Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

Fueling your body before and after exercise is essential for ensuring you will have enough energy to both perform and recover. However, it is important to choose the right  foods, and to consume them at the appropriate time, to optimize your nutrition. What and when you eat varies depending on the individual and their preferences, the type of activity being performed, and whether the food is being consumed before or after physical activity.

Pre-Exercise Nutrition
Ideally, you should aim to eat within 1 to 3 hours of exercise. When you should eat will
depend on the amount of food that is to be consumed. Allow 3-4 hours for a large meal (400 calories or more), about 2-3 hours for a smaller meal (200-300 calories), and one to two hours for a snack (100-200 calories) to digest. Eating too close to physical activity may result in gastrointestinal discomfort or impaired performance. Everyone’s body is different, so try
experimenting to see what time frame is best for yours. Similarly, consume familiar foods that you know will not cause stomach discomfort during activity (common culprits include
fried/greasy foods and high fat/very high fiber foods).

Good pre-exercise snacks/meals include:
● Cereal with fat-free milk and a piece of fruit
● Whole grain toast with mashed avocado or peanut butter
● A fried or scrambled egg with whole grain toast
● Low-fat cottage cheese or yogurt with fruit
● A fruit smoothie

Post-Exercise Nutrition
Typically, it is best to eat within 1 hour of an intense workout. If you’re unable to tolerate
a large meal after exercise, a small snack or meal (100-300 calories) should suffice until you’re able to stomach something more significant. Despite being finished with your activity or exercise, it is still necessary to replenish your energy stores by consuming carbohydrates and/or fats with your post-workout meal. Additionally, obtaining enough protein is important for muscle recovery and repair.

Good post-exercise snacks/meals include:
● A protein shake or smoothie
● Chicken, tuna or turkey on whole grain bread/toast
● Low-fat cottage cheese or yogurt with fruit
● Low-fat chocolate milk
● Hard-boiled egg and string cheese

Don’t forget to hydrate! Consuming a large amount of fluid prior to exercise is likely to cause an upset stomach, so try to stay hydrated throughout the day before and after exercising, and keep a water bottle with you during activity when possible! A general rule of thumb is to drink at least 8 ounces of water for every 10-20 minutes of exercise you complete.

I’ve tried everything. Why doesn’t my diet work?

When you open your newsfeed, you see advertisements and personal testimonies from friends and family with weight-loss and dieting successes. That alone can be the motivation needed to give something new a try, but not everything works for everyone. Various weight-loss systems have time-sensitive supplements, complex counting systems, and other essential guidelines that you must follow strictly to be successful.

“Diets” Raise Questions and Lead to Failure

The next fad diet may work, but what happens afterward? Do you continue that system forever? Should you follow a program designed for weight loss if you’re no longer trying to lose weight? Diets seem to always pose more questions than answers, and the “I’m going on a diet” phrase will inevitably lead to failure.

Most people will transition “off the diet” when they reach their target weight, eventually returning to the previous eating habits that initially caused the weight gain. This up and down continues the yo-yo weight-loss cycle. This is why “dieting” doesn’t work.

Some people can see results by making a few healthy choices or decreasing calories. Eventually everyone will hit a plateau, but the answer isn’t to further restrict nutrient intake. Long-term dieting can have a prolonged negative effect on metabolism, making it much more difficult for the body to use nutrients.

Most people prefer restrictive diets in which they decrease total calories or put a limitation on types of foods consumed. These include but are not limited to fat-free, sugar-free, no carbohydrates, gluten-free, or protein-free. Others try overindulgent diets in which they eat nothing but one type of food. These diets are like the cabbage soup diet, protein-only diets, or having nothing but juices or meal-replacement shakes. However, both restrictive and overindulgent diets contribute to inadequate essential nutrients.

Make a Healthy Lifestyle Change

Let’s be clear. A diet isn’t a restriction or an overconsumption of any foods. A diet consists of your daily intake of nutrients. To be successful this year, you need to ask yourself why you want to diet. Are you looking to temporarily lose weight, or are you looking for a long-term solution? If you’re looking for short-term weight loss, continue to check Facebook for inspiration. If you are ready to stop the yo-yo “dieting,” you are ready to make a healthy lifestyle change.

Rethink your daily diet to include foods that will satisfy your hunger and foods you’ll enjoy. Say goodbye to the old diet foods that you used to endure and say hello to flavorful, real, whole foods. Instead of depriving your body of the energy and fuel it desperately needs to function, feel free to eat a meal that consists of at least 300 calories. Just keep in mind that dieting alone never works for long. Take that as a sign to progress to the next step and gradually add activity and exercise into your daily routine.

Nutrition Help from NIFS

For more nutritional advice, a NIFS Registered Dietitian can help give you direction and focus your energy in a positive way. The My Nutrition Coach mobile app allows members to interact daily with a Registered Dietitian at NIFS. You will receive feedback, suggestions, and information on ways to improve your nutrition and help you achieve results.

To get started with My Nutrition Coach, contact NIFS Registered Dietitian Angie Scheetz at ascheetz@nifs.org or by phone at 317-274-3432 ext. 239.