Food Glorious Food!

Your body needs calories to be able to exercise effectively. If you skip meals or eat too little, you will be tired and lethargic and may damage your health. If you are malnourished you may experience depression, fatigue, poor memory, trouble sleeping and moodiness.  Your metabolism will slow down so that even when eating insufficient calories, your body will gain weight. This is your body’s way of stopping you from starving to death.  Some people get into this cycle and eat less and less which makes them gain more and more weight. If you are eating less calories than your body needs to function properly, you will need to eat more to lose weight.

If you are trying to lose weight, firstly speak to your doctor about it. Secondly, make sure you keep track of what you eat and your exercise so you can adjust your daily calorie intake accordingly. More exercise = more calories!  There are many great tools for tracking nutrition and exercise. One I particularly like is My Fitness Pal http://www.myfitnesspal.com/. You can track using the website or you can download a smartphone app.  Both work very well and they stay in synch so you can switch between computer, tablet and smartphone.  To lose weight safely, and not put it all back on again, you need to eat sensibly and lose the weight at a moderate rate. This application will help you to do that.

PRE AND POST WALK NUTRITION

You MUST eat before you go out to athletically walk! For long morning walks, do not skip breakfast. even if you are going for breakfast afterwards. Your body needs energy to burn. If you do not eat anything your body will not have the energy it needs to fuel your exercise. It can be dangerous to exercise without appropriate nutrition. Eat something easily digestible - avoid heavy proteins like meat or eggs. Oatmeal, or toast with peanut butter are both good. You will burn off those calories during your walk. If you are exercising during the day or in the evening you still need to eat before you start. Make sure you eat again post-exercise. How much you eat depends on how many miles you have walked.

A person who weighs 150lbs, will burn approximately 100 calories per mile whether they are walking or running. A mile is a mile. If you run it fast, the body burns calories at a faster rate for a shorter time. If you walk, you will burn calories at a slower rate but for a longer amount of time. No matter which you do, 1 mile (for 150lb person) will equal 100 calories.  This is less for people who weigh less and more for people who weigh more. This means that if you walk 3  miles, you are burning approximately 300 calories. You have not burnt enough to justify a huge meal! If you walk 12 miles, you burn 1200 calories. You need a hearty meal after a 12 mile walk! 

Make sure you have a good balance of protein and carbohydrates and drink lots of fluids. Ideally you should eat within 30 minutes of finishing a long walk. In the first half an hour after stopping exercise your body is able to quickly and efficiently replenish its energy stores. If you wait longer, your body's ability to replace energy stores in the muscles and liver slows down considerably so it could take days to replenish the energy stores that could have been accomplished in that first 30 minutes! A salad after a 10 mile walk is not sufficient nutrition. Don’t think that eating less will help you lose weight. It won’t! Your metabolism will slow down and your athletic performance will deteriorate. Good nutrition will help you maintain a healthy body and boost your metabolism. If you will not be sitting down to eat for more than 30 minutes after finishing a workout, consume a sports/snack bar, chocolate milk or a banana immediately after your walk to keep your body nourished until you eat a proper meal.