The right fuel before you work out might can help you perform at your best.

Do you love your morning workouts, but hate to eat breakfast before heading out? Do you forget to have an afternoon snack before your evening run? One of the keys to good exercise performance is eating the right foods at the right time. Which is why it’s always amazing to me how many athletes simply don’t pay attention to what they eat (if they even eat at all) before they work out. After all, these are folks who should know better.

And yet, I run into athletes all the time who either don’t refuel properly or don’t fuel up adequately before working out. Some who work out in the morning say they don’t eat because they’re not hungry in the morning (translation: they’d rather catch a few extra minutes of sleep). Those who work out right before dinner figure their lunch meal has them covered, so they don’t bother with an afternoon snack.

Why You Should Eat Before You Work Out

People often liken the body’s engine to that of your car, so let’s stick with that for a moment. If you’re headed out on a road trip, it’s a good idea to start out with a full gas tank. Maybe you gassed up a couple of days ago and you’ve still got some fuel in the tank – but if you’re smart, you’ll top it off before you go so you don’t run the risk of running out. Same thing goes with your body’s engine. If you swim laps for an hour first thing in the morning, you might figure you’ve still got enough fuel in your tank from last night’s dinner. You might – but you’d probably be a lot better off if you topped off the tank before heading to the pool.

Your body relies on a good store of carbohydrate to maintain blood sugar while you exercise – but after an overnight fast, those stores could be running low. So eating before a hard workout can help provide enough fuel for working muscles. There’s a practical reason for eating before a long workout, too – it keeps you from getting hungry while you work out.

What You Should Eat Before You Work Out

Since carbs are so important to your body’s engine, your pre-workout meal should be relatively high in carbohydrate. A little bit of protein is good, too. It will slow digestion just a little bit – enough to allow the carbs to enter the bloodstream a little more slowly and steadily. On the other hand, you don’t want to eat a lot of fat right before you head out – it can slow digestion too much and leave you feeling uncomfortably full. And save your high fiber foods for afterwards, too, since they also take a while to work their way through your system.

As far as what specific foods you eat – there are no hard and fast rules. A smoothie made with fruit, milk and protein powder works well if you’ll be working out relatively soon after eating; a turkey sandwich and a bowl of soup at lunch will be pretty well digested if you’re going for a run in the mid-afternoon. If you work out in the mornings but you just don’t like breakfast foods, then eat whatever appeals to you. Most people don’t see anything ‘wrong’ with eating a bowl of cereal for dinner, so why should it be ‘wrong’ to eat leftovers for breakfast?.

When You Should Eat Before You Work Out

There are specific guidelines for meal timing – but in reality, you have to go with what feels right. Some people can eat as usual just before exercising, while others prefer a lighter load in the stomach. Generally speaking, the longer you have to digest your meal before you start working out, the larger and more solid your meal can be.

If you’re going to be working out within an hour or so of eating, then you’ll want a small semi-solid or liquid meal that will empty from your stomach relatively quickly. A smoothie, for example, would be light and easy to digest. If you’re going to work out in the mid-afternoon, a regular, well-balanced meal at lunch should have you covered. If you’ve got a hard workout scheduled right before dinner, you’ll need a light snack in the mid-afternoon – a carton of low-fat yogurt with some fruit would work.

How Much You Should Eat Before You Work Out

Some athletes like to know the specifics of what they should eat before a workout – and the guidelines are very specific. Most people just use the ‘trial and error’ method until they figure out the eating schedule that works for them.

For those of you who want to know the details, here they are: athletes are advised to eat between 1 and 4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight (or, 0.5 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight) one to four hours before exercising. The reason for the range is that it depends on how soon you’re going to exercise after eating. The longer you have to digest, the more you can eat at the pre-exercise meal.

• 1 hour to digest before exercise                    1 gram carbohydrate/kg body weight
• 2 hours to digest before exercise                  2 grams carbohydrate/kg body weight
• 3 hours to digest before exercise                  3 grams carbohydrate/kg body weight
• 4 hours to digest before exercise                  4 grams carbohydrate/kg body weight

See my post ‘What are carbohydrates and how many ‘carbs’ do you need?’ for a list of foods with their carbohydrate content to help you plan your meals

Don’t Eat More Than You Burn

One final note – if your workouts aren’t particularly vigorous or lengthy, this advice may not apply to you. Not everyone needs to fuel up before exercising. If your routine consists of a 30-minute brisk walk in the morning, that’s a great regimen – but it’s also not so intense that you need to top off your tank before you head out.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife. 

Everyone has his or her own pattern of  “regularity” – it might be every day, or it might be three times a week

I’ve seen literally hundreds of clients in my career, and while I can’t claim to remember every single one, there are a few I’m not likely to soon forget.

