Staying fueled

[Takeem406]

Sometimes I'm blessed with being able to have enough time to hit the gym for over an hour. I'll take a glass of Yeti and Magnum in a glass of milk with a banana. Hit the archery range for 30 on my way to the gym. I'm good for about an hour but if I want to stick around for another 30 min I'm about starved. Usually try to get 30-45 min of cardio with the same of lifting and another few minutes of core work.

Anyone using jell shots or blocks? Or anything else to help finish through longer training sessions? I've used them and they seem to help.

Thanks

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[5MilesBack]

I'm interested to know what causes this "hunger" or feeling of starving......and not just with you and your circumstances. I've also hunted with guys in the past that can't seem to go 1/2 hour without constantly having to be eating something. And given your comment of taking 18 MH meals on a week's hunt, makes me wonder why people have that constant hunger. That's foreign to me.

When I was working out every day in the past, I'd lift for about 1.5-2 hours and then play basketball for another hour and a 1/2 and then couldn't even think of eating for 2-3 hours after that. The more active I am, it seems the less hungry I am. The more I sit around and do nothing, the hungrier I get.

 

[justinspicher]

I am the same way you are 5milesback. I don't get either.

 

[jmez]

I'm with the other two. I just eat my normal meals and have never had a problem with hunger. Also never taken supplements/gel shots/ etc for working out. Never felt like I'm running out of energy or that I needed something to keep going.

 

[Poser]

First of all, I eat a lot, I can't go very long without eating, I get hungry very quickly and I perform very poorly when not properly fueled. I had to up my backcountry food weight to 2 lbs a day and find ways to add a considerable amount of fat to my backcountry diet which included ditching MH meals altogether.

There are a lot of factors at work here: age, metabolism, how much you are used to eating etc. General Diet is likely of particular importance as well.

Ultimately, if I had to guess, I'd say that at least 1 of the 3 apply:

1. Your body doesn't convert fat very well as an energy source and needs a constant supply of carbs
2. You aren't eating enough fat and instead relying on fast carbs.
3. You aren't eating enough food in general.

For starters, why not try eating a half a dozen eggs + an avocado in addition to your milk and banana for breakfast? The should offer you a decent amount of fat, protein and fiber. Is the milk you are drinking whole milk? If not, try that that, too.

Gel shots have their place, but mostly in endurance type activity. When your body is working hard, it needs a regular supply of glucose and, under these conditions, your body has a more difficult time breaking down fiber to get to the energy that it needs. That's when gel shots are effective -pop one every 45 minutes while climbing a mountain or packing out a load and you should be able to sustain your energy stores without your body having to break down muscle to convert it to protein for energy. For the 90 minutes to 2 hours you are describing above (archery practice + some moderate lifting and cardio), breakfast should be able to supply sufficient energy without food supplements.

Your body is telling you that your Yeti+Milk+banana is enough for 90 minutes, but you want 2 hours. Solution: Eat More.
Eat more breakfast, eat more before you go to bed. Again, try more fat first. Most people's bodies will source fat for energy reasonably well until you get into the greater than 70% max heart rate zone. There is some sway here with regards to that depending on your genetic background (people from different parts of the world are thousand of generations deep on relying more on fat or on carbs for energy) and your general diet, especially when you were a child (carb babies who grew up eating nothing but sugar may have a difficult time teaching their body to use fat since their bodies expect a constant supply of sugar).

You are an individual and will have to experiment with what works for you. Some people perform well in a fasted state. I do not. I have to eat in anticipation of performing. I have to plan my whole day around eating to fuel a workout and often its a lot of trouble and I have to make myself eat more than I want to. Eating the night before has seemingly 0 effect on fueling the next morning for me. Back in Dec on a Coues deer hunt, my partner and I went into town and stuffed ourselves silly on delicious Mexican food. We didn't get into bed until after 11 that night and 4:30 came way too soon. I tried, but I couldn't make myself eat breakfast that morning because I felt so stuffed and we faced a 2,000 foot climb in single digits temps and high winds. I hit the wall about halfway through that climb and just suffered through the last half running on fumes. It was maybe my single worst athletic performance of the last 20 years. My partner, on the other hand, performed quite well and prefers to workout in a fasted state. He was well ahead of me and probably peaked out 30 minutes ahead of me (which hurt my ego). Find what works for you and be diligent about it. If you want to have good workouts and perform well, you need to eat in a way that fuels your performance. The best way to figure this out is trial and error. If you're like me, always eat breakfast no matter what before climbing a mountain.

