The Racing Weight system is based on the weight-management practices of the best endurance athletes. The six steps that the highest-performing athletes most often take to attain their racing weight are by definition the most effective weight-management methods for endurance athletes because the objective of weight management in endurance sports is better performance. The surest way to reach your racing weight is to simply copy these practices.
Copying the weight-management methods of the best athletes is not the same thing as eating exactly what they eat. There is a lot of variety in the diets of top endurance athletes because following one specific diet is not among the six weight-management steps that these athletes practice. These steps leave plenty of room for individual choices. For example, while a large majority of world-class endurance athletes maintain high diet quality, there are dozens of ways to maintain a high-quality diet.
While eating exactly what the pros eat is not what the Racing Weight system is all about, it is instructive to know exactly what they do eat. Studying the specific food choices of the highest-performing cyclists, rowers, runners, skiers, swimmers, and triathletes helps other athletes appreciate what is required and what is allowable in the successful pursuit of racing weight. For example, you will see a lot more vegetables than sweets in the food journals of the best endurance athletes—proof that a high-quality diet is required. But you won’t see many named diets (Paleo, Zone, gluten free, etc.) at this level—proof that all food types and a variety of ways of eating are allowable in the pursuit of racing weight.
In order to help you better appreciate what it takes (and what it doesn’t) to attain racing weight, I have gathered a selection of one-day food journals from a handful of the highest-performing athletes in a variety of endurance disciplines. If you see one or more specific choices that you would like to copy, go for it, but do not feel obligated to do so. It’s not the exact foods but the general methods of improving diet quality, managing appetite, balancing energy sources, monitoring performance, timing nutrients, and training for racing weight that you must emulate.