Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance, 2nd Edition

by Matt Fitzgerald

Racing Weight is a proven weight-management program designed specifically for endurance athletes.

Revealing new research and drawing from the best practices of elite athletes, coach and nutritionist Matt Fitzgerald lays out six easy steps to help cyclists, triathletes, and runners lose weight without harming their training.

This comprehensive and science-based program shows athletes the best ways to lose weight and avoid the common lifestyle and training hang-ups that keep new PRs out of reach.

The updated Racing Weight program helps athletes:

Improve diet quality Manage appetite Balance energy sources Easily monitor weight and performance Time nutrition throughout the day Train to get—and stay—lean

Racing Weight offers practical tools to make weight management easy. Fitzgerald’s no-nonsense Diet Quality Score improves diet without counting calories. Racing Weight superfoods are diet foods high in the nutrients athletes need for training. Supplemental strength training workouts can accelerate changes in body composition. Daily food diaries from 18 pro athletes reveal how the elites maintain an athletic diet while managing appetite.

Athletes know that every extra pound wastes energy and hurts performance. With Racing Weight, cyclists, triathletes, and runners have a simple program and practical tools to hit their target numbers on both the race course and the scale.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, Fitness, Nutrition, Health, Cycling, Food

383 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Matt Fitzgerald is the author of numerous books on sports history and endurance sports. He has enjoyed unprecedented access to professional endurance athletes over the course of his career. His best-sellers include Racing Weight and Brain Training for Runners. He has also written extensively for Triathlete, Men's Fitness, Men's Health, Outside, Runner's World, Bicycling, Competitor, and countless other sports and fitness publications.

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first ran across the first edition of this book a couple of years ago when I was looking for a solid, research-based, user-friendly primer on nutrition for endurance athletes, but dismissed it as probably too numbers-on-the-scale-focused for me. Then earlier this year Fitzgerald released a second book, The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition: A Cutting-Edge Plan to Fuel Your Body Beyond "the Wall", which I devoured in a day & a half & loved. From that book, I really didn't get the sense that Fitzgerald was promoting one of the meticulous, unrealistic, drop-the-weight-at-all-costs philosophies that have turned me off from sports nutrition books in the past, so I decided to give Racing Weight a fair shot (by, y'know, actually reading it).

I wasn't disappointed. In a nutshell, Fitzgerald's thesis is that 1) like it or not, we all know that weight is related to performance in endurance sports, 2) we all have an ideal weight where we are strongest, healthiest, & racing our best, & 3) most recreational athletes weigh more than that number. Which is not exactly revolutionary. But having established that, I feel like a lot of sports nutrition writers tend to proceed down more or less the same path:

* Here is a chart that tells you what you should weigh.
* Here are some "tips & tricks" for losing all that extra weight.

This is not Fitzgerald's tactic. Instead of telling you what weight to shoot for, he recommends first determining your body composition (% body fat), then setting an individualized goal based on a few different things. I love this approach because it recognizes that we all have different genes and builds and body types, and the optimal weight for one 32-year-old 5'4" female runner may be very different from that of another 32-year-old 5'4" female runner. The weight that that correlates with that body composition may not necessarily be your optimal "racing weight," but it gives you a starting point to shoot for that's backed by research.

The rest of the book is chock full of science about how the bodies of endurance athletes process various nutrients, & tools for determining & improving the quality of your diet one step at a time (based on your activity levels & goals), the theory being that as you continue to train well & eat high-quality foods in the right amounts at the right times, your body composition will gradually move towards your goal. Fitzgerald also recommends a standardized performance test (eg, a 10K time trial for runners) every four weeks; if your performance improves with your body composition, you know that you are moving towards your ideal racing weight.

Another thing I like about both of Fitzgerald's books is his recognition of the realities that recreational athletes live with (as opposed to elites who have constant access to nutritionists & personal trainers & also hours and hours every day in which to train & prepare perfect meals at exactly the right times). Although he outlines some useful tools and frameworks for monitoring and improving the quality of your diet, he advises people not to obsess about it and to be happy with small improvements, and that if you can manage to eat pretty well most of the time, you're still doing better than probably 75% of recreational athletes. He also makes a point of advising people not to try to maintain their optimal racing weight year-round once they've found it, and touts the physical and psychological benefits of taking an off-season periodically where you're less careful about what you eat & let yourself gain 7-8% of your racing weight without worrying about it.

