What To Eat Before Exercise

In the last couple of weeks I’ve had a few people asking me about what to eat before exercise. If you are training in the morning or after work this can be a bit of a quandary. 

The truth is there are many caveats depending on what type of exercise you are doing to what your desired goal is. Based on the premise most of my clients are busy people who want to look, feel and perform better here is my general guide...

You need to know there is a substantial body of evidence which states training first thing in the morning on an empty stomach leads to accelerated fat loss. This is fine if you can accept a drop in performance too. What I mean is whilst you might get faster results this might also mean the challenging workout is more challenging.

To be fair some people can actually stomach a meal before exercise and if this is the case I would actually recommend something protein based with low-starch carbohydrates. This might be a vegetable omelette, chicken salad or steak and vegetables.

However, most people can’t and so therefore a better solution for many when training in the morning is a small handful of almonds and a cup of black coffee with a teaspoon of coconut oil. This protein-based snack is easy to digest, provides a steady stream of energy and the coffee gives you a bit of mental stimulation.

If you are training in the evening or after work similarly you don’t want anything heavy to eat beforehand either. Furthermore, you will be going to bed a couple of hours after so you don’t want to buzzing your tits off on a cup of coffee either. Therefore a suitable snack might be a couple of squares of dark chocolate or almonds and a mug of green tea with a teaspoon of coconut oil. The dark chocolate and green tea is full of antioxidants, promotes vasodilation which reduces blood pressure and tastes delicious. 

Let me know if this helps.

Do YOU Store Fat Around Your Thighs, Hips & Bottom?

I’ve tried to hide my disdain for writing about this subject. The reason being my target audience generally values the immediate pleasure derived from drinking a glass of wine and inhaling a box of malteasers rather than the fine-tuning of their exercise and diet plan to the nth degree. 

But, alas, I know this is an issue that many have trouble with and so it’s only right I prosper an opinion...

Following on from my recent post on targeted belly fat I feel I should echo my key points from there - the best results I’ve seen in fat loss, from any troublesome part of the body, comes through hard work and dedication to both diet, exercise and lifestyle (think sleep, stress management, etc).

Yes - your hormones are incredibly powerful. Yes - they can effect where you store fat. But, normally the reason you are susceptible to hormone imbalances is due to your continued prolonged environmental insults. 

What is a continued prolonged environmental insult? When you chose the sugary sweet instead of the wholesome snack you disrupted your hormone profile. When you stayed up late to watch the end of the football knowing you had an early start the next day you disrupted your hormone profile. When you became agitated by the nuisance neighbour parking badly the stress has effected your hormone profile. These are all choices you make.

Fat Ass: ....why am I fat???

In simple terms you need to remember genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger. Many of these hormone imbalances are due to poor diet, poor sleep, excessive stress, inadequate water, not enough/ too much exercise, etc. (i.e. stuff you control) acting on susceptible genetic profiles (i.e. stuff you don’t...)

This being said according to literature some people have a propensity to store more fat around the thighs, hips and bottom and you can do more specific stuff to improve it...

According to research, one of the key reasons for storing fat around your thighs, hips and bottom is due to an estrogen imbalance.

To bring you up to speed...

• Estrogens are a group of steroid hormones commonly referred to as the female sex hormones. This is because they occur in much larger quantities in females than males. 
• They are primarily produced in the ovaries, but are also produced in much smaller quantities by the adrenals, liver and breasts.

Key functions include...

• The promotion and maturation of female sex characteristics
• Stimulation of the deposition of fat in subcutaneous tissues particularly breasts, buttocks and thighs.

This basically means estrogenic hormones make girls (and a guys) girly and encourages your body to store fat.

Other interesting points are elevated estrogen levels are associated with irritability, nervousness and insomnia (insert female joke here...).

Like I said, in females an informal assessment with some skinfold calipers might highlight excessive fat storage around the hips and thighs. However, guys are not beyond suffering with this imbalance too. This can most commonly be see with the condition gynecomastra or to call it it’s real name ‘man boobs’.

The reason a person might suffer from this can be varied and plentiful. These include low intake of lignans (flax seeds, broccoli, cabbage, apricots, strawberries), low intake of flavanoids (citrus fruits, berries, onions, green tea, red wine, dark chocolate) , low intake of EPA (fish oils), low intake of cruciferous vegetables, too higher alcohol intake, obesity, hypersulinaemia (poor control of blood sugar levels), hypothyroidism, overloaded detoxification pathways (pesticides and other xenoestrogens) and dysbiosis (imbalance of gut).

....just a normal life then?!?!?!?!

So what can you do?

Reduce Your Toxic Load

Improving you detoxification pathways is your first step. Start by eating a diet rich in whole unprocessed foods and drinking lots of water. To further this eat organically (less pesticides), avoiding putting too many chemicals on your skin (yes - the pretty perfume might make you fat?!) and be more aware of environmental toxicity.

Improve Your Digestion

Be aware of food allergies. Symptoms can include difficulty concentrating, depression, gas, bloating, constipation or diarrhea. Regenerate you digestive system and you will start to see huge improvements in health and wellness.

Decrease the Volume Of Prolonged Aerobic Exercise

Running isn’t bad, but there are better ways to get fit. Strength training is less stressful on the body. If your plan is set up properly you will be able to target and tone specific areas of your body and increase fat loss too. To target this area working at a higher intensity is the aim.

Consider Cooking Methods

To maintain nutrient density in food beware of overcooking food. Instead of using the microwave or boiling why not try steaming, grilling or baking food.

Switch to Green Tea

Instead of coffee or normal tea try drinking green tea. This will help with detoxification in the liver.

On top of this you could consider supplementing with zinc, HCL, fish oils, a good quality multi-vitamin, and probiotics.

Again, I stress improving your diet, lifestyle (sleep & stress management) and exercise (the right sort of exercise) plan is the most important aspect. Once dialed in consider supplementing.