Feeling drained after hitting the gym instead of pumped with energy? We've cracked the code to sustained vitality, and it's all about the unsung heroes of your diet—micronutrients. Join Bree as she explores the often overlooked elements that genuinely fuel your fitness journey, such as the fine balance of vitamins, minerals, and the critical timing of your meals post-exercise.
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Feeling drained after hitting the gym instead of pumped with energy? We've cracked the code to sustained vitality, and it's all about the unsung heroes of your diet—micronutrients. Join Bree as she explores the often overlooked elements that genuinely fuel your fitness journey, such as the fine balance of vitamins, minerals, and the critical timing of your meals post-exercise.
Want more? Find and follow Bree on
www.bodybybree.com
Instagram
Pinterest
YouTube
Blog
Are you looking for a space where you will learn to improve your mental strength, emotional health and heal your insecurities from the inside out? Take the first step to living a more meaningful life with the Better Me with Body by Breed podcast. I'm your host, bree. I'm a certified personal trainer, entrepreneur and mother of three. I've helped empower thousands of women to take action through fitness, nutrition, meditation, development and aligning thoughts with action. This podcast is for those who are ready to feel inspired and motivated to live a more purposeful life. Let's grow together.
Speaker 1:One of the main benefits of working out is that you have energy. After a right, you feel energized and you feel amazing. Well, what if, after your workouts, you're actually feeling depleted and fatigued? There are a few reasons this could be happening and we're going to dive deep into those during this episode. Can't wait to teach you more. Let's get started. If you're feeling more exhausted than energized after workout, here's what you need to know. Have you ever been in a season or maybe you're in it right now where you've been counting macros and working out frequently, but instead of feeling energized, you just feel pooped all the time? It's super frustrating when your hard work doesn't feel like it's paying off or that it's paying you back with exhaustion instead of energy. One of the questions that I asked my clients during our check-ins is do you have energy after your workout? If the answer is no, it's an immediate indicator that we need to look at three key things. Number one are they eating quality food and getting their micronutrients in? Number two what are they eating directly after their workout and when? Number three are they eating enough calories and in a variety of foods to accomplish their goal? So today I'm going to share with you how nutrient timing, micronutrients and reverse dieting all play a key factor in your nutritional and fitness progress and how they can help you feel your best every day. If you're at the beginning of your fitness journey, don't worry, I'm going to break these down into super simple and easy terms so they can help anyone looking to learn more. So, number one do not miss out on the micronutrients.
Speaker 1:First, let's talk about the importance of micronutrients, and you've probably heard me talk a lot about macronutrients, which are your carbs, fats and proteins and you probably hear that word all the time on the internet with macro coaches and how important it is to track those carbs, fats and proteins in your diet. But micronutrients are just as important. Proteinants are essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs to operate at full capacity. So, in general, your body needs all of these for energy production, immune function, blood clotting, even your bone health. So it's already important for you to optimize these, even in seasons of rest, meaning that it becomes even more important when you're moving your body consistently. So let's give you some examples of what micronutrients would be. Here's some five examples of main micronutrients that you could include in your diet. So you have vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium and zinc. So these vitamins and minerals are going to play a huge role in maintaining your overall health, even if your goal is to tone or slim down.
Speaker 1:So when I teach my clients about nutrition, it's not just about how to lose weight. I don't care as much about the weight you lose if you aren't doing it in a healthy way. If your body is not able to sustain your everyday activities with friends and family, then you're missing the whole point right. Most people don't realize how good they can actually feel if they pay attention to the quality of their food and not just the quantity of their calories. So I always do the 80-20 rule. You know me, balances everything but the majority of my food. Yes, I am getting those micronutrients in.
Speaker 1:So let me give you an example. When I first started tracking my food 14 years ago, I thought, well, if a carb is a carb, then instead of eating an apple I'd rather have chips or an ice cream cone, because it's the same amount of carbs. And I wasn't necessarily wrong. But I quickly realized that I felt like crap and I didn't understand why. I was tired and groggy and bloated and even though it was the same amount of carbs, the way my body responded to an apple versus an ice cream cone was very different. So I started getting in tune with how I felt after eating certain foods. I did whole 30 when I realized that my gut health really needed a reset and I also did a few rounds of antibiotics when I had a kidney infection and I could not believe how much better I felt when I was eating vegetables with every single meal and limiting how much sugar and refined carbs I was eating, because it helped heal my gut health after I had those that round of antibiotics it killed all my healthy gut bacteria. So when I actually started eating all of these whole foods and really focusing on the micronutrients. I felt like I was on caffeine pills because I was eating all of these whole on process foods with full of nutrients and I felt amazing.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to give you a couple tips to do this. Okay, here's your takeaway. I want you to take inventory of your tried and true meals to see if you're getting enough micronutrients, like if you're eating the same things every day and you have no vegetables, that's gonna be a problem. So my other tip is add some variety with fruits and vegetables to each of your meals and then also aim to create colorful meals. Like, if you're gonna have eggs, throw some peppers in there, or some spinach, just as much as you can, because fiber really is key here. So you wanna try to get about 25 grams of fiber into your body each day. That's what's gonna help you regulate your hormones. You're gonna feel full faster, your glucose levels are not gonna spike. It's gonna help your insulin levels so that you don't store as much body fat. Fiber is key, okay. So if you're looking for some delicious recipes to start incorporating more whole foods into your diet, you can always check out my nourish cookbooks on my website, bodybibrecom. I do have a fall and winter, a spring and summer, if you're looking for some macro-friendly ideas that also incorporate micronutrients.
