Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Eat More!



Everyone I know who's started running has said the same thing. I'm loosing weight even though I'm eating like a horse. Exercising makes your burn calories and work up an appetite. If you're doing intensive working out or lots of running you'll find that you're starving. Earning those big meals is a pretty damm rewarding part of a healthy life style.


I actually tried running at the same time as being on a diet with really small meals. I got unpleasantly hungry! It felt like pain in my stomach. I was also lethargic, irritable, and running became difficult pretty quickly.

Okay you shouldn't eat a whole cow, but if you're working out you can bump your daily calorie intake by 500 calories. They say the average man need ~2500, 2000 for women. But I say that's too much of an fuzzy average.Weight yourself and use an online calorie calculator. My mother even has an 'app' on her iphone that she enters everything she eats and it works it out for her!
 
Being a tall male who lifts weights and runs I aim for 3000 calories a day. I make sure I weight out my rice/pasta/whatever, when it's dry, and check the calories of other stuff I eat.


This all goes out the window if you don't eat the right stuff. Avoid stodgy, greasey things and junk food. They feel good at first but they bog you down and contain the kind of fats that lead to heart disease. You do need a bit of fat to live! Just keep it mainly poly/monounsaturates (fish, seeds, olive oil, vegetable oil) and minimise trans fats and saturates (margarine, cake, meat, dairy).

When you make a meal you pick your meat or fish (a little fat, protein), the right amount of carbohydrate, get your vegetables for fiber and vitamins, fruit for pudding. There's extra fat and sugar in sauces and puddings. Dairy products are your source of calcium. Keep meals varied and try to eat at the same time every day (that's a really big deal!) Just the way your parents (probably) did it for you as a kid.

Get some carb and protein into you within 45 minutes after you finish weight training. This makes sure you're muscles aren't turned into spare energy and so that there's excess protein can go into making those muscles.


If you get hungry or feel low in-between meals feel free to snack on a few nuts or seeds (I'm eating pumkin seeds right now, they're mighty addictive). Raisins are also a good choice. You could also have a banana or any other fruit. In my opinion nothing is tastier than a fresh, juicy mango (not even fizzy drinks!).

Avoid booze... if you can. Ethanol carries a lot of calories, and drinks tend to have lots of sugar.

Finally there's supplements. Especially if you're building muscle, protein powders and some fat-burning pills are a safe way to make sure you get enough calories or protein, but that's it. If you're eating your carbs and your eating your meat/other protein sources that's good enough! It's a waste of money (even though gyms and sports shops love to push them on you) if you ask me, since 3 full meals a day like your Grandmother survived on is RIGHT. Remember you can't cheat at health.

People who do alot of exercise can benefit from taking vitamin C and E. Most multivitamins tablets contain those.

If your joints or muscles ache it may be due to lack of protein or calcium.

6 comments:

  1. Yeah it made me hungry just writing about it.

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  2. Some great and sound advice in this blog, its great to see more people interested in health and fitness! I'll follow your blog for future advice and tips!

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  3. Nice blog. I always need to eat better. Following.

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  4. good read, always good to know how to be healthy

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