Sparkpeople.com is my bomb. It is the free site on which I track all my nutrition, all my exercise and have been hugely motivated by joining their SparkAmerica Challenge of accumulating a billion minutes of exercise during calendar year 2008. I don't have to do a billion minutes, silly....it's a collective effort. My annual goal, which I set in December 2007 is 27,000 minutes; 75 minutes a day, 360 days of the year. That seemed very doable and at this juncture I am well ahead of par to make my goal.
I've been sort of stunned at how much I've been eating this summer, actually
more stunned by actually losing those pesky 2-3 extra pounds I put on last winter. I'm 148flat and holding steady there while eating between 1550-1800 calories a day. In Weight Watcher points, that's about 30-37 pts a day. When I was in my first year of maintenance, I was eating between 24-28 pts a day, or roughly 1200-1400 calories. So what's up with that? Why am I eating so much more and
losing, albeit very slowly? I happened across this article by Coach Dean on Sparkpeople this morning when I went to log my 5 mile run. This is actually two articles. Today's was Part 2, so I'll post the links to both parts, plus copy it here for those who found my blog, but don't want to navigate Sparkpeople.
Part 1Part 2High Performance Nutrition - Part 1
The Big Picture: Food as Fuel
-- By Dean Anderson, Fitness & Behavior ExpertGood nutrition provides the foundation for your goals, whether you want to lose weight the healthy way or fuel high-level physical activities. Unless you eat “the right stuff” at the right times, you aren’t going to get very far in either direction.
Unfortunately, what counts as the right stuff often depends on the situation. Your body can’t do everything at once. Restricting your calorie intake to promote weight and fat loss can make it very difficult to build muscle mass or train for endurance events. If you’re trying to combine any or all of these goals, things can get pretty complicated. This article will help you understand the role that carbohydrates play in fueling exercise and recovery and how both the timing and nutritional makeup of your meals and snacks can help you achieve your performance goals.
Fact #1: The more you exercise the more carbohydrates you will need for fuel.With all the emphasis placed on exercising to lose weight, many people are surprised to hear that exercise itself doesn’t actually burn much fat as fuel. Exercise uses up the calories you've eaten, but most "fat burning" occurs when your body then has to turn to fat stores to fuel basic bodily functions.
To fuel moderate and high intensity exercise, your body relies primarily on carbohydrates (glucose), which are broken down quickly to fuel muscle cells. (Your body can't turn fats and proteins into usable energy quickly enough to meet the demands of exercising muscles.) Therefore, higher intensity cardio and strength training activities will burn more glucose as fuel, and more calories overall. Learn more about the myth of the "fat burning zone" by reading this
Ask the Expert Q & A .
Action Step: Don’t limit your carbohydrates.Most people need about 100-150 grams (400-600 calories) of carbohydrates every day just to fuel their brains and central nervous systems. On top of that, you need additional carbs to replace the energy stores you used when exercising. If you’re trying to lose weight, research shows that a diet where 55-60% of total calories come from carbohydrate is ideal for most physically active people
Fact #2: The fuel you use during exercise doesn't come from your most recent meal.It takes time to digest your food and turn it into glycogen, which is the primary fuel your muscle cells actually use during exercise. Glycogen is made out of glucose (which comes from carbohydrates) and is stored in both your muscle cells and liver. As long as you're eating enough nutrients to meet your activity needs, your body can store enough glycogen to handle about 2000 calories worth of high-intensity activity or 4000 calories worth of lower-intensity activity—even if you haven’t eaten in a while.
If you’re highly active, you should plan your meals and snacks so that you don’t run out of muscle glycogen at the wrong time (like in the middle of an exercise session). A marathon runner can deplete her glycogen stores before the end of a single race (called “bonking” or “hitting the wall”). A more casual exerciser can run out of glycogen after a few days of not eating enough carbohydrates and total calories to replace it.
Action Step: Eat enough total calories to support your activity level. The combination of a low-calorie diet and a high level of exercise will force your body to breakdown muscle tissue to meet your immediate energy needs. Total calorie deficits of more than 500-1000 calories per day will actually inhibit exercise performance—even for moderate exercisers.
