Losing Weight
- To lose weight, you’ve got to burn a higher number of calories than you consume everyday. Each 3,500 caloric deficit you create equates to a pound of fat loss. A healthy rate of fat loss for an athlete is one pound per week, which would take a daily caloric deficit of 500. As a soccer player, you don’t want to lose weight any faster than one pound per week, as that would require creating such an extreme caloric deficit that your body wouldn’t be able to meet the demands of training and thus would adversely affect your performance.
Keeping Track of Your Calories
- To figure out how many calories you should eat everyday, first calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the number of calories you burn everyday at rest. If you’re female, find your BMR with 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years). Males calculate their BMR with 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 X age in years). Then, multiply your BMR by a physical activity factor, which should reflect the intensity of your soccer training. If you only play soccer one to three days a week, multiply your BMR by 1.375. If you play three to five days per week, multiply your BMR by 1.55. If you play six to seven days per week, multiply your BMR by 1.725. Then, make efforts to consume 500 fewer calories than this value everyday, using a notebook to keep track of the foods and calories you consume, to set yourself up to lose one pound per week.
- The Right Foods and Drinks
- The foods that you consume will make a direct impact on your performance. Fruits and vegetables, while low in calories, provide you with carbohydrates, which is what you’ll use as fuel during soccer. They offer vitamins and antioxidants which help to combat the stresses of hard exercise and facilitate healing and recovery. Whole grains, such as whole-wheat pasta, bran flakes and oatmeal, and high fiber carbohydrates, such as peas, lentils and beans, are also good sources of carbohydrates and will help you to feel full longer. Lean proteins, like chicken and turkey, will provide you with the protein you need for tissue repair while also keeping your calorie intake low. Drink at least three liters of water everyday. Avoid high-calorie, low-nutrient foods like fast foods, salami, bacon, chips, donuts and candy. Refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages and limit your intake of sports drinks.
When To Eat
- It’s important to lower your calorie intake by selecting healthy foods rather than cutting out meals. Eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up, because it’ll jump start your metabolism and help you burn more calories. Take in four to six smaller meals throughout the day. Eat a meal containing whole grains the night before a soccer game or big practice and again two to three hours before the game or practice. Going into a game with a full stomach can cause gas and cramping. Within 30 minutes of completing a strenuous workout or game, take in a meal composed of both carbohydrates and protein, such as a piece of whole-wheat toast with peanut butter.
Extra Workouts
- You’re already burning a high number of calories with your soccer games and practice. You may, however, consider adding extra workouts to your regimen, which will lead to more calories burned and thus better set you up to create a caloric deficit. Your workouts should be specific to soccer, so that you’re simultaneously improving conditioning to excel at your sport. Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Kevin Miller recommends an off-season workout for soccer players that includes two sets of five-minute fast jogs, two sets of five minutes of jumping rope and two sets of five minutes of sled push. Another recommended workout is to do six sets of 18-to-18 sprints, which involves sprinting from one 18-yard box to the other 18-yard box, and one 20-minute tempo run, which involves running for 20 minutes at a comfortably hard pace (See References 4).