While I wasn't planning to *really* start trying to work on this until after the holidays, so much of his system is so easy and straightforward that I've found myself able to improve both the quality of what I eat as well as my body composition to a certain amount without all that much effort (and that's coming from someone with a full-time job, 60 miles of weekday commuting, & way too many evening / weekend commitments, FWIW). Obviously your mileage may vary, but I've found both of the Fitzgerald books MUCH more practical & useable for the average, fairly busy, everyday person than others I've looked at.

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh boy, do I feel conflicted about this book.
Parts of it I really liked, parts of it I very strongly disliked - hence the 2 stars.

First of all, this is the first book I've ever read where I've consciously found it to be triggering. I definitely would recommend that people with eating disorders (whether active or recovering) do NOT read it.

It starts out with a very strong "skinnier is faster" message that lasts a few pages, and then as an afterthought it is mentioned that of course it is possible to get too skinny, because you need to avoid lots of big injuries, and losing muscle mass as needed for your sport.

This pretty much sets the tone for the book. Arguments for how you should (and sometimes just that you should) lose weight. And then, as if prodded by an editor or a random thought, a note of how you shouldn't lose TOO much weight. An example being the pages about a cyclist who got down to 4% body fat, and is lauded by the author for it, and then a few lines denoting, that it might not be necessary to go to 4% for everybody. The author does not mention that it would be extremely unhealthy for at least half the population, that is: women, to attempt to go to a body composition where on 4% is fat.

Sentences like "step up their efforts to get leaner", the all caps "WEIGHT AND BODY-FAT PERCENTAGE ARE MORE STRONGLY CORRELATED WITH FINISH TIMES THAN ARE TRAINING VARIABLES", "The physiological machinery of oxygen consumption just doesn't scale well to increasing body mass" are examples of what I find to be a problematic sentiment that seems to be the number one message of the book.

However, there were some extremely interesting summaries of science behind how athletes may fuel their bodies, and I must admit that I enjoyed Fitzgerald's frequent bashings of fad diets.

The author discusses many of the prevalent diet myths of our time (going back at least a few decades), and I found those bits very engaging and note worthy.

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

And that is how it's done!

I was blown away by this book. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about nutrition, but I found a whole lot of useful information here about things to tweak in my eating patterns to improve my sports performance and to get leaner. Before I go into the details let me pose a few questions for you:

1)Do you think the lowest weight you can achieve should be your target weight to maximize racing performance?
2)Do you agree with low-carb diets being the best way to lose weight and keep it off?
3)In your opinion, is calorie-counting essential when trying to achieve your optimal race weight?
4)Do you think that the timing during the day of your intake of different food sources (protein, fats, carbs) has no impact on weight loss?

If the answer to most of these questions is "No", this is the books for you. Actually, even if you answer "Yes" to the questions, you may be swayed to change your opinion after reading Fitzgerald's clear and insightful explanations.

It all starts with finding a target for racing weight, and this is not based on height or BMI, it is based on % of body fat. You will have to estimate this in some shape or form, the easiest one being a scale that provides this measurement. The target is an approximation, because a low body fat per se is not beneficial unless it's associated with better sports performances. Therefore, during this process you will monitor your performance at different weights / body fat % combinations to determine what your optimal situations is.

One of the main aspects I liked about the book is the philosophy about balanced nutrition. I am one of those people that is completely against low-carb diets, since when I have tried this is in the past, I have felt awful. The author presents us with a "scoring system" for our eating during the day in which healthy foods provide you with a positive score but these points diminish as you eat more servings during the day. Unhealthy foods have a negative score, and you goal is to score as high as possible within reason. Since I was eating healthy, I did not drastically change my eating habits, however, one of the elements that are important is timing of nutrition, with more carbs early in the day and relatively more protein later. Also, the author makes you aware of some foods that hide sugar in them and that should be avoided when possible. These simple changes have made me leaner than I ever was.

Like I mentioned before, the book does not focus on counting calories (unless you are in the off season and not training much and need to jump start your weight loss), but there are some recommendations about how to manage hunger. This does not mean that you are severely going to limit your food intake, but instead that you should focus on eating the right portions and combinations of nutrients to deliver your needs without overeating.

There is a section about strength training and high intensity training which were the portions of the book that I did not pay that much attention to. I already have a training plan that works and I do not want to mess with that at this point. This may be helpful to others though, so just be aware that it's there too.

Overall, this is a truly excellent book, with a lot of information and explanations on why the author recommends the course of action he presents to us. It is so good in fact that I have decided to read pretty much any other book he has written, hopefully with the same results. I recommend this book to all endurance athletes without reservations. As I mention that, I should point out that there is even a section dealing with athletes that are vegetarian and with those that have gluten intolerance.

