Pre- and Post- Workout Nutrition
Prior to Exercise:
What you eat before exercising is very important because it affects how you feel while you are training and even how you feel in the days after exercise. There are two periods to look at for pre-exercise performance nutrition: long digestion pre-workout fuel and short digestion pre-workout fuel.
A. Long Digestion Pre-workout Fuel (2 to 3 hours before activity): This is simply a complex carbohydrate that takes longer to break down. These complex carbohydrates offer ideal energy for sustained exercise. It is important to allow at least 1-1/2 hours for the food to digest as your body will have more time to convert the carbohydrate as glycogen energy.
If you train before digestion has occurred, you will have less energy because it takes blood and energy to digest the energy food. It is a good idea to include protein in this pre-workout fueling period to promote muscle recovery and growth. Since there is plenty of time for the food to digest before your workout, it's a good idea to eat some complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates give performance energy and also happen to take longer to digest. You should opt for whole-grain carbohydrates. Any processed carbohydrates will actually contribute to a lack of energy and have substantially less vitamins, minerals and fiber.
There are several performance foods I recommend to eat 2 to 3 hours before the activity:
1. 1 to 2 slices of whole-grain bread
2. 1/2 to 1 cup brown rice
3. 1/2 cup pasta
4. Garden salad
5. 1 cup shredded wheat cereal
6. 1 cup steamed vegetables
B. Short Digestion Pre-workout Fuel (20 to 60 minutes before activity): Let's face it, there are many times when it's time to work out and we haven't eaten in 3 to 5 hours. In this case, you should turn to short digestion pre-workout foods. These types of foods are less complex and digest more quickly, allowing you to work out soon after food consumption with an energy boost. Be careful not to eat simple carbohydrates or foods with high contents of sugar. For example, candy bars, juices and other high-sugar foods will take away from your workout. There is an array of products on the market that offer quick pre-workout energy. Energy bars and other products are not a bad idea in the rush, but I caution you to use them as a planned snack or meal.
There are several performance foods I recommend to eat 20 to 60 minutes before a workout:
1. Banana
2. Power Bar
3. Balance Bar
4. Strawberries
5. Apple
6. Orange
Post Exercise: After your energy-filled workout, it's time to replenish. When you work out, your body uses energy (in the form of glycogen) that was stored for the exercise. Since your body is now relatively depleted and the metabolic rate is up, it is an ideal time to eat. That's right, you should eat after exercise! Notice I did not say, "Go have a bowl of ice cream". In fact, this is the time to have those long-digestion carbohydrates that I mentioned. Don't forget to include some lean protein for muscle recovery and growth. Good foods to choose from are chicken, turkey, fish, lean beef or dairy. Happy and healthy eating!
Reducing Body Size
This is the No. 1 request that I have received over my past 12 years in the fitness industry. I hear people say they want to reduce their hips or thighs or they want to reduce everything. It's obvious that reducing requires weight loss. There are many different methods for weight loss, but I encourage you to consider the one that will last a lifetime: proper exercise and nutrition. When you bring both of these components together, you will see the results you want and it's easier to maintain than the array of extreme diets that are available.
Starting Point
Not all people are alike. Where are YOU now? How much weight do you think you should lose? How much "bad" food do you take in? How much "good" food do you take in? What is your current level of exercise? These are questions you should ask yourself before you start to make any changes. If you want to see change, then you need to change what you are currently doing with both nutrition and exercise.
Nutrition -- Keep an Eating Journal
Write down what you eat for a week. Now don't make any changes just yet! After all, you've probably been eating this way for a while. Take a typical seven-day sample. Write down the times of day that you eat. From here, you can note with some reason what your eating habits are like. You will most likely notice things about your eating habits that you didn't before you wrote it all down. Studies have shown that just writing everything down will make you more conscious of your nutrition and cause you to eat better.
Bad Foods -- Count Them Up!
Start with the basics. Count the number of bad foods you've had for the week. Bad food = any high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar or combination of foods. For example, pizza, donuts, soda, cookies, etc. Cutting those foods in half alone will make a difference. Notice I didn't say cut anything out! After all, sometimes those bad foods are yummy foods. Oh, and low-fat and fat-free treats are still treats and are bad foods.
Another nutritional factor to consider is the quality of carbohydrates you eat. Carbohydrates are the nutrients responsible for giving your body energy. Some carbohydrates do so better than others and some carbohydrates are more fattening than others. Sugar would be the worst of these. Though there is no fat in sugar, it most certainly is fattening! There are also some carbohydrates that do not appear as sugar or taste like sugar, but can be almost as fattening as sugar. They are called high-glycemic carbohydrates. These foods include potatoes, corn, white bread or any refined grain, most cereals and white rice. You should replace these foods with the whole-grain versions. For example:
| Current Diet | Replace With |
|---|---|
| Baked potato | Sweet potato (Believe it!) |
| Cereal with sugar | Cereal without sugar |
| White bread | 12-grain bread |
| Corn | Other green vegetables |
| White rice | Brown rice |
| Pasta | Zucchini |
| Soda pop | Water |
Again, don't cut the bad foods out completely. After all, that would not be realistic. Do implement these concepts into your eating report and results will occur. Don't forget the obvious, decrease the amount of fat you consume. Make these adjustments and then evaluate your progress in one month. You may need to make more changes or stick better to the ones you've set up.
Exercise
Aerobic activity and weight training together will produce the best results in your slimming process. Aerobic activity is the best of these. Choose an activity that will allow you to elevate your heart rate for at least 20 minutes. The key is to find a level of intensity you can maintain for at least 20 minutes. That is the amount of time, at a given heart rate or workload, that it takes to go into what is known as the aerobic metabolism. It is in this mode that your body will burn the most fat. Any time spent over the 20-minute mark is maximum fat burning. If you're just getting started with an exercise program, I suggest 20 minutes of aerobic activity two to three times per week. If you are already on an aerobic program and still want to see change, start with one of the following: Increase your time in the aerobic metabolism 10 to 20 minutes extra, increase your intensity 10 percent to 20 percent or increase the number of days you do aerobic activity by one to two days.
When resistance training, keep your reps high and go for the burn. If your weight and girth is more than desired, going too heavy with weights will only contribute to maintaining your current size. Going lighter will actually help your body to release those unwanted pounds and will give you much better tone. Resistance training will also increase your metabolism, which means you'll burn more calories throughout the day.
When it comes to reducing, bringing in nutrition and exercise is the best answer. Too often, people will make one of the two their primary focus. Keep both aspects involved and you'll love the results and, perhaps most important, you'll be able to maintain them.