• Mr. M was a short, slightly built, elderly gentleman who came to my office each week wearing the same plaid sport coat, bowtie and hat.  He complained that his bowels weren’t working properly. And to prove his point, he’d pull from his pocket a spreadsheet – with full details of everything he’d ‘expelled’ the previous week.
• Mrs. R had similar concerns… but instead of a spreadsheet, she brought me pictures.  Truth be told, this was just fine with me, because what these clients were trying to tell me was that they had questions about whether or not they were ‘normal’ – and they were looking to me to provide some answers.

When I ask clients about their bowel function, most of them will tell me everything is fine.  But plenty of themdo say that they’re ‘irregular’ or they’re ‘constipated’.  So it’s worth asking what really defines ‘regularity’ or ‘constipation’.  Is twice a day too much?  Is twice a week too infrequent?

Here’s the lowdown.  The majority of people think that anything other than a daily bowel movement is just plain wrong.  If they go every other day – even if it’s a ‘smooth move’ – they’ll say they’re constipated.   The thing is, constipation isn’t just about how often you go (or not) – it also has to do with how difficult it is for you to get the job done.

If you’re healthy, constipation is usually suspected if you’ve gone three days or more without a bowel movement.  By that time, enough water has been absorbed from the waste material in your gut that it’s likely to be hard and compact – and, therefore, difficult to pass.  But three or more days isn’t a hard and fast rule for defining constipation – you could have difficulty going after only two days, too. On the other hand, there are those who routinely ‘go’ only twice a week – with no difficulty whatsoever – and, rather than calling them constipated, we’d say they’re ‘regular’.

That’s because the range of ‘regularity’ among healthy people is huge – anywhere from three movements a day to three a week.  Even though some people’s bowels move like clockwork, most people don’t go at the same time every day, or even with the same frequency day in and day out.   That makes sense if you think about it – you don’t eat exactly the same foods every day, or at the same time.  Things like diet, exercise, hydration, stress, travel and medications can all affect how quickly or slowly waste material travels through your system.

Even though there’s a wide range of what we call ‘regularity’, the strategies for promoting healthy bowel function are really the same for everyone.  Include plenty of high fiber fruits, veggies and whole grains in your diet, drink plenty of fluids, and get regular exercise.

And when nature calls, be sure to listen.  People often put off visits to the restroom – they’ll say they’re too busy and can’t take the time just then.  Yes, the urge often passes if you ignore it – but the longer you wait, the less likely it is that you’ll have a ‘smooth move’.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife. Herbalife markets products for digestive health and digestive cleansing.

Seasoned dieters know plenty of the tricks for keeping their eating in check.  Beyond the usual strategies - eating right, getting plenty of exercise and maybe keeping a food diary – they might use more subtle tactics for keeping portions down.   They’ll use smaller plates or taller glasses, for instance, to give the illusion that they’re getting more food and drink than they really are.  They’ll make sure to put tempting foods out of sight – and keep healthy ones in plain view.  What they may not realize is that there are other influences in the environment – much less obvious ones – that could still throw their eating off course.Candles, music and the one you love may be a recipe for overeating.  Subtle cues in your surroundings can affect how much  food you eat.

When you sit down to eat, there’s a lot more going on than just you interacting with the food on your plate. You’re actually receiving all sorts of stimuli from your environment – what you’d call the ambiance, the mood or the “vibe” – that can have a real impact on how much you eat.

• Eating alone vs. eating with others. Most people eat less when they’re by themselves than they do when they’re with other people. The more people at the table, the more you’re likely to eat.  With one other person, you’re likely to pack away about a third more calories – but if you’re with a gang of seven or more, you’ll eat about 75% more than if you went solo.  One reason is that meals with others usually last longer than meals eaten alone.  So - as long as there’s food around – the longer you sit, the more likely you are to keep eating.

• How you feel about your companion(s). If your dining companion makes you uncomfortable – let’s say you’re having a job interview over lunch – you’re probably going to eat a lot less than if you were out with your closest pal.  Not only do we eat more when we’re in the company of friends, but we tend to model their eating behaviors, too.  If we’re out with a bunch of hearty eaters, we’re very likely to follow suit.

• Mood lighting. This one’s tricky, because lighting can work both in your favor and against it.  On the one hand, the brighter the room, the more aware you are of what you’re eating – which would seem to suggest that bright lights might help you eat less.  But bright, harsh lighting can also be unpleasant, which might lead you to eat more quickly. Eating quickly doesn’t necessarily mean that you eat less.  When you’re shoveling it in, your stomach doesn’t get a chance to tell your brain that it’s full – and that can lead to overeating.  On the other hand, when the lighting is soft and warm, you tend to feel more relaxed – meaning you’re more likely to stick around the table longer … and keep eating.

• Music to your ears…and your stomach. Just as bright lights can quicken your eating pace, studies say that playing loud, fast music does too.  However, soft jazz might not be much better as you may not eat as quickly, but your meal is likely to last longer.  If you’re home, that might mean a second helping… and if you’re out, it could lead to dessert or another drink.  Any music, it seems – in fact, just a generally noisy environment – tends to encourage eating.