 

[BigDog00]

I too have noticed lately that I'm dragging about 30-40 minutes into my workout. Right now I'm at about 300-400 cal deficit, but haven't noticed any energy loss during the day except for when I active/workout. I think I've peaked as far as strength goes and I'm not adding any weight/reps anymore. I did go turkey hunting yesterday and noticed it as well. I basically cut all processed food (paleoISH but not full on) out of my diet and get around 100-150 carbs per day. Not sure if I should up the carbs a bit as well. I would like to drop my body fat down from 14% to 10%. Any thoughts from you nutrition guru's??

 

[rhunter424]

Solution: Eat More.

end of thread...

 

[Cant hit em]

Multi vitamin might help

 

[Poser]

I too have noticed lately that I'm dragging about 30-40 minutes into my workout. Right now I'm at about 300-400 cal deficit, but haven't noticed any energy loss during the day except for when I active/workout. I think I've peaked as far as strength goes and I'm not adding any weight/reps anymore. I did go turkey hunting yesterday and noticed it as well. I basically cut all processed food (paleoISH but not full on) out of my diet and get around 100-150 carbs per day. Not sure if I should up the carbs a bit as well. I would like to drop my body fat down from 14% to 10%. Any thoughts from you nutrition guru's??

If you're (intentionally or unintentionally) running a calorie deficit, it's hard to complain about lack of energy or being hungry. If you want To get strong, you have to eat. If you want to have energy, you have to eat. If you want to keep going, you have to eat. If you are specifically lagging in your workouts, you probably could benefit from more carbs before hand and probably more food in general.

This is the general problem with the "calories in/calories out" philosophy for athletic performance since you are always going to be better off with a caloric surplus rather than a deficit. Realistically, if you are following a well designed training program that doesn't have too much or too little volume and you are eating healthy and sufficiently, your body will end up at or very close to its ideal body fat % to optimally perform what you are asking it to do. I realize there is a lot of bro science in the hunting community these days encouraging more of a bodybuilding approach with <10% body fat, but that does not necessarily translate well to athletic performance. Depending on your body composition, most people are going to *perform* better in the 10-15% BF range even though they may They may not *look* like the bro hunter with 50,000 Instagram followers. There is a point where aesthetics supersedes function. It's the classic "have your cake and eat it too conundrum." Performance based athletes eat a whole lot. The bigger you are, the stronger you want to be, the further you want to go, the faster you want to be, the more you have to eat. Period.

 

[Takeem406]

Wow a lot of negativity...

18 mtn house for a 7 day hunt, something I've never done... I Smh... Whatever... Anyways...

I guess running out gas isn't the issue or energy loss, just towards for the exercise I'm starving.

I have to eat every three to four hours or I'll be like a character in a Snicker commercial. Eating a lot of healthy fats and proteins. Taking in 2500`sh and burning about 500 to a thousand in training. Im not very active at work...

My meals are 550-650 with 350-450 snacks every three to four hours.

So better off eating a larger pre workout snack than something halfway in?


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[Poser]

If you're "starving" your body is telling you it needs more fuel. It's the same as being thirsty.

Thirsty = drink
Hungry = eat

For starters, eat a bigger breakfast and then maybe a "fast" carb between your archery practice and the gym. Or maybe snack while shooting to further fuel up for the gym. I find fruit works pretty well. It seems to hit me in about 15/20 minutes. A honey stinger or similar might be an option as well, just that type of packaged product is expensive for the amount of calories it provides. You're paying $2+ for 100 calories. You could get the same from a plum though it will take longer to convert into energy since it has fiber that needs to be processed.

