Well the summer has come and gone.  Somewhere along the way of BBQ’s, vacations, and rooftop drinks, we all probably lost sight of our nutrition plan.  Here are some things to consider when getting back on track:

• Eat low calorically dense foods:  These are foods that are low in calories, high with nutrients, and result in longer satiation.  Meaning, you end up controlling caloric intake without even trying.
  • They include vegetables, (most) soups, fruit and chicken

• Get back into normal environments:  Hunger and exercise are not the only things that effect our food decisions and energy balance.  We are social beings.  Our food intake is often based around what our family and friends are doing.  Next time your at your friends house instead of watching football, and eating pizza and wing, plan ahead!  Pre-make your own individual snacks/meals, and keep the alcohol intake down.  

In order to decrease your alcohol consumption, space out your drinks with a bottle of water.  This is a great way to eliminate calories, increase fullness, while still able kicking back a few drinks with friends.

• Increase your workout intensity and ditch the recovery drinks!  Ok, so you took a few months off.  Now it is time to get back on track!  Understandably when getting back into the swing of things your instinct may be to take it easy.  Now that is a good thing because increasing volume too fast is an easy way to find yourself on one of the treatment tables here in Perfect Stride.  Regardless, your goal should be to increase your workout intensity,

Constantly “taking it easy” will result in reduced caloric expenditure as you continue to work out because your body adapts to the workload.  Without changing the intensity, your body will acclimate to your workouts and actually cause a reduction in the amount of calories burned. Furthermore simple carbs in recovery drinks do not produce satiety,  which leads to eating sooner.  This combination of extra calories, and lack of calories burned could lead to weight gain if not careful.

• Stay hydrated!  As little as .5% loss of water in the body can lead to increased strain on your heart, and if it increases to 10% we are flirting with death!

Dehydration leads to an increased sympathetic response in the body.  The end result could be new fat storage and increased fatty synthesis.

Here are your hydration goals in order to help prevent this increased sympathetic response:

• 2L of water per day should be our goal of what we intake
• Add 250mL every 15 minutes during exercise

Follow these guidelines to help you get back on track now that summer has passed.  If you want to learn more about building better workout habits, check out our additional 5 habits from our previous blog here.