What's wrong with my appetite?

 

Can you relate?

You finish a long or hard workout and you have no appetite. You'd think you'd be ravenous after a tough training session but eating is the last thing on your mind. Even worse, the thought of food leaves you feeling nauseous. But come the evening or the next morning, you are starving and you can't seem to stop the nagging hunger pangs and fill the bottomless pit in your stomach. 

If you said "that's me!" you are not alone. Having a decreased appetite after certain training sessions is very common. However, just because this is a normal phenomenon, this doesn't mean that its ok not to eat. The food you eat post workout provides the fuel to power future workouts and gives your muscles the nutrients needed to properly recover from the previous session. 

Here are a few reasons why your appetite is blunted post workout: 

• Internal body heat - Contracting muscles produce heat. Around 20% of the energy produced by contracting muscles is used for muscle contraction and the rest is convereted into heat energy, which results in an increase in body temperature. 
• Blood flow - A normal effect of exercise is the diversion of blood away from the gut so that more oxygen can go to the working muscles. Less blood flow to the gut means less hunger sensastions. 
• Dehydration - Staying hydrated is critical for optimal body functinoing. Dehydration can make you feel tired, nauseated, fatigued and sleepy. 
• Nutrient deficiency - A decreased/poor appetite is common in several nutrient deficiencies such as iron, magnesium, B vitamins, folate and zinc. 
• Hunger hormones - Ghrelin is a peptide hormone predominantly produced by the stomach. It plays a key role in stimulating appetite and energy intake. Intense or prolonged exercise supresses ghrelin. 
• Dieting and/or body image concerns - You are disconnected from your body's cues. You've conditioned yourself to ignore your hunger cues and undereat to meet your body composition goals. 

For athletes focused on performance, health and sport longevity, consuming nutrition and fluids post-exercise is critical. Insufficient energy intake may impair tissue repair, induce excessive fatigue and reduce the ability to stay consistent with training. While counterintuitive, you need to take in calories even when you aren't hungry. 

This is called Mechanical Eating and it's the opposite of Intuitive Eating. 

Intuitive eating means eating only when you are actually hungry and honoring your body's hunger and fullness cues to make food decisions. While this may work for the normal population, avoiding food after intense/long training due to not being hungry will compromise training adaptations and your ability to perform well in your next workout. 

Mechanical eating means having a specific plan as to what and when you will eat when you don't experience hunger cues. 

Because proper recovery can help with performance gains, building lean tissue (strength gains), optimizing health and reducing the risk for injury, it's important to have a plan for post workout nutrition when you lack an appetite to eat post workout. Consider liquid calories as a start and aim to eat smaller carb/protein portions every hour in the 4 hours post workout to help with recovery. If you continue to struggle with your intake post workout, reach out to a sport RD to help create a personalized plan for your needs. 

Weekend meal prep - A must for endurance athletes

It's been a lot of fun to share Karel's 8th Ironman journey with him in route to IM Lake Placid (well, 9th IM journey if you count his 2015 IM Lake Placid DNF after the bike due to going into the race with a torn plantar fascia). Like all endurance athletes, Karel has had his share of confidence building workouts but now comes the time when the body is tired and every workout can make one question race day readiness. The great thing with Karel is that he is a born racer - he just loves and lives for race day so no matter how flat and tired he feels in this final push before his taper/sharpening (which is all normal), I know his body and mind will know exactly what to do on July 23rd. I can't wait to be on the sidelines with Campy to cheer him on (along with Trimarni athletes Chris, Heidi and Adam and Trimarni nutrition athlete Christine). 

Being an age-group triathlete is tough. There's no denying that we all have a lot to balance when you decide to call yourself an athlete as an adult. Taining, life, sleep, work are always in a tight balance but when the training picks up in peak season, it's critical that nutrition does not get pushed to the side in order to train more. Sadly, many athletes fall victim to the typical scenario of more time with training = less time for meal planning.

Although being tired, exhausted and not having enough time are common (and valid) excuses for not being consistent with meal prep, if you care about your health and athletic development and want to make the most out of your training, it's important to get your nutrition in order by planning ahead. Waiting until you are hungry or trying to make food decisions in the face of exhaustion will not let you make the best decisions. Additionally, waiting too long to eat or not caring about what you eat will neither assist in ideal fueling/refueling. Understanding that the way that you fuel yourself between two workouts dictates how quickly you can recover and adapt to training, your training doesn't end when you finish a workout and wipe the sweat off your face, while cooling off in the AC. As an endurance athlete, nutrition can't be an afterthought as it is part of training.

