pizza, wings, beer- what does it do to your body?

i aint no doctor but uhhhh ill toss my thoughts out there........

I have been riding biking and swimming hard since about jauary and yeah i am also focused on my eating. when you get into the habit of training and stuff, you will notice your metabolism speeds up hardcore. Those foods in perticular woud probably just make you shaat a little less..... maybe some intestinal problems if you eat those as a pre-workout meal. As for beer.... its a diaretic (make you pee your liquids out) so thats never good....

 Eating healthy foods to me is all about finding the geatest amounts of energy possible. When training i usually eat whatever i see, but when it comes time for racing...3 days prior is when i really focus on what i eat. 5 days previous of the race....i watch what i eat. I make sure to eat lots of fiber to get my shaatting going, and load up on good carbs (bread and pasta), ad eat a lot of yogurt, diary, and bananas.

As long as you giver when you train....and focus on what your body can do....and not the amount of calories you burn then you will be training well.....eat whatever you want, but learn how the foods effect your energy levels. Everyone is different....learn from every workout.

Drink....always!   hahah water

You are about in the same boat as I am.  Honestly, I prescribe to the everything in moderation theory.  Everyone is different in their dietary needs and desires.  But, I have not seen any huge downside to my 'diet'.  I think as long as you're not eating a Baconator (Yummy) every day, you're fine.

Be smart about what you eat, no need to micro-manage your food.

But like I said, it depends on the individual and it doesn't sound like you're out to lose any weight.

If you cannot enjoy life, what's the point??

I love all three things and will do as Dan says .... everything in moderation (unless I feel like getting ripped and stuffed watching a ball game).

I can speak to the drinking part specifically... I was a big time drinker before I started tris 3 seasons ago. I drank basically daily in college. Once I got married and had kids, my drinking moved to just Friday and Saturday, but boy did I make up for it. I joined tris as a way to relieve tension and keep me away from bud light. It was pretty tough for the first year, but now I rarely miss it. 

Now... I'm not saying that beer is bad at all. In fact, I'm really a "in moderation" kind of guy. However, for me my "moderation" was more than most. 

On one hand is the article in the October issue of "Traithlete", "Speed is in the Details" that explains what seperates the Pros from the Joes (diet, rest, etc).  On the other is one of the greatest atheletes of our time, Michael Phelps, who eats nothing but pure crap.

Personally, I'd say that, while you're not noticing any negative affect from a less than strict diet, you are definately not noticing the potential positive affects of proper nutrition.  

 Does any this matter?  Probably not unless your goal is to stand on the podium.

I'll second the recommendation to get body fat tested if you haven't. What really caught my eye here is your comment about "above average drinking".  I'm not sure what you mean by that.  Sometimes it means what it sounds like, but sometimes it's code for "I'm an alcoholic but I don't know it/won't admit it".

Ask yourself these questions:

Do you think you need to Cut down on your drinking?

Do other people Annoy you about your drinking?

Do you ever feel Guilty about drinking/consequences of drinking?

Do you ever need an Eye-opener (a drink first thing in the morning)?

These are the CAGE screening questions.  2 "yes" answers is a positive screen.  Also ask yourself if you drink more than you plan to; whether you drink despite negative consequences (trouble at work, DUI, marital/relationship problems as a result of drinking); and whether you have tried to quit in the past and what happened?

If you are still concerned about your drinking, get to an open AA meeting as a starting point. 

My last marathon, the night before was pizza, wings and beer.

I PRed by 10 minutes.

I guess the theory is...

Is that you would have PR'ed by 11 minutes? :p

That said, when I was still swimming competitively, we would eat pizza the night before races, and pasta the other nights.  Also, we were competing at a fairly high level (well in Canada at least) and we would still eat pizza, go out for dinner and get steak etc.  Nutrition just never had priority.  Again to reiterate this, I trained with the guy who won the bronze in the 1500m free at the Olympics for YEARS and we ate the same stuff, look where he got to!

Not to mention we all would drink ONLY powerade thinking the buckets of sugar would actually help us race (I swam the mile, HA!).

Thanks everyone for the comments.  Very helpful.

I think until I stop seeing improvements or feel sluggish, I might just have to continue to "torture" myself with pizza.  I understand the importance of hydration.

 I tend to critique myself a bit much and equally concerned that I end up taking the tri's to seriously...  That's why I was trying to feel the group out. 

I am the same way, I try to always eat  in moderation. Like others here I used to drink a lot during college. Once college was over, I drank less frequently, then my daughter came around and my drinking went to next to nothing. I definitely lost weight as a result. I get free food at work and can eat as much as I want. Its all pretty decent. Whenever I grab a snack I try to limit it to fruit unless its late and I will be training after work then I allow a bagel. Otherwise when I eat for real at work I keep myself to two plates of food...

If your going to make this a lifestlye then of course including diet is a no-brainer.

I feel the effects of a good diet everyday.  I rarely eat 'junk' food unless im depressed like when I couldnt get my bike tire tube fixed.  But normally I eat tons of pasta, pancakes, oatmeal, grits (iron) Cereal, Honey, Peaches, Carrots, and chicken.  Its all good food and most importantly it helps me train much harder then I normally could if I ate anything that looks good.  I was an ice cream addict and currently I disciplined myself to eat it only once a week, that day being sunday the only day I dont work out.  And alchol, well I stopped drinking that over 1 1/2 years ago.  College days are over.  My life belongs to jesus now.