We need fat in order to live. It serves many vital functions, providing energy for the body and helping with the absorption of vitamins and minerals. However some fats are better for the body than others…
Fats – good or bad?
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Tag Archives: Calories
Q&A – how many carbs do I need?
“I’ve recently fought my way back from an extended period of injury (6 months) where I was not able to train at all, only minimal running.
Now that I’m back do a structured week of training how many potatoes do I need to eat? How much pasta or rice equates to an hour of sub-threshold running?
I’m currently doing an hour of running a day. This mostly consists of sub-threshold runs at about 70% – 80% max heartrate range. I’ll do one race or one VO2 Max session per week ( >90%) followed the next day by a recovery run at 60% – 70%. I average one non-running day per week. I also do one exersise (core strength) class per week.”
Thanks, Laurie, June 2015
The answer to your question depends upon what else you’re eating, because you’ll be getting energy (kcal) from all of your food. Bear in mind, also, that your energy needs and your energy intake will normalise across a week (or any given period), such that you may be ‘catching up’ on your rest day or slightly deficient overall on race day.
In order to answer your question fully, we would have to do a food diary, but I can make a series of assumptions based on weight, height and activity levels. Then, I would calculate the difference in energy requirements between none, little and your actual training schedule.
Mary, Russell-Price Sport & Wellness Nutrition
Fats: friend or foe?
If you pay attention to the popular press and to some of the government’s healthy eating messages you may be thinking that fats are universally bad for us. Does fat have any real value to us? It’s OK to eat ‘good fats’ isn’t it?
Low GI Cakes?
Cakes are popular as a post-exercise snack however much of the health-related press will suggest that they should be avoided in all circumstances. I did some baking for sale after a local race recently and a club runner asked me, with a wry smile, if I was going to make a low GI cake.
Burning the Calories
At the end of a club run I’ve often been asked, ‘How many calories did I burn?’ The answer varies considerably but the heavier you are, and the faster you run, the more calories you’ll use per hour.
Marathons and fat burning
If regular marathoners don’t lose weight or get thinner, does it mean that those marathoners can’t be burning fat, else they would get thinner?
Read on, and follow through the physiological arguments on this conundrum
10 top tips to maintain a healthy weight
- Keep to your meal routine
- Choose reduced fat options
- Walk off excess weight
- Pack a healthy snack
- Read those food labels
- Portion caution
- Get up on your feet, don’t sit for long periods
- Drink more water and less alcohol
- Enjoy mealtimes, don’t eat on the run
- Don’t forget your 5-a-day
Beware of the silent calories
If ‘going on a diet’ sounds like a step too far, you may be able to reduce your calorie intake less painfully by cutting down on some of the worst offenders, the foods (and drinks) that are loaded with calories but don’t satisfy or fill you up for very long.
Replace those silent calories with some lower calorie alternatives, and increase your activity levels, and soon you could be losing excess weight steadily and permanently.