• Color me hungry. The effects of room color on eating behavior is a bit scanty, but it has been shown that bright room colors tend to get people amped up – which means they eat more, and more quickly. That would suggest that soft, muted room tones would slow you down.  Which isn’t a bad thing – unless it leads you to linger a little longer at the table.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.

Bigger Portions, Bigger Bodies

A few weeks ago, the US Coast Guard announced a major downsizing.  Not in their staff, but in the number of passengers that will be allowed to travel on commercial boats.  The reason?  The average passenger weight is being bumped up by 25 pounds – which will determine, and now lessen, the number of people a boat can safely hold. It’s yet another nod to the staggering statistic that two-thirds of adults in this country are overweight or obese.

It’s well documented that we’re getting bigger and bigger.  And it seems that as we get larger, everything else is getting larger, too – from dinner plates to dashboards.  Like the “chicken and egg” question, though, it’s not always clear which came first. 

The amount of food we purchase, prepare and eat has increased dramatically in the last 30 years or so.  The number of ‘large size’ packages in supermarkets has gone up ten-fold, and restaurant portions are 250% larger than the recommended government serving size.  Today’s dinner plate holds 36% more food than it did 30 years ago – and since small spoons look funny next to 14 inch plates, some of our utensils are nearly the size of small shovels.  In other words, our “consumption norms” are shifting – the amount of food that we consider to be a normal portion is getting bigger, and bigger and bigger. And that’s making us bigger, too.

And just as we’ve been adjusting our view of what’s a normal portion of food, we’re also adapting our environment to accommodate our expanding waistlines.  Cars are outfitted with larger cupholders and dashboards that could accommodate a Sunday brunch – because customers demand it.  We walk into buildings with revolving doors that are a foot wider than they were 10 years ago, and we shield ourselves from the rain with umbrellas that have swollen to 1 ½ times the standard diameter.  And the demand for sturdier toilet seats, double wide recliners and – I’m sorry to report – double wide coffins are all on the rise. 

I hope this doesn’t mean that we’re giving up – that we’ll start shifting our norms of what we consider acceptable weight, too. Yes, the statistics are sobering, but if we begin believing that “250 is the new 175”, then we’re well on our way to convincing ourselves that the battle of the bulge can’t be won.  

Shifting our consumption norms is an uphill battle, and it’s one that each and every one of us has to fight at some level every day.  Even if we know that larger packages, larger plates and larger servings lead us to eat more, knowledge isn’t enough.  We all have deal with the environmental influences that determine how much we eat.  We need to teach ourselves to act on that knowledge by buying smaller packages and serving ourselves smaller portions on smaller plates – and we need to learn to be satisfied with less.   

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.

 

I’ll never forget a client I had years ago. He brought in a ‘perfect’ food diary. He followed his meal plan to the letter, and every calorie (or so he thought) was accounted for. But his weight just wasn’t moving the way he’d hoped. As we talked, I noticed that he kept popping breath mints in his mouth. When he started unwrapping his second roll of mints, I just had to ask –exactly how many mints was he eating every day? “These little things? – I don’t know… maybe 5 or 6 rolls.” Who knew that “those little things” added up to more than 300 extra calories a day?

We’re not always aware of everything we eat, and those extra calories can really add up.

Sometimes the extra calories are so obvious, you wonder how people don’t notice them. I had a roommate in college who was always dieting (and never losing), and I used to get really amused watching her weigh out the one ounce of cheese she allowed herself for a snack. She always cut too much. She’d weigh the block of cheese, then cut off a little bit….and eat it. She’d do this over and over, until she’d whittled a two-ounce piece of cheese down to one. Completely oblivious, she had no idea she’d eaten twice as much as she was supposed to.

Those who keep food records usually do a pretty good job – at least when it comes to noting what they eat at their meals and snacks. But when I instruct people on how to keep an accurate food record, I make it really clear…. other than water, anything that passes your lips gets written down, no matter how insignificant it may seem or how small. Because those extra little things can really add up. Don’t believe me? Here are some real life examples … courtesy of my clients.

• Free sample of a burrito at the grocery store: 100 calories

• Crusts cut off while making son’s peanut butter and jelly sandwich: 75 calories

• Six steak fries eaten absentmindedly from friend’s plate over lunch: 120 calories

• Last few spoons of mashed potatoes from dinner (not enough to put away for tomorrow): 110 calories

• Three bites of dough while baking chocolate chip cookies: 150 calories

• ½ piece of garlic toast and ½ cup of spaghetti left on child’s plate: 200 calories

• Few bites of leftover chow mein, eaten while standing up at the sink: 90 calories

• Six vodka and cranberry juices every night after work (okay, this client knew he was drinking a few calories… but he couldn’t believe that liquids could add up to 1200 extra calories)

That dash of cream in your coffee, the candy you filched from a co-worker’s desk, a few handfuls of your date’s buttered popcorn – it all adds up. Take a look back over your last few days – have a few extra calories have sneaked up on you?

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.