Eat Right If You Want a Good Workout

Published 30 October 07 08:28 AM | Corinne

Today I had another chest workout with my trainer. We just added chest into our weekly routine and I expected to blow in there knocking his socks off with my vast improvement over last week. I had all my DBs laid out for when he got there, drank my Speed Shot, and warmed up. I just knew it was going to be a killer session. Boy was I WRONG! I was struggling worse than last week and according to my own history of how I go from week to week. Why?

Well, eating. It's been off for a couple of days and it showed big time. Saturday was a cheat meal but I also took a drink night. Sunday, I was off on my snacks even through I ate healthy. Monday I did fine on the food but was low on water. This morning, I was rushed getting out of the house and missed my 2nd breakfast I normally take in before a workout (I get up at 5am, eat, work, eat again at 8am). My days are never this out of sorts and today it all caught up to me.

See, when you are exercising it really does matter what you eat. We all know that calories in and calories out are the first thing to look at to lose fat and/or build muscle, but WHAT YOU EAT is so close that it can have a major impact on your overall mood and performance. Let's say you eat 1600 calories a day and that is what you need for losing fat. Most days you eat a good, healthy 1600 calories but one day you load with junky protein and nasty carbs. The next day I can almost bet your workout will be less effective as if you had eaten clean. If your workout isn't as effective, guess what? You burn less calories. That's the point of eating healthy with an active lifestyle.

I stress to my girls in the PNP group that you have to take the food part seriously. If you don't, why waste your time working out hard? You will never be able to compensate in the gym what you do to your body through food. Here at PNP we are so serious about eating to fuel workouts...not fueling our moods, our kids favorite snacks, or our friends social lives. We are hard core and we are better women for it. We don't make excuses and we just get serious about how we treat our bodies. You want to be a hot momma, or fit wife, or a showcase for your class reunion? You gotta be diligent about your food just like you are about your exercise. They simply go hand in hand.

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Workout Journal: Today was chest with trainer so there was some small assistance throughout to make things happen.
6x12 - 25lbs incline chest flies
2x12 - 55 flat bench press 1x12 - 65 flat bench press
3x12 - 50lbs pec dec 1x10 - 70lbs

No Cardio today to gear up for tomorrow's leg day. I'm still sort of wiped out from my cold so I'll call it day with the chest work.

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Comments

# Kathleen said on October 30, 2007 04:44 PM:

OMG Corrine I can so relate to this.  Although I packed my cooler for my WW training I still didn't eat nearly enough or what I normally would during the Thursday-Sunday event.  I had several of the WW bars because I ran out of my own.  They are not healthy and thus I found my self needing two just to make up for what I normally would get in my normal one.  Then on Monday I was swamped at work trying to get back after being gone for two days.  I only drank about 30 oz of water during work which I normally drink about a gallon at work alone.  Although I pushed through my 10 miles last night I could have done much better and felt better too.  Food is nothing more than fuel for ones body.  No water in the gas tank for a car so no junk into the body.  No fuel in the car and it doesn't run, no fuel in the body and it doesn't run either.  

# Debbie said on October 31, 2007 10:15 AM:

Corrine, thanks for continuing to drill this fact home!  I used to think that I could "make up" for eating bad if I did my cardio.  This was my motivation for working out sometimes, I looked at it as damage control for excess calories.  But, no amount of cardio can change the composition of what you put in your body.  You can burn calories, but you can't add nutritional value thru cardio!  I will try to remember this with every bite I take!  

# MiracleInProgress said on November 2, 2007 02:30 PM:

Corrine, I'm totally experiencing this as I shift my lifestyle to the PNP way.  I used to drink lots of WW smoothies and eat the bars and what not.  I ate fairly healthy but I had the little junky stuff here and there.  The last couple weeks I've really looked at the nutritional value of everything I eat, and I've been focusing on proper pre and post workout fuel.  It's amazing how much more energy I have and how much better I feel during my workouts.

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