It’s a balancing act!
Ever tried training for an event and losing weight at the same time and ended up feeling really tired? I see this problem all the time!!
To lose weight you need to create an energy deficit (that is eat less than you expend), but you still need to have enough energy to train on so here are a few tricks to help you out:
- First of all don’t ‘go on a diet!’ Diet is the word DIE with a cross at the end!
- Eat regularly, that means three main meals with a morning and afternoon snack
- Make sure that you plan your meals around your training. For example, if you are training first thing in the morning, always make sure that breakfast is within an hour of finishing. If you are training afterwork, you may need to space your afternoon tea out so you’re full of energy, rather than not eating and then crashing half-way through.
- The amount of extra calories you require for recreational exercise isn’t actually that much so make sure you choose foods that have that ‘filling-up’ factor. These include oaty cereals e.g. mueslis, dense breads, grainy crackers, yoghurts, fruit smoothies etc.
The amount of food one requires is different for everyone but as a general rule:
- Each of your main meals should include a carbohydrate, a protein and either a piece of fruit or some vegetables or salad
- Mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks should not exceed 150 calories (that 630kJ for anyone that reads food labels). Remember though that carbohydrate is your main source of fuel so a mid-afternoon snack that is also a pre-training snack should have lots of carbs. Really good examples of this are: Hot cross buns, mini can (100g) creamy rice + banana.
- Your carbohydrate portion at your main meals should be NO bigger than the size of your clenched fist
- The amount of lean meat/ chicken/ fish/ vegetarian protein alternative that you have at lunch should be similar to that of an egg and the amount of dinner NO bigger than the size of the PALM of your hand (that’s without your fingers and thumb!)
Happy training everyone!
Kath
