Korbin Myers (Human Performance)

Sports Nutrition/Dieting
High School athletes (ages 15-18)
Fitness/ Athletic Training Center

Background:
Elite Eating
Sports Nutrition/ Dieting Program
Topic: Calories
Session: 1/10
Audience: 15-19-year-old high school athletes
Setting: Fitness/ Athletic Training Center

Introduction:
Sports nutrition is a vital part of a high school athletes performance and the topic of
calories is necessary to be taught to high school athletes (ages 15-18) for them to understand how
they get energy and all the processes of absorbing and storing the calories they intake during the
day. Research has shown that athletes use, absorb, and store calories different from your
everyday person. The recommended calorie intake on food labels from the FDA is 2,000. The
average female athlete needs more than the recommended 2,000 calories a day to perform at an
elite level and men need even more. According to the University of Missouri, female athletes
need between 20-23 calories per pound of body weight while men need between 23- 36 calories
per pound of body weight depending on the sport they participate in (CNA 2012). It is important
for these athletes to learn their own specific calorie needs because the greatly differ from the
recommendations by the FDA and can impact their athletic performance. High school athletes
need to learn about calories so they can optimize their performance by maintaining a healthy
diet.

Goals:
1. Athletes will increase their knowledge on the two types of fat and why they are created.
2. Athletes will develop skill on how to correctly calculate their personal caloric needs.
3. Athletes will value the importance of the information that food labels provide.

Objectives:
1. At the conclusion of this session, the athletes will be able to list the two types of fat and what
they are on the end of class group activity.
2. At the conclusion of this session, the athletes will be able to correctly calculate their individual
caloric needs during the in-class assignment.
3. At the conclusion of this session, the athletes will be honestly show that they value the
importance of the information food labels provide by participating in the group discussions and
showing interest during the food label practices.

Initiation:
As an introduction to this lesson, I will have athletes break up into small groups (3-5) and
discuss things they do not know or want to learn about calories. Each group will write down a
list of questions on a small piece of paper and turn them in. I will then review each groups paper
and address common questions to the entire group.

Content Outline:
Content Method Time Materials
I. Initiation Group Questions/ 5 min. Paper & Pens
Discussion
II. Why am I Running Lecture 5 min. PowerPoint
This Program
a. Reasons
b. Examples of
Elite Athletes
III. Intro to Sports Lecture 5 min. PowerPoint
 Nutrition
a. Definition
b. Importance
c. Benefits
IV. Calorie Basics Lecture 5 min. PowerPoint
a. Definition
b. Types
i. Nutrient Dense
a. Characteristics
b. Types of Food
ii. Empty
a. Characteristics
b. Types of Food
V. Calculating Calories Lecture 10 min calculators/PowerPoint
a. Formula
i. Male Formula
ii. Female Formula
b. Calories Per Gram
i. Carbohydrate
a. 4 Cal/Gram
ii. Protein
a. 4 Cal/Gram
iii. Fat
a. 9 Cal/Gram
c. Weight Loss/Gain
i. Weight Gain
a. Increase by 500
ii. Weight Loss
a. Decrease by 500
VI. Calorie Storage Lecture 10 min PowerPoint
 a. Fat
i. Where is it Stored
a. Visceral
b. Subcutaneous
1. Common Areas Affected
ii. Adipose Cells
a. Definition
b. Purpose
b. Carbohydrate
i. Glycogen Storage
a. Chemical Makeup
b. Stored in Muscles
c. Stored in Liver
c. Weight Gain
i. Excess Calories Stored in Adipose Cells
ii. Adipose Cells Become Larger
iii. Gives a Fatter Appearance Due to Larger Cells.
VII. Food Labels Lecture 15min PowerPoint
a. Serving Size
b. Recommended Calories
i. Differ for Athletes
ii. Percentages Need to Change
iii. Where They are Located
c. Sugar
i. Recommended Intake
ii. What does Excess Sugar do
iii. Where it is Located
d. Carbohydrates
i. What Percentage of Calories Should be From Carbs
ii. Simple vs Complex Carbs
 iii. Where it is Located
e. Fats
i. Saturated Fat
ii. Trans Fat
iii. What Percentage of Calories Should be From Fats
iiii. Where it is Located
f. Proteins
i. What Percentage of Calories Should be From Protein
ii. Where it is Located
g. Vitamins and Minerals
i. Percentages of Vitamins
ii. Percentages of Minerals
iii. Where They are Listed on a Food Label
h. Ingredients
i. Five-Year-Old Rule
a. Five-Year-Old Cant Pronounce all the Ingredients you Shouldnt Eat it
ii. Words to Know
a. Enriched
b. Modified
c. Reduced
iii. Packaging Tricks
a. Whole Grain vs. Whole Wheat
b. Low Fat vs. Fat Free
c. Low Sugar vs. Sugar Free
d. Low Cholesterol