Although meal prep involves planning and that takes time, you are taking control over your diet when you plan ahead. Considering the food choices that athletes make when they are exhausted, starving, lacking an appetite, tired or even rushed, meal prep makes post-workout eating convenient, accessible, easy and effective. And since most endurance athletes are checking off their longest workouts on the weekend, you will have more time for rest and recovery when you know that your meals are ready for consumption.

While I hope that you are making healthy eating part of your weekly routine, I can't overstress the importance of prepping food for your weekend training so that you can get the most out of your body when you place the most stress on your body. 

Here are some of the foods that I prepped for this past weekend of training. I can't tell you how great it felt knowing that real food was ready for us when we returned home from our hot and exhausting workouts and finished up our recovery drinks. 

Potato and veggie egg casserolePeppers, onions and corn layered on the bottom of a casserole dish, coated with olive oil. Then topped with thinly sliced potatoes and covered with 5 scrambled eggs (seasoned with salt, pepper and mixed with a splash of milk). Baked at 425 degrees for 45-60 minutes. Then topped with cheddar cheese.   

Sliced fruit
Grapes, strawberries, peaches, cherries, watermelon, blueberries.

Refreshing veggie "salad"
Chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers and garlic, mixed with chopped mozzarella and dressed with olive oil, salt and lemon vinaigrette. 

Jasmine rice
Seasoned with salt and turmeric 

Sweet potato cookies, banana bread and banana bread muffins
All from Run Fast, Eat Slow cookbook. 

The fueling game - less is not best

It's a universal belief that by eating less, you will lose weight. 

It's not that simple. 

So is this why athletes are constantly trying to eat less to weigh less in order to be faster?
Why is it for so many that eating is a chore, an issue, a disorder or a nasty conversation that is centered around what not to eat? 

This needs to stop. 

I've discussed this topic many times in the past on my blog and in articles but I don't feel the message is clear enough so I will say it again...and again and again. 

If you are an athlete that has a drive for success, your methods for changing your body composition should not be counterproductive to your performance goals.
Training for a race is not a weight-loss method! 

There is a huge issue these days with body integrity and this affects how athletes eat and fuel. For the average individual who is just exercising, the consequences are not as extreme if the body goes into a workout underfueled or slightly dehydrated. But when an athlete is willing to push to uncomfortable zones/paces in order to improve, this is when the athlete risks major health and performance issues. 

If you have recently felt vulnerable to your body composition and feel as if losing weight will help you be a better athlete (or look the part), let me remind you that your physical limitations like speed, power and endurance are a direct result of your training stress.
If your body is underfueled, you can't perform.
And your body weight on race day does not determine your ability to perform. You perform based on how well you trained smart and met your metabolic and health needs. 

Let me put this in two different perspectives to be more clear. 

If you feel that losing weight will make you fitter/stronger/faster, with a safe and practical approach, you may improve performance.
So, let's say you want to be able to do a pull-up. You have to be strong to do a pull-up. Losing 5 or 10 or 20 lbs may be less weight to carry and absolutely, you have a valid point as to making the effort easier or more efficient of you weighed less. But losing the weight does not guarantee that you will be able to do even a single pull-up. You must train to be able to consistently execute in each one of your specific workouts to be able to successfully do a pull-up. How much you weigh is not your limiter to being able to not do a pull-up so just because you lose weight, you still have to have a healthy and strong body to pull yourself up. 

If you feel that "fat burning" or working out in a fasted state or not fueling during workouts will help you perform better in endurance sports or improve your body composition because you will be fat-adapted, let me remind you that endurance athletes still have to consume fuel to perform on race day. You can not expect to perform well on race day without fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates. Not only is it risky to not fuel during long distance activity but it is extremely dangerous to your organs, tissues, muscles and brain.
Never should you believe that fat burning will improve performance because the research does not support that. To say that fat burning or eating a low carb/high fat diet is the best method for endurance athletes is like saying that all athletes who want to get fast should only do speed workouts. Yes, I know that speed workouts can make me fast but they also come with risks like injury and I can't be consistent in training if I am constantly sore from speed workouts. 

I would like you to use the same analogy to your training. Intentionally underfueling is an extreme, unhealthy and irresponsible method of trying to get faster or stronger. Not only are you hurting your health but you are sabotaging your performance and you may be increasing the risk for an eating disorder by constantly working out, underfueled, in an effort to weigh less. 

