Man, I miss Calvin!
Burping noxious flavors is my primary concern when deciding what to eat pre-workout. I know some athletes carb-load while others swear by fasted-state cardio and still others strive for a balanced meal 1-3 hours before getting their sweat on. And let’s not forget the smoothie/shake contingent! ( The difference between a workout smoothie and a shake? Nothing except that women drink the former and men drink the latter.) But who cares about blood glucose levels if I’m regurgitating sausage and peppers between sets? Add in my fish-oil supplement and I might retch on the track. Therefore my pre-workout meals are generally pretty bland. Oh and I learned to avoid soy products the hard way when my gaseous emissions nearly asphyxiated an entire TurboKick class. (Yes, 3 years later and I’m still apologizing for that one.)
The issue of what to eat to best fuel your workout came up as I was reading an interview with Kiefer John that Meanliving tweeted called “Females, Fat Loss and Performance“. The gist of the article is that the differences between the male and female body require different programs. He says, “Most of the recommendations women read in mainstream media are actually recommendations for male athletes that are blindly carried over and applied to women. That’s a huge problem.” His main two points of difference are that women shouldn’t eat carbs because we burn proportionately more fat than men and that we should do less cardio if we want to be lean. His science was a little sketchy but I know a lot of people that wouldn’t argue with his conclusions.
In regards to the first point he writes, ” The hormonal situations occurring when you first wake up creates an optimal environment for fat burning, the moment that you eat carbs this environment is ruined. That’s why I always tell everyone, ‘as soon as you get up, bacon and eggs, bacon and eggs’.
This idea that the body awakes from its overnight fast in a state particularly attuned to burn fat has been around for a long time. But is it true? According to one of my all-time fave fitness writers Tom Venuto (and the first one I ever fell in exercise-love with – his book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle was my very first Great Fitness Experiment ever!), the research supports this theory.
“1. When you wake up in the morning after an overnight 8-12 hour fast, your body’s stores of glycogen are somewhat depleted. Doing cardio in this state causes your body to mobilize more fat because of the unavailability of glycogen.
2. Eating causes a release of insulin. Insulin interferes with the mobilization of body fat. Less insulin is present in the morning; therefore, more body fat is burned when cardio is done in the morning.
3. There is less carbohydrate (glucose) “floating around” in the bloodstream when you wake up after an overnight fast. With less glucose available, you will burn more fat.
4. If you eat immediately before a workout, you have to burn off what you just ate first before tapping into stored body fat (and insulin is elevated after a meal.)
The real question however is if this makes any difference to fat loss or performance. Venuto quotes Lyle McDonald, an expert on bodybuilding nutrition and author of The Ketogenic Diet.
“All that research says is that you burn a greater proportion of fat this way, which I agree with 100%,” says Lyle. “The majority of research shows that as far as real world fat loss goes, it doesn’t really matter what you burn. Rather, 24-hour calorie balance is what matters. Because if you burn glucose during exercise, you tend to burn more fat the rest of the day. If you burn fat during exercise, you burn more glucose during the day. The end result is identical.”
The second key difference between men and women athletes says Kiefer is,
“For women in particular, one 45 minute bout of cardiovascular exercise at a heart rate above 65% will shut down the major metabolic regulator, T3 [Thyroid hormone] for about a week. So one day of over doing it, and you’ve shut down your metabolism for a week. This is unique to females. That’s a huge misconception, ‘if I need to lose weight, I need to run more, or be on the bike more, or get more cardio’; for women, it’s the opposite. This will make it much, much, harder.”
From my personal experience I would say his second point is right on the money – hello Rachel Cosgrove Experiment and the best results the Gym Buddies and I ever got! – but I’m still not sure about his first one.