Content Core:

I. Initiation
Hand out pieces of paper and pencils to each athlete.
 Tell the athletes to get in small groups (3-5)
Have them discuss things they want to know or questions they have about calories and
write them down
Collect papers after five minutes and discuss questions/ concerns with the entire class
II. Why am I Running this Program
Reasons: Explain to the students how sports nutrition has helped me perform in college
athletics. Explain the benefits that proper nutrition has had on my college athletic career.
Examples: Talk about professional athletes who have famous sports diets. Talk about the
Michael Phelps diet and the Manny Pacquiao diet. Explain their tremendous calorie
intake followed by examples of the foods they eat.
III. Intro to Sports Nutrition
Definition of sports nutrition: is the study and practice of nutrition and diet as it relates to
athletic performance. It is concerned with the type and quantity of fluid and food taken by
an athlete, and deals with nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, supplements and organic
substances such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
Go over the importance on sports nutrition. Tell the athletes how proper nutrition can lead
to a better body composition which in turn would lead to better sports performance
(especially carrying around less body fat).
IV. Calorie Basics
Definition of a calorie: the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water
through 1 C
Go over the types of calories which are empty calories and nutrient dense calories.
Nutrient dense calories are full of vitamins, minerals, carbs, and proteins compared to the
total number of calories in the food. Examples of nutrient dense foods are fruits, veggies,
lean meats, whole grains.
Empty calories are foods that have low nutritional value compared to the total number of
calories in the food. Solid fats and added sugars are what make foods like these empty
calories. Examples of these would be many processed foods, snacks including chips,
cookies, candy. Most food with processed sugars are considered empty calorie foods.
V. Calorie Counting
Introduce the recommended calorie formula for males and females.
Males: (88.4 + 13.4 x weight) + (4.8 x height) (5.68 x age)
Females: (447.6 + 9.25 x weight) + (3.10 x height) (4.33 x age)
Have a short in class assignment to let the athletes try to calculate their own caloric needs
by giving them the formula. Let them use phones as calculators or provide them with
extras.
Explain that these equations are your resting metabolic rate or in other words, the rate at
which your body burns calories to maintain itself while at rest. Exercise increases these
rates.
 Explain the macronutrients (fats, carbs, and protein) and explain how many calories are
in each gram of the macronutrients.
1 gram of fat= 9 calories
1 gram of carbs= 4 calories
1 gram of protein= 4 calories
Let the athletes know that macro and micro nutrients will be covered in a later session
during the program
Go into detail on how many calories to add or take away if you want to correctly lose or
gain weight. If you need to gain weight, increase your weekly calorie intake by 500. If
you want to lose weight you can decrease the weekly intake of calories by 500.
VI. Calorie Storage
The main storage of calories comes as fat. There are two main types of fat storage
Visceral fat is fat that accumulates on internal organs like the liver.
The other form of fat is subcutaneous fat which is the fat that is usually between the
layers of the skin that become visible. Also explain to the students why people become
fat. Overweight and obese people have the body composition they do because of enlarged
adipose cells. These are fat cells that expand when excess fat is stored due to excess
calorie intake. The definition of adipose tissue is: connective tissue in which fat is stored
and which has the cells distended by droplets of fat.
Also explain that carbohydrates can be stored in the body. Carbohydrates are stored in
glucose (which is basically stored energy). Glucose can be stored in the muscles and in
the liver. There is also a small amount of glucose that circulates in the bloodstream.
The chemical makeup of glucose is C6H12O6
VII. Food Labels
Go over serving sizes per container. Make sure to tell the athletes that one container
doesnt necessarily mean its the serving size. Also, point out where the serving size is
located (right next to the calories in the top of the food label).
Go over the recommended calories by the FDA which is 2,000. This is not specific to any
one person, it is just a generalized value. Explain to the athletes that their calorie needs
will probably be more than 2,000 because of their activity level and their age. Explain to
the athletes that their percentages will need to be changed. The percentages of nutrients in
the food label will not be the same because their diets will be more than 2,000 calories.
The percentages on the food labels will be less of their overall calorie intake. The
recommended calories are located at the bottom of the main section of the food label.
Explain where the sugar section is located. Sugar is located right above protein near the
bottom of the main section of the food label. The recommended calorie intake from sugar
per day is no more than 150 calories for men and 100 calories for women. Excess sugar
will be stored as fat and lead to one of the two main types of fat.
Explain where the carbohydrate section is located. The carbohydrate section is located
above sugars and the dietary fibers section. The recommended range for carbohydrates is
45-65 percent of your overall calorie intake. This is because carbohydrates are your main
 energy source. Carbohydrates are the most efficient macronutrient for energy, therefore
they are the most required in a balanced diet.
There are two types of carbohydrates: simple and complex. Simple carbs are usually
found in fruits and vegetables and have a simple chemical makeup. These are broken
down easily by the body and used quickly as energy. Complex carbs are found in grains
and starches. Complex carbs have a more complex chemical makeup and can provide
much longer lasting energy to the body because of this. I will go over carbohydrates more
in depth in another session later in the program.
Explain where the fats are located on the food label. The fats are located near the top of
the main section in bold. There will be two types of fat that will be on the food label.
Saturated fat and Trans-fat. Both fats are considered unhealthy fats and should be eaten in
moderation. The overall percentage of fat in your diet should be between 20-35 percent.
Let the athletes know we will go into more depth on fats when we talk about the
macronutrients.
Proteins are located at the bottom of the main section of the food label. The amount of
protein that should be in your diet should be between 10-35 percent of your overall
calorie intake. There are two types of protein, complete and incomplete. Complete
proteins are proteins that include all the nine essential amino acids. Incomplete proteins
are proteins that only include some but not all the essential amino acids. Once again
remind the athletes that I will go over this more in depth when we talk about
macronutrients.
Next explain to the athletes where the vitamins and minerals section is on the food label.
The vitamins and minerals section is located at the bottom of the food label just above the
ingredients section. Explain to the athletes that depending on the vitamin or mineral,
percentages of overall intake change. Each vitamin and mineral requires to be consumed
in different amounts. This will be further discussed in a later session on the
micronutrients. We will discuss some of the major vitamins and minerals and what each
does for the human body. We will also discuss how much of each vitamin or mineral a
person should be consuming during the day in the later session on micros.
Go over the where the ingredients section is located on the food label. The ingredients are
located at the very bottom of the food label. It lists every single ingredient that goes into
whatever product you will be consuming. There are some important rules for looking at
the ingredients. There is a rule of thumb that if a five-year-old cant pronounce every
ingredient listed, then you shouldnt eat the product because it has been modified too
much. Words like enriched, modified, and reduced are key words to look for. These
words mean that the product has been changed from its natural state. It is also important
to look for added sugars and added preservatives. Companies will also try to hide the
ingredients by making the front packaging or box look appealing. Examples could be low
or no sugar, fat, or a low cholesterol. These products may look healthier, but usually there
is a tradeoff. If a product that naturally contains fat is processed and now contains no fat
at all, the company usually put something else in the product to try to make it taste the
same. Sometimes the new healthier product isnt healthier at all.
VIII. Culmination
 At the end of the session summarize what was discussed in class briefly. Ask the athletes
if they have any questions or would like me to explain something into further detail. If
there are no questions, have the athletes get back in their original groups from the
beginning of the session and write down as many things that they learned as possible.
Have the athletes turn the paper in as they are leaving the session. There should be five
minutes at the end of the session for this discussion to take place. If the athletes dont
have any questions or if the time is up, dismiss them and remind them to come back to
the next session and remind them to review any notes they have taken during the session.

