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    The Healthy Former Athlete: Nutrition and Fitness Advice for the Transition from Elite Athlete to Normal Human
    The Healthy Former Athlete: Nutrition and Fitness Advice for the Transition from Elite Athlete to Normal Human
    The Healthy Former Athlete: Nutrition and Fitness Advice for the Transition from Elite Athlete to Normal Human
    Ebook160 pages1 hour

    The Healthy Former Athlete: Nutrition and Fitness Advice for the Transition from Elite Athlete to Normal Human

    By Lauren Link

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    About this ebook

    They say athletes suffer two deaths—the one at the end of their lives, and the one at the end of their collegiate or professional sports lives. For an athlete to go from an athletic career to retirement can be a difficult transition.

    Luckily, Lauren Link, RD, CSSD, has already dealt with this life change and with The Healthy Post-College Athlete, any former athlete can learn how to go from the discipline of weightlifting sessions and conditioning for a game or race, to maintaining a healthy lifestyle without those familiar goals.

    The book is targeted at those who are juggling a switch away from the intense, competitive, and routine-oriented life of an athlete, and shows how to apply the lessons learned from that time to life as a normal human. Also included in the book are excerpts from Link’s own blog that she started to document her transition from her collegiate athletic lifestyle, along with lists and case studies to help contextualize the challenge in leaving the focus and discipline of an athletic life.

    Link covers such ground as:

    • Modifying your diet based on “normal human” calorie expenditure, with meal planning and grocery shopping

    • Designing a routine and workout to stay fit and healthy

    • Easy-to-prepare recipes that will help facilitate a healthy lifestyle

    • Forming an identity outside of your sport Whether you’re a professional athlete or just a person trying to be healthier, this book will show you a path to living a better and healthier life. With a humorous and self-effacing tone, Link will show you how to transition in The Healthy Post-College Athlete.

    “My experience working with Skyhorse is always a positive collaboration. The editors are first-rate professionals, and my books receive top-shelf treatment. I truly appreciate our working relationship and hope it continues for years to come.”
    –David Fischer, author
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSkyhorse
    Release dateNov 6, 2018
    ISBN9781510736108
    The Healthy Former Athlete: Nutrition and Fitness Advice for the Transition from Elite Athlete to Normal Human
    Author

    Lauren Link

    Lauren Link, RD, CSSD is a registered dietitian and Board-certified specialist in sports dietetics. She is the director of sports nutrition at Purdue University, where she played women’s soccer and was part of the 2007 Big Ten Tournament championship team. With a dual degree in dietetics and nutrition, fitness and health, Lauren began her professional career as a clinical dietitian with St. Vincent's Hospital before returning to her alma mater to work as a sports dietitian. She is the founder of a student-athlete community garden and spearheads a program called BLAST—Boiler Life After Sport—designed to help address key components of athletes' transition to “normal human” status.

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      Book preview

      The Healthy Former Athlete - Lauren Link

      Cover Page of The Healthy Former AthleteTitle Page of The Healthy Former Athlete

      Copyright © 2018 by Lauren Link

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

      Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or info@skyhorsepublishing.com.

      Skyhorse® and Skyhorse Publishing® are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation.

      Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

      Cover design by Tom Lau

      Cover photo credit iStock

      ISBN: 978-1-5107-3609-2

      Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-3610-8

      Printed in China

      DEDICATION

      I’d like to dedicate this book to my mom, Judy Kay Varnau, which is so clichéd, I know. The gesture is necessary for all the standard reasons: She got me involved in all kinds of sports growing up, everything from horseback riding to soccer, and she supported me in all of them, both financially and emotionally. From my early YMCA days through my college career, she missed only a single-digit number of games. Impressive. She’s keeping that streak alive in my Normal Humanhood too. She’s been at every Purdue Soccer Alumni Game since I’ve graduated … which is somewhat embarrassing, but she’s earned it, I guess. More than all of that, I really owe my mom for making sure that I didn’t grow up to be an excuse-maker. Nobody likes an excuse-maker. In fifth grade when I only made the B-team for basketball, there was no woe is me moment with discussions of how the coach must not have liked me or how the system is rigged. No, she said, Well, they must have done something better than you, so figure out what that was and fix it! No blaming the refs when we lost the big game. No, she said, Well, you missed some opportunities on the field that could have won the game—focus on those. No excuses, just control what you can control. I considered thanking her for making endless spreadsheets based on my (and my team’s) stats, which as a math major she literally couldn’t help herself from doing … but those were annoying, and I stand by that. Thanks for everything else though, Judy K!