[Mirkat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Fitzgerald offers endurance athletes a different approach to weight reduction than the usual "diet" model. Instead, he outlines a system of improving diet quality, managing appetite through nutrient timing, calculating carb needs based on ideal racing weight + training volume and protein needs based on body weight, and finding the appropriate balance of training volume and intensity. He also identifies how to determine ideal weight/body composition.

As a vegan athlete, I will mention that he is clearly in favor of meat and dairy (as he sees excluding them as artificially restricting categories of "good" foods).* However, he at least recognizes that there are elite endurance athletes who thrive on vegan or vegetarian diets, and he includes a table to use for his "Dietary Quality Score" (DQS) if you are a vegan or vegetarian. Also, in the section where he provides samples from various elite endurance athletes' food journals, he includes Scott Jurek (yay! :)).

I've just completed reading the book, so I haven't yet implemented his plan, but I have high hopes that it will help me improve my body composition over the course of my next marathon-training cycle.

*He's a bit dismissive about T. Colin Campbell, claiming that he relies too heavily to epidemiology and not enough on "common sense." Isn't "common sense" what people resort to when they don't have the science to back up their claims? I happen to find Campbell's research on meat and dairy compelling, but Fitzgerald just sweeps it aside. This almost made me grumpy enough to knock him down to three stars, but he did redeem himself a bit by allowing that meat and dairy are not necessary for endurance-sports success.

[Aaron Maurer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I train for my first marathon I decided to give this a read. I posted several posts last year about the first version of this concept of Racing Weight. I found this book to be very helpful. As I read the Quick Start Guide I found much of it to be very similar to the Racing Weight: How To Get Lean for Peak Performance. That is not to say that it is a bad book, but for being a quick start it was still crammed with information. A lot of good information. I performed the calculations and I understood everything.

This book did help me gain the perspective needed to lose the necessary weight. I did not go to any of the websites and I did not follow the plan perfectly. However, I learned some very useful tips and ideas to help maintain my weight and how to shed a few unwanted pounds. I still have a ways to go, but this book is a great read to learning about the steps needed. I cannot say I learned tons of new information from the previous book, but by this book coming out I did refresh my memory on many things that I had forgotten about. If you have not read the previous book, then this will be a great resource for you. If you have already read the previous book, then I would check it out from the library and read through it for the new things added.

[Alexandra Chauran · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm probably judging this book more harshly because I actually paid for the Kindle edition. The author seemed to flip-flop on his target audience. The first 40% of the book seemed to oddly enough be geared towards overweight people who have no idea that what they're eating is bad. Then we got into a quality, meaty portion of the book until I was about 54% through and then he flipped back again. I got this book because I thought it was for athletes fine-tuning those last body fat percentage points, but was annoyed by his cute little "Diet Quality Score (DQS)" system presumably addressing an audience of people horfing down bags of Doritos and then trying to bolt 26.2 miles? I was infuriated by the appeal to "natural" foods. Look, I eat more raw fruits, veggies and nuts than the next person, but the idea that what's natural is good is not supported by science here. It's natural to live only until I give birth and then die. It was, however, refreshing how much he hated fad diets like gluten-free and low-carb and vegan (I'm a self-hating vegan).

I was also frustrated by the only oblique references to calories in and calories out, preferring to defer to intuitive eating (See: Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works and Weigh Down Diet). Calorie research was the information I was really hoping to see. It's just science. I can eat whatever "natural" food I want to excess or I could accidentally eat a caloric deficit that doesn't support my training. He explains this, but then does nothing to help the reader calculate what calories are ideal. What caloric surplus or deficit does he recommend for different points in the training season? He even refuses to print exact portions or calories when he gives us a fascinating peek into the daily meals of famous athletes. Why not? I assume there's a reason. here's my theory: The guy is accused of supporting eating disorders. With his shyness about calories I can see why. He pretends that he was surprised by this controversy. "Who me?" Batting eyelashes in the last chapter. Hah! You can't tell me that I should weigh 93-102lbs while running screaming away from telling me how many calories I should be eating and how many I'm burning and then pretend that you're not setting people up for failure. Still, the take-away point from this book is good: Set up an Excel spreadsheet with your race times and weight at the time. See which weight supports the best time through trial and error. That is, by definition, your healthy weight. A knowledgeable athlete can surely do the caloric math. A reasonable assumption by the author I'll concede. However, if an athlete can do that, then he or she doesn't need a silly DQS exercise made for elementary school kids.

P.S. DO NOT attempt to replicate the Romanian Deadlift diagrammed in the appendix. That rounded back will bust your shit up (See: Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training).

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a sports registered dietitian specializing in endurance athletes, certified running coach, & competitive runner myself I’ve been asked about this book, so I decided to finally read it… I cannot say I recommend it.

