Are you sabotaging your workout routine with post workout rewards?

Read on and discover 5 common mistakes you may be making.

Worked up a sweat on your daily run? Vigorously pushed your baby round the park and now meeting friends for a coffee?  Think that as you’ve exercised, you’ve burned enough calories to reward yourself with a little guilt free snack?

Then STOP! Before you think ‘it’s only a healthy muesli bar’ you may be surprised to hear that eating what you consider to be healthy treats like a fruit smoothie, a sports bar, or an energy drink following your workout can put more calories into your body than you have just burned sweating in your exercise class.

It’s only a little snack…
OK maybe, but before it crosses your lips think about this:

To burn off a 200-calorie health bar, a 150-pound woman would need to jog at 6 miles per hour for 17 minutes or walk briskly at 4mph for 34 minutes.

Surely you can have your 148 calorie Tall Semi Skimmed Latte from Starbucks after your early morning Buggyfit workout right?  Well, yes but it would only leave you 62 calories for breakfast!  And if you added a 393 Calorie Skinny Peach and Raspberry Muffin to your order you’d have to work out again, like a pro and we haven’t even got to lunchtime yet!

Exercise Calorie Calculator

Do you have any idea how many calories you burn in your workouts?  Exercise machines in gyms give you an idea but are never accurate and most people over estimate what they think they have burned.

Becoming aware of how many calories you actually burn during your workout by using the Fit4Mum Exercise Calculator and the number of calories you consume post-exercise can really help you achieve a healthy body weight.

Be Careful how many Sports and Energy Drinks you consume

Sports and energy drinks are all the rage, but for us recreational exercisers, these high-calorie drinks can quickly pack on extra calories.

Even our Dad’s out there – if they go to the gym and workout on the weights machines, an average 185lb Dad would need to do this for 24 minutes to burn off a 200-calorie sports drink.??Believe it or not, The British Dietetic Assocaition describe WATER as ‘an excellent sports drink’ especially for moderate shorter duration workouts.

As a general rule, 400-600ml of fluid should be consumed 2 hours before exercise, 150-250ml every 15-20 mins during and adequate fluid should be consumed after exercise to replace fluids lost through sweating.

Starving is NOT the Answer

You may think that skipping food altogether after exercise is the best way to fast track to a slimmer waistline… think again!  Experts agree that depriving yourself of food can lead to binge eating or taking in more calories later in the day.

The British Dietetic Association states in it’s Fuel for Sports Food Fact Sheet that as well as following a balanced diet throughout the day to achieve the correct amounts of energy and essential nutrients to maintain blood sugar levels, brain function, mood and energy levels, carbohydrate is the most important fuel for active people and stores should be kept up each day.  Although exercise intensity and duration will vary amongst us, their advice is to eat a low fat high-carb snack as soon as you have finished exercising – just be careful not to eat more calories than you’ve burned!

The BDA guidelines state that we should consume 1g of carbohydrate per kg of our body weight within 2 hours of exercise.  If exercise is of a lighter intensity 50g of carbohydrate will be enough.

For most people a piece of fruit like a banana or an apple tend to have a good amount of carbohydrate and nutrients without adding unwanted calories.

Foods containing 50g of carbohydrate

• 2 large bananas
• 1 bagel 2-3 slices of malt loaf
• 1 medium jacket potato
• 330ml bottle fruit smoothie
• large bowl of breakfast cereal (60g)
• 75g Noodles
• 4 tablespoons of cooked rice

Going without eating for long periods of time is especially bad, not only slowing the metabolism up to 20 percent but also making it harder for your body to burn calories during the day. The best way to fuel your body is to start with a healthy breakfast.

Post Exercise Calorie Burn

Whilst high intensity cardio workouts and running burn significant calories, effective resistance training keeps you burning calories for longer post-workout.  Recent studies have shown an average 8% increase in resting metabolism for 3 days after an intense strength workout.  With a typical resting metabolism of 1,500 calories per day, an 8% increase equates to an extra 120 calories burned at rest on a daily basis.  That’s 3,600 more calories used every 30 days & 12 lbs of fat lost per year!
An increase in muscle tissue, as a result of resistance exercise, decreases fat mass and raises resting metabolism.   The calories used during a strength training session and immediately post workout not only contribute to fat loss but many other health benefits.
Even during sleep, resting skeletal muscles are responsible for more than 25% of the body’s calorie use.  Many people are reluctant to use resistance training because they mistakenly believe that toned muscles turn to fat if they stop. This is a myth, however consistency is key in your programme – remember – a muscle that is not challenged will shrink, leading to a decrease in metabolism.
A 5lb per decade muscle loss through NOT strength training will lead to a 3% decrease in metabolic rate.  When less energy is required for daily metabolic function, (i.e resting metabolism is lower) calories previously used by muscle tissue are stored as fat.
With regular exercise and watching your daily calorie intake, including post-exercise snacks, managing optimal health can be easy to achieve.