In my years as a fitness nut – emphasis on the nut – I have tried everything when it comes to meal and workout timing. I did the only-fruit-for-brekkie thing courtesy of the Skinny Bitches (the book, I’m not calling anyone that) which ended with me leaving class light headed and nauseous to sit next to an old man who asked me if I was pregnant. For a couple of years fasted-state worked great for me but that was because I worked out at 5 a.m. (I miss you L!) and my stomach definitely did not want food that early. When I went through my carb-fearing phase, I loaded up on eggs and spinach which wasn’t bad but I felt like I was lacking some spring in my step. And then there was the 5 straight years of some kind of oatmeal concoction every morning – not bad with a chopped apple and walnuts, gag-worthy with a whole scoop of protein powder, most creatively done as an egg custard.
These days however it’s anything goes. That’s the beauty of Intuitive Eating – I eat what I feel like. Yesterday I had eggs scrambled with salmon and veggies (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!). The day before it was an apple. This morning it was German pancakes, whipped cream, berries, a fried egg, two strips of (pastured, all beef, nitrate-free) bacon and half a pound of asparagus. What? I was hungry! Like many other things in my life, I find that my pre-workout nutrition is best when I just go with what I feel like that day. But maybe what makes me happy isn’t best for my body? Why does research always generate more questions than it answers??
What’s your pre-workout eating philosophy? What do you think about women needing less carbs and less cardio than men because of our physiology? Anyone else burp up nasty stuff during a workout??
Eggs with salmon and veggies for breakfast sounds delicious! I usually don’t eat breakfast because I love to sleep in and then I can’t eat for a while after I get up because I have to take my stupid thyroid medicine on a completely empty stomach. Beyond that, if I’m going to work out, my stomach has to be pretty close to empty or I’ll get some nasty reflux going on. How I miss my carefree youth, when I could eat anything and then go for a run!
I am a little skeptical of people sprouting off differences between the genders when it comes to workouts. I am sure there are differences, plenty of them, but I keep thinking of when I was in the Army and these ‘differences’ meant women got to take it easy on the physical training field, compared to men…and then when people like me came along (and I am NO athlete, believe me!) and were able to pass the men’s standards, I got no credit. Hmmmm… Maybe we are all more different as individuals and gender based differences should be taken with a huge grain of salt? I don’t know.
BTW, what’s that picture at the end of your post? A bird? A dog? A mutant? If I get any nightmares because of it, I’ll be leaving another comment! 🙂
Haha – I have no idea what that thing is but I think it’s hilarious! Any nightmares about that thing would be awesome;) And yeah, it does seem more important to focus on the differences between individuals rather than differences. I do think we need to be able to generalize somewhat though, if only to give people a place to start and then make adjustments from.
I don’t know the answer, but I’m trying the intuitive eating approach because all of the tracking and limiting and weighing was making me nutso. I’ve done pretty well for two weeks, but who knows how well well is when you aren’t measuring anything.
“but who knows how well well is when you aren’t measuring anything” I think you know:) Mental sanity is a great measure! Plus, your pants will tell you if you need to be paying more attention to what you eat, I think. Congrats on making it two weeks! Those first two are the hardest – it gets easier I promise!
Pre-wedding I was doing Jillian Michael’s Frontside and Backside dvds every morning, about and hour to and hour and a half after breakfast. (Where I take all my vitamins including fish oil.) The burps were horrendous! They were so bad I couldn’t even think about doing the dvds because I would feel sick to my stomach. (I’m so mad at myself that I gave them away, I need to look into buying them again. I really liked the interval aspect of the workouts.)
Oooh vitamin burps are the worst! Esp. the fish oil.
Eating before working out is one of my biggest concerns when it comes to working out. Ideally, I would love to wake up earlier in the morning and have enough time to work-out and get to class (I’m in college). But, I have been avoiding this route because I have been afraid to:
1. work out on an empty stomach after 12+ hours of no food and
2. to work out after eating breakfast.
I was thinking that I may be able to reach a happy medium by eating something small before my workout and then having a bigger breakfast (probably eggs) after my shower. I think I’m definitely going to have to try that.
I was also curious what everybody knows about vitamins/supplements. I know that I should be taking vitamins every day, but I have no idea what kind of vitamins I should be taking. Have you ever seen how many there are? It’s ridiculous!