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      First and foremost, I have to thank my sister, Julie Kartal, for supporting the notion of this book from the very beginning and for agreeing to use her professional expertise to be my editor-in-chief. The latter might not sound like much when you consider that she has been an editor for several major news media outlets, but what if I told you that when she agreed to take this project on, she was living in France and raising four kids, including a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old? What if I also told you that at the same time, she was finishing her master’s degree, working on selling the family business in France, and jumping through endless bureaucratic hoops to move her family back to America? Basically, she’s a rock star. Thinking back on that process, I would also be remiss to not mention how thankful I am for Skype, Google Docs, and just technology in general.

      I also have to thank Rachel Clark, most recently for being my mini content advisory board, but more so for being my mentor and guide in what I would absolutely consider my dream job. During my college days, teammates would ask me, What do you want to do with your Dietetics degree? and I would reply without hesitation, I want to do what Rachel Clark does. (She was our sports dietitian and my academic adviser at the time.) Never would I have thought that I would end up back at Purdue quite literally doing what Rachel Clark does—first working under her, and eventually being passed the reins to become her successor as Director of Sports Nutrition for Purdue Athletics. I would also have never imagined that my professional idol would become a colleague and great friend. Rachel, I can say for certain that I would not be where I am professionally without your guidance, feedback, and occasional use of your hard-ass pants.

      Lastly, I have to thank my fellow former-athlete husband, Logan Link, for listening with no complaints to my ideas about this book over the last few years, for waiting (almost) patiently to eat his dinner while I photographed our plates, and at times providing a male athlete perspective for various scenarios. I would also be remiss to not mention his handsome self being willing to participate in marketing photo shoots surrounding this project, conducted by our friend and graphic mastermind, Paul Sadler.

      CONTENTS

      Introduction

      What it means to be a Normal Human

      1   Burnin’ Those Cals

      10 realities of your new lifestyle and how to make sure you’re burning enough calories to meet your new Normal Human goals

      2   Muscle Loss

      How to set and meet realistic body composition goals for your new lifestyle

      3   Oh, Thanksgiving …

      Everything you need to know about your food intake and how to calculate how many calories YOU need

      4   What To Eat

      Where your calories should be coming from and why you don’t have to give up all of your guilty pleasures

      5   What’s on Your Plate?

      How to balance food portions on your plate based on your activity level

      6   When To Eat

      Why meal timing can make a huge difference in meeting your goals

      7   Hydration

      What you should and should not be drinking

      8   Smart Grocery Shopping

      Tips for getting the most nutritional value for your dollar and understanding nutrition labels so you can avoid sneaky manufacturer tricks

      9   Packing A Lunch

      How DIY can save loads you of money—and ensure that you’re in control of what ingredients you’re eating

      10 Get Cooking

      Ditto—plus knowing how to cook will make you an even better catch

      11 Redefining Yourself

      How to wrap your head around the mental aspect of the transition to Normal Human

      12 Going It Alone

      Life without your teammates may feel lonely at first, but there are plenty of ways to expand your new social circles

      Conclusion

      Appendix A: Recipes for Beginners

      With plenty of extra space to take notes!

      Appendix B: Tips for Healthy Weight Gain

      Appendix C: Tips for Healthy Weight Loss

      Appendix D: Outtakes

      Just for giggles

      Appendix E: Workout Plans

      Your contract with yourself to commit to your plan!

      About the Author

      INTRODUCTION

      You’ve been setting your alarm clock for 5:30 a.m. for as long as you can remember. If not for an early weight-lifting session, then for 6 a.m. conditioning or to cram for a test you hadn’t found time to prepare for between practices, team dinners, and rehabbing those nagging injuries.

      It’s an early wake-up call, but you love it. Live for it, really. You love the sense of camaraderie with your teammates, your best friends. You love that you’re living your childhood dream.

      Then one day you don’t have to set that alarm anymore. It’s a moment you always knew would come, but that doesn’t make it any less gut wrenching. Your entire life has, in many ways, been devoted to your sport. When suddenly it’s gone—or at least it feels sudden—it’s like you’re losing a part of yourself.

      I’ve been there. In the fall of 2011, I finished my 5th and final season playing soccer at Purdue University, marking the end of my 18-plus-year stint as an athlete. Weird. It was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to deal with, a transition no one had prepared me for.

      If you’re reading this book, you’ve likely just finished your collegiate or professional athletic career (or soon will), joining the bruised and battered ranks of retired elite athletes. My goal is to help guide you smoothly through that transition.

      In my first couple weeks of living this unfamiliar existence with no such guide to turn to, I took to blogging as a way to pass all my newfound time. The following is an excerpt from my first entry:

      From the blog …

      Officially Done

      As a college athlete you live a completely different life than your average college student. A life full of lifting, fitness testing, early workouts, traveling to and from games, coaches and the need to constantly please those coaches, having to closely manage your time to get good grades, drug testing … the list goes on! Then, it all comes to a screeching halt and you’re suddenly thrown into the real world, where time seems endless and your newly acquired lifestyle potentially leads straight to obesity. I figure this new lifestyle will bring all sorts of

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