My wife is an incredible partner...I lost 154 lbs in the last year and a half and I could not have done it without her support and her clean and healthy cooking.
My life has changed dramatically on the excercise front as well as my diet. I still eat about 3K cals a day but they are very clean and I went from 288 to 141
When my wife and I got married she was 120 and two babies later she is 34 5'7" and 126.
She wants to get back to 120 but she is thinner now than she was when we were married she just hates the fat on her butt.
Long story short she thinks when she gets up in the morning she can't eat until after she runs her six miles she thinks this will focus the weight loss on fat and sculpt her butt.
We walk our dogs two miles each morning and I have a bowl of fruit before the walk and then breakfast before I workout. She won't eat until after her workout and it makes her very cranky.
Shouldn't she eat within a half hour of waking up or is she right in the thought that if she does not eat before her workout she will get the fat off her butt?
Looking for advice and input to share with her?
I think that it would be best to eat something small upon waking to rev up the metabolism- then she can eat her "larger" breakfast after the run.
I used to do what she was doing- and once I started to eat a bit before my morning walk I was able to loose weight more quickly!
Great story. I really enjoyed reading it. Good job on losing all that weight by the way. Really impressive, and it is awesome that you have such a supportive wife.
One thing I noticed in the article is that you say she wants to tone up her butt right? Has she considered weightlifting at all? Running is great for weight loss and cardiovascular fitness. However, if her goal is to tone/firm up, weightlifting is the best way to lose bodyfat and firm up. She could tone up that area much faster by doing squats, deadlifts, lunges, etc.. I recommend joining a gym and encorporating a strength training routine three times a week with free weights and doing the running three times a week on non lifting days. Strength training speeds up metabolism a lot more for a longer period of time and this leads to better overall loses in bodyfat.
here is a great article on exactly this. it talks about the reasons eating before and after exercise is so important.
At 126lbs your wife shouldn't be looking to lose any more weight. You can't choose where the weight goes on or comes off - she could lose 10lbs but none of it might be off her butt. I think she'd be better off with weights.
A big CONGRATULATIONS!
My personal trainer says to eat a protein and a carb a half hour before exercise. Your body NEEDS FUEL TO BURN! No matter your health, age or stamina. Perhaps joining a gym with a personal trainer to better guide her. A few sessions and I think she might have a routine down to accomplish her goal. But really, she is in really good shape right now and I think the little she wants to loose isn't too significant.
Take care and God Bless.
This is great feedback!
I agree she is in awesome shape! Both of our hearts are in tip top shape I just need to gain 20 lbs and she is working on toning the butt!
She does lift weights every other day and she takes a day off here and there...she does lunges but squats may be a good option as well. We have worked with some trainers and the opinions we were looking for were on the food before work out thing!
Any other feedback...words of encouragement or advice are appreciated!
its important that shes eats something before she runs. she depriving her body of the nutrients it needs. think about your car, you wake up in the morning in its on E, the first thing your gonna do is put gas in it right? same basic idea with your body.
try and at least get her to eat something like yogurts, fruits, a protien bar or something.
The reasoning for running on an empty stomach that your wife has bought into is based on the idea that if your body is in a fasted state you will burn more fat during the exercise, which is more or less true. But the problem is that this line of thinking ignores the other 23 or so hours in the day when you aren't exercising.
If your wife runs on an empty stomach she might burn a little more fat while she runs, but her body will adjust and burn a little less fat during the rest of the day so that everything evens out.
The other issue I see is your wife's workouts not matching her goals. If she wants to increase muscle tone is probably not the way to go (especially if done on a caloric deficit). Running can increase muscle tone for certain people but it has a pretty low ceiling, if your wife is as active as you say then it's likely that she's already has increased her muscle tone as much as running is going to do.
Original Post by floggingsully:
The reasoning for running on an empty stomach that your wife has bought into is based on the idea that if your body is in a fasted state you will burn more fat during the exercise
Not to mention that a lot of runners don't like to run with a full stomach feeling and/or have what they ate all of a sudden go south and upset their stomach. If I get up and run in the morning, I almost never eat before I run. However, if I am doing a long run, I will eat WHILE I run (gels and bars and such). Important thing is to find what works for you through trial and experimentation. If you can make it through your workout without bonking and/or chewing your arm off, then I think that's OK.
If you can make it through your workout without bonking and/or chewing your arm off, then I think that's OK.
I agree with wesmckean.
The article posted a few postings above gives good advice but is not a strong article to encourage eating before exercising. It states that not eating might cause one to get tired more or run less. That is true but if your wife feels totally fine without eating, then she is ok. Our bodies do store up some carbs from our dinners so we get a lot of our morning energy through that. There are many articles debating this issue but I have found more articles in favor or fasting before morning exercise for greater fat loss. Athletes do not fast because their intent is not to loose fat, but to be faster and last longer. But non-athletes mostly want to loose the fat so fasting is not negative. They do encourage us to listen to our bodies. Everyone is different. Some people do not have energy in the morning and need the extra fuel. Some others, like your wife and I, do not need that. We absolutely need to eat very well after a workout and that is not debatable. Go ahead, I encourage you to do future research about this if you are still a bit confused. You will find good information. Best of luck to you two and congrats!
Wow! Congrats on your weight loss!
Optimally, your wife should eat before...and ....after she runs. IMO, runners [and I am one] ...have the BEST EFFING LEGS IN THE WORLD. [and I do] ;) If she is not happy with her arse, she needs to do a little more concentration on legs/weights...sqauts, dead lifts, lunges...etc. Runners DO have the best legs in the world...but many have flat as$es....in order to get some junk in the trunk... a person will need to concentrate on glute work on non cardio days..and/or before cardio.
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