: your calorie and carbohydrate intake needs to match your training energy output. However, as your training volume increases and then tapers, so should your food intake. Planning your pre-race diet needn't be a nutritional nightmare: here are 25 handy

is thought to be the key: "We think that these women are in a ‘low-energy’ state, meaning they are expending more calories than they are replenishing with dietary intake," says Professor Anne Loucks of Ohio University in the USA. The theory goes

. Surprisingly easy to use after the first run.Contact www.suunto.comNew Balance N5, £70 Features 3 HR zones, 24-lap memory, calories and fat burnedRW Says A good all-round fitness monitor, with 30 data memory files (showing date and time) giving detailed

but it needs them regularly. Vitamins do not have any calories, and therefore provide no energy. However, they are vital to the energy-producing process, and a deficiency in vitamins in this chain will result in reduced energy and performance levels. A severely

UAN: Article type:--If you take away nothing else from this page, remember this one fact: if you routinely consume more calories than you expend, you will gain weight regardless of what you eat. Even if you eat less than 25-30 per cent fat calories

intestines from absorbing fat, which should lower the number of calories that enter your body. The theory is that chitosan’s large, bulky chemical structure acts much like a sticky piece of Velcro that traps small amounts of fatty substances in your

.What is it?A wrist band that measures steps, calorie burn, ‘Fuel’ gains, and it also tells the time. Fuel is a fictitious currency invented by Nike to denote how active you are during a day. The more active, the more Fuel points you accrue. You sync

.The Spice RackCuminTaste: Earthy, nuttyBenefit: Aids digestion by increasing enzymatic activityChillies Taste: Mild (larger/red) or hot (smaller/green)Benefit: Curbs cravings and boosts calorie burnTurmericTaste: Earthy, slightly bitter   Benefit: Has

in large numbers on the neat screen while you run. Average pace and distance also appear on screen, enabling you to keep an eye on your progress as you run.An estimate of calories burned is provided, and if you have the heart rate monitor, made even more

comprised of two cups of wholegrain cereal with skimmed milk, a bagel with low-fat cream cheese, orange juice and coffee (which adds up to around 800 calories, 140g carbs, 30g protein and 13g fat). Then have a midmorning snack that's mostly carbohydrate