Fueling for Your Goal - Strength Training and Body Composition vs Endurance

What works for your running friend will not work if your goal is to get lean and strong. And what works for body composition will not get you through a half marathon.

In this episode we break down exactly why strength training and endurance training require completely different fuelling strategies, what your body's three energy systems actually are and which one you're primarily using, why low carb and endurance training do not mix, and why creatine is one of the most well-researched supplements available for women who lift.

This is episode three of the nutrition and training mini series.

Apply for 1:1 coaching: https://77z9uh9ts6v.typeform.com/to/p3IrXlMi

Follow on Instagram: @jessica_tiana_

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to the role model you never had. I'm Jess, Trauma Informed Strength and Identity Coach, and the woman who rebuilt her body and her life from the ground up. This is the third episode in our nutrition and training mini series. Today we're going to be talking about fueling for your specific goal because how you eat to build your body composition is completely different from how you eat to train for endurance. So we have woman A who wants to change her body composition. That means losing fat, building muscle, getting that lean and toned look, feeling strong. And then we have woman B who is training for a half marathon. These two women should not be eating the same way. Their energy demands are going to be very different. Their macronutrient needs are going to be very different. If you remember from the previous episodes, the macronutrients are carbs, fats, and proteins. Specifically, here we're going to be talking about carbs. And finally, their recovery needs are also going to be different. So let's talk briefly about fueling for body composition. This requires high protein. Because when you're in the process of losing fat, you're typically in a calorie deficit, or you should be in a calorie deficit. And when you do that, you need to preserve any muscle that you already have. So you're going to aim again for one gram per pound of body weight. Your carbs are going to be timed mostly around your training, carbs for fuel and also for recovery. And then again, that calorie deficit for if fat loss is your goal. This is not about aggressive restriction. This just has to be moderate enough that you can train hard and recover well while your body uses stored fat for fuel. So a safe range for this is going to be 250 to 500 calories per day from your maintenance calories. And if you don't know how to calculate that, you can reach out to me directly on Instagram or you can search a maintenance calorie calculator online. But you may not know what to do with those numbers. So again, if you prefer, you can reach out to me on Instagram. Now let's talk about fueling for endurance. Carbohydrates become your primary fuel source. Endurance athletes need significantly more carbohydrates than someone training for body composition. This is not the time to be low carb. And I know this not from just studying it, but I've trained for multiple half marathons. And learning how to fuel for that was completely different education from everything I knew about body composition nutrition. Pre-run nutrition, fueling during the long runs with gels or chews at regular intervals, post-run recovery, the strategy changes across all of it. And calorie intake goes up significantly because the energy demands are higher, and you'll feel extreme hunger when you're training for events like this. There are also certain types of carbs that you need to fuel well during training. If you recall from our last episode, we talked about simple and complex carbs. So complex carbs are the ones that take two to three hours to digest. They're meant to be full of fiber, slow digestion, keep you full. This is going to include your things like potatoes, brown rice, multi-grain breads, fruits, chickpeas, lentils, quinoa. When you're training for endurance, yes, you're still gonna want some complex carbs in your diet, but you also need the simple carbs. You're gonna aim for 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour when you're exercising, when you're training. And this is gonna come from things like white breads, rice cakes, honey, Gatorade, soda, white pasta, energy gels. These are gonna digest in 30 minutes or so. If you're using a gel on a run, those can start digesting within five to ten minutes. But again, these are not your only fuel source. You need to incorporate complex carbs in your routine, which is why it is important to work with someone who understands nutrition and training. If you find that you're starting to run and you're getting a lot of sugar cravings, that is a signal that you're not having enough carbs. Your body is craving sugar because it needs to replace the glycogen that you just use on your run. Now, again, a quick recap: if you're fueling for body composition, you want a calorie deficit or your maintenance, but higher protein if you're looking for more recomp. If you don't have any muscle built, going into a fat loss phase or that moderate, modest calorie deficit isn't actually going to get you lean and toned, by the way. You do need to build muscle first. So a better option for you might be trying to stay at your maintenance or getting yourself up to maintenance if you've been under-eating and hitting your protein goal and lifting consistently. Then you can start to build muscle, then you can go into more of a building phase, and then you can cut down for let's say summer or a trip, and then you go into your calorie deficit again, keeping your protein high, and that's when you'll start to be able to reveal that muscle. Fueling for endurance, you want a lot of simple carbs around your workout times and during your workouts. So we have our pre-run nutrition or pre-cycling nutrition, whatever sport you're doing, your fuel during the long runs or the long cycles, and then you also have your fuel after 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour while you're cycling right now or running. Right now, I have a client who's about to do a half iron man. A half iron man involves a swim, a bike, and a run. It's a very long endurance event, and what we've been doing up to this point is focusing on fueling each component of this race. And so this week I gave her a game plan breaking down the timing for fueling during her cycling and her runs. And this time we're going to be aiming for every 15 minutes so she's fueling consistently and her body is adapting to the carb intake. Because sometimes if you don't fuel properly or you fuel with too much liquid, too many carbs that your body's not used to, it can cause a lot of digestive distress. So again, this is why it's important to work with somebody who has an understanding of training and nutrition. Now, the