Ridgelake's Group - Filled up with Fantastic Folks! (Page 18)

Fueling for workouts is definitely a hugely complex subject.  Its one that I know even coaches and elites discuss/debate over whats optimal.

Brad identified many of the important elements as I understand them.

The body preferentially uses fat as fuel as low intensities.  As intensity increases, it uses more and more carbs for fuel.  Shortly after passing the aerobic threshold (lactate threshold), the body uses almost entirely carbs for fuel.

Exercising vigourously burns between 500 to 800 calories per hour.  The body, if well fueled, can store about 2000 carb calories.   So we can go at fairly high intensities for maybe 3 hours.  This again assumes we are well fueled, which is no given.   Once the body burns up its available carbs, we face whats known as "bonking", or "hitting the wall".

So how do we fuel?  My understanding is that food takes a good couple of hours to digest, enter the blood stream, and get processed as useable fuel for exercise.  Thats why you hear the suggestion to eat 2-3 hours before an exercise session.  Going off memory, gel shots and gatorade take about an hour to get into the system.

One thing that complicates fueling during exercise is that bloodflow to the muscles is blood thats not available for digestion.  Or vice versa.  Ingesting food while exercising intensely will cause the food to just sit in the stomach.  This can cause cramping, bloating, and other problems.   Even liquid absorbsion can be compromised if exercising too intensely.    These topic leads to a lot of trial and error for people doing HIM and IM races.  Everyone is different.  It takes a lot of testing to figure out just how intensely an individual can exercise and still take in nutrition.  Usually on the bike.

Post exercise nutrition is an entirely different matter.  After working out, the body is especially receptive to taking in food and processing it.   Getting in a good balance of carbs and proteins within 30 to 60 minutes of working out is a huge help to recovering from that workout and getting the body ready to go again the next day. 

Earlier in this thread at the top of page 3, I posted a link to an article by Hammer Nutrition talking about nutrition and exercise.  It does have a lot of sales and marketing for their products, but the science behind it is pretty good.  Ignore the marketing BS and focus on the science.  Its a good read and talks about all of these subjects in a lot more detail.

Scott, good question.

I justed looked through the guidelines posted by Ron.  His suggestion is to go through March/April.  I have no problem at all going through April and even beyond.  But even if this group technically ends, we still have the friendship and comraderie we've established.  Thats whats great about the friends list on the individual blogs.  We can easily keep in touch with one another that way.

Your experience is most definitely normal.  When the activity level picks up, so does teh appetite.  For me, it tends to happen when I pick up my biking miles.  But it can happen with any exercise.

Its basically your body's way of saying it wants more energy.  So give it to it!  Just try to make it quality foods.  Your fruits, veggies, lean meats, nuts, whole grains, etc.    The bottom line is to listen to your body.  It will tell you if it needs more energy.  Or not.