Parents of Swimmers/Swimmers! Help!

[Keepingfaith]

I found out today I made the swim team at my school(they must be desperate if they let me on the team with all my medical issues :ylol2. I have a lot of freinds who have done competitive swimming their entire life and they have been great at helping me to get into shape for the swim season but there are a few huge problems:

1) I'm flaring
2) I'm tapering off steroids
3) The diet they use(high in carbs) is horriable for Crohn's :ybatty:

I really need some advice. I was a miserable failure at tryouts today to compared to the veteran swimmers. I was shakey, my joints were killing me, and I was so weak from my recent taper(yesterday I went down to 20 mg). I'm so nervous about how this is going to affect me & with school starting, this is the last thing I need! I know you are thinking "WHY did you sign up for this" but I really want to get in shape so I can get back to doing the sport I excel at-Taekwondo-when I'm finally better.

SO
1) What diet do I do? How much and how often do they eat?
2) High protein or high carb diet? I live off shakes and smoothies and eat maybe 1 meal a day so I know it's going to be hard to get those calories in
3) How to deal with steroid withdrawls?


Thanks in advance! ANY input is welcomed! :ghug:

 

[Catherine]

How long as the training sessions? If the training session 1-1/2 or more you will need to have some sort of sports drink. If possible start the drink 20 minutes before the session to give it chance to get into your system then drink small during the session.

My daughter eats like a teenager boy.

It will take time to get into shape for swimming. Remember you are competing against your own times.

Advice from mother a teenager trying to get back to six to seven training sessions per week

 

[Keepingfaith]

Thank you!

I will have practice for at least an hour, 4 days a week, every week, till December. I think 15-20 minutes of that we will be doing conditioning/dry land work outs.

Is your daughter in remission yet? Any particular sports drink/ingredients in sports drink to look for? Sorry for the questions! Just trying to get as much info as I can.

 

[michaelearnest]

I recommend the sports drink or chocolate milk after your training, load up on the water before and during the first half. Bananas are the answer, eat them before and during first half of training, it helps. Can you tolerate raisins?

 

[Keepingfaith]

I LOVE RAISINS! I just can't eat them often or I will get obstruction pains.

I use bananas a lot in my morning smoothie. Is that adequate or should I be eating rather than 'drinking' bananas?

I'm lactose intolerant so I try to limit the dairy. Is Almond milk okay? My friends told me that they go on milk binges after meets/practice so I was wondering about that.

 

[michaelearnest]

I eat and my two boys who play high level soccer eat the bananas before training or games. How much Vitamin D are you getting?

 

[Catherine]

Two sports drinks come to mind poweraid and gatorade. Both contain a lot of sugar.

I don't think Sarah is remission her anemia is back, has some pain but no often.But she is begining to sleep a lot.

 

[Keepingfaith]

2,000 iu daily. All vitamin/minerals were within normal range at my last weekly labs except for iron.

 

[michaelearnest]

Unfortunately, everything as you probably know by now is trial and error. The sports drinks we take afterwards, might work better for you during like the other post mentions. Eating bananas works for us but it might not work for you. Its tough!