First & foremost, Fitzgerald is a journalist & “certified nutritionist”, but what does this even mean? Based on this vague credential, additional research by me, & the contents of the book I cannot confidently deduce that he studied nutrition in any official capacity like I did to become a dietitian. I always tell potential clients or anyone that asks me about nutrition to look up the credentials or ask anyone they get nutrition information from as a lot of people share nutrition information, but few studied nutrition & actually share evidence based information. I do want to be clear though, I’ve read a few of his other running based books & liked them. This is the only one I did not like & partially because he did not stay in his lane-let dietitians write about nutrition please!

There were a few good nuggets in the book, like eating high quality/highly nutritious foods as an athlete (i.e. fruits & veggies), but overall the information was out-dated & biased. He seems anti-vegetarian & vegan for one. We have evidence in the research & from real life plant-based athletes at all levels of competition that you can perform strongly in sports without meat. Plant-based athletes may benefit from personalized nutrition counseling to ensure they meet their daily needs as it can be tricky though. But honestly athletes that eat meat can struggle & benefit from additional nutritional guidance as well. Also, the advice to so closely monitor weight & body fat can be triggering for many people & lead to an eating disorder or at least under-eating for your needs as an athlete, which can lead to poor performance or an injury. Lastly, workouts should never be done in a fasted state, even if an athlete is hoping to change their body composition, & there is research to back up the detrimental effects of fasting on athletic performance, so I was surprised to see this outdated recommendation. For an athlete looking to make weight changes, it’s best done under supervision of a sports dietitian & done slowly.

In this book, he used food journals from pro athletes to back up his claims & honestly everyone is so different genetically & in their daily needs that you shouldn’t try to emulate a pro athlete’s diet, but rather find what works for YOU. And many of the athlete journals he shared were not eating an amount I’d say was always appropriate for the athlete… Some of those athletes could have benefited from increased calorie or carbohydrate consumption & nutrition counseling with a dietitian.

All in all, if you are struggling with weight (gain or loss) as an athlete it would be best to work 1:1 with a dietitian to get a personalized plan based on nutrition science & your unique circumstances, rather than one that emulates pro athletes who have had success in their respective sports or with changing their body composition. This book had “body as a business card” vibes & I know professionally as a sports dietitian + running coach & personally as a competitive runner of many years that successful athletes can come in a variety of sizes.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across this book when I was in the running section at Barnes and Noble. A woman who was also there recommended it to me as we discussed our upcoming races. I am a runner and she is a triathlete. I found when training for the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon, my training program and everything else I read seemed to focus mainly on the mileage and never on the nutrition. This bothered me because I knew I was not eating properly. Once you take on that type of distance the amount of food and type of food you once ate is no longer good enough. You are no longer an average joe but now you must consider yourself as an endurance athlete. I knew I was not eating what my body needed. I knew this because it told me so. I never cared much for red meat until my mileage increased and then I craved it everyday. Maybe it wasn't the red meat, but rather the iron from the meat that my body needed in order to go the distance.

Racing Weight has some very interesting points. I enjoyed how Matt Fitzgerald discussed our early way of life, people lived off of, nuts, berries, and the occasional piece of fish. Describing our ancestors as hunters and gathers, and claiming that is still a diet option for us today. He also goes in depth about the yo yo diets, such as the low carb, or high meat diets, and how they are just recipes for disaster for endurance athletes because they deprive the muscles of fuel. However, the main point of the book is how to get lean for peak performance, or in other words how to obtain your ultimate racing weight in order to perform the best you can. The beginning of this book is fantastic. He talks about each type of endurance athlete, their body type, and what their body fat percentage should be during peak performance. I found it really interesting that he mentioned how the swimmers body holds the highest body fat percentage compared to all the other endurance athletes because they are consistently emerged into cold water.

Fitzgerald discusses the brilliance of the human body, and teaches one to think of food as fuel. He teaches about calories in and calories out. He lists helpful websites to visit, and discusses the different scales/tools to use in order to keep track and measure weight and body fat.

Overall the book was helpful, however I found his writing style hard to grasp because he uses a lot of math, measuring, and numbers in order to make points. I also found him contradicting through out the book. For example, he mentions high intensity work outs vs. moderate, but I am still questioning which one burns more fat and which one is more helpful for endurance athletes. He also uses a lot of scientific studies through out the book that contradict each other.

At the end, he includes recipes and some strength training workouts.

[Kellie Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not expect to rate a book about sports nutrition with 5 stars. It deserves 5 stars for 3 reasons- the content is useful and important, the topic is well researched and based on data, and the author (Matt Fitzgerald) is an excellent writer. I do not know how many other authors are an English major, sports journalist, athlete, and certified sports nutritionist. The combination results in a fantastic book!

