Intuitive Fueling & Training for the Athlete
Should we FAST or EAT before a workout?
What if I want to burn more fat in my workout?
What if I want to improve the aging process and reduce oxidative stress?
What if I want to get faster and stronger as an athlete?
What if I don’t want to create METABOLIC CHAOS in my body – including HORMONAL imbalance??
Is your fasted workout session creating additional source of CHRONIC STRESS on your body? How much stress (acutre vs. chronic) is too much for your beaker of stress?
These are questions I ask myself and here from my coaching clients. I listen to so many podcasts on fasting – but what about fasting for athletes and the female athlete? What about fasted exercise and low carb performance for the aging female athlete pre and post menopause?
How do you know if you are fasting too much and creating more STRESS in your body than the many positive benefits research shows that fasting does for our body?
When is LESS fasting is More beneficial for the athlete and the female athlete?
I want to know – especially as so many of my clients lab results, including my own, include low hormones on their DUTCH test and low thyroid panel. I am starting to see a trend – and I don’t think we are talking enough about fasted exercise, strict keto, and carb cycling for the athlete- and specifically the female athlete pre and post menopause.
Let’s start talking about INTUITIVE Fueling, Training and Performing for the athlete -and female athlete.
First, let’s review some notes from one of Ben Greenfield’s presentation two years ago at Dr. Pompa’s conference. Listen to the entire presentation with the link below.
Ben Greenfield’s 10 Benefits of fasted exercise
- Burning more fat
- Anti-aging effect
- Better brain function
- Increased growth hormone levels
- Improved insulin sensitivity
- Increased testosterone
- Enhanced fat loss
- Better endurance
- More stable gut during exercise
- Hunger management
https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/podcast/nutrition-podcasts/fasted-exercise/
https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/transcripts/transcript-fasted-exercise/
KEY point: Men vs. Women with FASTED Exercise
“In the studies that have been done on men versus women and fasted exercise, what they found is that women who eat before exercise but then don’t eat after exercise tend to burn more fat for a longer period of time compared to the opposite scenario. And men are completely the opposite. Men who fast before exercise then don’t eat after exercise tend to burn more fat.
- Women burn more fat for a longer period of time if they EAT BEFORE EXERCISE then DON’T EAT right after exercise
- Men who fast before exercise then don’t eat after exercise tend to BURN MORE FAT.
- Women are more efficient at burning fat as fuel
- Women may perform better in their exercise session when given a “little bit of carbohydrates” before a workout -then fast after the workout- they actually burn more fat than if they did the workout fasted!
- Men are the opposite- Men, they don’t eat before the workout and then they eat following the workout (they burn more fat)
- Note that the study was conducted on LEAN TRAINED INDIVIDUALS
- For those very lean trained female athletes- “would be that you may actually want to again eat something small before a workout if you fall into that category of a lean active female because I have seen some hormonal issues arise. And the cool thing is if you do that but then you fast after the workout, you still see a really good increase in fat oxidation. Some of the studies that have been done on men versus women are really fascinating.”
Listen or read the rest... https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/podcast/nutrition-podcasts/fasted-exercise/
What should a female eat before a morning workout to burn more fat?
Should a female eat a little carbs before a workout?
As Ben Greenfield shared above, a research study on females vs. males on fat oxidation.
To fast or not to fast before a workout?
I know I can’t eat solid food then go for a swim, bike or run workout. So if I feel I need (intuitive decision) a little snack before a morning workout session then what do I eat?
Pre workout low carb snack idea and easily digestable fuel before workouts could be…
- VESPA – save 15% off with https://vespapower.com/THELOWCARBATHLETE
- Mix Kion Aminos with Kion Creatine into water or Athletic Greens …or Mighty Maca
- “Fat” coffee using keto superfood creams as Lairds in organic coffee or tea.
Remember fueling and training is all individual- an N = 1 INTUITIVE experiment!
Fueling in the mornign before a workout – without feeling that you are “cheating” on your fast or stopping your ability to burn fat- is something we need to experiement and play with on our own. I believe WHAT to eat and WHEN to eat also depends on HOW you are training…what is your heart rate in your workout? If your morning fasted workout is really EASY, then the workout needs to be around 110-130 bpm to be “easy” aerobic workout if fasted or what your MAF (Max Aerobic Function) heart rate is for you.