Also, do you ever take any supplements before working out? If so, do you find that they help? If not, why not?
@Kate, I wish I had the money to buy a workout DVD! They seem like so much more fun. I also think I would feel more comfortable working out in the privacy of my own home over working out in the gym with strangers.
I think this: ” I may be able to reach a happy medium by eating something small before my workout and then having a bigger breakfast (probably eggs) after my shower.” sounds like a great idea! Best of both worlds! As to your q about vitamins/supps, the research has shown that people who take a daily multi die EARLIER than people who don’t. Weird, huh? My thought is to get my vitamins from my food but I do take a fish oil supp daily and a vitamin D in the winter. I don’t do a multi though.
Lucy – It might be worth checking out if your college health center has DVDs you can borrow. I work for a (large) university and they have a massive library of workout DVDs that students can check out (like you would a library book). I am, in this one tiny instance, jealous of the students.
Oh my gosh, re: burping up nasty stuff. I’m a fan of hot yoga. I’m not a huge fan of chain restaurants. A friend of mine loves Chilis, and I’d never been, so she insisted on going. I did not enjoy what I had, and it sort of sat in my tummy like a rock. I went to hot yoga…oh, 4 hrs later. It was the ickiest hot yoga class ever, I tasted Chilis the entire class, and I’m pretty sure my sweat smelled like it too. Never again.
I generally wonder about scientific findings that have only men as their samples, and also those that only have university students as their samples (though, admittedly, I am the age of the university students). I feel like it’s odd to extrapolate findings, when it’s been shown that things are not only different between genders, but also as people age, and for different races, where you live, genetics, etc. I like science (it has a lot of great stuff going on), but perhaps sometimes the general masses take science findings a lot further than is justified. That’s the long way of saying that I think it’s completely plausible that women need less carbs and less cardio than men….but I think it depends on a whole host of other factors too.
Such a good point: “I feel like it’s odd to extrapolate findings, when it’s been shown that things are not only different between genders, but also as people age, and for different races, where you live, genetics, etc.” !! And I totally agree about Chili’s being nasty and stomach-rock-ish.
It depends what I want to do- previously I always ran on an empty stomach- but if I am running 20km by the time I get back to the car I am ready to drive to the nearest bakery and order one of everything. I discovered that if I eat two pieces of toast I can run faster and longer! All other workouts I do on an empty stomach where possible- cycling 40km home burping tuna sushi is not fun!
Ah tuna sushi – how do I love thee?? But yeah, not before a workout. Are you training for a duathlon?
“These days however it’s anything goes. That’s the beauty of Intuitive Eating – I eat what I feel like. ”
Amen! Me too. I dont know if I call myself an intuitive eater as much as just a common sense, moderation, go with the flow, eater.
Works for me and I never “time” or “plan” my pre or post workout food. It just is. Whatever happens, happens.
And thank you for the super sweet Facebook wall bday msg. xoxo
I love that you do this! Although I am completely lacking in common sense so I don’t think anyone would believe me if *I* called it that;) And I hope you had a wonderful birthday!
Im intuitive (shocking I know :)) and yet with cardio if I could live the way I wanna Id intuitively take a sloooower approach, loll over breakfast then do cardio hours later 🙂
right now Im up, work, work, cardio, BREAKFAST *after*
Yeah, in an ideal world I’d have your schedule, lol! Eaarrrrlllyyy is my fave time to workout.
I’ve tried all sorts of eating and not eating combo’s, depending on what I feel like. It’s all good, as long as it includes coffee.
Like you, when I used to work out at 5:00AM, I did not eat. Now that my workout is mid morning, I have coffee, then a piece of toast with almond butter about half an hour to an hour before cardio or working out. This usually gives me enough energy to get through the workout, plus I do not feel nauseated. I have tried fruit before, but that really causes burping issues, particularly if I eat pineapple before swimming, ugh!
Oooh yes! Pineapple = heart burn city!
