I'm starting to see why I binge...

morpheus

 I'm reading this book, Nutrition for the Endurance Athlete.

I'm reading it and going over the same ol stuff, like every article I've ever read.  Though it is helping me understand a few things that I had been neglecting.  

But there's one thing that REALLY stood out to me today.   A graph.  A graph that represented net glycogen depletion day after day after day. 

Without proper fueling and refueling, the depletion slowly adds up.  May go unrecognized for a while, but eventually, it catches up to you.

May feel sluggish and drained from life and workouts, chalked up to 'hard training', 'working hard'.  That's partly right.  When in reality, if I stayed on top of these 'needs', there would be more resistance to sluggish days, leading to better workouts, and better life days, think family and work, ya know!

And now, what I probably have known the whole time... I can go days thinking that I'm slightly in calorie deficit, trying to lose a pound or two, then after those couple of days, I can't stop eating.  One huge night, and I'm good.  Then, the cycle probably continues.

As I try to lose a few pounds heading into the season, it's ironic that my problem may be that I'm not eating enough.

 

 

Note:  As much as I'm skimming over the same ol, same ol  in this Nutrition for Endurance Athletes, the book that I'm most looking forward to picking up is The Feed Zone.  Have heard great things about this one, coming from a very well respected cyclist in the area.  

Norton

That Feed Zone book is the bomb. Great recipes from and for athletes. The rice cakes are heaven on a long ride.

morpheus

That's what I hear.

Brenda Ross

So it is a cookbook, not a regular reading book?

zildgen

Chris I was having a similar issue and my bodies response was to keep adding fat. Logging cal in and out is so important to see where you are and prevent the binging. I have almost completely stopped binging by ensuring that I am eating enough each and every day but not eating too much and spacing out my intake. I also found that I was trying to shave cals by not taking any in during WKO up to 90 min. I would then eat afte rand not feel satisfied so I would find other things to eat that often were not good choices. Now I take 100 cal before, 100/hr for WKO up to 120 min and 160 cal in recover immediately after. Then within 60 min I will eat a high protein meal and I'm good to go until my mid-morning snack. Chris Good luck with your body comp goals.

morpheus

@Brenda - I think it's both, but everyone seems to be saying that the provided recipes are tasty, quick, and practical. And plenty of recipes to choose from, and stays away from the exotic hard-to-find ingredients. Basically, Lim has given us what he would want if he were in our shoes.

@Dewey- Logging cals was an added light bulb that turned on. I have been very surprised at how much under budget I tend to be. For a while, tho. All too often, my days would be under by 300-500 cal, for a couple days over the course of a week. Then, boom, 1000 cal over on a day or two. And, you would think this would be simple to control, since it's logged, but it aint ez to change eating habits. It's a time/life thing in my case. And I get home, cal deficit, wanting to 'relax', so I eat a huge dinner.

Progress, not perfection.

samritter

 +1 on the Feed Zone!  Some awesome stuff in there that tastes REALLY good.  I keep looking at the Chocolate Bread pudding!  

Also,  I totally understand about being consistent with intake, but what about those "epic" training days where it's a race, or you've just done a massive workout?  Should the calories be averaged over the week, or should you change the intake for the day?  What about those training days where you are going into unknown calorie days?  

zildgen

@Sam I belive Penny has said that it would be OK to Push cal 24 hours. But no more. So I take that to mean if big training day is Sat I can spread those cals over Fri , Sat and Sun. Penny is that correct?

morpheus

Sam - according to this Sports Nutrition for the Endurance Athlete, they address this 'epic' day issue. Bottom line, top off glycogen stores heading into into using types of foods but not loading up on calories, and on the day of...increase the cals, preferably with good nutrient dense foods. It's a big jump, too. In my case, a normal training day goes 2700 to 3000 cals, then up to a big day requiring 4000+ calories.

Coach Patrick

My experience for the Big Days from a nutrition conscious perspective has been that you need to Front Load them with a good dinner. So on Friday, you hit dinner with 1,000 cals in the bank (before the 250 cal deficit for weight loss). You would normally eat dinner/whatever and end up at or under the 1,000 cal target. However, the next day you run 13 miles at 6:51 pace an put up a 1900+ cal deficit. You now have permission to eat DOUBLE what you have been eating all week...and guess what...you can't. Despite your best efforts, you still hit that night with a 1,000 cal deficit and the fatigue starts loading on you into the next day, when....you won't want to overeat b/c it's a rest day. Engage viscous cycle.

So now I "max" out the night before, ignoring the 250 cal weight loss goal and eating that up so no net change for that day.
Next morning I have a solid breakfast (250-400 cals, not one gel).
I fuel the workout properly (say 300 cals).
I recover with chocolate milk (Say 180 cals).
Then I can eat.

With all of the above, I am not only getting in a good workout, but I am also "only" under my Calorie target by like 250 cals vs 1000....and my next day is THAT much easier to stick with the plan!

mgraffeo

Chris, which author is that book by? I can't seem to find it by title. Probably need something, starting to feel a bit like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwPUnRTiijY

morpheus

http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Nutrition-Endurance-Athletes-Monique/dp/1931382158



http://www.amazon.com/Biju-Thomas-Allen-LimsThe-Cookbook/dp/B006MSJHR6/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328580533&sr=1-2

 

um, and that vid was freakin' funny!

mgraffeo

OK, that's the one I thought you were talking about. Thanks!

Planning to get the Feed Zone based on the reco's here!