For more glycogen depleted workouts in the morning -I would try some carbs as the Lairds Superfoods Creamers as I know I can’t eat food before a workout. Plus, somedays I run or bike at sunrise then swim masters at 11:45AM-1PM then walk or lift weights so my timing of nutrition is key – especially if I don’t want to have digestion issues. I stop eating usually around 4pm or before as I don’t sleep well if I eat anything close to bed time – which is early for most people (around 8pm) and then I wake up around 5AM to 6AM.
A new coffee creamer I have been using –https://lairdsuperfood.com/products/laird-superfood-unsweetened-original-creamer-new
Also, make sure you eat more carbs at dinner time with your healthy fats and more protein heavy meal for lunch.
So much of INTUITIVE FUELING & TRAINING is an N = 1 experiemntn but with your low body fat and low hormones I would try adding more carbs at night and liquid calories before workout. Maybe Athletic Greens, collagen protein as Vital Proteins with the Kion Aminos mixed in water.
Ben Greenfield’s List: Ten Benefits of Fasted Exercise
Burning more FAT!
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- For 24 hours following a fasted morning exercise session, and in this case, it was a fasted aerobic morning exercise session, meaning we’re only talking like 30 to 45 minutes of hiking or walking or swimming or yoga or even sauna to the cold pool, anything like that that gets the blood flowing, we see increased fat oxidation rates for 24 hours following that type of fasted workout. And in this case, this was fasted in the morning before breakfast.
Read the rest or listen to the recording here:
I take VESPA before my long runs on Sundays with water- plus my cup of organic coffee made in my French press (Bird Rock Coffee, Blue Bottle or Kion) with a splash of heavy cream plus cinnamon or Laird’s keto superfood coffee creamer.
Vespa is a Natural Catalyst, ‘Nature’s Catalyst,’ for tapping into YOUR virtually unlimited energy: fat!
How does VESPA give me more energy on a run if I take it 30-minutes before a “fasted” long run? What about taking it before a speed workout?
- Vespa increases the body’s natural ability to harness fat as fuel making fasted long runs seamless thus avoiding the dreaded ‘bonk’ as well as the GI issues many athletes have or eventually develop by trying to consume calories for their energy.
- By making that fundamental shift to ‘fat as fuel’ for the aerobic spectrum of exercise Vespa gives athletes the ability to push harder and longer at threshold and anaerobic surges in intensity. This is primarily due to the lower lactate metabolic load and reduction in oxidative stress. What the athlete experiences during a higher intensity workout using Vespa is a physiological and psychological ability to ‘push back’ when the difficulty of the workout pushes against them.
- In post exercise recovery the athlete will note a significant reduction in DOMS allowing them to recover faster and sustain a higher training load. This ‘recovery’ experience is actually not so much ‘faster recovery’ but damage prevention through minimizing the oxidative stress at a cellular/mitochondrial level.
Vespa is a synergistic blend of natural ingredients from bees & wasps.
The key ingredient, Wasp Extract, is derived from the Asian Giant Wasp, Vespa mandarinia, commonly known as the ‘Murder Hornet’. These wasps are the Apex predators of the insect world and fly up to 70 kilometers a day to hunt, kill, process their kill, then return to their colony with a food ball one-third their weight to feed to the larvae. This incredible feat of performance, stamina and strength is done using stored fat. However, to access their fat stores, it is the wasp extract, a naturally occurring peptide, fed to the adult by the larvae, that allows the adult wasp to perform. This accidental discovery of a natural biological pathway was made by Japanese Entomologist studying the wasp. They theorized because animal metabolic pathways, on a cellular level, are remarkably similar across species the wasp extract would enhance fat metabolism in other species including Humans.
Vespa is a Natural Catalyst, ‘Nature’s Catalyst,’ for tapping into YOUR virtually unlimited energy: fat!
The key ingredients that boost my fat metabolism and mitochondria support to provide my body with the extra energy it needs to run faster and stronger – plus recover faster! 
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Let me know if you have any struggles burning fat and improving performing even though you are doing all the “RIGHT” things as an athlete now!
I am on a mission to help other driven, ambitious, high performing individuals (as myself) get their body and vibrant self back again by investigating what is actually going on under the hood! The WHOLESTIC Method Coaching Program. Set up a discovery call here now.
https://debbiepotts.net/health-longevity-special/