day). Therapy can help, but getting to the root of the issue of what’s going on at gym is key.

✨Try to pose things as short-term experiments.

“Let’s see what happens if you do XYZ for breakfast each day for just a week”

“Let’s see how you feel if you finish X water bottles before gym—can you focus better, does conditioning hurt less, do you have more energy, less headaches, etc”

Helping them to get some small wins with baby steps towards what you want them to do is key to sustainable behavior change.

Need support?

🎙️Start with The Balanced Gymnast® Podcast—link in bio.

I often get new client referrals in my practice fo $I often get new client referrals in my practice for gymnasts who are suffering from fatigue, soreness, and suboptimal performance (when they’ve previously been able to do much more/better). It’s not uncommon that they will have already seen several specialists for their symptoms…doctors, physical therapists, etc. And yet, it’s rare that any specialist will mention ADEQUATE fueling. Everyone wants to focus in on specific foods when we first need to look at the bigger picture to get to the root cause. The real kicker is that most ALL of these gymnasts are suffering from low energy availability- LEA- (which often includes inadequate carbohydrate as well). Fixing the LEA is key to ruling out any other medical issue at play. A LOT of GI symptoms come from underfueling. The stomach/intestines ar muscles, and when they don’t adequate, consistent nutrition…you can experience constipation, bloating, gas, and stomach problems. A lot of ongoing fatigue and poor endurance comes from LEA, which can also lead to iron insufficiency/deficiency and vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency. A lot of ongoing soreness, overuse injuries, aches/pains are also worsened by LEA…if you think about it, the underfueled body cannot repair/recover as it needs to between training sessions, competition, and season. It just doesn’t have the building blocks if you’re not fueling well enough. A lot of stress reaction/stress fracture, and bone related injuries are due to…you guessed it…LEA. This is a huge issue in the gymnastics world and we need medical providers on all front screening and referring out for these conditions. How much better could our gymnasts be if they were well fueled? How many gymnasts have seen their dreams crushed because of years of underfueling (what I often call “unintentional underfueling”). How many doctors visits, surgeries, PT sessions, etc could be limited (and save $$$) by proactively making sure nutrition is dialed in? 🧭 A TON. If you are the parent of a level 9-10/elite gymnast and want to learn more on how to help your gymnast have a sustainable season and gymnastics career… I have 2, 1:1 spots open for June. DM “VIP” to chat more.$

Here’s how it starts:  -Young gymnast notices

Here’s how it starts:  -Young gymnast notices body change (NORMAL, puberty related changes)
-Parent signs them up to work with nutrition “coach” who puts them on calorie tracking meal plan to “lose weight” and “get toned”
-Gymnast now becomes obsessed with “hitting their macros” and refuses to eat “mixed meals” or foods where it’s difficult to calculate what’s there
-Starts losing weight which then spirals out of control, because if some is good, more is better (perfectionist mindset)
-Gymnast now weak, emotionally unstable, and eventually quits the sport with a lotta baggage and now serious medical issues.

⚠️I was probably 13-14 when I first started counting calories…

“How many calories does a gymnast need” is one of the most searched questions on my website.

It was biology class. We were giving a 3 day food journal assignment where we had to track everything we ate and tally up the calories.

The problem was that I was already counting my calories, restricting my food intake, and trying to “get lean” and change my body.

I lied on my food journal as I knew from that class I should be eating more than 1200 calories. But I wasn’t.

I was anxious. I couldn’t eat my mom’s food anymore because I didn’t know “how many calories” were in her gourmet dishes.

I stopped eating foods that were considered “high calorie” even though they were really nutritious and would have benefited my recovery and performance in the gym.

I started obsessively working out MORE outside my 20+ hours a week of training.

Yeah, I did lose weight…but what started innocently turned into a raging eating disorder that took me years to recover from.

And then I gained the weight back + some because my body need to heal, grow, and develop.

And, injuries ruined my career as I wasn’t giving my body enough food to repair/recover.

Calorie counting gives a false sense of security. Sure, there are always going to be individuals who claim is doesn’t bother them…but we can’t predict who will struggle.

I took me a LONG time to learn to fuel myself like an athlete instead of a math equation.

✨We help gymnasts and parents learn to FUEL without the stress, overwhelm, or ridiculous diets.

4 months from now… Summer will have come and go

4 months from now…

Summer will have come and gone👙🍉

Your gymnast will either have taken advantage of learning to fuel and unlocking that next level of performance + recovery…

Or, they’ll be doing the same things they always do…🤯

And likely end up injured (again), stuck, and struggling 🥵

Or, they just won’t be performing at their full potential, which can make or break a NCAA or elite dream 🤸‍♀️
 Ensuring she’s giving her body the the nutritional building blocks to grow/develop, repair/recover, and adapt (or get better, stronger, faster) to her training is KEY to success and longevity in this sport 🔐

If you are spending hundred and thousands of dollars on college camps, private lessons, tuition, mental coaching, physical therapy, etc…

You need to protect your investment. And learning how to fuel your gymnast (and helping THEM learn how to fuel themselves) is the #1 way to do that.

