Tackling PRs and Stress During the Holidays

No matter what difficulty this year has brought, the wintertime can still be enjoyable and end on a productive note. The change in lifestyle we’ve all had to deal with during 2020 has sure brought about an immense amount of stress for everyone. The change to a work-from-home situation seemed like a less stressful option, but in reality most of us loss a sense of structure to our days. It also has not been easy dealing with having to be socially distant from our families and friends, but hopefully knowing we are doing this for the good of their health makes it a bit of an easier choice.

Will We Ever Race Again?

That has been the question of the year for runners! It went from having our big spring races canceled to basically being without in-person races the entire year. It looks like the beginning of 2021 won’t be any different, so the near future planning of running goals is making most of us unmotivated to get in our training runs every day. During this season of the year, it will be most important to work on mental strength more than anything. It will take effort, but trying to put aside all of the stressors that we cannot control, is the key to getting back into the rhythm of taking care of our bodies. After all, exercise plays a pretty big role in stress management and immunity—a big focus with the current viral pandemic.

Since I’ve had a very long base building phase this year, I had a vision of using it to improve my endurance and work on weaknesses. Six months passed and I realized the anxiety of the life changes made me less focused on these goals. One of the most unwanted side effects of stress is lack of energy, and it was what was affecting me the most. Thankfully I turned to MitoQ and I’ve not only had optimal energy all day, but after taking a good amount of time off recently, my fitness has returned much quicker than ever before! I’m sleeping better and feel I can focus much more on my work without a problem.

MitoQ is a powerful antioxidant that works to limit the damage in our cells’ mitochondria—the powerhouse of the cells, and keeps them fired up for any activity. By doing this, it helps improve our stress levels, energy, sleep quality, digestion, immunity and reduce recovery times after hard workouts, since these are all jobs of the mitochondria. All it takes is two capsules in the morning before eating and you’ve got a productive day ahead of you!

Tips for Getting and Staying Healthy

Below are just a few of my go-to tactics when trying to remain focused and motivated to tackle my running and work goals. 

• Move every day for at least 20 minutes.

• Eat the rainbow! Keep a diet that has foods from every food group as many days as you can. But don’t deprive yourself—eating what we like every once in a while can be a stress-reliever!

• Incorporate supplements in your diet where you need them, and make sure they are supplements that have been clinically studied, such as MitoQ.

• Prioritize sleep and stress management: set aside time every day for yourself—to read, soak in the tub, or do some yoga.

• Don’t let what’s going on around you make you anxious—control what you can control and let the rest be!

Are you interested in beating stress, improving your fitness performance, and keeping your body healthy from the inside out? Click here to learn more about MitoQ’s benefits and how easy it is to feel your best all day with this powerful antioxidant!

Sponsored by MitoQ. All opinions are my own.

Understanding the Female Athlete Triad and How to Beat It

Generally, exercise is known to be a beneficial component to a healthy body. Most people begin an exercise program for the sake of losing weight, which is then coupled with lowering calories and restricting certain types of food. Over time, the weight comes off, you feel more energized, and the benefits of these changes are recognized. Hopefully for the most part these lifestyle habits continue in order to maintain the healthy bodyweight. In the world of sports many athletes, especially women, exercise and diet intensively in hopes to enhance their performance. When it does, the notion is to continue the intense regimen. Little do these athletes know that the long-term effects of these habits become risky, particularly in the female population.

The Female Athlete Triad is a syndrome consisting of three symptoms: energy deficiency, menstrual irregularity, and bone loss. It is significantly common in the running population but can be found in many other sports. Most of these symptoms are ignored initially due to the fact that one is able to perform just fine. The majority will pay attention once an injury occurs. The syndrome usually begins with the intent to lose weight in order to improve performance. For runners, it is the same concept as wearing lighter running shoes—a lower bodyweight versus being overweight generally helps you run faster since your joints have less to carry. Once an athlete realizes the weight loss assists their faster paces, they want to continue getting lighter.

This pattern of dieting and intensively exercising is the beginning of the Female Athlete Triad. This eventually leads to developing eating disorders, menstrual problems and low bone mineral density, yielding a high risk of fractures. For women who were already at a low weight to begin with, the resulting outcomes are expedited. Of course, the end result of a devastating fracture is not something an athlete is seeking by adopting these habits, but in many cases it is inevitable. Although difficult to diagnose early on, this condition is most definitely preventable. The key is to be educated on and aware of the symptoms and what a true healthy body means.