Culmination:
At the end of the session, I will briefly summarize what was discussed in the session.
There should be five minutes left at the end of the session to ask for questions or explain some
harder topics that the athletes may be confused about. I will have the athletes get back in their
original groups from the start of the session and write down as many things as possible that they
learned during the session and hand them in when the session is dismissed. I will let them know
what the next session will be about and if they need to bring any specific materials to the next
session. As they are leaving I will encourage them to come back to the next session and to review
any notes taken during this session.

Anticipated Problems and Possible Solutions:

A possible problem with this session may be a time restraint on my PowerPoint
presentation. I might talk too slow or talk too fast during the session and might not have enough
time or might have too much time left at the end of the session. A solution to this problem would
be to make sure there is a clock in the room or to wear a watch or check my phone regularly to
make sure I am on schedule with the session. Another problem that may happen is if the athletes
are not participating in the introduction. A possible solution would be to go around to each group
and listen in on their conversations for a few moments to make sure everyone is participating and
that the groups are staying on task.

Evaluation:
I will be evaluating the athletes with a process evaluation. I will be making sure that the
athletes are participating and demonstrating attentiveness during the introduction and lecture. I
will do this by walking around and listening to group discussions, as well as asking frequent
questions to the class during the lecture. I am hoping that all of the athletes will be participating
in the session in order to learn new and exciting things that were presented in the session. I will
also be evaluating through honest surveys and short quizzes that will be presented to the athletes
during the 10 hour program.