I saw an interesting article on the Internet the other day which looked at how our meal portion sizes have changed over the past generations and throughout history.Old paintings like The Last Supper were studied and the meal portion sizes were analyzed and compared to meal sizes today.Based upon this analysis, it was determined that the average American main course meal portion size has increased over 60% in the past millennium!The size of our plates have also increased by the same amount.Meanwhile, all our modern technology, i.e., cars, cell phones, computers, etc., has changed our lifestyles so that we burn MUCH less calories than prior generations.It’s no wonder the percentage of overweight Americans approaches 70%.
It’s simple math: If our daily energy intake (the number of calories we eat) exceeds our daily energy output (the amount of calories we burn), then our excess of consumption is going to catch up with us and cause us to gain weight.The average adult needs to eat between only 1,500 and 2,000 calories a day. For those that are more active, 2,500-3,000 is typically sufficient.If you have questions about your personal caloric intake and what you need to reach or sustain a healthy weight, I suggest you seek the advice of your personal physician or a dietitian who can evaluate your daily activity, age, height and weight to determine what your body requires.
Now that your trainings are getting more vigorous, it’s important to work on proper breathing techniques while walking/running. Proper breathing can improve your endurance and help you to enjoy your training more. Breathing incorrectly can affect your performance by causing fatigue, which in turn, shortens the distance that you are able to complete. Added stress on your body can also be a result.
There are several universal breathing techniques that can be helpful. Learning breathing techniques while walking/running may be difficult or feel unnatural at the beginning. However, like with most things, with practice it will become easier. Start off by choosing one technique at a time and practice it while seated. Work on that specific technique until it feels natural and then incorporate it into a training session.Find your favorite and most useful technique and stick with it! The following are some breathing techniques:
1.Breathe through both your nose and mouth
This practice will assist in increasing the amount of oxygen taken into your air passages.
2.Breathe from your diaphragm
Close your eyes. Put one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly. Just breathe normally. Which hand is moving?The hand on the chest or the hand on the belly? Take time to focus on moving the belly while breathing instead of the chest. If you are moving the belly you are breathing from the diaphragm and your breaths will be more complete.
3.Maintain a 3:2 breathing ratio
Inhale for 3 steps, then exhale for the next two steps. This will assist in deeper controlled breaths. A 3:2 breathing ratio is suggested for people who do a light jog pace or less.
Check out this short video on breathing for additional information:
Now that our trainings are getting longer, I wanted to discuss the importance of fueling your body. Today let’s talk about the importance of carbohydrates. There are two types of carbohydrates, simple and complex. During training you want to increase your intake of complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates break down at a slower rate which means they provide a slow, steady form of energy which is best for long distance training. A few complex carbohydrate food choices are pasta, rice, beans, vegetables, legumes and potatoes. Beans and legumes are great choices for bariatric patients since they include both protein and complex carbohydrates.
Where does the energy come from?
The energy we utilize during long distance training primarily comes from glycogen, which comes from carbohydrates. The more glycogen storage you have during training, the better you will feel and perform. The more you train, the more efficiently your body will store carbohydrates as glycogen. This means having a consistent exercise program will condition your body to convert more consumed carbohydrates into glycogen vs. being stored as fat. Because carbohydrates break down into glycogen, the more carbohydrates you take in, the more available glycogen becomes. However, don’t let this be an excuse to overdo your carbohydrate intake. For many, exercise is used as an excuse for an excessive intake of carbohydrates and typically poor quality food choices as well. Remember to be mindful of excessive intake that can sabotage your efforts for performance.
As a bariatric patient you are taught to eat 4 oz. of food a meal and I usually recommended that 3 of those oz. are protein. During training you may want to alternate your percentage of carbohydrate intake. For example, after trainings your post meal may consist of 2 oz. of protein and 2 oz. of a complex carbohydrate or 3 oz. of carbohydrate and 1 oz. of protein. The key is to pay attention to your body and find out what works best for you. Choose a combination of proteins and complex carbohydrates that help you feel your best.
Remember, complex carbohydrates are needed as part of a balanced meal plan for optimal performance and feeling great!
See this resource for complex carbohydrate options:
You may have noticed now that we are into the eighth week of training that you are able to walk longer or you get tired much later into your trainings.Well, that’s because marathon training builds stamina.According to Greg McMillan, marathon coach, there are 4 key training zones:
1.Endurance
2.Stamina
3.Speed
4. Sprint
Here’s a brief outline of each training zone:
Endurance is a slow easy pace.The goal is to build endurance.For beginners, you may spend 4 – 6 months in this phase being able to run or walk 5 miles easily.
Stamina training is when your training is “comfortably hard”. You are training at a pace where your heart rate beats between 83 – 92% of max.For beginners, you may start out at short intervals of incorporating 20 – 30 second intervals throughout your endurance training.Stamina training helps critical thresholds resulting in less lactate accumulation resulting in less fatigue.