The main premise of the book is that endurance sports performance is best when the athlete is at the optimal body weight and leanness. Excess body fat is the enemy of performance in every endurance sport.

Fitzgerald describes six specific practices that he considers the keys to weight management success of top athletes. The practices can also benefit other athletes. I consider myself more of an extreme fitness buff than an athlete, but still think the practices are worth a try.

The practices are:
1. Improve your diet quality. Fitzgerald talks about various measures of diet quality. He indicates glycemic index is not a good measure of quality because it isolates one characteristic of food, pulls it out of context, and blows it out of proportion. Although there is an association between glycemic index and food quality, there are high quality high GI foods.

Fitzgerald indicates the only truly useful measure of a food's value is its total concentration and balance of nutrients. He created the Diet Quality Score (DQS). The score considers the intrinsic wholesomeness of foods, balance, and moderation. Foods are divided into six high quality categories (fruits; vegetables; lean meats and fish; nuts and seeds; whole grains; dairy) and four low quality categories (refined grains; sweets; fried foods; fatty proteins). He provides a scoring system so you can evaluate your current diet and determine what changes will improve the quality. It will take some work at first, but the need to score your diet should decrease ( or disappear) after you establish healthy eating habits. No foods are forbidden, but low quality foods bring down the score.

Chapter 11 includes good examples for each of the high quality categories.

2. Manage your appetite. Fitzgerald emphasizes appetite management instead of calorie counting. He provides information about real hunger (belly hunger) and hedonic hunger (head hunger- the desire to eat for pleasure). How much we eat is determined by fullness, portion size, and environment. He provides information to help manage the negative effects of portion size and environment.

3. Balance your energy sources. This section includes a lot of information about the importance of carbs. Fitzgerald is the first person to make a convincing case to me that high glycemic index carbs were not invented by the devil. He includes information about the Zone and Paleo diets and why they are not optimal for fueling athletes. He presents scientific evidence and doesn't bash the higher protein diets.

4. Monitor yourself. Athletes need to monitor performance, diet, weight, and body composition. The book describes tools to use for monitoring. Over time, it is less important to monitor diet because the nutrition practices become habit.

5. Time your nutrition. The timing depends on training schedule. In general- carbs early and protein late. The schedule he describes is the opposite of what I follow. His explanation makes sense, so I will make some changes and experiment.

6. Train right. Interesting claim by Fitzgerald- "Despite an increasingly popular belief to the contrary, exercise is the most powerful factor in successful weight management." This claim is one that he does not explain or support well enough. He indicates more than 90 percent of people who succeed in losing large amounts of weight and keeping the weight off exercise regularly. However, he does not mention people who exercise and are not at a healthy weight. Many fitness experts emphasize that you cannot exercise away a high calorie crappy diet. Fitzgerald's statement makes sense within the context of this book, which is focused on pairing diet and performance.

Fitzgerald provides information about the proper balance of high and low intensity training. Athletes should spend more time on low intensity training, but high intensity training is essential for performance improvement. Strength training is an important component of training for endurance sports. The book includes specific strength exercises for different endurance sports.

After the chapters on the six practices, there is information about training schedules. This information is useful for athletes preparing for an event. There are also chapters on specific high quality goods, diet examples from endurance pros, and specific populations. The specific populations include gluten free, vegetarian, older, and younger. I was not surprised to learn that I entered the older category at least a decade ago. I better speed up the process and apply the information from the book to my life NOW !!

I highly recommend this book to any athlete or fitness buff who wants to improve their performance. Fitzgerald is the author of other books on nutrition, running, and training. I plan to read more of his books and may become a groupie!

[Stephanie Cade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn’t interested in this topic specifically, just wanted to read some Fitzgerald and this is the first book the library gave me.

Some of the info and tone around weight loss in this is definitely dated. Contains triggering advice such as obsessive monitoring of your weight and body fat percentage. Some is still valid (supplements, avoid IF, nutrient timing).

Some of the pro athletes’ “day of eating” were concerning to me…and I’m wary of any author AND editor combo who uses the spelling “dietician”.