Why?   Nutrition is the foundation of EVERYTHING your gymnast does in and out of the gym.

🧠🙋🏼‍♀️❓want to learn more about how to fuel your gymnast and leverage the power of performance nutrition for🔥:

⚡️🔋more energy
🚫💥 🎭 happy hormones
🦴 ✨ strong bones
🙂🫶🏼 stable moods (no hangry gymnasts)
👋🏼 🍩🍟 balance with ALL foods
👙 optimized body composition
🤸‍♀️✅ health + longevity in this crazy sport?

🤸‍♀️comment FREETRAINING below to watch my FREE masterclass on “How to Fuel the Gymnast for Optimal Performance”

⚠️I will die on this hill…⚠️ We all mea

⚠️I will die on this hill…⚠️

We all mean well. Parents, coaches, judges, medical professionals…

But telling a gymnast to lose weight so they “perform better” is not 1+1 = 2

Gymnasts are growing and developing.

They are not mid-20s professional athletes.

They are competing at a professional level, at 12 years old when nothing is more chaotic in their world than what’s happening (or should be happening) during puberty.

Some days I think we’re doing better as a sport…
 And then I hear of coaches telling gymnasts they “can’t compete if they don’t lose 5-10# so they’re ‘safe’” and to do so…they need to a) cut the carbs, b) starve themselves, c) eat 1200 calories, etc.

This is all SafeSport reportable.

I’ve never had a gymnast who was told they needed to “lose weight” that wasn’t ALREADY struggling with food and their body.

And I’ve also never had a gymnast who couldn’t safely do their skills once they were fueling properly. Some of them needed some outside strength and conditioning to support their young adult body, and this is something I’d recommend for any high level gymnast who wants to do Elite or NCAA gymnastics (regardless of they body shape/size).

Parents, you need to wake up⏰

This kind of advice is NOT appropriate and it’s lazy coaching.

But unfortunately, when you get told that you need to get your gymnast to lose weight…you think this is solid advice since it’s from someone you’ve entrusted your kid to for probs 5-10+ years. So, I can’t blame you for trying to follow through…

But how well did it go? LOL. Not. It doesn’t. 😰

This is why we exist. To help gymnasts + parents learn to fuel for optimal performance WITHOUT rigid diets, disordered behaviors, or causing gymnasts to suffer for the REST of their lives💪🏻

Gymnastics is just a blip on the radar for these young women.

If they are having a performance issues, there is a lot of investigating that needs to happen, and referring to a qualified registered dietitian sports nutritionist is step 1.

And then, there needs to be a LOT of support, patience, and trusting the process (especially if the gymnast is already struggling with food/body—this isn’t an overnight fix) 💗

💬👇🏼 comment FREETRAINING below & I’ll D

💬👇🏼 comment FREETRAINING below & I’ll DM you the link to my FREE gymnast nutrition masterclass 💻 where I teach you my proven method that has helped over 1,000+ gymnasts and parents learn to use food to unlock that next level of performance and longevity in the sport 🥑🥯🫐🍊🍚🍫⬇️

Most gymnasts never learn how to really use nutrition to leverage their best performance ❌ and this often leads to them struggling with injury, setback, or just falling short of their big goals and dreams 😭

It’s not your fault, this sport still does a terrible job educating parents on just how much and what kind of nutrition a competitive gymnast needs to stay healthy and perform their best 🥇

I didn’t get this right as a gymnast (and my parents didn’t know how to help), but I’ve got your back! 💗

✅You can learn to fuel your gymnast without the food fights

✅You don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen making weird “healthy” stuff your gymnast won’t eat

✅You don’t have to keep googling nutrition info hoping it will work for your gymnast *this time*

I teach you EVERYTHING you need to know in my online course, ✨The Balanced Gymnast® Method

I created ✨TBG® Method 🤸‍♀️ so that I could help gymnasts and parents avoid the struggles of not knowing how to fuel and the setbacks, heartbreak that can cause

inside ✨TBG®✨, I’ll teach you everything you need to know in a simple and easy to implement way! 🙋🏼‍♀️ think of me and your nutrition-bestie 👋🏼 who spells it all out in a super easy to follow method that your gymnast can do

🧠🙋🏼‍♀️❓want to learn more about how to fuel your gymnast and leverage the power of performance nutrition for🔥:

⚡️🔋more energy
🚫💥 🎭 happy hormones
🦴 ✨ strong bones
🙂🫶🏼 stable moods (no hangry gymnasts)
👋🏼 🍩🍟 balance with ALL foods
👙 optimized body composition
🤸‍♀️✅ health + longevity in this crazy sport?

🤸‍♀️comment FREETRAINING below to watch my FREE masterclass on “How to Fuel the Gymnast for Optimal Performance”

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