During speed training, you are training with a 3 – 5k race speed. Your heart rate and oxygen levels are above the 92% of max.The effort in this training is hard.Speed training increases the enzymes that help liberate enzymes from our fuel source as well as stimulate and trains our fast twitch muscle fibers.Speed training will assist in running faster for longer periods of time.
Sprint training is where you are training with 800 – 2500m race pace.During these trainings your heart rate and Vo2 reach max.This type of training will assist with both your power and speed.
For most of us being beginners, our goal is usually to finish the half marathon.If you fall into this category, most of your training will be in the endurance and the stamina training zones.If you continue on for other marathons you may want to start incorporating some of the other zones to assist you in increasing your performance. For more info about the training zones visit check out the below link:
The Annual Healthy for Life Celebration Picnic is this Saturday, September 19, 2009 from 11:00 am to 3:00pm at Centennial Hills Park.The Healthy for Life picnic is a special event for patients to celebrate their successful journey to becoming healthy along with their families, fellow patients and the Gastric Band Institute staff.
Also, the next lap band support group meeting is Tuesday, September 22, from 6:00-7:30pm in the seminar room behind our office.All patients pre and post-op are welcome, as well as persons considering the lap band procedure.If you are a patient and have yet to attend a support group, I highly recommend it.It’s a great opportunity to meet other patients, voice your thoughts and learn tips for how to be successful with the gastric band.
I know a few of you mentioned at training on Sunday that you usually train on a treadmill and how much more difficult it was for you to train outside. Both the treadmill and the track serve a purpose during your training for the half marathon.With treadmill training you are given many constants like running surface, forced pace, assisted momentum from the track, wind resistance, etc. A treadmill can be great for conditioning and easing you into running/walking outside. When you train outside, there are a lot of unknowns that affect your training and mental focus, making your workout more difficult. There is no assisted momentum from below you moving you along and assisting you to keep up with a certain pace. There are up and down hills, wind resistance, etc. It takes more effort to train outside on a track than on a treadmill.
Overall, a combination of both treadmill and track training is great. You can use the treadmill to assist you into increasing your speed and creating a pace for yourself and you can use the track for an experience that will be more similar to the half marathon. Please do not do all your training inside on a treadmill as you will have a rude awakening the day of the half marathon.
Congratulations to all for completing your first week of training! These next 12 weeks will go by fast so make sure you are fueling your body properly. I want to remind you that you will not need any type of electrolyte drinks or beans, gums, etc… until you have started training more than 90 minutes at one time. The most important thing to remember is to hydrate yourself during your training as well as in-between. Remember you need an additional 12oz. of fluid for every 20 minutes of exercise. You can start adding additional sodium to your food if you think you need the additional electrolytes.
What to eat? As your training increases you may find that you are feeling hungry, craving salt, etc. Make sure you listen to your body. Make sure you are getting 20g of protein at each meal - this will help you stay satisfied longer as will choosing whole grain foods for your 1 oz. For your meal following you trainings, 1 oz. of potatoes would be a great choice!
Let me hear from you! Do you have any concerns or questions with food intake?
I hope your first week of training went well! I wanted to provide a small suggestion that you may want to pair up into the buddy system – support groups of two or more. Don’t be afraid to share your phone number, email etc. with the other team members so that you can continue to motivate one another. Also, be sure to follow the Gastric Band Institute’s Facebook page and tell your friends and family to become fans too! They can also help to encourage you along the way.
Don’t forget to tell your friends and family what you have decided to achieve. Encourage them to be there when you cross the finish line.
It’s time to get started! I want to discuss some ideas on simple and safe warm-up exercise to get everyone started. Before walking you should make sure your body is warmed up as it increases the temperature in your muscles and joints and will increase blood flow. In addition, it will reduce of the risk of injury.
Check out the America’s Walking website link below for warm-up tips from Mark Fenton.
Prudence Ticknor, GBI’s Dietician and Health & Wellness Coach, here!Training for the Rock n’ Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon has officially started and you have already finished your first day (and for you early risers, your second)!Congratulations!!
Be sure to start each week knowing which days and times you are walking/running and which day you are strength training.When you know the days, time, location and what you will be doing, you have created a clear image in your head and you have set it into motion. The clearer the image you have of your training schedule, the more likely it is that you will accomplish your weekly training goals.
Now, believe it or not you have already done the hardest part: commit. You came to the first meeting and have committed to doing the training and the race. A lot of times making that first move is just putting aside the fear of something new and all of the possible negative internal dialogue that goes along with it to step up to the plate and commit.
I hope you are all proud of yourselves because you should be. Look in the mirror each day and say, “I can do this; I am doing this!”