Energy Deficiency

The first and most common symptom of the Female Athlete Triad is energy deficiency. Originally the term used was disordered eating, but over the years, energy deficiency seemed more appropriate because extreme weight loss and poor diet compared to the extreme exercise can exist without an eating disorder in the picture. Younger females already have the pressure these days to be thin, and when sports come into play, the emphasis is much greater. As mentioned earlier, being thinner, rather than overweight, may yield faster finish times for runners. Coaches, teammates, and parents sometimes play a role in the encouragement of “being thin to win”. This along with society’s reinforcement of the beauty of thinness is what eventually leads to eating disorders in young girls.

Anorexia and bulimia are the most common eating disorders among women and are fast and true ways to lose weight. By no means, are these weight loss options anywhere near healthy, though. Restricting calories by extreme dieting and excessive exercise are symptoms that fall into the categories of anorexia and bulimia. The extreme diet will only lead to lack of nutrients, as well as fluid and electrolyte imbalances, that will eventually leave the athlete with very low energy, poor strength and endurance, impaired reaction times, and risk of injury. Initially these outcomes go unnoticed and the athlete is attracted to the improved performance in her sport. The negative outcomes will then arise once there is a significant amount of weight lost.

Menstrual Disorders

Following the poor diet and exercise habits mentioned arises the next component of the Female Athlete Triad. Excessive exercise and calorie restriction leads to extremely low levels of estrogen. Research shows that women in good health who train for marathons can lower their estrogen levels by over 50%. Given this data, it is clear that athletes who are at an unhealthy bodyweight with significantly poor eating habits and incorporate a high level of training, most definitely lower estrogen levels by a much greater amount.

Estrogen is responsible for the growth of reproductive organs, regulation of the menstrual cycle, and the protection of bones. Normally the body will compensate for a large calorie restriction by lowering metabolism in order to maintain body weight. The loss of the menstrual cycle, or amenorrhea, is a sign that the body is in an energy deficient state. Although amenorrhea as part of the Female Athlete Triad is brought about by energy deficiency, it is also linked to low body fat percentage, nutrient imbalances, and physical and mental stress.

Bone Loss

Poor diet and the loss of estrogen are the leading cause of low levels of bone mineral density. Exercise, mostly weight-bearing, is known to be beneficial to bone health. Therefore running should be a healthy sport for the bones. Several studies on the bone health of female athletes have been conducted and the majority conclude that the bone loss occurs in the cases where there are menstrual irregularity, particularly women with amenorrhea. One study even showed that these intense athletes have bone mineral densities comparable to women in their 80s! This low bone density puts females at an extremely high risk of fractures. Stress fractures are in fact more common in athletes who present with menstrual irregularities, due to low estrogen levels.

The cases who eventually gain weight to a healthier point, resume regular menstrual cycles, and get back to a healthy diet for their training improve their bone density levels. Research has indicated that if the negative symptoms of the Female Athlete Triad are not addressed early on there is a chance that some of the resulting bone loss is irreversible. It is crucial to be aware of this condition and the early signs including extreme dieting and excessive training for the means of dropping weight for performance. Although initially an athlete may perform better, the excessive training is not realistic for the long term and will only lead to burnout and injury among other medical problems.

Steps to getting back the much needed energy, a regular menses, and strong bones start with lowering mileage and intensity, adding more calories to your diet, and regularly following up with your doctor, preferably one specialized in sports. It may seem scary to lower your running load and eat more, but taking these steps gradually can assure you get to and maintain a healthy weight and not alter your performance gains.

Cheat Meals: They May Not Be So Bad After All

Consuming a diet that is 100% healthy food is not the easiest way to live. Although some people do just fine cutting out all of the “bad” foods from their diets, the majority have a hard time. Daily stress surges, cravings kick in, and the temptation of indulging in a whole pizza pie or bag of cookies becomes impossible to dodge. It is known that one of the best ways to even start a diet is not necessarily to go cold-turkey and cut everything out at once, but rather in a gradual manner over the course of weeks. It has been questioned whether including a cheat meal in a diet is harmful or not, but recent research has stated that it can be helpful in order to stick to your strict eating plan as long as you do it the right way.