Oooo, so timely! I have noticed that since I started running for only 20 minutes first thing in the morning on an empty stomach (the only time I can go since my husband is still home and the baby is asleep) that I seem to be leaner. This has always held true for me (am workouts before eating), but I didn’t think the 20 minute work out would do the trick. Turns out it does!
I love this!! Totally gels with my theory that looong workouts can do more damage than good. So glad you found what works for you!
I recently went through a mini-experiment where I tried to limit my carbs for a week. Within a day or so, I was crabby as hell, sluggish, and just wanted to smack a couple of people I normally tolerate just fine. It was going to be a longer experiment, but I cut it off at a week for fear of my mental state.
I’ve always noticed that whenever I try to restrict something, I obsess over it. That week I wanted nothing more than a huge bowl of pasta followed by some bread. And it really, really made my workouts suck. I prefer to work out right after work and before dinner (I know, prime time at the gym). I think it’s because that’s when Fencing Practice was in college (4:30 – 6), and we’d go straight from there to dinner. Right now I’m teaching a class that happens right when I’d really like to be eating lunch, so I either eat early, at 11:30, or way late at 2. I’m starting to think the best idea is to bring snacks / a couple of small meals, so I can do both, and avoid both sluggish workouts and starving while teaching.
” It was going to be a longer experiment, but I cut it off at a week for fear of my mental state.” Oh me too sister! For the record, people say if you can get past that initial feel-like-crappiness then you feel awesome once your body figures out ketogenesis. Not that I’m telling you to try it again, just felt compelled to tell you the counter-argument.
And yay – it sounds like you’ve figured out what works for you with the mini-meals!
I workout using the fuel from what I ate the night before! This way I am on a higher fat burning metabolism from not breaking the fast!
You + Venuto = best training buds ever!
Great article! I used to do the bodybuilder meal timing (“slow” carbs before and protein + “fast” carbs after), but my tummy didn’t like that at all. I switched to a light protein snack before, and I felt much better.
Now, I have refined my pre-workout fueling based on the timing before the workout. If I have 3+ hours until my workout, I prefer a large fat-and-protein-heavy meal. If I have 1-3 hours, I will go a bit lighter on the fat with more protein and a slightly smaller meal. If I have 1 hour or less, I will usually go for a fat/protein/carb snack — like a handful of nuts. I don’t have any science on this, it just works for me.
On a random note…
* I love, love, love the word “brekkie”!
* I’ll go out on a limb and say the last pic is a ferocious Penguin/Pitbull hybrid — I couldn’t stop staring at it until I figured it out!
I do about 100g of steak and a tbsp of nut butter at least 30 mins pre workout. I find this helps keep me going and energy up, this is normally before a weights session and very early in the am. Post workout a protein shake. All organic grass fed etc. Has made a massive difference to how much I can lift!
I get up at 5:50, have a slice of oat nut bread, and then head out to do my P90x or TurboFire workout. When I come home, I work for an hour and then have my breakfast before I leave for the office. If I don’t eat before a workout or a run, I’m so hungry by the end of it that I have the shakes and I’m ready to kill someone.
I’m not quite an intuitive eater (yet) but my breakfasts sound quite like yours; I eat what I want to eat, not anything standardised. The same goes for my pre/post workout snacks – if I’m craving protein, I’ll have something proteiny. If I’m craving nuts, I’ll have nuts. No real ‘order’ in my eating!
Ok, first, I’m an empty stomach exerciser. I do the 5 a.m. run and if I even attempt to throw down a banana I’m sick the whole time.
Second, Kiefer’s second point about women who exercise at 65% of their capacity for 45 minutes depresses me. I’m a cardio-holic, at least when it comes to running (I don’t do machines). I love to run for the sake of running and it isn’t unusual for me to do an hour run multiple times a week, it’s my workout of choice. I don’t feel like I push myself too hard but I’d say I’m at 65% for a good portion of the run. So what Kiefer is saying is that I’m shutting down my metabolism regularly? *Sigh*
I would go the intuitive eating route, because who cares if fat-burning, carbo-depleting, whatever is best according to science? If you’re obsessed with having the “right” foods all the time, it doesn’t leave much space for thinking about the rest of life.
