Concept for integrating nutrition into TrainerRoad [Feature Request]

[Dubadai]

Hey,

So like many of you (I hope), I have a hard time with diet, and especially eating right with my training. There are thousands of places where there are recipes, but its hard to know if they are good, contain the right micro/macro nutrients, and its always harder to find recipes than it is cooking the stuff.

So I made a POC (proof of concept) of how one could keep all recipes integrated into TrainerRoad. It feels like a nice logical step when it comes to getting closer to aiding athletes getting faster.

This is just something I created this morning, so there are multiple things that I feel are missing atm:

• Filtering on diets, such as just showing vegan meals, vegetarian, etc.
• Being able to add your own recipes that you find online (might be a good start to get this going)
• Adding weight goals into consideration when planning meals

But the main thing that I think would be super cool, is to integrate this with plan builder. This would open up to know how many calories are being burned. If a user for example has a weight goal, it could plan meals according to total daily expenditure.

For people with smart scales and smart watches, it could be even more accurate knowing exactly how much the person burns during the day. Here something like HealthFit app could be a middle person for the data.

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Now, this is a huge feat. Not only getting it built but also finding good recipes. TrainerRoad should not start making recipes… they are here to make us faster cyclists with their training plans!

Here’s where the whole concept of featured chefs could come in. Chefs like Alan Murchinson could have his recipes here, and have them be TrainerRoad exclusive etc.

A base of 20 different breakfasts, 20 different lunches etc. could come a long way.

Here is a visual concept of how it could be integrated, very basic at the moment, but it at least a start

Let me know what you guys think!

[fl33tStA]

I am impressed, I have no idea what the TR team thinks of whether there are enough resources to implement it, in any case I would be a supporter.

You could definitely do something like that with myfitnesspal, it just has to be fed with recipes.

Can you provide the recipes so I could try a few things with fitnesspal?

EDITH: i didn’t know who Alan Murchison is, now i know it, so it’s clear, that recipes of him are exclusive and nothing for Fitnesspal

[Dubadai]

Yeah he does a lot of good recipes! I bought his latest book and it has some super nice recipes that are easy to make. Good also to know when they are best matched to your training, like before or after etc.

[fl33tStA]

i take a look on his book, think i will buy it too, hopefully the recipes are easily to translate to german

[tribuddha]

This would be great especially if it pairs with your workout plan. My biggest issue with nutritionist that I have worked with is that they give me general guidelines and I have to fit it into my schedule rather than them saying you have this workout here is what you should eat.

[Dubadai]

Exactly my thoughts as well!

If I can measure a base caloric expenditure with my Apple Watch or the likes, have that base + my daily workout in calories burned for the day, it would be “easy” to pick from a catalogue of foods that fit that day and what I need to eat to have me not gain weight, or lose weight, or whatever the need.

I think the best integration would be if I could set my weight right now, and then set a goal weight for my A event, and then have them give me recipes that would put me in a caloric deficit for the week, taking into account my workouts etc. and be able to tailor when certain dishes will be best eaten. Like on rest day have a little less carbs, but on harder days set a super high carb breakfast etc.

The possibilities are endless if you just set the correct properties to each meal when the recipe is created.

[Kekscast]

Whoa, this would be so awesome and really differentiate TrainerRoad even more towards the competition in regards to performance orientation.

Right now, TR can only cover one of the three central aspects to performance - training, nutrition and sleep.
Bein able to integrate nutrition into the same platform as training and even make sure that both aspects complement each other would be sooo great!

[Dubadai]

Thought of this as well, considering all the different threads now with the whole Zwift vs. TrainerRoad vs. Sufferfest vs. Coach…

Nutrition also seems like the hardest thing mentally, so having some guidance and almost “buddy accountability” built in within the TrainerRoad scheme would be dope!

[fl33tStA]

only a question, are the Alan Murchinson recipes useable to cook a recipe on sunday (4-5 servings) and use them during the week for lunch each day?

[Dubadai]

Here is how I would envision the single recipe:

One important thing that I liked (which also can be implemented if the recipes are tagged correctly) are the alternatives. So if you are getting a bit bored with the same stuff, you got alternatives that could be used as well!

Also, clearly showing where the recipe inspiration or which chef prepared it.

[Dubadai]

Yeah for sure, my GF and I cook his meals quite often! Can be scaled very easily!

[Dubadai]

Plan builder for nutrition POC.

[Dubadai]

Plan builder Overview Page… here’s where things gets tricky, but tried to make it as simple as possible.

Obviously the idea is not to eat the same thing everyday, but for simplicity it looks that way in the sketches!

[IvoKrakic]

Man this is super cool

[alvaroe16]

Are you looking for a job? TrainerRoad should definitely invest into something like this.

@Nate_Pearson what do you think? Losing weight will certainly make us faster!

[TriJustin]

This is a neat idea. Although I think having better nutritional habits would help me with not having the best diet. But I’d be more interested if this could be done with sleep and HRV tracking with whatever third party system a user might use (Oure Ring, Whoop, Emfit, Darren headband and etc.) and have that tracked in with your TR performance analytics.

And yes I know that all these sleep and HRV trackers might not be 100% accurate. But being able to see tracked in our TR analytics, I believe would allow us to how a users sleep time affects not only their daily workouts but training performance over the year.

And as data junkies we TR users are, I believe eventually having all this tracked together (nutrition, sleep and etc) within our TR analytics would set TR apart from other competition to make us all faster. Would stuff like this be useful? I can see where having to much information can just overwhelm a lot of people.

[Michael_Tate]

If TR’s mission is to only do things that make people faster…this would be a huge step towards that goal! Hell I’d pay an extra $10/mo at least to have nutrition paired with my workouts.

[Dubadai]

I definitely think that there is a balance to everything!

Here maybe the balance would be to be able to import HRV and sleep into TR, but allowing users to toggle viewing it in the calendar.

But for sure, just adding sleep hours and HRV as their own small fields might be a nice add on!

Sleep seems like it would be most beneficial tracking and keeping track of.

Apple does it nicely with new WatchOS 7:

[Dubadai]

Same here, would even pay €20 extra a month for this. The hardest part is not cooking, it’s finding recipes that are compatible with your training, planning for them etc.

If someone tells me what to eat for the whole week, it would make dieting and keeping track of everything super easy, even if it’s an estimation and just something to use as a guideline.

[SlowInAllSports]

Just jumping in to say that I love this idea. I’m not in a spot now where I would pay extra for it, but I would have been a few years ago and will be a few years in the future. A few years ago would have been for weight loss, in the future (after finishing school) to try to maximize every drop of performance.