Not a Cheat “Day”

It is important to note that cheat meals are only helpful to a diet if they are left as that— meals. Often times dieters use an entire day to indulge at every meal and this can wreak havoc on your weight loss goals. Although a cheat meal can rack up to a few thousand calories, it will not undo any of your dieting from earlier in the week. But an entire day of feasting will double or triple those few thousand calories. Having more than one cheat meal may make it hard to get back into your normal healthy eating habits.

Motivation

A cheat meal serves many purposes. Many times it is a source of motivation for someone on a strict diet. Eating plain chicken and vegetables day in and day out can get boring, but knowing that you have a night of burgers and fries or ice cream waiting for you at the end of the week can motivate you to keep strict. Cutting calories when trying to lose weight can lower overall energy levels, especially within the first few weeks of beginning a diet. One cheat meal will actually provide much needed energy to maintain a balance in the body.

Increased Metabolism

Consistently consuming a diet too low in calories will eventually slow down your metabolism, leading to slower weight loss. A cheat meal provides a boost in overall calorie consumption, which will cause a “shock” to the body’s digestion. This will increase your metabolism and help you burn more calories on a daily basis. It is hard to believe, but yes, a cheat meal will actually help you lose weight! There are diet plans that will fluctuate the number of calories you consume each day for this same reason.

The reason this works is because the seldom ‘jump’ in calorie consumption on one day will help regulate the hormones in charge of hunger and satiety. When on a weight loss diet we should be eating fewer calories than we burn, but over time our bodies end up adjusting to this new calorie amount. That is when we hit a plateau and stop losing weight. Adding in one day of a bit higher calories keeps the body in a burning state, helping with further weight loss. Leptin, the hormone in charge of controlling the sensation of feeling full dramatically decreases over time when on a low-calorie diet. Ghrelin, on the other hand, is the hormone that is responsible for telling you that you are hungry and will increase over time on a low-calorie diet. In order to keep burning calories, one should strive to keep the leptin hormone elevated and ghrelin on the lower end. A cheat meal assists with this regulation and aides in continued weight loss.

Keep the Balance

When choosing your cheat meal, it is best to not have the ‘all or nothing’ mentality. If you are going to splurge, make sure it is on something you actually care to eat. Do not waste calories on something that is not that satisfying to you. For example, when going to a restaurant and planning on having a big bowl of creamy pasta for dinner, stick to just that. Your date or party may order a few appetizers that are far from being on the list of your favorite foods, so do not even grab a bite! You will enjoy your pasta dish much more if you steer clear from giving into calories you did not care for in the first place.

The best way to indulge in what you truly enjoy as a cheat meal, but not go overboard, is to cook at home. If you want pizza, make a homemade one—crust and all. This will ensure you know exactly what ingredients are going into every bite. If what you crave are a burger and fries, make your own at home using cooking spray rather than oil, whole grain burgers buns, and baked fries. You will most likely save about half the calories than eating this same meal at a restaurant or fast food joint. It is best to learn the most you can about healthier substitutions. You will be surprised as to how much you can still satisfy your cravings and not feel guilty when opting for healthier alternatives to those ‘bad’ foods.

Sources

Rita Coelho do Valea, Rik Pieters, and Marcel Zeelenberg, The Benefits of Behaving Badly on Occasion: Successful Regulation by Planned Hedonic Deviations, Journal, May 4, 2020.

How Many Calories Do Runners Really Need?

Several factors go into being able to improve your performance as a runner. Consistent training with the right mix of speed work, long runs, and easy runs are at the top of the list. Rest and cross training must also be incorporated to recover properly and be prepared for the hard sessions to come. Nutrition plays a large role in performance, as it is what gives us the energy we need to actually perform and to do it well. Consuming the proper amount of carbohydrates and proteins is the key to sustaining energy levels while making sure to include other key nutrients like iron and vitamins.

You may have been in the situation where you do well during training for a bit but frequently struggle to hit several workouts in a row. This is usually a sign that you are not eating enough. As volume and intensity increases during training cycles, the number of calories your body requires increases as well. Even if you are on top of your nutrition game, it is easy to not meet your recommended calorie intake. Not eating enough calories can leave you fatigued on every run and increase your injury risk. But what is the right amount?