That said, I am trying to eat more fat and protein and embark upon the New Rules of Lifting for Women…have you ever done an experiment on that book? I know it’d be longer than a month.
I hit the gym after work so around 3pm I eat a yogurt. That seems to work well for me. But I need to be fueled before my workout. I push myself really hard and without proper fuel I end up feeling sick and light-headed afterwards.
I came here for the holy grail and someone to tell me what WORKS. I think that there is no one answer sadly. Personally, I can train on a nearly empty stomach first thing. I don’t do it on purpose, but rather because I’m not yet hungry (once I’ve had my coffee) and I don’t want to sit around waiting to work out until I’ve eaten. And if I happen to get up at 6 and want to train, I do. Then I’ll have the protein smoothie/nut butter/sprinkle of cereal combo. Having said all that, I have lost muscle mass over the past two years as measured hydrostatically and the girl waxed poetic about needing at least 135 g protein a day (I’m sure I’m short on that). Also I may have been doing other things to eat away at my muscle like exercising (cardio) too much and eating too little from time to time. So, bottom line: I have no freakin idea. 😀
I miss Calvin, too.
I go to the gym after work (about 5:30 pm–a long time after lunch). For a while I was snacking on fresh dates stuffed with coconut oil, but the sugar in the dates made me jittery. Lately I’ve been munching on avocado at about 3-4 pm and it seems to do the trick. Matt Frazier at No Meat Athlete has written some good articles about fueling for exercise: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/running-fuel/
How much difference in fat burning are the researchers talking about? I bet it’s a small amount. Do the benefits outweigh a workout performance that might not be as strong? I personally want every ounce of energy possible during my workouts, such as heavy weightlifting, and am very willing to sacrifice some fat burning for it. But all of our goals are different.
It sounds like some people are expending a lot of calories for pre- and post-workout food. That calorie amount could be the problem itself.
🙂 Marion
wow very interesting! I never really thought about WHAT I was putting into my stomach first thing, it was more of just what sounded the tastiest (usually a whoe wheat tortilla)…I wonder just HOW badly I’m deterring any weight loss/muscle gain with what I do now….hmmmmm
oh, and burping up my morning pills/vitamins is the WORST!! It’s enough to make me want to inject them directly into my body instead…well, it’s maybe not THAT bad…haha 🙂
I do cardio fasted for fat loss. But I do it *truly* fasted…idea being, if you fast for say 12 hours and then do 45 mins of cardio and then immediately eat a ton, you’ve just ruined the point of doing fasted cardio & may as well have eaten first. So — and this fits perfectly with IF — I fast for 12 hours, then do truly slow steady state cardio for 45-60 mins, then fast another 2 hours, then eat (usually 40g Protein / 30g Carbs / 10g Fat), wait an hour and then lift. 🙂 It works for me, my goals, and my body — but there is definitely no one size fits all answer!
(I, too, miss Calvin! Best comic strip EVER, and I’m a fan of the comic strip.)
Like you, I have to follow my heart. Or, stomach. If I don’t eat ANYTHING before a workout, I’ll have zero energy and the workout will be a big waste of precious time. Some mornings I really just want that smoothie, while others I need the toast, the eggs (with cheese!!!), the veggies, the oj, the coffee, and then MAYBE I’m ready to start my day, lol!
Which is why I tend to avoid the research. It only confuses me more.
Charlotte, as usual, you seem to have an uncanny knack for posting about whatever is going through my head at a given time. I used to be a low-carb girl (not following a specific diet; just generally avoiding carbs except one to two days before a marathon), because I found that carbs made me blow up like a balloon (regardless of calories). I stopped worrying so much about that in the past few months, and my hips/butt/lower stomach have been at their biggest (despite the fact that I am working out HARD with Insanity and despite the fact that I am NOT at my heaviest). I have been wondering if it’s such a good idea to start my day with oatmeal, as I’ve been doing lately, and I find this really fascinating… perhaps I should go back to the low-carb thing.
