Exercise - protein and carbs

[Amadeus]

For the last few months I've been doing a boot camp on Monday evenings. Hard work and I ache in the following days. Good stuff.

I'm a bit confused about protein and carbs.

I think I need protein so that I can build muscle?
I think I need carbs for energy?

When should I eat both?
Protein before of after the exercise (presumably not during...)
Carbs the day before? Hours before?

Anyone know?

[DarrenSV650S]

What kind of exercise? What are you trying to achieve?

[Amadeus]

Well, it's things like running, weights, dips, squats, bear walks etc.
As for what I'm trying to achieve, that's a good question. Get rid of my paunch, tone up, look hot for my wife and stop working so many hours!
Not looking to turn into Arnie.
(just noticed your avatar - wasn't having a go at Arnie, just don't want to turn into a huge muscle man)

[maviczap]

Protein after is what I do, helps repair the damage done during exercise & also builds up. So stops the aches & pains post exercise. I use Forgoodnessshakes protien drink straight after I get home from a ride.

You need to take protien within 20mins of finishing to get the most benefit

Carbs are your fuel, so during exercise, but there's a trend against too many carbs.

Hi5 4:1 drink is a pretty good start, it has a little bit of protein to help you out during exercise.

I use energy gels during my rides, but only because they are easy to consume during the ride. Jelly babies or other sweets are just as easy & give you the carbs you need

That's my simplistic approach to exercise nutrition

[maviczap]

Rice cakes are another good low fat carb snack, but have a topping otherwise they are a bit bland!

[DarrenSV650S]

I'd say a lean protein. Look for >70% protein ratios. It's usually better to have a little before and after to help muscle recovery

[7755matt]

I would say for a boot camp you don't need anything before and the most you'll need after is a glass of milk

[Dipper]

^^^^This, unless you are doing serious training a normal balanced diet will see you right.

[Littlepeahead]

I should not read threads like this while eating 4 cheese pizza and drinking a glass of red wine. Although I did add mushrooms, the cheese must contain some protein and the deep pan base had plenty of carbs. :D

Good on you for doing a boot camp, I read in the newspapers yesterday about how many adults don't do any walking at all any more let alone proper exercise. And how refreshing that you want to look hot for your wife, I'm 44 and most of my married friends now have husbands who eat and drink too much, spend way too much time on the sofa and do little exercise and have the beer guts to show for it.

[7755matt]

My one bit of advice for anyone looking at nutrition for sport is to actually check what level of calories you're burning before adding in 'carb loading' or 'protein replacement'.

Ideally a calorie / exercise tracker, even better with heart rate monitoring will give you good numbers to work with, but myfitnesspal or similar calorie / exercise trackers aren't too bad. It's all too easy to overestimate and eat too much. Rememebr though that doing nothing for the same amount of time also burns calories!

A good healthy balanced diet should mean that most people have enough eneergy stores for up to an hour of exercise, after that you may need to add a bit extra before or start to eat /drink during. If you need to refuel during, the rules of thumb tgat I use are: 1gramme of carbs per kilo of body weight per hour. Also I would aim for 200-300 calories per hour intake max (on a good day I can just about squeeze in 400).

It also depends what you're doing. A 100 mile bike ride and I'll aim to do 200-300 calories per hour for the 6 hours or so that it will take, eating every 20 minutes or so. For my ironman races i want to get in 400 calories per hour on the bike as I won't wnat to eat muhc on the run section.

In training i'll reduce it all down - the bike I tend ot eat about 100-200 calories per hour.

Then after exercise its all too easy to 'reward' yourself - I like cake, but I tend to have too much cake for too little exercise. If I could get it all right i'd be a proper racing snake, however I'm currently overwiehgt. Now on 5 weeks of being very strict before race day, followed by 4 months of being even better before my wedding day.

I too want to look hot for my other half. I'd love a six pack too, but I only seem to end up with the barrel look

[Luckypants]

^^^^This, unless you are doing serious training a normal balanced diet will see you right.

Agreed, so long as it is balanced! Processed food has very little protein content in general. You need to pay attention to what you eat to get good quality food down you.

For me I have a protein recovery shake after cycling (SIS REGO) which has 20g of protein in it. This helps recovery and builds muscle. On heavy exercise days (90minutes or more cycling) I'll also take an overnight protein shake.

Recently I've been paying attention to my food macros to make sure I get all the protein I need, which the idea of building up my legs through training. I am starting to see the results of stronger legs now, so I think paying attention to this stuff is worth it.

[ophic]

I'd go with protein. There are normally enough carbs floating about in a normal diet anyway.

Protein can be used for repair, muscle building and fuel - so your body can allocate it where it's needed. Carbs can only be used for fuel.

[maviczap]

After yesterday's ride my fuel cells were defo out of juice on the return home on todays ride, and that was after toast and jam at the tea shop.

[PhilSV]

I'm a big, big fan of a keto lifestyle. Could bore you half to death about it but if your looking at just nutrition pre and post work out you can glean some great advice from trawling some of the body building forums. Not saying go to those extremes but those boys have such understanding of nutrition as they are so dedicated to their sport; the average joe can learn a lot.

[Spank86]

For the last few months I've been doing a boot camp on Monday evenings. Hard work and I ache in the following days. Good stuff.

I'm a bit confused about protein and carbs.

I think I need protein so that I can build muscle?
I think I need carbs for energy?

When should I eat both?
Protein before of after the exercise (presumably not during...)
Carbs the day before? Hours before?

Anyone know?


Lots of protein, not too many carbs.

If you go low fat but much carbs your body will use all the carbs for energy and store every scrap of fat for later, if you have less carbs for energy your body has to burn fat by default, It may be harder but you can't beat the chemistry of it, the energy has to come from somewhere for everything you do and that's either carbs or stored fat.

Personally I try to eat less carbs and don't overly worry about fat as long as I'm getting lots of protein.

My best advice is get low fat protein shakes for after a gym session and the rest of the time try to eat Tuna, Eggs and chicken as much as possible.

It's harder to avoid carbs than anything else, eating more is pointless unless you're on a starvation diet.

I quite often eat tuna with spring water straight out of the tin as a snack since I actually like the taste and it's pretty close to pure protein.

[L3nny]

Not looking to turn into Arnie.

Makes me laugh when I hear people say this, Arnie is a genetic freak who spends his entire life in the gym, a few boot camp sessions and a protien shake wont make you look like a bodybuilder.

Just cut down on processed sugar, eat smaller portions more regularly and try not to eat more carbs than protien and you should see a difference.

[Spank86]

Makes me laugh when I hear people say this, Arnie is a genetic freak who spends his entire life in the gym, a few boot camp sessions and a protien shake wont make you look like a bodybuilder.
Nor will much short of Steroids.

Arnie took them as did almost anyone but a few very rare people who are that size.

They may not take them regularly but they took them to get that size then maintained it without them, almost guarantee it.

[Mrs DJ Fridge]

Paul McKenna easy weight loss cds, you just eat what your body needs and it is good for you, don't know how it works, but it has kept me happy, fit and sustained for the last 11 years with no change in weight but very able to get fit.