At the very basic level, weight loss is simply as easy as calories burned > calories consumed.
The problem is that a lot of the time I look at working out as something that will allow me to eat a double stacked cheeseburger guilt-free! While burning calories in a workout WILL create a calorie deficit, how you go about eating towards filling that deficit can make a difference in your recovery and weight loss moving forward.
A painfully obvious truth once again rings my bell... everything is interconnected: if you don't take care of yourself properly pre- and post-workout, you're not setting yourself up for continued success. That doesn't mean you won't be able to bang out a sick two week run of exercising and eating less. It means that you won't be able to swing into week three and keep on truckin' along. So what should you be doing?
Alcohol does not count. I am not going to sit here and try and tell you with a straight face that I have never consumed alcohol after a workout. One of the most hilarious and fun memories I have from the Warrior Dash is drinking a beer with Team Arena after completing the race. There are even health benefits from drinking a glass of wine or a pint of Guinness. But if you workout hard, and then go and drink an excessive amount of alcohol, you're definitely not hydrating. More importantly, alcohol takes precedence over everything else when your body goes to metabolize energy sources. That means that your body is ignoring better sources of energy to break down the alcohol. This results in dietary fats, such as carbs, to be stored more easily. Even if you don't feel hungover the next day, alcohol left in your system can make it more difficult for your body to regulate its own temperature, as well as making it more difficult to maintain balance and coordination. Your reaction time will be slower, as well. That can be dangerous if you're going to train the next day or play a game of pick-up whatever with your friends.
- Consume protein. Ahh, yes, protein. Protein is great for a whole host of reasons: it helps keep you feeling fuller for longer and it takes a lot of energy to metabolize so it makes your body burn a little hotter for a while. For those of us who do intense workouts, consuming protein after a workoutcan help you feel less sore the next day. This, in turn, will make you probably want to workout again rather than laying in bed groaning about how much you hate squats. If the chalky taste of some protein powders has you going "Yeah, maybe not", and you can process dairy, try chocolate milk. Chocolate milk has high levels of carbohydrates and protein that help the body recover faster. Obviously, that does not mean that you should go home and make chocolate milk that is 1 part milk and all parts chocolate syrup. Keep it serving size appropriate.
- Eat. Yes, burning more calories than you consumed is how you lose weight. However, the fat storages in your body will not have all the nutrients that your body needs to repair itself after a high intensity workout. Consuming protein and carbohydrates after a workout will make sure that your body has the nutrients it needs to keep the body with all the tools it needs, as well as keeping your metabolism burning bright for several hours. Notice, however, that "consuming protein and carbohydrates" does not mean eating a giant soft pretzel and eating chili cheese fries. Make sure that you're putting clean energy into your body, like fruits and vegetables (carbs) and a small amount of nuts, cheese, or lean protein (protein). This should be done, by the way, within 30 minutes of working out to harness the full benefit of consuming calories.
Not eating does not count. I know, I know, it seems like you should work out and then not eat to make sure that you don't screw everything up. But here's the thing: imagine your body like an old-timey steam powered train. When you do an intense workout, your body (the train) is now going faster. To go faster, it will burn more coal. If you don't give it more coal, you're going to slow down. If you don't eat after a workout and actually have a long gap between meals, your metabolism is going to slow down. This is especially important for people who workout at night and maybe skip dinner and go to sleep. And then maybe you don't eat breakfast because you've never been much of a breakfast eater. You're now at 12+ hours of fasting, and that's no way to treat your body. Now, obviously, this isn't going to kill you if you do it once or twice. But if you make it a habit, you won't see the results that you may have expected from working out and food journaling, and you're probably not going to feel all that great. Worse still, if you don't eat after a workout, you're almost certainly going to overconsume calories at some other point, because your body is going to be like, "Hey, buddy, over here. I need some of that. And that. AND THAT."
Make sure that you're putting yourself in a position to hit those goals and succeed.
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