Fact #3: Planning nutritious meals will help you recover from exercise.The most important window for replenishing glycogen is the four to five hours immediately after a vigorous exercise session. During this time, the enzymes responsible for this process are more active and effective.
Most healthy people don’t really need to eat immediately before exercise. But eating a small snack or meal 20-60 minutes before an exercise session will trigger an insulin response that helps glucose enter your muscle cells, making it easier to exercise without discomforts like dizziness, faintness, or a general lack of energy. But if you or your stomach prefers not to eat before a workout, you should have plenty of muscle glycogen to fuel one to two hours of moderate to vigorous exercise before eating. To learn more about exercising in the morning or on an empty stomach, read this
Ask the Expert Q & A.
Action Step: Eat a good post-exercise meal.Sports nutritionists recommend that active people eat about 250-300 calories (with a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein) within 90 minutes after exercising. This breaks down to about 50-60 grams of carbs and 12-15 grams of protein.
Putting It All TogetherWhen you put these facts together into one big picture, you can see that keeping your glycogen tanks topped off is the key factor to maintaining your ability to perform at a high level while losing weight; the Action Steps outlined above will help you do just that.
Article created on: 8/16/2006
Putting It All TogetherWhen you put these facts together into one big picture, you can see that keeping your glycogen tanks topped off is the key factor to maintaining your ability to perform at a high level while losing weight; the Action Steps outlined above will help you do just that.
High Performance Nutrition - Part 2
Recommendations for Very Active People
-- By Dean Anderson, Fitness & Behavior ExpertTrying to lose weight while eating enough to support vigorous endurance or strength training can be a very tricky business. Cutting too many calories can cause the body to breakdown muscle tissue to meet its energy needs, and make it impossible to replenish energy reserves in time for your next workout. In turn, both of these consequences can lower your metabolism, making it much more difficult to shed body fat and improve body composition.
Most people who consistently exercise more than 60 minutes per day at high intensity levels need to adjust their nutrition plans in one or more of the following ways:
*Adjusting carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake so that the amount of each nutrient is appropriate for your individual body size and the type, intensity, duration, and frequency of your physical activity
*Timing meals and snacks in relation to exercise so that the right amount of fuel is available when needed
*Using appropriate fluid and energy replacement strategies during long and intense exercise sessions
Below, you’ll find some general recommendations in each of these three areas that you can use as a starting point for finding the right combination for yourself. These recommendations are based on a recent survey of studies, presented in the American Dietetics Association’s Position Statement on Nutrition and Athletic Performance (2004). You can access the full statement at the ADA’s website, http://www.eatright.org/.
Nutrient Recommendations for Very Active People
The following chart shows how active and very active people can adjust their intake of the three macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein and fat).
Active is defined as taking part in planned, continuous exercise that is equivalent to walking 6-10 miles per day (a calorie expenditure of 600-1000 calories/day).
Very active is defined as taking part in planned, continuous exercise that is equivalent to walking more than 10 miles per day (a calorie expenditure of 1000+ calories/day).
Although aerobic exercise typically burns more calories per training session, most individuals whose major form of training is strength training should consider themselves to be in the “very active” category, due to the nutritional needs associated with larger amounts of lean body mass and the glycogen-depleting effects of extensive, anaerobic strength training.
Nutrient Needs Based on Activity Level and Body Weight
Carbs:
Active: 2.3-3.2 grams/lb of body weight
Very Active: 3.2-5.5 grams/lb of body weight
Protein:
Active: 0.6-0.7 grams/lb of body weight
Very Active: 0.7-1.0 grams/lb of body weight
Fat:
Balance of total calories after meeting above requirements
Note: To avoid performance delcine, people attempting to lose weight while engaging in demanding athletic training should not reduce their calorie intakes by more than 10-20% (or by more than 500-1000 calories per day). For good health, total fat intake should not fall below 15% of total calories.
Meal Contents & Timing for Very Active People
The Pre-Exercise Meal: Your individual reaction should be the primary factor that determines what, when and how much you eat prior to exercise. For many, eating before exercise enhances performance—especially during long exercise sessions that can exhaust glycogen reserves. Since most people find it difficult to exercise with a full stomach, you should allow plenty of time for digestion (about 3-4 hours before exercise) in order to get the energy benefits of a pre-exercise meal.