As for eggs with salmon and veggies? That actually sounds kind of like a take on lox and cream cheese that I do. I make my own “veggie cream cheese” by mixing cottage cheese with garlic powder, parsley, and chopped veggies, then put it on Wasa bread. I usually eat it plain, but on occasion, I’ll top it with salmon. SO DELICIOUS!
If I am traveling, I tend to workout in my hotel room as soon as I wake up, then eat breakfast on my way to the office. If I am at home, I tend to work out at night, and I eat as soon as I wake up. I find that I have a lot more energy for workouts when I do them at night – perhaps in part because my body is fully fueled by then.
I will note that before I run a marathon, I typically eat 150-250 calories for breakfast, and that’s it before I run. I’ve experimented a lot and found that’s plenty to adequately fuel my muscles.
I’m boring. For me it’s almost always an egg white omelet loaded with veggies and maybe some kind of sausage — I’ve had an affinity to the chicken sausage of late. Very few carbs in general around these parts.
P.S. Glad to see you get the bacon in there 🙂
Weekday mornings – I am up and out the door within 15 mins. No food. If it’s a long run, I’ll take sport beans with me. Weekend mornings – I loll around a bit more so usually some small bar of some sort. After work – I just make sure I don’t have anything too garlicky or spicy for lunch when I run (those darn burps), and have a snack mid-afternoon and/or a little snack right before (fruit, carrots, hummus, tortilla, pretzels, jerky, pita, pick 2-3 of these), and dinner right after (which means dinner some nights is 9-10pm but thems the breaks).
One thing I have learned – those weekend workouts are generally 2 hour bricks or long rides or runs outside lately and I will get belly hungry (and at times light headed, feeling weak, and pass out hungry) WAY before I get mouth hungry. We now know to plan to either have food on the make immediately that’s quick, or my butt doesn’t hit the couch, I just shower and we go to lunch. I get useless really easy and when I’m in that state I can’t pick what I want sometimes and I’ll just start feeling crappy and mumbling about it… 🙂
Charlotte, I read all this stuff but it comes down to what works for me. I do more than 45 minutes cardio & when I do less, I gain weight BIT I also weight train intensely & eat right.. but less cardio just does not work for me… and the older I get I see that. I think some of these studies also have to talk to age because if older women start cutting back too much, they will gain… but as you know, I think weight training is very important.
I do better working out first thing & with little food in the tummy even with my crazy workouts. Food upsets my stomach so…
Again, I think it comes down to individual people. I have changed my food many times over the years & since perimenopause, even more!
I like Kiefer’s stuff. I’ve been doing some carb back loading (similar to his carb nite, but you just eat carbs for 4 hours in the evening). read up on carb back loading!! if you eat carbs in the morning, it ROCKS your insulin level… not good. of course, they recommend training in the afternoon from 3-5, then eating all your carbs from 6-10pm. we (my hubs and I) train mostly in the morning and it still works! now, i admit I could be more serious, but I have a powerlifting competition in August, so I’m not worried about how lean I am right now. but once the meet is over, I will get a tad more serious to see what i can lean out to. anyway, i still have great energy in the morning, even for my workouts!!!!
Love this post! It’s always difficult to figure out t what to eat pre-workout, but whatever I choose I always remember to drink lots and lots of water!
I am all in favor of eating what your body is hungry for in the morning.
I can rarely handle eggs, bacon, anything high protein when I first get up–
I’ve done this before,
and it ended in tears.
And puke.
Whole grain bagel/toast, oatmeal, and peanut butter is where it’s at for me!
The cardio thing is wildly interesting to me–
I’m seeing an endocrinologist on Thursday to chat about my sunnuvabeeyotch thyroid,
so I’ll bring my exercise habits up to see what the doc has to say about that.
