Lesson 3: Weight and Eat.
Weight and Eat.
Food, drink and fitness.
Upper body problems.
Featured fitness activity - weights.
This lesson is about weight, weights, food and fitness, and how these things relate to one another.
Weight and Eat - Food and Fitness 1.
Eating for Exercise.
It makes sense to check your diet when you begin to exercise. Whether or not you are overweight, there are probably changes you might make for the better. Fashionable diets come and go. Sometimes people talk about the Zone Diet, next you might hear about the Atkins Diet. Generally, these are restrictive and sometimes they are expensive or difficult for the ordinary person to follow.
In layperson's terms, you need to think about different food components and their roles.
Protein (found in meat, fish, eggs, legumes, milk) helps build and repair muscles. It is generally quite high in calories/kilojoules but is good "value for joule".
Carbohydrate (found in some vegetables, pasta, most fruits and all grains) is good energy fuel. It is usually lower in kilojoules than protein (roughly 1 to 3kj per gram against 5 to 7 kj per gram), but more is needed to make you feel full. A meal of carbohydrate is quickly and readily available for use during exercise.
Fibre (found in fruit and vegetables and whole grains) is good for bowel health. If you don't have enough in your diet you're likely to feel sluggish. Fibre + water + walking is a good cure for constipation.
Minerals and vitamins are found in a range of fresh fruit and vegetables, in milk, fish and grains and other whole foods. Lack of any of these can affect your general health, so eat fresh, raw food when you can.
Fats are usually broken into two camps; good fats and bad fats. Good fats are found in fish, most nuts and grains. Bad fats are found in red meat, chicken and full-fat dairy products. Fats are highly concentrated forms of nutrient, and most modern people don't do enough physical activity to use as much fat as they eat. A certain amount of good fat in the diet is needed to use vitamin A properly. Fat carries somewhere between 20 and 30 kj per gram. Water isn't a food, but it is very necessary. You need to drink more water when you exercise. I have a plastic drink bottle that holds about 1 1/4 cups (325 ml). This is enough for two people walking around nine km at a moderate pace. We use tank water, but most tap water is fine. If it is heavily chlorinated, you can improve the taste by letting it stand in an uncovered container for a day or so.
Walking for Weight Control
Increasing your exercise will help you to control your weight. It will probably help you to lose excess weight. I say "probably" because there are a few provisos.
Walking and weight training builds extra muscle and tones up existing muscles. Muscle really does weigh more than fat, so any fat/weight you lose may be offset by the gain in muscle weight. However, you will lose flab and centimetres/inches around the middle.
Your measurements will probably change. Your calves, and biceps and triceps may expand a bit while your waist might contract a bit. Your thighs and buttocks and calves will be firmer and less wobbly. Better posture can make you appear slimmer.
What the Books Don't (Necessarily) Tell You.
Walking makes you hungry. I have never had a weight problem, possibly because I've never been a big eater. However, after I started walking, I found I was eating more. I didn't notice this until my son, home on leave from the RAAF, pointed out that my plate of vegetables was as full as his. The extra food hasn't made me gain weight, but nor have I lost any from the exercise. It seems my appetite has simply kept pace with the extra activity.
How to Eat for Exercise.
If you go for a long walk before breakfast (or if you don't eat breakfast) you will probably start to feel weak and a bit "far away" by the time you've gone five km or so. This means you will have burned up all the easily available food energy in your body. This might work for those who want to lose weight, but it isn't a recipe for enjoyment and if exercise makes you feel weak you probably won't stick to it.
I find it best to eat a bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit about an hour before I start my walk. This "fuels" me for nine km. If I walk the extra two or three km, I really notice when the fuel runs out, so I carry a small bag of sultanas and almonds with me.
Not everyone enjoys or wants to eat breakfast cereal, but it certainly works well for me, and for my walking partner. Try to avoid sugary cereals, and keep added sugar to a minimum. Porridge, museli, Cornflakes, or Wheatbix are all suitable, and are all reasonably priced. The more expensive cereals such as Just Right, Sustain etc are also great, if you don't mind the extra cost. If you go for a basic cereal, you can always liven it up with some tinned fruit (in natural juice rather than heavy syrup), or with a spoonful of sultanas, chopped nuts or chopped dried apricots. Skim milk will add calcium to your cereal without adding fat.
About ten minutes before you set out, drink a glass of water, diluted fruit juice or a cup of tea. This cuts down on the amount of water you need to carry. Do the same on your return.
