Usain Bolt’s Diet and the Carb, Protein, and Fat ratio

Last Updated on March 10, 2010 by Jimson Lee

I read an article about Usain Bolt’s Diet, and how he was not a fan of supplements, just like Jeremy Wariner (who can blame them with the scare in supplement contamination?). The only exception was Vitamin C.

The article claimed he ate six daily meals containing 30% carbohydrates, 60% protein, and 10% fats, with most of the protein coming from chicken fillet (and Chicken McNuggets!). This resembles a low carb, high protein, low fat diet, although the term “diet” is really misleading.

Wow.. I’d like to know the total calories consumed on any give day, given that he is about 195 lbs! As much as Michael Phelp’s alleged 8000 calories a day?

Here is a handy Excel spreadsheet for a Gram and Calorie Calculator for Carbohydrate, Protein, and Fat that I created. (You will need Microsoft Excel).

I personally like a 60-15-25 Carb-Protein-Fat ratios as long as the 15% protein gives me between 1 gram of Protein for every lb. to kg of your body weight. So at 80kg or 175 lb, that’s between 80-175 grams of protein! My numbers come up with 115 grams of protein.

At 195 lbs. for Mr Bolt, that’s up to 195 grams of protein, which is easily attained from eating a diet of 60% protein!

Other Carb-Protein-Fat Diets and Ratios

A diet of 30-60-10 is not a common one.

Other Carb-Protein-Fat ratios include 70-20-10, 50-25-25, 40-30-30, 10-45-45.

Here are some books that go in detail of recent “fad” diets”

First, I was a big fan of the Robert Haas’ Eat To Win: The Sports Nutrition Bible diet back in the 80’s when I was in College. Also known as the Martina Navratilova diet, it followed the same guidelines as the the Pritkin diet, which recommended 70% carbohydrate, 20% protein and 10% fat. 70% Carbs you say? After all, I was training at least 3 hours a day.

Second, now Dr Haas has a new book called Eat to Win for Permanent Fat Loss: The Revolutionary Fat-Burning Diet for Peak Mental and Physical Performance and Optimum Health, he created a Mediterr-Asian diet that combines the best and healthiest aspects of diets from the regions where people live the longest. His approach features a ratio of 50 percent carbohydrates, which includes grains, fruits, and vegetables; 25 percent protein; and 25 percent fat.

A third diet, the extremely popular The Zone: A Dietary Road Map to Lose Weight Permanently : Reset Your Genetic Code : Prevent Disease : Achieve Maximum Physical Performance by Dr. Barry Sears, has the ideal ratio of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats is 40-30-30%, respectively.

The forth diet is the popular The South Beach Diet: A Doctor’s Plan for Fast and Lasting Weight Loss starts off like a low-carb diet, but later focuses only on low GI (Glycemic Index) and un-refined carbohydrates. For more information on Glycemic Index and your response to different foods and your blood glucose responses, read Are French Fries Bad for You?

And finally there are the Low Carb Diets like Atkins or better known as the Ketogenic diet. If you want the complete book (and I mean complete!) on the Ketogenic diet, refer to Lyle McDonald’s book. At 325 pages and containing over 600 scientific references, this will be your ONLY reference for ketogenic diets.