Are you eating enough?
What your weight won’t tell you: how to fuel your workouts.
Sophie Pachella – www.eatstrong.com
Though not a guarantee for athletic success, good nutrition is a requirement for optimal performance. Obtaining sufficient protein, carbohydrate and fats along with the fluid, vitamins and minerals our bodies need to function prevents declines in fitness and overall health over the long term. So how do you know what’s enough? You train hard. You eat well: healthy foods, and rarely if ever splurge. Your weight has remained constant, give or take a few pounds, so you assume you must be getting things right.
Not so fast. As counterintuitive as it may seem, your weight might be the last warning of a nutritional shortfall. In fact those who chronically under eat (intentionally or not) secure themselves into a steadfast metabolic standstill. Their weight will be the last indication of low calorie consumption as their bodies, desperate to cling onto every calorie they get, store every bit of fat they can. Ironically, the greater the deficit, the less likely one is to notice a drop in weight.
There are many signs of under eating, but probably the most insidious of all is the absence of a period, precisely because women usually welcome this sinister warning that the body has shut down to preserve all the energy it can. Long before you notice your hair thinning, or the notable drop in your libido, your body will forgo the “work” involved in maintaining a healthy cycle. Unfortunately, many of us consider this a blessing, and shrug it off casually. Many doctors shrug it off too, so there doesn’t appear any reason to be concerned. However the risk of serious long term, irreversible problems (infertility, osteoporosis) down the road is high, and while you might feel too young to be worrying about it now, it’s a devastating shock to discover later.
Signs that you are under-eating (even if your weight remains the same).
• Your performance decreases, you drag
• You frequently feel cold, even when others seem fine
• Your hair and skin look dull. Your nails are brittle
• Your periods become irregular, or you stop getting them altogether (amenorrhea)
• You have a hard time concentrating
• You’re moody, anxious and irritable. Decreased libido.
• You experience bouts of rapid heart beating (or you feel as though you are skipping beats)
• You no longer look forward to your workouts
Signs you’re getting enough:
• Your periods are regular
• You look forward to your workouts. You’re having fun.
• You’re maintaining or gaining strength
• Your endurance is solid. If racing, you’re getting faster. You don’t “bonk”
• Your muscle-to-fat composition improves
• You sleep soundly, and fall asleep easily.
The Fat-Storage Instinct
But eating enough isn’t the whole story. When you eat, namely the timing of your meals and snacks, is perhaps even more important that what. Several studies led by Dan Benardot PhD, RD, nutritionist and exercise physiologist at Georgia State University show that female gymnasts and runners who skip snacks and leave long gaps between meals have increasingly higher ratios of body fat – even if they aren’t consuming more calories than they are burning. Worse, the traditional recipe for weight loss (eating less than you burn), resulted in zero weight loss among this group. In fact, those who forgo the imperative post-exercise meal were notably the “fattest” athletes in the study. Elaborating on the calorie-clinging theory above: when a body is underfed, fuel (in the form of liver and muscle glycogen, or “stored carbohydrate”) isn’t available. To survive, the body ingeniously converts muscle tissue proteins into blood glucose. Clever, but horribly detrimental to athletic performance and metabolic function. To further aggravate the situation, sensing an impending food shortage, the body swiftly shifts into “survival mode” to avoid starving. This means that the next meal you eat will be met with an exaggerated insulin response in an effort to capture and hoard every last little calorie. The fat storing enzyme, lipoprotein lipase is also magnified ensuring the most efficient calorie storage.
How to fuel up properly:
“The key is not to hit a calorie deficit greater than 300” says John Ivy, PhD a physiologist at the University of Texas and author of Nutrient Timing. If you delay refueling you’ll slow glycogen replenishment by 50% and protein repair by 80%”, he says.
As athletes, we have relatively small “metabolic windows” of 30-45 minutes post-exercise to refuel. Clients often ask me if it is really necessary to eat within this time and wonder if exceptions can be made. The short answer is no. Your muscle’s ability to rebuild doesn’t allow for a leisurely shower and blow out, or longer than average commute to your desk. Be prepared: carry PB on whole wheat sandwiches, fruits and raw almonds, or a yogurt shake in your gym bag, and eat before you hop in the shower. The physiological results will speak for themselves, I guarantee it.
To sum it up:
• Make sure you get a combination of lean protein, complex carbs and health fat at each meal and snack (6 meals daily).
• The meal before and after your workouts are the most crucial. After training hard, add a moderate amount of starchy (simple) carbs to your meal to give your body the fuel it needs to repair tissues and maintain healthy blood cells.
• Eat a variety of red, orange yellow and dark green fruits/vegetables daily
• Drink 8-10 cups of fluid daily (excluding caffeinated drinks) – and an additional cup for every 20 minutes of training, daily!
• Vary your foods each day – and do not skip food groups.
• Aim for 3 servings of low fat dairy a day. If you don’t like dairy or are lactose intolerant, speak to a nutritionist to ensure you’re getting all the nutrients you need (your bones will thank you).
• If you’re trying to lose weight, do it properly. Seek professional advice and avoid fads. Don’t eliminate food groups. It’s been done and it doesn’t work.