HOW TO Fuel Your Movement
Alternatively: Nutrition Tips for Preparation and Recovery from Exercise
You’ve probably heard it said that you can lose weight at the gym but abs are made in the kitchen. The truth is that exercise and nutrition go hand in hand. In order to achieve the most effective results, both your fitness routine and eating routine require consistent, habitual attention. But what should you eat to stay energized and meet your goals? When should you be eating? How much should you be eating? Read on to find out.
Types of Exercise
Let’s start with the basics of exercise. The primary fuel your body is going to use during exercise is dependent on the type of exercise you’re doing. The main categories of exercise are:
Resistance Training/Weight Lifting: to build strength and increase muscle mass or tone
Aerobic/Cardio Training: to improve cardiovascular (heart and lung) health and endurance
Balance and Stretch Training: to improve flexibility and stability of muscles and joints in order to decrease the likelihood of injury
A combination of all three of these types of exercise is a good idea for a well-balanced fitness routine. They each compliment each other and help keep all your gears running smoothly. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends 75-150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise weekly with at least two days of resistance training to maintain and build muscle mass.
Types of Fuel
All calories can be placed in one of three nutrient categories: carbohydrates, proteins, or fats. These are our body’s sources of fuel and energy for our workouts. Again, which one your body will primarily use depends on the type of workout and length of training session.
Carbohydrates:
Carbs are the cell’s main, preferred fuel source. If your stores of carbs, called glycogen, are fully stocked at the start of your workout, you’ll be able to delay the onset of muscle fatigue. Think – pasta dinner traditions before race day. When fully stocked, the body can store as much as 1900 calories worth of carbohydrate fuel in the liver and skeletal muscle, plus another 40 calories free-floating throughout the blood stream.
Carbs are the primary fuel source used during high-intensity exercise such as sprinting, basketball, or intense cycling. For activities such as weight lifting or jogging, carbs are used at the start, but our bodies eventually switch over to utilizing fat stores with aerobic respiration (with the exception of heavy lifting bursts, which will still utilize carbs with anaerobic respiration for quick energy, resulting in lactic acid and soreness.) For longer distance, moderate-intensity exercising, fat will be used for energy once the glycogen stores are depleted.
The general recommendation for carbohydrate intake is 45-65% of your total daily calories. Per pound of body weight, somewhere between 2-4 grams of carbohydrate should be sufficient. The more intense the exercising routine, the more carbs you’ll need to eat in order to replenish your glycogen stores and keep up a supply of quickly accessible energy.
Fats:
Fat is our go-to source of energy for aerobic respiration, meaning that it takes more oxygen to break down the molecular structures into energy. With lower intensity exercise, we typically have more oxygen to utilize for this process – think: jogging, easy weight lifting, or yoga. We’ll break down some fat stores along with carbohydrates during all exercising, because it is a wonderfully concentrated source of calories for our muscles; but it becomes our main fuel source when the intensity is lower.
Proteins:
Protein is not a preferred fuel source by our muscles during exercise. Our body may use about 10-15% of fuel from protein during a training session, which mostly comes from branched-chain amino acid breakdown, but it is not necessary to consume protein during a workout or with the intent to utilize it for fuel. It IS important for recovery after a workout, though. More on that below.
The Timing
I already mentioned that storing a sufficient amount of carbohydrate for your body to use is important, but when should you eat in order to achieve that? Here are some guidelines for eating to fuel before exercise, during workout sessions and afterward to help recover and restore.
Before:
Choose complex carbohydrate food sources daily (whole grains, starchy veggies) and limit high fat protein sources. Allow at least a couple of hours after a meal for digestion before exercising. If you have a sensitive stomach, try using liquid meals such as a smoothie or shake, and be sure to eat well the day before to ensure your fuel stores are ready to go!
Staying hydrated before exercising is also key; not doing so can lead to cramping, early fatigue, and poor performance. A snack of 30-45 grams of carbohydrate plus 5-10 grams of protein an hour or so before exercising can provide a boost for sustained energy.
During:
Unless you are exercising at a high intensity for more than an hour, you likely do not need to eat or fuel during the session. Gatorade was invented as a way to deliver additional fluids, electrolytes and quick carbs to athletes competing for hours at a time, not for the hour-long average weight lifting session. For prolonged, intense activity, 30-60 grams of a solid or liquid carbohydrate source (depending on what you personally handle better) can help provide consistent, quick fuel to your muscles. Many long-distance runners and athletes utilize gels, drinks, and chews that contain these nutrients.
Protein and fat do not need to be eaten during exercise, but water should always be included! Dehydration leads to reduced cardiac output and lower blood volume, which means less fuel delivery to the muscles and less sweating to cool you down.
After: The Four R’s
A workout is not done when you put the final weight down or stop sweating. Aside from the need to stretch after (I will always remind you of that 😊) you should think of your post-exercise nutrition as part of the workout routine. Try to remember the Four R’s of exercise recovery:
Repair: Recovering after exercise includes consuming protein to repair muscle breakdown. It is recommended that you get 20-25 grams of protein within 30 minutes or so after exercising, and that you repeat doses of another 20-25 grams at a time with meals as opposed to consuming one large serving of protein. Your body will absorb and utilize these smaller doses more efficiently, and it takes about 24-48 hours to stimulate muscle synthesis and repair breakdown, so a continuous supply is helpful for ongoing building.
Refuel: Replenish stores of carbohydrate in your system by eating complex carbohydrate foods including whole grains, starchy vegetables, and fruits in consistent meal patterns. I mentioned above that 2-4 grams per pound of body weight is the daily recommendation, with more required for higher-intensity exercisers.
Rehydration: Replace what you sweat out! Water is not caloric, but rehydration is SO important for proper organ systems functioning. If you sweat a lot or know that you will be sweating, try weighing yourself before and after the workout session. For every pound of weight lost during the session, drink 16-24oz of fluid within a few hours. Utilize sports drinks or foods with salt in them to replace electrolytes, as needed.
Revitalize: Incorporate a range of fruits, vegetables, dairy and whole grains into your eating pattern to take a “foods first” approach to obtaining all your essential vitamins and minerals. Like water, these compounds do not provide energy, but many are necessary for proper metabolic and immune system functioning, and will help keep you in tip, top shape for your next workout! Micronutrients such as calcium and Vitamin D help keep your bones strengthened to keep you moving. You may wish to incorporate a multivitamin or other vitamin/mineral supplements as a “safety net” if you know that you will not be able to obtain all required micronutrients from your diet, but it is not always necessary.
Building Snacks and Meals
A good post-exercise snack is one that provides rapid (but healthy) carbohydrate replacement and includes a dose of protein. For example, a whole wheat bagel with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter plus a glass of low-fat milk will provide about 50 grams of carbs, 20 grams of protein and 10 grams of healthy fats.
In planning your meals to meet your needs, think about the purpose of each food will provide. For example, EXOS Performance Nutrition utilizes a concept that divides meal components into categories:
Build…muscle mass and repair with lean protein foods such as eggs, chicken and fish
Fuel…cells with complex and whole grain carbohydrates to replenish stores such as beans, rice, potatoes and pasta
Protect…the brain, heart and joints with healthy fats such as avocado, nuts, seeds and olive oil
Prevent…disease and illness by building up the immune system with a variety of fruits and veggies such as berries, salad greens, apples or peppers
Do you have additional questions about meal planning, fueling for specific exercise routines or supplementation? I’m just a click away from starting the conversation!
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Cheers & Namaste!
-JMJ