 

[BigDog00]

If you're (intentionally or unintentionally) running a calorie deficit, it's hard to complain about lack of energy or being hungry. If you want To get strong, you have to eat. If you want to have energy, you have to eat. If you want to keep going, you have to eat. If you are specifically lagging in your workouts, you probably could benefit from more carbs before hand and probably more food in general.

This is the general problem with the "calories in/calories out" philosophy for athletic performance since you are always going to be better off with a caloric surplus rather than a deficit. Realistically, if you are following a well designed training program that doesn't have too much or too little volume and you are eating healthy and sufficiently, your body will end up at or very close to its ideal body fat % to optimally perform what you are asking it to do. I realize there is a lot of bro science in the hunting community these days encouraging more of a bodybuilding approach with <10% body fat, but that does not necessarily translate well to athletic performance. Depending on your body composition, most people are going to *perform* better in the 10-15% BF range even though they may They may not *look* like the bro hunter with 50,000 Instagram followers. There is a point where aesthetics supersedes function. It's the classic "have your cake and eat it too conundrum." Performance based athletes eat a whole lot. The bigger you are, the stronger you want to be, the further you want to go, the faster you want to be, the more you have to eat. Period.

Thanks for the reply. I am intentionally eating at a deficit in order to meet my 10% BF goal. I guess my post probably wasn't worded the best but I am looking for a little help on pre workout nutrition. It looks like that may have been covered already. I think Ill try to add in a few extra calories with some carbs before I workout to try and help with the energy issues. I understand that I can expect to fatigue easier due to the deficit. I was just looking for a little advice on how to help with that.

 

[Poser]

Thanks for the reply. I am intentionally eating at a deficit in order to meet my 10% BF goal. I guess my post probably wasn't worded the best but I am looking for a little help on pre workout nutrition. It looks like that may have been covered already. I think Ill try to add in a few extra calories with some carbs before I workout to try and help with the energy issues. I understand that I can expect to fatigue easier due to the deficit. I was just looking for a little advice on how to help with that.

Check out a forum called "Eat To Perform" -ton of info available with regards to macro needs.

 

[Johnboy]

18 mtn house for a 7 day hunt, something I've never done... I Smh... Whatever... Anyways...

Pease explain.

 

[PJG]

So better off eating a larger pre workout snack than something halfway in?


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Either or, it really just depends on how bloated u feel when working out. Whichever leaves u less bloated is going to be better.


Also, are u drinking water during ur workouts. Water can be a great way keep to hunger feeling off.

 

[mtnrunner260]

I drink 32oz of water in an hour at the gym aND usually 50 - 60 if I've taken yeti.
Interested to hear what your doing.

 

[Poser]

Drinking excessive amounts of water is really not an ideal solution. If your body needs calories, you feel hungry. Masking that hunger with excessive water Intake is going to dilute vitamins, minerals, creatine and BCAAs in your bloodstream. There is just no effective way around it: if you're getting hungry, you need to eat more -be it bigger meals, more frequently or during your workout.

 

[Down The Bayou]

Try eating a meal consisting of complex carbs (brown rice, wheat pasta, sweet potato, oatmeal) along with protein ~1.5 hours prior to a workout. This is something that I've done to improve my training quality, especially in higher intensity sessions. Even if you are doing a planned calorie deficit or carb restricted diet, you can plan to ingest a large percentage of your allotted carbs in that pre-workout window.

 

[5MilesBack]

1. Your body doesn't convert fat very well as an energy source and needs a constant supply of carbs.

Most people's bodies will source fat for energy reasonably well until you get into the greater than 70% max heart rate zone. There is some sway here with regards to that depending on your genetic background (people from different parts of the world are thousand of generations deep on relying more on fat or on carbs for energy) and your general diet, especially when you were a child (carb babies who grew up eating nothing but sugar may have a difficult time teaching their body to use fat since their bodies expect a constant supply of sugar).

This ^^^ actually explains a lot to me. Thanks for the insight. Explains why I don't have much fat on my body, constantly burning it off. Also never was much of a fan of sugar and sweets, even as a kid.