I’m ready for some fiction now…

[Aleksander Zawalich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solidna książka, podobała mi się. Była oparta na wielu badaniach naukowych, dobór tematów też był z szerokiego spektrum, a styl pisania mnie nie odrzucał. Bardzo podobało mi się wyszczególnienie poszczególnych dyscyplin sportowych i grupowanie wskazówek do konkretnych z nich. Mam wrazenie, że świetnie odnajdą się w niej amatorzy i Ci już trochę trenujący - ma niską barierę wejścia, a wskazówki wydają się być stosunkowo proste do wdrożenia i nieskomplikowane. Odejmuję jedną gwiazdkę za błędy w składzie (pojedyncze linijki bez jakichkolwiek spacji), a także za rozdział o przepisach czołowych sportowców - które w mojej opinii niestety ciężko będzie zreplikować na naszym polskim podwórku. Ale ogólnie polecam, czytało się przyjemnie i szybko.

[Rainey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have tried to renovate my diet for years. What I like best about this methodology is that it doesn't put me inside of a box with set numbers or calorie totals, it simply asks me to make choices. I'm awarded points for making good choices in the app with the number assigning, and making poor choices comes with point deduction consequences. He breaks everything down so easily that the real glaring errors in my diet became so apparent and I easily was able to make good changes. This book was recommended to me by a friend over a year ago and I really wish I hadn't waited so long to listen to her. So, listen to me and if you are hoping to change your diet to be more efficient in whatever exercise you do....read this book.

[Victoria Zabuzova · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know all the spoilers: you need optimal weight (usually - get lean) for better sports performance. Since exercises/training requires energy, one shouldn't just cut calories - it is usually very inexact count, lots of effort, willpower, and fuss. Do smarter - don't eat junk, don't eat if not hungry, carbs in the morning, proteins - in the evening, drink lots of water.
But if you're far from optimal performance weight - cut calories. (like huh?)...
Also, typical show-off meal plans of some athletes.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The purpose of weight management for the endurance athlete is better performance. The bathroom scale alone cannot determine whether a particular dietary habit or training pattern is effective. The stopwatch is a final arbiter."

Fitzgerald uses scientific data and real examples of elite athletes in this guide for endurance athletes to learn to perform their best. It wasn't dense or boring like you might expect. Rather, it was practical and informative while delivering healthy, positive and encouraging words to the reader.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine, and I definitely got distracted reading it. Nothing ground breaking here, although I'm also not sure how much science there actually is to back up his plan (in part because I am not going to read the studies and because most of them seem to be very small).

[Mehmet S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been a life changer. I am living by this book!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not really the target audience for this book, not being an elite or endurance athlete. But there were still some useful takeaways and I’m glad I read it.

[Tracey Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read about fuelling the body for endurance sports

[Mark Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

The meat of this book is contained in chapters 7-11. Fitzgerald includes a Diet Quality Score table and a lot of advice on how to reach your optimum racing weight. He includes specific advice for endurance sports like distance running, rowing, swimming, and triathlon.

Chapters 12-14 felt a little bit like fluff to me. They covered some sample recipes for athletes, a list of what some pro athletes eat, and a quick chapter containing Fitzgerald's opinion on some of the most common available supplements.

I did find his Diet Quality Score table to be helpful and I'm currently using it, time will tell how effective it is. If you enjoy running, this will be a worthwhile addition to your bookshelf to use as an occasional reference.

[Shira · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rare thing; a book for runners that attempts to actually help and educate you, not make you buy more junk. His books can be dense with information at times, so skim away (read the part about energy drinks, for example) and then return to different parts of his book as questions pop into your head.
You could absolutely read this straight through, but I found it useful to pick through it in bits and pieces (at least for the second reading). I think Fitzgerald is a gifted author with a talent for explaining things to runners, and I sincerely appreciate everything he does for the amateurs in the sport who are trying to improve.

[Niki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great information for nutrition for endurance atheletes...that is if you are an elite competitive runner. Fitzgeralds information and advice was sound, all backed by research and common sense. I learned a lot about the athlete's body and ways to nourish it best. However, for the recreational endurance runner, this is not a practical guide. Still a great read!

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm relatively new to long distance running as a whole and nutrition is something I struggled with. Mpstly not knowing what to eat or how much to eat. The tips in this book have been life-changing. I have lost 8 pounds in a little over a month without even trying to diet, which have improved my performance! It's a game changer!

[Ijeoma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book. It could be that it was not what I was looking for at the time. Depending on where one is in their fitness/ running journey, certain books may appeal to them. I may try and review this book again at a later time and see if my opinion changes.

[An Te · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple tips from the author.
1. Vary the intensity of workout to suits your goals.
2. Eat plenty of carbs (on the whole a sound approach), which can be measured according to activity levels.
3. Quality of the food matters.
4. Keep note of sleep and false calories.
5. Be consistent and turn-up.

[Matt Busche · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of fluff, but definitely some good take aways as well. Good for anyone who wouldn't consider themselves an expert in nutrition.

