Let's face it, figure skaters are tiny. I found myself becoming anxious as I watched one particularly skinny Russian girl be thrown around by her male partner. "If she hit the ice, would she shatter?" I thought. The next thought: "What do they even eat?" The eating habits of Olympians have been well-documented, from the spreads at the Olympic Village to Michael Phelps's daily feasts of epic proportions. However, when I watch the games, I see more focus on how skaters train rather than what they eat. It was the footage of Kimmie Meissner working out during the last Olympic games that inspired me to amp up my exercise routine a bit.
So what the heck do they eat? According to this
article on Yahoo! Health, they "eat for the gold." I had no idea what that entailed, so I read on. It listed, in chronological order, several famous skating stars and their typical diets on the day of competition. The responses ranged from "bland foods such as eggs and cottage cheese" to "whole wheat toast" to "delicious, homemade soups like chipotle sweet potato and cheesy yogurt-broccoli."
The last one sounds the best to me, and the most helpful for keeping warm during a long day on the ice!
What do you think? Any skaters out there? What do you eat to keep yourself healthy and fit?
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Comments (10)
my friend's sister is a competitive figure skater and she eats really healthy. lots of fruits, veggies, and lean proteins. contrary to what people might think when they see her, she does eat relatively large quantities, but she does some sort of training every day so she needs to eat a lot just to maintain her weight. she never (and i mean NEVER) eats junk foods or even junk foods posing as healthy foods. most of her food is fresh as well. i almost never see her eat anything pre-packaged or processed. she's really tiny, but her entire body is ridiculously toned. it's insane...in a good way.
Figure skaters aren't all that tiny. I mean, they're healthy but they're not anorexic looking or anything. Of course, most of the bulk is muscle, especially in the legs.
@TheLuckiestWomanEver@xanga - agreed. well said... I was going to say something similar.
@TheLuckiestWomanEver@xanga - my friend is a figure skater and runner, her leg muscles make mine look tiny and I'm the kind of girl who hates skinny jeans b/c the muscle doesn't fit (I run more than her & lift while she doesn't)
As a skater, I must say you are the first person I've heard of that thinks we're tiny! Hell, my thighs have ALWAYS been much bulkier (although less jiggly) than most girls'. But hey, stronger the legs, the higher the jumps.
Anyways, when I was training I was very health concious, I mostly lived on fruit (quick energy), brown rice (stored energy), veggies (kept me full), and lean protiens like trukey and mustard sandwiches or peanut butter on wheat crackers. Keep in mind, skaters have a lot of compact muscle: we usually need far more protien to sustain such muscle and less fat calories to prevent fat pounds than the normal person.
If you want to go on a diet, you need to do what works for you; every individuals metabolism is VERY unique. Then again, if you want to skate it's the most fun and effortless workout I know considering the amount of calories it burns! Plus that, even when I packed on the pounds since I quit training . . . my buns of steel still remain, since I was 4 :) LMAO. So if you decide to hit the ice and you need some tips, let me know!
Really? Does it matter what they eat? You won't suddenly transform your body to look like a figure skater unless you adopt their exercise regime as well. Most people aren't going to be willing to do this. I think vixen_with_a_cause described their diet well. It isn't much different than the diets of other athletes.
I am a figure skater and I stick to WHOLE GRAIN. TONS OF PROTEIN. FRESH FRUIT AND VEGGIES. I've adopted alottttt of the eating habbits of a vegitarian except I MUST eat some kind of lean protein so that im not constantly hungry...I dont eat tofu either. Mostly just turkey/chicken so basically poultry. however, it doesnt mean a TON if you dont really adjust your eating habbits when you start skating...but it will help you if you have alot of energy and dont feel sluggish. Like vixen_with_a_cause said, metabolism is VERYYYYY key in this. but a hugeee point is DONT COMPETETIVELY SKATE TO LOSE WEIGHT!!! DO IT BECUASE YOU LOVE IT!
OH YEAH....and figure skaters, TINY???? HELL NO! im 5'2 (yeah, shorty) but weigh 110 pounds. DONT STEREOTYPE.
You can pretty much eat anything like
kamagra. Just try to eat some what healthy.
Especially when you are about to go and skate. I pretty much eat what I
want. Accept before competition. You want to be really healthy for that.
But it is a really active sport, so you can pretty much eat anything.