For long bouts of higher intensity exercise, studies show that eating 200-300 grams of carbohydrates during the pre-exercise meal results in an endurance boost. This meal should be relatively low in fat and fiber, and moderate in protein (a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein), to promote stomach emptying and reduce the potential for gastric distress.
The Post-Exercise Meal: Most people can replace the glycogen used during an intense exercise session within 24 hours without a special eating schedule (provided that overall nutrition is adequate). However, the best time to replenish your glycogen and nutrients is within the first 4-5 hours (and especially the first 90 minutes). If you participate in more than one exercise session per day, you'll need to pay close attention to your post-exercise meals.
Research indicates that eating a high-carbohydrate meal (about 0.7 grams per pound of body weight or 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight) immediately after exercise is the best way to replenish glycogen.
Various types of carbohydrates will affect glycogen replenishment rates. Eating simple sugars and high GI (glycemic index) foods results in slightly faster storage rates during the immediate post-exercise period. This is important when immediate glycogen replenishment is needed, such as taking part in both an intense training session and athletic event in the same day. Whole foods containing higher proportions of fat, fiber, and protein result in slower replenishment rates, but overall, these foods should make up the bulk of most people's diets.
Including protein in your post-exercise meal does not seem to affect glycogen replenishment rates. In fact, eating plenty of amino acids is important for muscle recovery after each workout (especially after strength training). The general recommendation is to include a 4:1 carbohydrate-protein ratio when eating after a workout.
Fluid and Energy Replacement during Extended Exercise
Optimal performance during extended exercise sessions occurs when the rate of fluid taken in equals the rate of fluid lost through sweating. For most people, this means drinking about 20 ounces of water before exercising; 6-12 ounces of fluid for every 15-20 minutes of high intensity exercise; and 16-24 ounces for every pound lost during exercise. This post-exercise drinking can be spread over time, as dictated by your thirst.
If you exercise intensely for more than 60-90 minutes, experts recommend that you drink a beverage containing carbohydrates and sodium (such as a sports drink) to meet part of your fluid needs. Sodium isn't typically needed for electrolyte replacement during exercise, but it can make it easier to stay well hydrated by increasing your desire to drink. Endurance exercisers such as marathoners often eat carbohydrates in the form of gels during events to maintain blood glucose levels and hold off glycogen depletion for as long as possible.
You may need to experiment with these general recommendations to find a combination that works well for you. Although it is possible to lose weight and maintain a very high level of athletic performance, keep in mind that these are two competing priorities, with no simple solution. Success at both depends on a balanced nutritional approach that does not sacrifice your long-term goals for an immediate benefit.
(end)
I found these articles interesting, but not really how I eat my post exercise meal. As a Weight Watcher, I learned long ago that I need lots of protein for breakfast to keep me going for at least 4 hours before I feel hungry again. Since I'm such a nighttime eater, it is imperative for me to eat basically just my three meals during the day with maybe a small snack between my relatively small lunch and large dinner. Over the course of a 24 hour day I eat close to Coach Dean's recommended ratios, but my way seems to be working for me. At the end of the day, my carb to protein ratio is about 3.75:1, rather than 4, but I do think we are all very different and have different needs. And 3.75:1 isn't grossly different from 4:1.
What's true: I feel great. I look great. I can run for 5 miles, albeit not fast, but it's the endurance I'm more interested in. And so it goes. Now I'm off to eat one of my huge breakfasts so I can replace my glycogen stores for later :-)
My Big Fat Breakfast:
Tofu Veggie Hash
3 oz Wildwood Super firm High Protein Tofu, 1/2 cup sliced leeks, 1 cup sliced mushrooms, 3 cups baby spinach, 2 tsp gomasio (sesame salt), 1/2 jalapeno pepper, 1 1/2 Tbsp nutritional yeast all sauted together with 1 cup fat free frozen hash browns added at the end.
Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 1
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 294.3
Total Fat: 8.2 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 270.6 mg
Total Carbs: 34.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 8.1 g
Protein: 26.8 g
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