demagogue on 31/8/2010 at 01:11
That's the same thing one of the guys at my job ate every morning for breakfast. He'd been a trainer before and always talked about metabolism and eating different things at different times of day. IIRC he was on some muscle-gaining or body-toning regimen or something. He had a little scale and would precisely measure out the amount of oats, and would have these chicken chunks for lunch.
In my case keeping weight off is pretty easy because I'm pretty much in a constant state of anxiety and am never that hungry.
CCCToad on 31/8/2010 at 01:23
But doesn't anxiety usually cause increased appetite and overeating?
Thief13x on 31/8/2010 at 01:52
It's usually one or the other
I've always struggled with weight and find it tough not to binge eat when going through periods of chronic anxiety.
The confessions of an addict:cool:
CCCToad on 31/8/2010 at 02:02
queue snarky posts about what disgusting white trash Thief13x is.
june gloom on 31/8/2010 at 02:55
well he is
demagogue on 31/8/2010 at 03:02
I'm probably exaggerating the anxiety. I've never been able to eat much pretty consistently through all my life stages so far, and there are times where I feel like I'm force-feeding myself to get down full meals. Then I go visit friends for dinner and they cook such massive portions I just don't want to deal with that much food and my tummy hurts when I try. If I had to chalk it up to anything, maybe a combination of genetic predisposition and just a certain frame of thinking I've just ingrained into myself out of not much more than habit. When I've eaten as much as I like, I'll stop and toss the rest out, even if there's food left on the plate (which I can't really do when friends cook, hence the sore tummy). Anymore, I'm willing to give habits of thought a lot of credit in these kinds of situations.
DDL on 31/8/2010 at 17:53
Quote Posted by Aja
Could you elaborate on this? I try not to exercise on a full stomach (it's difficult anyway), but on an empty one I usually feel as though I don't have the energy to complete my regular jogging routine. Is there an optimum amount of food one should eat before working out? Or a specific type of food?
Ok, the idea is to force your body into fat burning mode, which is painful: while fat provides more energy gram for gram than sugar or protein, it's harder for the body to mobilise, and metabolism of it is
exclusively aerobic: you have to liberate the fatty acids from the triglyceride storage fats (three fatty acids stuck to a glycerol), then shunt them to the mitochondria, then break them down two carbons at a time. It's...fairly slow, and actually requires energy
investment initially. Sugar, on the other hand, is pretty much a 'breakdown and provide energy right away' kinda metabolite (technically also requires initial energy investment, but it's a single step :)). sugar can provide both rapid, anaerobic 'sprint' energy AND aerobic 'jog' energy. Fat can't. So it feels harder.
So when you're out jogging, if you've eaten in the last...say, 6 hours, you will probably still have a significant quantity of sugar stored in your muscles (as glycogen). You body will unerringly use this preferentially: it is what it's THERE for, after all. So to force fat use, you have to make sure those glycogen levels are super low, hence first thing after waking up. If you feel too weak, this means it's working. Marathon runners deliberately stock up on high carbohydrate foods to load all their muscles with glycogen, because they want to be at peak ability for as long as possible: even then, many don't have sufficient storage capacity to manage the full 26 miles (18 miles is about the average person's stock, I think), and beyond that it's fat burning: they call this the 'wall', because..well, you feel like you've hit a wall. You suddenly feel like it takes twice as much effort to lift your legs. That's fat burning..and it hurts.
Of course, this is if you're going for fat loss. If you're more concerned about just increasing aerobic fitness (though the two are not mutually exclusive), stocking up on some carbs a couple of hours before running is a reasonable way to ensure sufficient glycogen stocks.
Pardoner on 31/8/2010 at 20:44
Quote Posted by CCCToad
queue snarky posts about what disgusting white trash Thief13x is.
"Cue."
Scots Taffer on 1/9/2010 at 04:24
No, he meant Queue was going to make snarky posts. Does he do any other kind? Other than irrelevant? ;)
Aja on 1/9/2010 at 07:43
Thanks DDL, that was helpful!