Speaker 1:Now, number two factor of why you might be feeling fatigue is timing is a game changer. So the next thing I look at when talking to my clients is nutrient timing. If you're feeling really tired after workout that is not normal. It should be one of the first clues that you're not eating enough after you exercise. So you can actually manipulate your macros to work for you and you can stack your carbs right after your workout. And this technique, like I said, is called nutrient timing. So, with clients who have been with me for a while and know how to manipulate their macros, I will teach them how to eat carbs right after their workout to utilize their glucose efficiently for more energy.
Speaker 1:So here's a quick, easy estimate of a breakdown that you could try. Is you wanna eat about 25 to 30 grams of carbs before your lifting session to give you the energy, and then eat about 25 to 50 grams of carbs and around 20 to 30 grams of protein after your workout? And the best is to do this within a 30 minute window to make sure that you replenishing your glucose levels right after you workout. So you don't wanna come home from a super hard workout and not eat anything for like two or three hours. So it's like the worst thing you can do, because your muscles are hungry and if you hurry and replenish you'll feel great. If you don't, you'll feel very run down and tired and you can't just drink a protein shake. You do need those carbs. So I usually will eat like a rice cake and peanut butter before my workout and then I'll eat my actual like oatmeal with eggs and turkey bacon. I'll do all of that after my big meals after. So this will help prevent your body from using muscle as fuel. So you'll feel more energized and you'll feel stronger after your workout instead of feeling depleted, and you'll be maintaining the muscle mass that you're building.
Speaker 1:So here's a tip, here's your takeaway tip. If you're anything like me, it can be really hard to get food in right after your workout, because sometimes the day just gets away from you or you're running errands. You have to run to the grocery store, like we all have things. But knowing that about myself and my routine helps me plan for the next trip to the gym. So it might take a little bit of prep, but I promise packing a meal or a snack or a protein shake is gonna be worth it. You do not wanna be the person that waits two hours to eat after they work out. I don't want you no more missing your window and starving your muscles. If you take the time to eat and replenish, I promise you'll have so much more energy. So if you're on the go, some easy tips would be like a protein shake they have those travel protein shakes and an apple or maybe a beef jerky, a cheese stick and a granola bar. That would be a great replenish after that workout.
Speaker 1:Now the last thing to look at is reverse dieting. Reverse dieting may be the key. My last tip for you is that, the opposite of what you might be expecting to hear from a fitness coach, but it's so important is that if you've done all you can to align your nutrient timing and get those micronutrients in your diet and you are still feeling run down, it is time to reverse diet. So my rule of thumb with clients is if they've been dieting for a few months, they hit a plateau and they cannot go any lower with their macros. We will slowly start to add carbs and fats back into their diet to help speed up their metabolism and make sure their hormones stay healthy. So at the start some people ask well, isn't that counterintuitive? And I understand you may be nervous that this will undo all of your progress, but your body actually needs fuel to move forward. So if a client does this correctly, they usually will not gain weight when they reverse diet because they can maintain their results but eat a lot more food than they think. As long as you're slowly adding food back into your diet, you can't do it all at once or you will gain the weight back. So there is a method to it and if you need help I can always walk you through this process. But once you've adapted to more food and your body is running efficiently, then you can come back and do a cut in a few months and your body really should respond this time. So I'd love to help you figure out a custom macro count for your body if you're trying to reverse out of a deficit or move into one.
Speaker 1:Here's a couple like little tips for reverse dieting. How do you even reverse diet? I usually have my clients start by adding about 25 grams of carbs and about 5 grams of fat and then we'll see how their body handles that. Over the next week or two, if you have not gained any weight, then we'll add another 25 grams of carbs, 5 grams of fat. Wait another week or two. If you're still not gaining weight and your body's loving the extra food, you just keep increasing until you feel that your body starts to hold on to the weight and that's where we stop. So that's kind of actually that's how you find your maintenance calories. So once you've solidified that number, it's really where you should stay the majority of the time, because you don't want to be in a deficit forever. That's really not healthy for you. You have to protect your hormones and your metabolism and this is how you'll see optimal results.
Speaker 1:So when I had my baby, mila, I was dieting a little too hard and for a little too long. So I decided to reverse out and I was shocked. I was eating 1,400 calories a day, about 140 grams of carbs a day and then I reversed up to 1,900 calories a day, at 200 carbs a day, and I didn't gain one pound because my body loved it. Loved it so much I could lift heavier, I had more energy. I stayed there for eight months until I started like my body was ready to lose weight again. So, above all, I was able to balance out my hormones, which was my issue, and so now, when I'm going to go do a cut, I start from 1,900 calories instead of starting at 1,400. And my body is actually going to respond.
Speaker 1:So I want you to remember that the goal is to be able to eat as much as you can while still seeing results. You don't want to go all the way to the bottom, right, that's it. Those are our three tips we have for you. Let's review really quick so we have your don't miss your micronutrients the timing remember nutrient timing and then take a look and see if you need to reverse and again, at the end of the day, if you feel depleted or tired.
Speaker 1:I want you to walk through this checklist in your mind. One, are you eating enough dense foods to get your micronutrients in? Two, are you eating enough carbs and protein within 30 minutes of your workout? Or three, have you been in a deficit for too long and do you need to reverse out? If you need help navigating your nutrition, I am a fitness nutrition specialist and I would love to help you develop a customized macro count or walk you through an eight week program and do all of the training with you. I am here to support you. You do not have to do this alone, so let's get in touch today and let's get you the resources and support that you need. I will see you back here next time.