This weekend I had an incredibly strong weekend of training. 

Despite all that is keeping us busy in our life, I'm so thankful to my body for staying strong, healthy and injury free. I thank it daily. I haven't been injured in almost 2 years and I haven't been sick in almost 7 years (no cold, flu, stomach bug or virus).

On Saturday I did a 4:45 hr ride in windy conditions with over 4500 feet of climbing. I rode comfortably for the first 2 hours and then my MS was 3 x 20 min mid to upper Z3 (increasing effort by 5 watts each interval) with 4 min EZ in between. Off the bike, an EZ 1 mile run.
On Sunday I did a 13.5 mile long run. Mobility work to start and then 11 miles slow running w/ good form (8:20-8:45 min/mile pace) w/ walk breaks each mile for 30 sec. Then, my MS: 2 miles best effort (7:35/7:36 min/mile) at the end of my long run.
Today, a 4400 long course swim. 

Karel and I are always dialing in our fueling strategy for race day. We deal with no GI issues in training or race day and I owe a lot of that to our daily diet that is rich in fiber, plants, dairy and quality protein but also because we consistently (like every single workout) use sport nutrition products in training and fuel before every workout (yes - we eat before every workout, even the short ones). And we never neglect proper nutrition post workout.
Karel has not been seriously injured since starting triathlons in 2012 and hasn't been sick in about 6 years. No cold, flu, virus or stomach bug. 

So back to the purpose of this blog.

I don't find it cool, awesome or hardcore when I hear athletes bragging about how little they can consume during a long workout. Now, this isn't referencing the athlete who is still learning how to fuel for endurance sports and is likely working his/her way up with the most that is tolerable while the gut is still getting use to consuming liquid calories while exercising (it can take up to 6 weeks to train the gut). I am talking about the athlete who boasts about how they can swim, bike or run with almost or no calories, fluids or electrolytes. 

The problem I see is that this approach (of less is best) is not practical. There is a fine line between what is healthy and not healthy. While some may say that consuming sport  nutrition during workouts or eating carbs before workouts is unhealthy, I find it extremely unhealthy to not fuel before and during workouts and I would highly recommend that if you are considering (or are on) the train that is all about eating less, consuming less and fueling less, it's only a matter of time before you can do less with your amazing body. 

Here is what I consumed around my two long workouts this weekend:
(I have my nutrition pretty dialed in as to what works best for me. Also, I'm not a heavy sweater and I don't ever suffer from cramping in training/racing. )

Long Bike: 

350 calories before the workout (oatmeal, PB, honey, raisins, milk, banana slices and cinnamon) and water/coffee.
4 x 24 ounce bottles each with 300 calories sport drink

1 Clif Bar (270 calories)
1 wafer (170 calories)

Total: 1640 calories during the 4:45 hr workout + 350 calories before = 1990 calories before my first real "meal" of the day.
And not once did I think unhealthy or feel concerned about my weight. I fuel for performance. 

Long Run: 
300 calories before the workout (Rice cake + 5 saltines w/ PB, Jam and banana slices and cinnamon), water/coffee.
3 x 10 ounce flasks (2 flasks on Nathan Fuel belt, refilled first flask at 5 miles) each with 80 calories Clif Hydration.
Total: 240 calories during a 1:50 hr run + 300 calories = 540 calories before my first "meal of the day.
I did not feel sleepy, exhausted, overly sore or fatigued during the run or after and that is a major benefit from fueling properly before/during the workout. 

I'm sure you know a few but many athletes will say they feel just fine and don't eat before long workouts (or any workouts) and don't fuel during and it's working out just fine or maybe they say they feel even better than ever before! 

The big issue here is that we do not know what damage is being done until this approach backfires - which it typically does in the case of a stress fractures, sickness/fatigue, a drop in performance gains or GI issues on race day. 

Listen up athletes - it is cool, awesome and smart to fuel before and during workouts. 

If you want to train hard, fuel smart!

My secrets to long workout eats

What a beautiful weekend! The highlight of my weekend was being on my bike for 4 hours/80 miles on Saturday morning with the wind gusty like normal and meeting up with a group ride filled with fast guys with big ego's (or a lot of testosterone - or both). There were two other females on the ride and they were impressive as well. I didn't  have the legs to rotate as just drafting was enough for me. It hurt so good :)

After I warmed up, did the ~90 min group ride and after little extra "social" time with friends for ~20 minutes, I finished the workout with 4 x 10 min Z3 low w/ 5 min EZ spin in between. To cool down, Z2 steady effort (I tried keeping my cadence steady but so hard for my legs at that point + the wind would not let up) until I was back at my starting point.

