ENERGY AND MACRONUTRIENTS INTAKE OF PROFESSINAL MUAY THAI ATHLETES DURING WEIGHT CONTROL

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to study and to compare energy and macronutrients intake between training and weight management sessions of professional Muay Thai athletes. The samples consisted of 15 male professional Muay Thai athletes aged 20 – 22 years old in S.Siriluk Muay Thai gym, Mueang District, Udon Thani province. A tree-day data collection process took place during January – May 2018. Records of the food consumed by participants in 24 hours were collected. These records were analyzed using INMUCAL – Nutrients version 3.1 The obtained data were analyzed for means, standard deviation, and t – test scores at the proposed statistical significant level of 0.05. The results were as follows: The average energy and nutrients that professional Muay Thai athletes consumed during training sessions was 3620 + 392 Kcal/day: which could be divided into 542 + 60 g/day carbohydrates; 101 + 11 g/day fat; and 137 + 16 g/day protein. While during the weight management sessions, an average energy was 2516 + 617 Kcal/day, which was divided into 233 + 79 g/day carbohydrates; 85 + 31 g/day fat; and 149 + 29 g/day protein. When comparing between energy and macronutrients intakes during training sessions with weight management sessions, it was found that the professional Muay Thai athletes managed the intakes by focusing on reducing the consumption of carbohydrates that resulted in the reduction of energy consumed each day and the differences were significant difference at the .05 level. The results reveal that Professional Muay Thai managed their weight management using diet controls. The emphasis was on reducing carbohydrate intake. This might affect the physical fitness and performance of the athletes.