Calorie Intake

The right amount of calories a runner requires will depend on age, sex, weight, and activity level. This means it may be necessary to consume a fluctuating amount each day of the week since the intensity and length of runs and other workouts vary. The recommended daily calorie intake for a sedentary adult male ranges from 2200 to 2600 calories. For females, the range is 1800 to 2000 calories. Therefore some distance runners may need close to 3000 or more calories most days of the week to maintain their weight and energy levels. This may seem like too much, especially to women, but it is what is necessary if you want to perform your best and not risk getting injured.

Weight Loss & Training

If you currently are overweight or obese, then a lower calorie intake is ideal until you reach your goal weight. This should be done carefully, as cutting calories too low can result in limited energy. This will only lead to having to skip workouts and not be able to run your hardest. Having too little calories may also lead to muscle loss, which is what powers us through our workouts. Therefore if weight loss is a goal when training for a race, then it should be done gradually. Unfortunately, it is safest to plan an extremely slow weight loss of about a half pound per week.

Calorie Requirements Equation

Although calorie calculators you find online are used to get an estimate of the number of calories you need, it is usually in the ballpark of the right amount. The Harris-Benedict equation is a popular formula used to estimate your needs and takes into account your current activity level.

BMR for Men:    (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) – (5 x age in years) + 5

BMR for Women: (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) – (5 x age in years) – 161

BMR is your basal metabolic rate, which is the number of calories your body requires in order to function properly. Once you calculate your BMR with this formula, you can multiply by the different values according to daily activity level.

For men and women:

Sedentary/little to no extra activity: BMR x 1.2

Light exercise 1-3x/week: BMR x 1.375

Moderate activity 3-5 days/week: BMR x 1.55

Very active 6-7 days/week: BMR x 1.725

Hard exercise/physical job (2x/day training): BMR x 1.9

This method is a good way to determine how many calories you should have on each training day, since some runners train twice a day a few times per week, but take a full rest day as well. Calorie requirements will be very different for each of these days.

Even with the above formula, the calorie requirement calculation can be wrong—either too high or too low. Everybody is different and some runners burn more calories per hour than others. Fitness levels, genetics, and present medical conditions can impact your calorie-burning rate. A more accurate test is one where you sit for ten minutes with a mask over your face and your breathing is measured to determine how much oxygen you use at rest. Whether you use this method or the formula above, many times it is all about trial and error. It is best for runners to eat more than they think they need at first and see how their body responds rather than under eating to see if it is good enough. You do not want to risk getting injured or wasting too many weeks not making progress due to not eating enough.

Types of Calories

Once you understand your individual daily calorie requirements, then it is important to fuel your body with the right types of calories. Limiting “empty calories” is key as these are considered calories with no nutritional value. Most packaged snacks, candy, soda, and chips are in this category. Runners should focus on getting the majority of their calories, at least 60%, from high-quality carbohydrates in order to supply the muscles with enough glycogen. The other 40% can be divided evenly between lean proteins and healthy fats. Proper fueling and hydration practices are necessary for performance improvement, injury prevention, and for an overall healthy body.

Sources

Benjamin I. Rapoport , Metabolic Factors Limiting Performance in Marathon Runners, Journal, Dec 26, 2019.

Tips for Eating Out at Restaurants

If only we all were gourmet chefs or at least have the time to create amazing dishes for every single meal of the day, we would probably always eat at home. The eating culture has shifted tremendously over the past few decades, with dining out increasing from 18% of daily intake to 33%. Most of us know how unhealthy many restaurant choices are, especially in the fast food world, but we continue to consume it more than we should. Even the “healthier” items on the menu such as salads and vegetable dishes are loaded with calories from the extra fat and sugar added to the cooking process to make them taste much better than home-cooked meals. The highly processed and fat or sugar-laden foods are what cause eating addiction, which is a reason why more people continue to crave restaurant meals.

Studies have indicated that increased intake of foods eaten away from home is linked to a higher body mass index and poorer diet quality. Diet quality in these cases was described as the amount of fruit, vegetable, and processed food consumption. Most studies showed that women tend to make healthier foods choices at restaurants than men by choosing more fruits and vegetables with their meals. Unfortunately, even choosing these healthy foods does not equate to overall fewer calories and fat. By no means should these facts about restaurants keep you from going out for date night or an enjoyable evening with friends. There are several ways to stick with your diet while eating out without too much sacrifice.

