This week we are looking at diet, more specifically nutrients and their timing. To get the most out of your workout, you want to make sure that you have the right fuel at the right time.

Nutrient timing is a basically "a planned alteration of macro-nutrient intake in order to promote health, workout performance, and get/stay lean."

Pre-Workout

Pre-workout nutrition determines whether or not you can achieve your maximum potential during your workout.

The timing and nutrients consumed can influence various goals and can make or break your workout. Ensuring you are properly fueled can make the difference in whether you can get get through the last set, or finish an extra couple reps.  It can help with improving body composition & athletic performance, as well as enhancing your workout recovery.

Your pre-workout meal should include Protein, Carbs & Fat

Protein
The essential building block for muscles. Without it, your muscles would not grow. They also ensure proper nitrogen balances in the muscle.

Great sources of quality protein include eggs, lean cuts of chicken & fish

Carbohydrates
Stick with low GI carbs here.  These carbohydrates will fuel your body with energy throughout the your workout. If you eat high GI carbs before a workout, you will start with a lot a energy, but then crash since they will be burned too quickly.

Since carbohydrates are the main source energy in a workout. I would recommend brown or white rice, oatmeal or even a portion of sweet potato.

Fats
I love fat. It keeps energy levels up and also helps your body absorb fat soluble vitamins. They take longer to digest and so they are great for keeping you feeling full during your workout.

Good sources here are avocado, olives, coconut or nut butters (without added sugars) & olive or coconut oil.

Post Workout

Gaining strength and muscle doesn't occur while you workout but after, during the recovery stage. This occurs immediately after the workout and can last an hour or two. Your metabolism is revved up and ready to absorb any nutrients you consume.

This phase is also known as "anabolic" because it's during this time that the muscle cells are primed for muscle building.

Your post-workout meal should only include Carbs & Protein. 

Protein
A small meal that can be ingested and digested quickly is generally best here. A whey isolate protein shake is perfect. We prefer this one, in vanilla or chocolate ;)

Consuming a protein shake within 30 minutes of your workout will ensure that muscle glycogen stores are replenished and that protein synthesis restarts, initiating a response for muscles to repair & grow.

Shoot for at least 25 grams of protein, most whey isolate powders/shakes offer that as a minimum. If a shake is not an option, be sure to eat a small meal that consists of 3-4oz of lean protein like chicken or turkey. It will be a little slower to absorb, but protein is better than no protein.

Carbohydrates
You don't want to overdo it, but you need to take in just enough for an insulin spike to occur, which helps to move nutrients into your muscle tissue quicker.

As a general rule, you want to shoot for .25-.4 grams of carbohydrate per pound of bodyweight. This will vary depending on your workout. The harder the workout/the more active you are, use the higher number. For 150 lb person would have a range of 37-60 grams.

As far as sources and for these circumstances, you want to stick with higher speed carbs, often times sports drinks are a simple solution for this. Majority of the sports drink brands contain dextrose, which is a type of simple sugar molecule (monosaccharide) that breaks down quickly. You can also purchase dextrose in plain form and add it to your protein powder in a shaker.

Another option is maltodextrin, which is considered a complex carb made up of corn, rice or potato starch. It must be processed by the liver before it's glucose molecules can be used by the body. This makes it slightly slower digesting than dextrose, but there is less risk of fat gain, which can occur with simple sugars. Maltodextrin can also be purchased in plain powder form.

If these are not an option, you can opt for fruit, such as a banana, or even oatmeal or sweet potato for quality complex carbs.

Be sure to always follow up this post-workout meal with a an actual meal an hour or two later to maintain nutrition and prevent any metabolic dips that could hinder your results.

Hope this has helped to clarify any questions you may have, feel free to comment below or send me a message if you have any further questions!





Sources

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-nutrient-timing

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/berardi54.htm

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek37.htm

Do mini workouts throughout the day

• You can get a full body workout with no equipment.
• You can do wall sits and squats while you are brushing your teeth, at your desk, or holding a baby! 

• Workouts online! I love the thousands of options I have on BOD.  Most of the time I choose my workout based on how much time I have.  In this photo I am streaming my workout in a hotel room while out of town. 

Include your kids

• Walk to the park, or run. I've used the playground to do pull ups, step ups, box jumps, etc.
• Do pushups, squats, lunges, burpees while they are are playing or in their high chairs. Because I workout at home I normally have to stop multiple times to help them or get them out of something, step over them, or they might be crawling on me, but I can get the majority of a workout in.  

• Wear a baby, or use them as your “weights”.  I have done lunges wearing one baby and holding the other at the same time, squats wearing or holding a baby, chest presses with a baby, shoulder raises, and they think it’s fun (most of the time).
• You are setting a good example being active and having a good attitude about exercise. Make it fun for them, and do it together.

Evaluate your routine, make room & replace

• Write down everything you do in your typical day
• Is there room to adjust, even by 10 minutes?
• Are there things you do that you didn't realize are time suckers?
• Can you put exercise in your calendar at specific times of the day, and set an alarm to eliminate distractions?
• Can you replace at least one thing in your day with exercise? (watching TV, grabbing coffee, checking social media, going out to eat)

Ask for help (this one of hard for us control freaks)

• Can your significant other feed the kiddos a meal while you workout?
• Can you invite a friend to go for a walk, with or without kids, for extra accountability?

Change your nutrition and sleep habits

• Fueling your body with the right nutrition will give you more energy, and will make you want to exercise
• As a parent, we will never get enough sleep, however we can get try bed at a decent time.
• Turn off electronics an hour before bed to get GOOD sleep.
• Getting up a little earlier to start our day with exercise. I know that even on the nights I don't get enough sleep, my day is not affected if I exercise first thing.

Get cute shoes

• I know, I know, this one is silly. But is it? Cute shoes always give us confidence. How many times do we make an excuse or don't feel like working out because we don't feel good about ourselves?  This is why I love working out at home. I can still be a hot mess and it doesn’t matter what I look like!

I'm so excited to finally share with you a new blog series for this Spring, Fit Friday! I'm thrilled to introduce to you some wonderful and inspirational ladies who I've been fortunate enough to work with on this.

These ladies are fellow fitness enthusiasts and mothers to growing families, who live and breathe a healthy lifestyle. We've teamed up to put together some amazing information, tips, workouts and more, all backed with real life, real experience and knowledge.

Below is the schedule for Part One, where you can come back to as each week goes live and click right to the post you'd like to read. This week we're kicking it off with some meal prep tips.

Fit Friday's Part One