scuba-punk
Contributor
The Snickers Bar made me laugh too. I went right out and bought one for the Bento Box 
Chris, if you want, I'll send you the spreadsheet that I put together. As an example for the last 2 days... Using the calculator at www.caloriesperhour.com, a bunch of food labels and measuring devices large and small, I figure that I've managed just under 7200 calories worth of BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) and workouts. I've consumed just under 5200 calories of food (6 small, mostly balanced meals a day and lots of water). That leaves me with a 2000 calorie deficit... We'll see what happens when I get to Sunday, but I figure that 423 mile bike ride at 18mph on Friday should cook off most of my Thanksgiving meal My ratios are "off" though - CPF/70-18-12, compared to the recommended 65/13/22, but I'm still trying to figure out how to get Fat (not me, the macronutrient) without so much protein - I'm thinking a buttered bagel for breakfast tomorrow might do the trick...
Randy, you're on the right track, but I think you may have only been presented with one side of the story. It is true that simple carbs (sugars specifically) can give a jump start to the ole insulin. Here's the thing, everyone's body works the same way, it's the results that differ because of where our bodies are with certain things. For example, let's look at the Atkins diet (first hand experience here). The reason it takes a couple of days for someone to go into ketosis, especially someone who is sedentary, is that it takes them that long to burn through all of their glycogen stores (think of it as carb energy ready at a moments notice). In my case, 45 pounds down but still 75 pounds overweight, cycling as close as I can get to 20mph on a rolling course for 2 hours, I'm going to burn through most of that in 30 to 45 minutes depending on my effort. You read that right, 2 days as opposed to 30 minutes. Granted, someone with a better body composition and higher fitness can make it last up to 90 minutes... Experimenting with different foods, I've learned that if I consume 100 calories (all carbs) about every 30 (to 60) minutes, I can maintain that effort and not "bonk." That's 44 grams of complex carbs and 8 grams of simple sugars. The reason that it doesn't go straight to adipose tissue is that I've just wiped out most of my glycogen stores and they need to be replaced. A sedentary person (me, not that long ago) walks around with a "topped off" tank of glycogen stores all the time. In that case, the insulin takes those carbs and stores it in adipose tissue for later. In my bike ride example, a lot of other things are happening before I would get to a "dump it in the fat cells" situation. Yes consuming all those carbs during exercise will "spike" my insulin, but it won't be huge (compared to a sedentary person eating a bag of chips and washing it down with a coke) and as soon as those carbs are turned into glycogen stores, the insulin levels will drop off rather quickly. Regular exercise increases the effectiveness of insulin and your poor pancreas doesn't have to make as much of it to get the job done. Insulin is also very useful in building muscles - aside from helping your body get glucose and triglycerides from the bloodstream, insulin increases the amounts of amino acids that can be absorbed into muscle. Think of it this way, insulin does an excellent job of helping your body recover from exercise and it is one of many keys to the physiological adaptation that athletes strive for in their workouts. It helps rebuild the body after the punishment of ripping it apart and draining it's energy stores during exercise. A sendentary person isn't allowing their body to be everything that it's capable of, so the body does the best it can. I'm just learning all of this (over the past 7 or 8 months), so let's keep the conversation going. This is fun!
-Frank
Chris, if you want, I'll send you the spreadsheet that I put together. As an example for the last 2 days... Using the calculator at www.caloriesperhour.com, a bunch of food labels and measuring devices large and small, I figure that I've managed just under 7200 calories worth of BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) and workouts. I've consumed just under 5200 calories of food (6 small, mostly balanced meals a day and lots of water). That leaves me with a 2000 calorie deficit... We'll see what happens when I get to Sunday, but I figure that 423 mile bike ride at 18mph on Friday should cook off most of my Thanksgiving meal My ratios are "off" though - CPF/70-18-12, compared to the recommended 65/13/22, but I'm still trying to figure out how to get Fat (not me, the macronutrient) without so much protein - I'm thinking a buttered bagel for breakfast tomorrow might do the trick...Randy, you're on the right track, but I think you may have only been presented with one side of the story. It is true that simple carbs (sugars specifically) can give a jump start to the ole insulin. Here's the thing, everyone's body works the same way, it's the results that differ because of where our bodies are with certain things. For example, let's look at the Atkins diet (first hand experience here). The reason it takes a couple of days for someone to go into ketosis, especially someone who is sedentary, is that it takes them that long to burn through all of their glycogen stores (think of it as carb energy ready at a moments notice). In my case, 45 pounds down but still 75 pounds overweight, cycling as close as I can get to 20mph on a rolling course for 2 hours, I'm going to burn through most of that in 30 to 45 minutes depending on my effort. You read that right, 2 days as opposed to 30 minutes. Granted, someone with a better body composition and higher fitness can make it last up to 90 minutes... Experimenting with different foods, I've learned that if I consume 100 calories (all carbs) about every 30 (to 60) minutes, I can maintain that effort and not "bonk." That's 44 grams of complex carbs and 8 grams of simple sugars. The reason that it doesn't go straight to adipose tissue is that I've just wiped out most of my glycogen stores and they need to be replaced. A sedentary person (me, not that long ago) walks around with a "topped off" tank of glycogen stores all the time. In that case, the insulin takes those carbs and stores it in adipose tissue for later. In my bike ride example, a lot of other things are happening before I would get to a "dump it in the fat cells" situation. Yes consuming all those carbs during exercise will "spike" my insulin, but it won't be huge (compared to a sedentary person eating a bag of chips and washing it down with a coke) and as soon as those carbs are turned into glycogen stores, the insulin levels will drop off rather quickly. Regular exercise increases the effectiveness of insulin and your poor pancreas doesn't have to make as much of it to get the job done. Insulin is also very useful in building muscles - aside from helping your body get glucose and triglycerides from the bloodstream, insulin increases the amounts of amino acids that can be absorbed into muscle. Think of it this way, insulin does an excellent job of helping your body recover from exercise and it is one of many keys to the physiological adaptation that athletes strive for in their workouts. It helps rebuild the body after the punishment of ripping it apart and draining it's energy stores during exercise. A sendentary person isn't allowing their body to be everything that it's capable of, so the body does the best it can. I'm just learning all of this (over the past 7 or 8 months), so let's keep the conversation going. This is fun!
-Frank