[Cole Ramirez · Rating 3 out of 5]

The frustration of running 60 miles a week and still finding myself unable to lose the 10 pounds I inexplicably gained last year drove me to pick up Matt Fitzgerald's book, Racing Weight. Admittedly I am far more concerned with "fit into my old jeans weight" and soon, "bathing suit weight", than I am about lightening up for a faster race pace, but I still thought the book may help me achieve my goals.

Take aways:

>Weight management should not be the primary objective of an endurance athlete's training. Performance enhancement should be the primary goal (9).
>Optimal body weight and optimal body composition are not the same thing (26). Fitzgerald encourages regular tracking of body fat percentage in addition to weight.
>In a study of 120,000 people, the average person gained 0.84lb a year over a 20 year period (16.86lb total) (56). I guess my 10lb in one year makes me an overachiever!
>The effect of a food on hunger is determined primarily by its volume and only secondarily by the calories within it (64).
>17% of the calories in the average diet come from sweets (68)
>the more variety on the plate, the more people tend to eat (83)

Fitzgerald proposes a system for assessing how healthy a daily diet is using Diet Quality Scores (DQS). Instead of counting calories, the DQS system awards points for healthy choices (vegetables, lean meats, etc.) and deducts points for less healthy choices (sweets, fatty meats, etc.). I have been using his system for the last few weeks as I read through the book and can say that while it has not resulted in any weight loss, it has improved my diet. I was already a healthy eater by most standards, but DQS has compelled me to eat even MORE vegetables and more whole grains than before.

That being said, the book seems more geared toward runners with an unhealthy diet. A runner who goes from eating junk at every meal to high quality foods is going to lose weight and improve performance. There was little help for the runner who ALREADY eats healthfully (high DQS score) and cannot seem to drop the weight. He repeatedly argues against calorie counting, but then proposes that people eat at a slight calorie deficit to lose weight. I'm confused. I have moved on to his "Quick Start Guide" book and am hoping to be enlightened.

Reading through the daily diets of elite athletes at the end was interesting, although it would have been more effective if he had scored their diets using his DQS system. In looking at the quantity of food listed for some of the females (Georgia Gould, Shannon Rowbury), it would appear as though my problem is eating too much. 1/2 english muffin and 1/2 banana for breakfast just isn't going to cut it. Forget fueling a workout; that's not even enough for me to get through to school drop off! But I guess that's why they're 100lb and I'm, well, not.

Last note: weird that the whole chapter on strength training talks about short rep heavy lifting being the best strength training for runners, but then all of the exercises he suggest are bodyweight only. Inconsistent.

All in all, it's not a perfect book, but I enjoyed the read and am encouraged to continue making small improvements to my diet that will hopefully, eventually result in the loss of my mystery weight gain.

[W F]

Fitzgerald Racing Weight
a 160lb runner has to work 6.5% harder to run the same pace as a 150lb runner
training increases metabolism more than appetite; endurance athletes keep weight off without regain due to reduced appetite and increased metabolic rate when at rest
every day, you constantly send your body signals of whether to gain or lose muscle or fat
rule of thumb: limit weight gain for off season within 8% of racing weight (ex: 150-162lbs)
long-term training sends consistent signals to the body to get lean and stay lean
expand your repertoire of low-mid intensity cross-training workouts during the off-season
observation through measuring your intake is enough to create long-term behavioral change through un-restrictive, automatic practices of moderation
try to eat at least 25% of total daily calories at breakfast; space the rest around workouts
five pillars of creating and sustaining body composition:
1: improve nutrient sources (experiement with food choices)
2: balance energy sources (dial-in your macros)
3: nutrient timing
getting a good amount of food at the right times promotes muscle health and promotes the usage of fat stores
too much or too little food to meet immediate energy needs adds bodyfat
eat early (just light fuel before the first workout)
eat often, before/after exercise (supports muslce growth and fat loss)
4: manage your appetite
practice nutrient timing: substantial breakfast, frequent meals, eat slowly
eat mindfully: replace stress-eating with other coping mechanisms, be aware of habitual eating times/quantities and work to change them over time, and experiment with smaller portions to satisfy but not stuff yourself
eat high-satiety foods: long-chain fatty acids, fiber, calcium, proteins
eat a filling 100-200c portion 15 minutes before a meal
eat low-density foods: veggies, soups
eat less: leptin sensitivity takes time (7-10 days); develop your appetite
5: train right
increase moderate-intensity volume, high-intensity training, and strength
weight gain/loss is easy and attainable for endurance athletes; make gradual change

[Emily Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

It should be clearly stated that anybody with a history of a complicated relationship with food should avoid this book.