Prepare

If you are truly trying to stick to your healthy diet and have the opportunity to choose the restaurant when going out for a social occasion, it is best to take some time to research a few different places with a wide range of menu items. If the restaurant is already chosen, you can still look up the menu ahead of time and select a few dish options that fall into the healthy category. If the choices still seem high in calories, you can plan to eat much lighter meals throughout the day leading up to your outing to compensate. If you are willing to forgo an entree at the restaurant and instead order an appetizer as your main dish, then you will most likely save about half of the calories as long as you carefully choose a healthier option. To make sure that you are satisfied come meal’s end, have a small snack at home beforehand such as a few crackers and cheese, yogurt with nuts, or a protein shake.

Control Portions

This is probably the most difficult task for most people, yet the lack of this task is the reason why most Americans are overweight. At restaurants it is very easy to consume too many calories even with their smallest available portions, so the easiest way to downsize those calories is to choose low calorie foods to begin with. Unfortunately, side dishes such as potatoes, rice, and pasta do not fall into this category, unless you can be satisfied with only a couple of forkfuls worth. Vegetables and salads are the best choices, but it is important to keep in mind that most restaurants will cook the veggies in oil and butter to enhance the taste so they are not as low-calorie as you would think.

Eating out will usually include many more courses than you would typically have at home. Bread will be served, followed by an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. If you choose to have the bread, simply pick just one piece out of the basket and limit the amount of butter or oil you use. Share an appetizer and dessert with your party rather than trying to portion out an entire one on your own. The highest calorie items that are best to stay away from are fried foods, fatty meats, cream-based soups and pastas, and those delicious-looking baked desserts. Opt for small portions of lean meats and fish, vegetable side dishes, and fruit for dessert.

Choose Intuitively

The best advice is to always think before you eat anything. If you truly do not care for something, do not waste your calorie bank on it. Most people end up eating whatever food is on their plate. If you crave meat more than the carb-loaded side dishes, then make sure to order your steak with green vegetables as a side so that you are not tempted to eat potatoes or rice. For those who have an extreme sweet tooth and look forward to dessert more than anything, it’s best to skip the bread, have a small appetizer as your main dish, and indulge in the dessert that you truly enjoy most.

Eat Slowly

You may have read before that eating alone without any distractions such as company, the computer, or television is a smarter way to keep track of portions and eat less overall. Conversing over meals causes us to not pay attention to how much we are eating or drinking. Teaching ourselves to eat our meals as slowly as possible takes some training. Some steps to practice are cutting food into smaller bite-sized pieces, savor the flavors of your food by chewing more times, putting down utensils in between bites, and eating with your non-dominant hand.

Beverages Count

Whether you are into alcoholic beverages or sodas, calories can add up tremendously. A glass of wine equates to around 130 calories, so if you share a bottle with your significant other, you are adding about 300 to 350 calories to your meal. Light beer and hard liquor are lower calorie choices with about 100 and 70 calories per serving respectively. The drinks to watch out for are mixed cocktails and specialty beverage items. Some are mixed with soda adding double the calories, while others can get into the 700-calorie range if you choose a cream-based or sweetened one such as a margarita, pina colada, or a long island iced tea. If possible, stick to just one serving of your favorite lower-calorie drink and have two sips of water for every sip of other beverage you have.

When on a diet, going out to eat should not be eliminated. There are ways to be able to enjoy your time out with family or friends while sticking with your healthy meal plan. If you go off a bit more than you would have liked, do not be hard on yourself. One night of “bad” eating will not ruin all of the progress you have made. What is an issue with most people’s diets is dining out several times a week. Unfortunately, as much as we try to make the healthiest choices at restaurants, it is important to remember that we truly do not know exactly how the food is cooked, and most are cooked with butter, oil, extra sugar and salt to create those delicious flavors. Enjoy yourself as you dine, keeping these simple tips in mind, so that you can guarantee you will not undo all of that hard work you have put into getting and staying healthy.

Sources

Rebecca A. Seguin, Anju Aggarwal, Francoise Vermeylen, and Adam Drewnowski, Consumption Frequency of Foods Away from Home Linked with Higher Body Mass Index and Lower Fruit and Vegetable Intake Among Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study, Journal, Sept 2019