It's interesting that as I progress with my journey of living a balanced lifestyle, my body is typically in a happy place most days of the week. My life doesn't revolve around working out or food but instead, both are balanced in a way that I am excited to wake up with energy and finish the day satisfied that I can do it all again tomorrow.

As an athlete, I know all about exercise-induced cravings especially when training for longer distance races. I welcome these cravings as I rarely get cravings within my normal diet. As much as I love veggies and fruit and other staples in my diet, my body doesn't seem to "crave" anything in a "I have to have it NOW" type of way. Maybe that is due to a diet that is centered around satisfying and balanced meals (filled with variety) as I have taught myself to rely less on snacking to keep me satisfied and energized but instead the composition of my meals. Maybe it is due to balanced meals and having enough protein and fat to slow down digestion of carbohydrates. Perhaps maybe those cravings are lessened due to my growing appreciation to sport nutrition and how nutrient timing can be a wonderful thing to an athlete or fitness enthusiast with health and fitness related goals. Regardless of the reason, I may not crave foods on a daily basis but with longer training sessions, there are often times when a specific food is the only thing that will make me feel even better than I do after a quality workout.

I wanted to share a few of my secrets to maintaining a "healthy" diet (however you would like to define this) while training for a sport. I do not feel that we need to compromise our health by giving into all exercise-induced cravings (as we all know sometimes they can be quite extreme and indulging and not always performance-enhancing beneficial) but at the same time, there are a few ways that you can still enjoy balanced meals all while re-fueling with some of your favorite cravable foods. As an athlete, I understand how it can be to eat around others. Some people believe that as athletes we have the freedom and luxury to eat whatever we want because we can burn it off in training. Despite having a little more wiggle room due to our calorie burn, we aren't professional athletes and we still have to fuel in a way that encourages consistent training. Additionally, some people may say as an athlete you eat "too healthy" and I find that is often an issue for individuals who worry about eating around workouts due to wanting to burn calories for weight loss. Certainly, without the right fuels we can't adapt to training stress and create a stronger, more metabolically efficient (and injury free) body. So don't worry about what others tell you to do or think of you, worry about yourself and your own nutritional needs.  Enjoy!

Side not: one of the most beautiful things in my diet is that I have no restrictions in terms of calories. I welcome food that can give my body nutrients and so I am not limited as to what I can't eat because I am afraid of calories. On the flip side, I don't go overboard and feel the need to reward myself with anything and everything because I earned it. I don't like how I feel when I overeat (I only had to experience this a few times to learn from it and now I act before I have to react) so I listen to my body and eat until I am satisfied (on a hunger scale 1-10, 10 being uncomfortably stuffed, I eat until I am a 7-8 and I start a meal being hungry but not weak, lightheaded or famished). I also don't like how I feel when I can't have a quality workout because I am underfueled. Learn how to see food for nutritional value and tweak the diet so that you are eating in a way that you have energy before and during your workouts, you recover quickly after a workout and you feel nourished throughout the day. Then snack with a purpose.

Beans and Rice

Who doesn't love the ease and yumminess of rice? While eating out, rice can be super heavy in sodium and portions are ginormous. Store-bought? Even the boxed version can be high in sodium. Either buy plain rice (ex. wild rice and brown rice in picture or your favorite grain/pasta) and season to your liking with fresh herbs and spices or 1/4 flavor package in box is what I recommend. Decide on a serving that will make you happy - perhaps 1/2 -  1 cup for starters (cooked). Then top with your favorite veggies and as I always say, look forward to something in the meal. Maybe a little cheese, crumble some chips on top or spoon some of your fav marinara sauce or salsa on top. Don't limit yourself from this flavor overload creation as this can be a great meal later in the day after a long workout to help you recover and still get in those awesome vitamins and minerals. I recommend sauté veggies in a little olive oil to soak up fat soluble vitamins. Also, canned beans, lentils, chickpeas are quick and easy. Give a rinse for ~1 minute to reduce ~30-50% sodium from the can (or pre-make from raw beans).

Pasta and veggies

I consider myself more of a pizza lover whereas Karel is a pasta lover. Good thing for both of us in that we can always enjoy Italian food either in or out of the home. There's nothing I love more than traveling somewhere new and finding out where I can find the best local brick-oven pizzeria.

