I gave keto diet a halfhearted try for a couple of days. We don’t eat much meat so the diet never resonated with me. I actually ran into a coworker who has been doing keto diet for about a year. My unscientific eyes tells me that he gained some weight.
Just came back from a 10 miles run, where I only burned 1000 calories. It was a brisk cold morning, so it was perfect. I came back and ate pasta and soup leftovers, a couple of pears and some concord grapes. Also got some baby yams in the pressure cooker.
I am at a good point in my weight, one of the lowest. I eat whatever I want, it does seem that my body must have burned the stored fat.
@makemesmart, if you are interested in keto type diets, I would suggest looking into the Maffetone method. His philosophy emphasizes low heart rate training as a way to build your aerobic base and increase the ability of your body to burn fat during endurance events (gross simplification before someone jumps all over me). I followed this method while training for a marathon that did not go well but I can’t blame the method. He’s published numerous books and has a blog. Just google “philmaffetone” and you’ll find it.
@sabaray
Did you experience less/no soreness while trying Keto for your marathon training? I have very low resting heart rate already (less than 60 bpm). Will check your recommendation out. Thanks.
Do not get too hung up on the GI of specific foods. It’s a measure of limited utility. GI is a measure of how much blood sugar goes up based upon consumption of 50 gms of usable carbohydrates from a particular food. It is referenced against 50 gms of pure glucose. But that’s not really a complete picture for lots of reasons. First, if you eat a high GI food as part of a meal with proteins, fats and fiber, the GI of the carb will change because it is eaten in conjunction with those other foods. Second, the time of day and whether you have been active or not will change the rate at which a food is converted to glucose and therefore the GI value. Third, the type of sugar in the foods impacts on the rate of glucose entering the blood which may not correlate with the GI score. Finally, GI has nothing to do with with how we actually eat because it is based on standardized 50 gm portions of sugar, not actual portions of a food. So, for example, carrots have a higher GI than chocolate. A typical chocolate bar and can of cola give you about 75 gms of sugar but it would take about 5 cups of carrots to get that much. Most people would never eat that many carrots. So which is better for you and healthier, that chocolate bar with a lower GI or a serving of carrots with a higher GI.
Better indexes to use are Glycemic load, which is based on a serving size of a food, and better yet Insulin Index which is based on the actual measure of insulin the body produces in response to a particular food. And Insulin Index ratings may not correlate with the GI ratings of particular foods.
@makemesmart - I was more tired than usual. I think you need carbs for distance running. I follow an anti-inflammatory diet and have for some time. If you’re experiencing soreness, I would suggest trying tart cherry juice. When I was running longer distances, I would take a tablespoon of the concentrate (almost like medicine) after a long run and it seemed to help. Placebo, who knows, but I felt better. I would not radically change your diet right now so close to the half.
For those thinking about low carb/ketogenic diets, you may want to think about the following. First, studies have conclusively shown that a low carb diet is not better for weight loss in the long run than an energy balanced diet with appropriately balanced macronutrients. Low carb diets initially produce significant wright loss because for every gram of glycogen stored in your body, you store about 2-3 grams of water as part of the storage process. So if you eat low carb, as you lose glycogen, you lose water weight. A true low carb diet is also not sustainable over long periods of time because it is deprevation based eating. Once you go off a low carb diet, if you do not have the knowledge and behavioral tools for an energy and macro balanced nutrition plan, you will gain the weight back and risk yo-yo weight and body composition issues. Interestingly, the scientists who did the source studies on carbs and insulin response in otherwise healthy individuals, did a scathing rebutal of those who took their studies and used them to promote low carb dieting as superior based on supposed insulin reactions to carbs. They stated that at the end of the day, energy balance is what counts because if you overeat, excess calories regardless of the source get broken down into glucose which then gets stored as fat (in which insulin plays a role).
There is no one cookie cutter formula for what the right macro balance is. There are guidelines based on body type (ecto, meso and endomorphs), types of activities and other factors but each person is an individual. Oftentimes the problem is that people eat far more carbs than they really need.
