Protein, amateur-tein, part-time stay at home-tein
I didn't make my optimal glycogen uptake window after my Sunday run. (oooh, I'm trying to intimidate you with science!) I.e. I didn't eat within 30 minutes of finishing a long workout. I'm still paying for it and it's Wednesday. My quads ache, just ache. Yesterday they were hurting and my hamstrings were hurting. Sort of a beginner mistake. I was planning to make dinner so I rushed home, stretched and started cooking. Sometimes I think we make mistakes to show us that we are doing the right thing, to reinforce that "Yes, if you skip that, like will suck." It is an aid to memory.
The good news for today, which is the time that counts, is that I'm short circuiting my carb cravings. I used to graze in the kitchen at night, eating dried fruit and bread and wondering how I could never feel full no matter how much I ate. Unless I ate ice cream or butter. Which have protein and fat. Really, protein. Last night I was hungry, so I scrambled two eggs. That did it. Ate it up, done, full. Most nights I have a protein shake for dessert instead of ice cream. Full. Not bloody hungry.
Tracking calories is a mainstay of dieting but it should be a mainstay of training. I really wonder how I would have felt and the results I might have had if I'd realized years and years ago that if I wasn't taking in enough protein it didn't matter how hard I trained, my body would be unable to respond with muscle growth. All these years of working out and I never really paid attention to the information on nutrition I was given.
I have these muscles in my quads now that I never remember having before (OK. The muscles were there, now they are defined and harder than I can ever recall them being). I can do bound side angle pose without thinking "OMG this is crazy!" I keep my knee up for lunges in yoga. I take chaturanga sometimes instead of just always lowering to the floor.
I still get upset if I weigh more than 175 pounds, working on that. Transforming the body takes time, transforming the mind takes time.
The good news for today, which is the time that counts, is that I'm short circuiting my carb cravings. I used to graze in the kitchen at night, eating dried fruit and bread and wondering how I could never feel full no matter how much I ate. Unless I ate ice cream or butter. Which have protein and fat. Really, protein. Last night I was hungry, so I scrambled two eggs. That did it. Ate it up, done, full. Most nights I have a protein shake for dessert instead of ice cream. Full. Not bloody hungry.
Tracking calories is a mainstay of dieting but it should be a mainstay of training. I really wonder how I would have felt and the results I might have had if I'd realized years and years ago that if I wasn't taking in enough protein it didn't matter how hard I trained, my body would be unable to respond with muscle growth. All these years of working out and I never really paid attention to the information on nutrition I was given.
I have these muscles in my quads now that I never remember having before (OK. The muscles were there, now they are defined and harder than I can ever recall them being). I can do bound side angle pose without thinking "OMG this is crazy!" I keep my knee up for lunges in yoga. I take chaturanga sometimes instead of just always lowering to the floor.
I still get upset if I weigh more than 175 pounds, working on that. Transforming the body takes time, transforming the mind takes time.