biggest mistake that women make, and I personally made this mistake too, training for my first half marathon, is trying to stay in a calorie deficit and underestimating your carb needs because you're worried about gaining weight. You are going to feel terrible if you do this. You're going to perform poorly and you're going to risk injury. Your body needs fuel to run or to cycle. Underfueling endurance training is a recipe for burnout injury in a miserable race day. I had many injuries during my first set of training for my half marathon. I wasn't recovering well. I would completely crash after my runs. I remember I was probably eating around 1800 calories at the time, but I was running five times a week. One was a super long run. I was also lifting. So I was not eating enough for my goal. But at the time, this was three years ago, I still had a fear of carbs. I was always told that white bread was really bad for you, so I tried to avoid it. But that is one of the best pre-run fuels that you can have. And running helped me heal my relationship with food. So, what I want you to do is know what your goal is. You're either choosing body composition goals or you're choosing endurance performance goals. You cannot do both of these at the same time. It's going to affect your performance, it's going to affect your results. And if your goals shift, your nutrition strategy has to shift with them. Now let's talk about the body's energy systems. Because depending on the type of training or movement that you're doing, your body is going to use energy differently. So your body has three main energy systems. And understanding these changes how you think about training and fueling. So first we have the phosphocreatine system. This kicks in immediately for very short explosive efforts. So I want you to think of your one rep max in the gym, a sprint, or a jump. It lasts about 10 seconds and runs on creatine stores in your muscles. This is why creatine supplementation is one of the most well-researched and effective supplements available. Creatine monohydrate. It also supports your brain health and has benefits beyond just the gym. If you are strength training seriously, creatine monohydrate at 3 to 5 grams a day is worth considering. There's also been studies that have come out recently that even 10 grams can be beneficial for women, especially when they're on their cycle. It helps with mental clarity, reducing that brain fog. And a lot of people I have seen also were testing this on Instagram and said they did notice positive effects of taking a little bit more than that three to five grams. If you're somebody who says, Well, I retain a lot of water when I have creatine, you're probably not drinking enough water. You need to have more water when you are taking creatine as a supplement. The second energy system is the glycolytic system. It takes over when your efforts from your body are lasting 30 seconds to about two minutes. So heavy lifting sets, hit intervals, anything intense and sustained. This system runs primarily on carbohydrates broken down into their glucose. This is why carbs matter around your training. Your muscles need glycogen to fuel these efforts. And finally, we have the oxidative system. This is the one that handles longer, moderate intensity efforts. So this includes things like distance running, cycling, sustained cardio. It uses a combination of glycogen and fat for fuel, and it requires oxygen to do so. AKA oxidative system. This is why pacing matters in endurance. If you go out too fast and you deplete your glycogen before the finish line, you're gonna be hurtin'. Now I know this is very scientific, but the practical takeaway here is that strength training primarily uses the first two systems. So that phosphocreatine system and the glycolytic system. Endurance training primarily uses the third. And what you eat needs to support the system you're training most. So let's talk about endurance training a little bit again. You may have heard the term carbloading. A lot of athletes will do this leading up to an endurance event. So you have more of that glycogen stored in your muscles. And then when you have anything the day of the race or throughout the race, you're just topping off those glycogen stores. You're giving your body a little bit more fuel to get you through that event. Now, I don't really have that intense homework for you with this episode, but I guess what I want you to do here is to sit down and reflect what is my actual goal right now? Am I trying to lose fat, get lean and toned? Am I trying to run more? Am I trying to do a race? Determine what your main goal is, and then you can determine the nutrition strategy that is appropriate for that. If you remember our previous episode about macronutrients, aim for one cupped handful of carbs at every meal. If you're lifting or running endurance, you can do one to two. See how your body responds. Maybe take pictures of your meals for one to three days. Keep them in an album on your phone, look at the photos and say, okay, did I hit my carbs, fats, and proteins in this meal? Where can I add more simple carbs around my training? Where can I add more complex carbs? Do I have energy after eating this specific meal? Start taking the time to reflect on your own habits. The right approach for you is going to depend entirely on what you're asking your body to do. Know your goal, create awareness, and then eat to support it. Now, if you've listened to all three of these episodes and you're nodding along, but still not sure how to apply any of this to your specific body, your specific goals, your specific life, this feels too complicated for you, you never know what to eat, you get decision fatigue thinking about what you need to eat every day, if it's the right thing for you. That is exactly what coaching is for. I work with women one-on-one for six months or more at a time. And what we do is we build your strength training program, we build your nutrition around your psychology and your nervous system. And I teach you how to fuel your body properly and make adjustments so you don't need a coach anymore. I don't give you rigid meal plans, you won't follow. We do the deeper work, the identity work, the nervous system regulation that makes all of this stick. Because information alone does not create change. If it did, you wouldn't be listening to these episodes, you wouldn't still be struggling with your nutrition, you wouldn't be struggling with your workouts, you wouldn't be struggling to see results. Support, accountability, and a plan built specifically for you is what creates change. Right now I am looking for three women who are done guessing and ready to actually build the body and the life that they keep talking about. So you can DM me her on Instagram to apply or apply with the link in the show notes because your body is the foundation of your healing. So let's build it together.