Healthy carbs are an essential part of good nutrition. Your body needs about 130 gms of carbs/day just for normal brain and central nervous system functioning. In addition, carbs are the primary source of glucose needed for energy production. While fats can be utilized as a source of glucose, the metabolic pathways for energy production from fats are much slower than those that utilize glycogen. If you are a performance athlete involved in high intensity sports, fat based ATP production cannot keep up with the demands. The studies and anecdotal evidence suggesting that endurance athletes can successfully use a ketogenic diet for competition should be taken with a grain of salt. There’s a lot of variability, on an individual basis, as to what constitutes true high intensity, variability as to distance and duration that impact on the efficacy of using a ketogenic diet to fuel athletic pursuits. There are many studies that have refuted the contention that ketogenic eating does not cause a degredation of performance in true high intensity events. There’s a huge difference between “high intensity” and long duration. They are not the same. For the former, you must have glycogen to maximize performance. For the latter, fat based fuels may provide longer duration energy but it only works if the intensity does not outstrip the pace at which ATP can be produced from fats.
I’m a high intensity runner competing on a national level. I need carbs as part of a balanced diet or I wouldn’t have the energy needed to train 2-3 hours a day.
I’m a low intensity runner competing with anyone I think I can beat around the neighborhood. I need (good) carbs too! :))
A good day of training for me today. After warmup, I worked on my gymnastic skills on the bar for about 15 minutes. Then ran thru a 20 min WOD of cleans, burpees and weighted sled push sprints. And finished up with weighted sit-ups and rope climbs.
I’m pretty sure that I’m a jogger and I’m okay with that.
Good weekend of exercise for me. Easy neighborhood run of three and a quarter yesterday followed by some yoga. Today was a combo TRX/Pilates class that emphasizes the fundamentals with options for adding on if desired. Nice way to ease into the workweek. Did quite a bit of meal prep and got some dog walks in there as well. A good weekend.
Rainy here this morning but Monday always goes a little better when it starts with exercise. 2 hilly neighborhood miles followed with some yoga inspired stretching. Good walk with the pups and a breakfast from Run Fast, Cook Fast, Eat Slow - quinoa with walnut milk, fresh peach and blackstrap molasses. This probably would taste better with almond milk as suggested but I had the walnut so why not use it.
I was thinking of my dad this morning while running. Whenever I was having a tough time or a rough go of things, he would always send me off with the encouragement to “have a good day, even if other people had other plans for you.” I hope you all have a good day.
Hey @sushiritto Did you say the Air Assault treadmill is what you have at CrossFit? I encountered one at a hotel gym last week but I couldn’t master it immediately and I didn’t have time to mess with it. I felt like it was getting away from me, if that makes sense.
I went ahead and signed on to the Noom program. It will be interesting to see how it goes. I want to get some habits going so that I can eat healthier on a regular basis.
@MomofWildChild I have an air assault bike, at home and at my gym. It’s not an overly complicated piece of equipment to use. Putting it together is another thing.
You push/pull with the handles as you bicycle. And the faster you go, the harder it becomes. We’re you able to try that or the air runner which is what one of those curved manual treadmills we were talking about a couple pages ago?
Let us know how you like Noom, @Bromfield2. Having the accountability is a plus in my book. I always say I’ll use MFP, but there’s no one on the other end letting me know when I’m slipping or conversely when I might be doing too much.
Good few days. Finished the Pilates workshop sequence yesterday and feel really good about the progress I’ve made. This morning I went to circuit class - wanted to take advantage of it while it was being offered. Class finished with two rounds of burpees - always a good time. Lots of squats and combo moves using dumbbells and kettlebells, plus resistance bands. My least favorite - the bear crawl - but I can tell I am getting better at that as it’s a part of almost every PN workout I do.
@sushiritto I was trying the treadmill. I had a foot injury, so I wanted to start out walking and, like I said, I felt like it was getting away from me. After reading more about it, I think I was too far forward on the curve and couldn’t control it. It says there is a learning curve and in my limited time in the hotel gym before a required breakfast, I didn’t have time to mess with it so I moved on to an elliptical.
