Nutrition Tips For Diving Trip

Hi all, I’m going for a diving vacation that will start next Thursday for 7 days. Mainly it will be 6 days diving trips, each day will be 3 to 4 dives. During that period I will be on the boat so there is no gym access. My concern is the diet, how should I modify my nutrition to preserve muscle and fuel for energy? From past diving experience I noticed that I get very hungry after each dive and every time I put on extra weight after such trips. I don’t want to go over my maintenance nor be in a caloric deficit. How can I manage this? Your help is highly appreciated.

Eat as much seafood as possible.

Also, it’s called a vacation for a reason. Don’t have to go overboard (pun intended), but samnit, enjoy yourself and leave your calorie charts at home.

What do you think will happen in 7 days…

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mate this is just like your other thread where you were freaking out about over-eating at a party.

The occasional indulgence isn’t going to kill you. If you loosen up, you might even enjoy it.

@JFG, @Yogi1 Gentlemen, you got me wrong. I don’t fear over eating. I need to know the appropriate nutrition to support diving activity. Let me explain this more.

During my last diving vacation I always felt very hungry after each dive, although diving is all about conserving energy; whenever I come off the water I feel very cold and craving carbs to get warm again. Eating protein tends to make me feel colder not warmer, also eating protein or bing meal before diving is not recommended because of many reasons. What I need to know is what to eat for breakfast, and what is the proper meals between dives (I will do 3 to 4 dives each day), in order to overcome the mentioned problems and also preserve my muscle mass as I’m not going to train for straight 7 days.

Your muscle isnt going anywhere - enjoy the break and keep these basic guidelines in mind:

  • Don’t eat until you feel you’re going to burst
  • Don’t eat obvious crap too often

You wouldn’t expect 7 days of hard, consistent training and dieting to make you if you were slacking off for the other 51 weeks. The opposite is also true, 7 days off schedule won’t break you (probably do you a world of good recovery wise)

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ah ok, sorry, I misunderstood.

In that case, I would think the best way to eat would be they way to fuel a lot of physical activity. Lots of carbs, lots of calories.

Give your body the fuel it’s going to need

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@Yogi1 thanks for the advice bro. So consuming simple carbs between dives wont do problems? Also if I drop the protein intake for 7 days no great muscle mass loss will occur? The major problem is that you can’t choose your meals on board, you are forced to eat what is served, and it is almost carbs (rice, potato, etc.) and small amounts of protein mainly cooked with high amounts of oils and I don’t do well with higher amounts of fats. That’s why I try to avoid the protein served during the trips as much as possible.

[quote=“hanymamdouh, post:4, topic:219276”]
I’m not going to train for straight 7 days.
[…]
Mainly it will be 6 days diving trips, each day will be 3 to 4 dives. [/quote]
You may not be lifting, but you’re certainly active and “exercising” every day, which is probably more activity than you currently do. Increase calories accordingly.

If you avoid protein and focus mainly on carb-rich meals, it’s no wonder you gain weight usually. Eat the protein, scale back on the carb portion if it’s something fried. If you’re really getting in your head, bring some protein powder and have a shake or two a day in addition to food, not instead of a meal.

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@Chris_Colucci Thanks for the great advice sir.

Which part of “eat as much seafood as you can” escapes you?

Why do people complicate a vacation?!?! Or do you actually know what a vacation is? And no, I did not miss understood you. You said diving. Not the guy that cleans up after the tourists because the tanks are heavy.

Eat what the locals eat.

@JFG Sir, You are right, vacation is a vacation. But not in my case :slight_smile: Forgive me as English is not my mother tongue so I might explain properly.

I do totally agree with you that we have to enjoy the vacation, leave charts at home, relax and live the moment, enjoy and etc. All are true, but my vacation differs as I go mainly to enhance my diving skills and achieve new diving certificate. So, mainly it is not a leisure trip, I have to study at night, attend courses and exercise the new skills, etc. That’s why I try to be fit, care about my nutrition, as well as general health. As you can see training and exercising in the gym are part of my diving skills. I don’t know how much you know about diving, but preparing myself for technical diving needs special fitness. Since two months I work on enhancing my cardio skills, running and sprinting are staple in my daily routine, also apnea exercises are a must to deal with certain situations underwater and of course are required for free diving.

Again, you are totally right about vacation, and eating seafood, and what locals eat. But they are not people on mission like my situation!!

Thanks sir and please forgive me if couldn’t explain because of my language.

I went on a 5 day cycling tour some years ago and it’s just about being sensible.

Most mornings, I had a big bowl of oats with some fruit and a bit of sugar
I took fruit, nuts and an energy drink with me on the ride.
At lunch, chicken or beef sandwiches plus fruit
At dinner, I either had bbq or went into town and ate whatever looked good

I came back, took three days off to let my arse repair from 5 days of bike seat and didn’t mss a beat - even if the meal choices weren’t “optimal”

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@tsantos it looks very suitable strategy for me, especially the breakfast. I like also the idea of the energy drink and nuts; very handy and easy to consume between dives. Thanks so much friend.