That being said, I found parts of it interesting and helpful, and other parts outdated with current scientific understanding of nutrition (it was written in 2012 so this is to be expected).

Also bear in mind his entire ideology is that elite runners are by definition the best. So if we want to get better as runners, we should copy what they do. Which works to an extent, but also the average person isn’t training to be an elite professional, so it doesn’t necessarily apply as cleanly cut as he makes it out to be. All in all, my biggest take aways were to continue trying to eat high quality, Whole Foods, and avoid excess sugar outside of workouts. Eat during my longer endurance workouts to fuel myself, and overall eat more carbs. Learn to listen to “belly hunger” vs. “head hunger.” All these will help the endurance athlete become leaner without trying to eat in a deficit, and stay healthy.

He took a while to explain that by “leaner,” he doesn’t mean just “lose weight.” But rather have the ultimate goal of working towards better performance by reducing body fat percentage. Crash diets don’t work and aren’t sustainable and will lead to injury in the context of endurance training.

Outdated bits of info include a drastic undervaluing of protein, overemphasis on the importance of nutrition timing (we now know it doesn’t matter nearly as much as once thought), and “drinking one alcoholic drink every day is good for heart health” (it isn’t, evidence of any benefit or daily alcohol consumption is shaky at best).

Also don’t use the appendix with diagrams of strength training exercises. Some of them are comically horrible and will likely injure yourself (as others have pointed out)

[Jakub · Rating 4 out of 5]

więcej znajdziesz na www.jakeczyta.blogspot.com

Matt Fitzgerald daje do dyspozycji czytelników - amatorów sportów wytrzymałościowych książkę, która zbiera bardzo szeroko zakrojone podejście do diety sportowej i tematu zrównoważonego żywienia. Już na początku muszę zaznaczyć, że książka jest leciwa - wydana w 2012 roku, a 13 lat w nauce to jest przepaść. I ten wiek i oldschoolowe podejście do tematu widać w kolejnych rozdziałach. Kolejną rzeczą, która rzuca się w oczy od samego początku jest fakt, że Matt Fitzgerald jest Amerykaninem. Przy okazji omawiania jadłospisów czy artykułów spożywczych autor reklamuje zupy z puszki i artykuły, które zostały wstępnie przetworzone. W dzisiejszych czasach nie do pomyślenia! Książka niesie ze sobą jednak o wiele więcej dobrego niż to o czym wspomniałem. Przede wszystkim wprowadza w temat w taki sposób, że każdy nowicjusz odnajdzie się w treści i krok po kroku będzie w stanie z dieta eksperymentować. Kolejnym plusem są dopasowania czy przykładowe jadłospisy czołowych sportowców z tamtego okresu w głównych dyscyplinach wytrzymałościowych. Z racji tego, że sam uprawiam triathlon właśnie podejście do żywienia triathlonistów mnie zaciekawiło. Ostatnią rzeczą, która jest w pewien sposób nierozerwalnie związana z dietą są suplementy. I tutaj też autor opisuje najpopularniejsze z nich, razem z ich działaniem i korzyściami. Oczywiście, przez te kilkanaście lat rynek suplementów zmienił się diametralnie, ale część z nich nadal jest stosowana.

Podsumowując, 'Waga startowa' to niezła książka, która najwięcej korzyści przyniesie nowicjuszom w temacie diety sportowej czy zrównoważonego żywienia. Dla bardziej zaawansowanych osób nie dodaje niec nowego, ale może pomóc w pewien sposób usystematyzować sobie swoją wiedzę w tym zakresie.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primarily targeted at endurance athletes, but most of the nutritional advice is applicable to just about everyone. He starts with a simple method to determine a target goal weight for maximum performance (rather than an arbitrary number on the scale), it's simple enough that I'm surprised more people haven't picked up on it. He then focuses on the quality of one's diet, with a simple point system that rewards eating a variety of good foods and penalizes consuming too many bad ones (similar to Weight Watchers, but mostly independent of calories, which are dealt with separately).

He stresses the importance of eating sufficient carbs for athletic performance, as well as protein for endurance athletes (and not just bodybuilders). All of the assertions are backed by references to the scientific literature, and supported by case studies of several world class athletes.

The weakest section is the sample recipes, which seem to have been created with a 12-year old's palate and cooking skills in mind, with soy sauce the most exotic flavour (do we really directions on making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?)

The biggest issue I have is that instead of writing a single comprehensive book, for some reason he broke up the content into a "series" of volumes, with huge amounts of overlap and occasionally contradictory advice. Flipping back and forth between multiple books is not the best way to grok a diet /training plan.