F1-Size Me, dieting the Formula 1 way

by James Snodgrass for CNN

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London, ENGLAND (CNN) -- In transit to the Spanish Grand Prix, I stop in one of the fast food restaurants in the concourse of London's Gatwick Airport. I can't name the particular outlet, but let's just say it was breakfast time and I had sausage and egg inside an alliterative muffin.

Unlike Formula 1 drivers, not all Formula 1 correspondents eat healthy diets or keep themselves in peak physical condition; a fact I consider while applying a sachet of ketchup to my lovely, lovely bundle of calories.

I recall reading an interview with Michael Schumacher. The interview was interrupted every 45 minutes by Schuey's nutritionist, who would hand him his next handful of calorie-controlled, nutritionally-balanced mixed nuts and berries.

Back home -- having had my belly full of jamon iberico (air cured ham), pimientos de Padrón (fried chili peppers with sea salt) and pintxo moruno (pork kebab) while in Spain -- I resolve it's time for a change of diet.

Out come the scales. And it's an unpalatable fact. At six foot in height, and 202 lbs (92 kg) in weight, I have a body mass index (BMI) of 27.4. While BMI isn't the best way to gauge a healthy weight, it's an indicator of how overweight I am (I shouldn't really weigh more than 184 lbs (83 kg)).

So, in a shameless imitation of "Super Size Me" in reverse, I vow to spend 30 days with a new diet regime: the F1 diet.

So what do Formula 1 drivers eat? I put questions to Gabriele Polcari, physiotherapist to the Renault F1 team and the man who oversees the diet of Heikki Kovalainen.

"The drivers need to have a diet as varied as possible," says Polcari.

"They must eat proteins (meat -- even better if white -- eggs), carbohydrates (pasta, bread), vitamins and fibers (cereals, fruits, vegetables). They should of course avoid too much fat, carbohydrates and alcohol."

For someone who counts pizza, sushi and beer as the three main food groups, this last piece of advice hurts. How many days before each race should the drivers abstain from alcohol?

"It's better if they always abstain from alcohol as it is not particularly healthy," replies Polcari.

Total abstinence? That breaks just about every tenet of the secret journalists' code -- the arcane and mysterious rules by which every true journalist lives. But, if I'm to take this challenge seriously, I'll need to cut down.

Polcari explains that diets are tailored individually to the driver. At the beginning of the season the driver will discuss with the physiotherapist his dietary habits, weight and general food likes and dislikes. The physiotherapists then carry out a large allergy test to find out if there are any substances the drivers should avoid -- or are they are intolerant to.

This is good news for me, as I've recently seen my doctor for an allergy test. And I'm not allergic to any of the usual dietary suspects (though I know from my own bitter experience that I don't get on with oysters).

"It is also important that sometimes the driver just eats what he likes without thinking about his diet," continues Polcari, "it's good for his mind not to feel too controlled."

So I can have days off, can I? Sensible eating throughout the week but pizza on Saturday? I think I could live with an F1 diet.

"It's important to consider that the drivers burn so many calories during a GP that they would be able to eat almost everything they would want," says Polcari.

Here is the other uncomfortable truth I have to consider: it is not just what is going into my body that is the problem, it's the fact that I'm not active enough to burn off the calories I consume. Not only must my diet improve, so must my activity.

Polcari lists a typical diet for a GP weekend. "The key is not to eat a lot but eat more often," he says.

So my diet, for the next 30 days will be along these lines (apart from Saturdays when I will allow myself treats). The hardest element will be having the discipline to change my usual eating patterns (three meals a day, with dinner being the heaviest meal) to one where I'm eating less food, more often. Well, that, and the amount of extra exercise I'm going to have to take on.

I shall report back, week by week, on my progress.

UPDATE: May 24, 2007 (Story originally posted May 17, 2007)

The change in diet has been harder than I anticipated. Particularly the move from eating breakfast and two substantial meals a day, to eating smaller portions more regularly. But my first observation was a substantial loss in weight after four days to 196 lb (88.9 kg), which mystifyingly jumped back up to close to my original weight a day later. I'm putting that down to scale calibration error.

I haven't transgressed from the diet too badly. Alcohol consumption down to a trickle, chocolate intake down to near zero and, okay, I did have a burger and fries one evening.

Perhaps most pertinently, I have upped the amount of exercise I do by walking to places I might otherwise have taken a taxi too, and doing sit ups to try and hasten a phsyical change in gut shape.

Present weight: 199 lbs (90.3 kg).

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