Just like with rice, it's easy to over do it with Italian food - high in sodium, portions and sometimes fat. So you have two options - use a small bowl and portion control to 2-3 ounces or use a large bowl and pack with veggies. This meal should sit well and should not leave you hungry for more after consuming the recommended portion of pasta so add in a little protein (3-4 ounces animal protein, lean or ~20-25g plant based protein) and drizzle a little olive oil on your veggies to help slow down digestion. Pass on the bread as the pasta will do the trick to refuel and fuel your body and will allow you an opportunity in a few hours to refuel again (perhaps a light snack of 1 slice bread w/ 2-3 tsp nut butter and banana slices, dates  and cinnamon topped with 1-2 spoonfuls yogurt as a snack instead of stuffing yourself with pasta and not eating again for 6+ hours, thus causing blood sugar to drop and missing opportunities to nourish and refuel?).  What pasta do I recommend - I do like the higher fiber options but the whole wheat is not yummy to my liking (nor Karel). We prefer whole grain or the regular pasta/noodles and then to add more fiber, serve a salad as the main course (pasta on the side) and for protein, take your pick from your favorites. I recommend to avoid high fat proteins before or after long workouts as the protein/fat takes a while to digest and before racing (nigh before meal) we want moderate protein and low fat/low fiber with our carb selections.

I used a new kind of pasta which I discovered after a parent of one of the young swimmer athletes that I work with on nutrition (daily and sport) asked me my thoughts on it. The downside is that although you get 1 serving of veggies with each serving, the serving size is 4 ounces (not 2). But the taste is great - not starchy and slimy like some whole wheat pastas and although it is semolina based, you can not taste "veggies" but instead it tastes like a regular pasta. I also like that it is fortified with iron and folate. Instead of bulking up on more pasta at meal tim, throw in some veggies with your marinara sauce and bulk up the meal to become more plant strong. Bowl of veggies with pasta on top sounds good to me!

Crunchy salad

I don't see anything wrong with wanting veggies after a workout. But certainly, veggies won't cut it for refueling and repairing damaged tissues. It's amazing how many athletes will go a full weekend without eating more than 2-3 servings of veggies due to those constant salty/sugary/crunchy cravings after long workouts. I love helping athletes learn how to incorporate more veggies into the diet on long training weekends without compromising performance. If anything, more veggies = stronger immune system for more consistent workouts.

I have been known to crumble chips or granola on my salads just to give it a little crunch. I don't eat snacks from a box or a bag and if we have snacky food in the house, it usually takes weeks to months to consume (or gets stale so we have to throw it out which is something I rarely do in that I don't like to throw away food) so instead, I find a way to incorporate whatever I want that is not emphasized in my daily diet, into my diet on occasion.

This weekend I needed to re-fill my water bottle after my long bike workout and at the gas station, this bag (which is 4 servings if you find yourself eating the entire "small bag") was just needing a home...so I gave it one.

I try to not think of weekend eating as breakfast, lunch and dinner because my morning workouts typically start in around 7-7:30 thus no breakfast but instead a pre-training snack. Finishing around 10-1 depending on the workout, it is nearing "lunch" time but of course I haven't had a meal yet for the day and before my first meal, I have a recovery drink or shake. Like many of you, I LOVE "breakfast' style foods after training so I may eat French toast w/ eggs or pancakes with my smoothie around 12 or 1 as my first meal but knowing I still need to keep refueling throughout the day, I don't think of my day as I need to get in two more meals but instead, making sure I nourish my body and keep blood sugar from dropping by eating every few hours and not overeating at any one time. I enjoy some type of veggie dish in the afternoon - I suppose it can be like a meal but not super calorie dense because I typically have a meal around 4:30-6 (I honor my hunger, I don't watch the clock so my eating times vary on the weekends for meals).

This creation was a bed of dark greens topped with sautéed leftover veggies w/ brown/wild rice (thank goodness for leftovers on the weekend!) and grilled tofu topped with shredded cheese and a handful Chex Mix. The perfect combo to leave me satisfied and fueled.

The key with meal planning on the weekends is to not overlook the importance of your sport nutrition. So many issues like cravings, fatigue, mood changes, sore muscles, etc. can be reduced or eliminated by working on your nutrition before during and after your workouts. Think about when you body is under the most stress as that is the time when it needs fuel the most. You can reward your body in so many ways after a workout but perhaps, thanking it for what it allows you to do is best achieved with real food....that tastes awesome.