Keep eating what your body wants, honey–
you look (and sound!) better than you ever have in the two? three? years
I’ve been reading GFE.
I think the worst workout-burp is from hummus–not homemade, but some garlicky storebought version! ICK!
Wow I just about had a heart attack reading this!!
“For women in particular, one 45 minute bout of cardiovascular exercise at a heart rate above 65% will shut down the major metabolic regulator, T3 [Thyroid hormone] for about a week. So one day of over doing it, and you’ve shut down your metabolism for a week.”
So this basically goes against HIIT like Insanity, right? How are you interpreting this, Charlotte?
PS great site, it’s my first time here and I’m already in a huff! 😉
Okay so I’m embarrassed that it has taken me so long to respond but I was on vacay and… okay, there’s no excuse! I’m sorry! Anyhow, yes, the way I read that would definitely preclude insanity and the like (even my beloved TurboKick!). I’m not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, other research backs this up with evidence that long high-intensity workouts (like Insanity) increase cortisol, overtax the adrenals and inhibit muscle growth. Plus my personal experience is that it’s easier for me to lose weight and build muscle when I focus on weight lifting and cut out most long steady-state cardio. But on the other hand, surely our bodies would have adapted to this modality somewhat by now, right? Because I LOVE TurboKick and I’m not giving it up. And also, my thyroid is fine…
Plus, shorter bouts of HIIT have been shown to have massive benefits. I guess the trick is figuring out the point at which they switch from beneficial to damaging??
Pingback:life detox 101 | 36broadway
I’m bad about not eating the strict diet that most health addicts eat. I watch my cals and always have ice cream everyday! But damn it’s too expensive to shop at Whole Foods and Trader Joes all the time for us.
It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d certainly donate to this superb blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my
Google account. I look forward to new updates and will share this
blog with my Facebook group. Chat soon!
For me, fasted cardio = feeling jittery and tearful the rest of the day. I like three good squares. 2 eggs on toast in the am (and, yes, coffee); some kind of meat/salad combo or a hearty soup dealie for lunch; 1 serving of some kind of brown carb with meat & veg for dinner. (My brain and I get along better when I have carbs at night – helps with sleeping too.) If I feel wonky before my (evening) workout, I’ll have a banana 30 mins before, and milk or yogurt afterwards with some nuts. Bananas and milk make me happy.
But… can you explain this bit – “women … burn proportionately more fat than men” – which is basically the opposite of everything I’ve ever read, given leptin, alpha 2 receptors, estrogen, etc, etc, etc?
Hmmm… I’m not a scientist but I think the key is “proportionately”. If you read his article he has a bunch of stuff in there about how women’s fat is more bioavailable or something because of our estrogen. Apparently we store it faster but we also mobilize it for burning faster too? Like I said, not sure if I totally buy it but I think that’s what he meant, anyhow. How’s that for super unhelpful?
For women in particular, one 45 minute bout of cardiovascular exercise at a heart rate above 65% will shut down the major metabolic regulator, T3 [Thyroid hormone] for about a week. So one day of over doing it, and you’ve shut down your metabolism for a week.”
““For women in particular, one 45 minute bout of cardiovascular exercise at a heart rate above 65% will shut down the major metabolic regulator, T3 [Thyroid hormone] for about a week. So one day of over doing it, and you’ve shut down your metabolism for a week. This is unique to females. That’s a huge misconception, ‘if I need to lose weight, I need to run more, or be on the bike more, or get more cardio’; for women, it’s the opposite. This will make it much, much, harder.”
what the what? sounds like the biggest load of BS to me
Pingback:How Do You Time Your Meals Around Your Workouts? [Help a reader out week!] | The Great Fitness Experiment
Pingback:How Do You Time Your Meals Around Your Workouts? [Help a reader out week!] | Elite Daily Diet and Fitness
It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d definitely donate to this excellent blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for
book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account.
I look forward to fresh updates and will talk about this website with my Facebook group.
Chat soon!