Metabolic Efficiency

Last Friday I spent my day at a Metabolic Efficiency Certification Course and learned so much. It was so much fun to connect and share ideas and experiences with dieticians, PTs and medical providers from all over the U.S. I went into this thinking I’d personally benefit and would use it for my runners but left with ideas on how to implement the idea of metabolic efficient eating with my patients as well. I also came away considering a new career path in sports nutrition and spent Friday night researching only to discover the $ and time it would take without a lot of job opportunities. Ugh, I hope this isn’t my midlife crisis!

With all the buzz lately on fad diets I’m sure people are thinking this is the same but honestly it makes sense for nearly everyone. We are in a society of fast, quick foods, we grab processed junk on the go and expect or bodies to stay healthy. I was a carb addict for many years, living on bread, cereal and pasta along with sugar! Once I was diagnosed with celiac this all had to change, I cut way down on processed carbs just because of gluten and realized how much I relied on carbs and avoided fats. I have gotten much better overall but it needs work.

What is Metabolic efficiency? Simply it is having your body burn a higher percentage of fat than crabs at a higher exertion level.

Why is it important? No matter how thin someone is or how small their body fat %. As endurance athletes this is important for fueling. The average person has ~ 1,400-2,000 calories of carbs and 50,000-80,000 calories of fat stored! For us this means less fuel during events, leading to less GI distress and ease of racing! I remember the days of carrying 4-5+ gels for a marathon and gagging down those last ones because I needed energy but my stomach was not happy.

Is it healthy? Functioning as a fat burner and eating metabolically fit can result in decreased blood glucose, decreased triglycerides and as a result decreased body fat. For us endurance athletes, recovery is improved and energy increased.

For more information check out Enrg Training and Bob’s posts

Marathon training is officially on and I will be adding in well timed meals with carbs/protein rations to fit my training and added fats as well as limiting excess processed foods. This will mean planning and thinking ahead for meals and snacks. Next week I am having baseline bloodwork done. I have a family history of diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease so yet another reason to work on better eating. For athletes we can also test to determine paces where fat burning and carb burning are equal (a point we want to increase) which is called Metabolic Efficiency Point.

Luckily my UCAN fits in well

So here goes nothing….time to really focus on nutrition! Anyone else following this nutrition plan?

Linking up with Jill for Fitness Friday. Have a great weekend, Any fun plans?