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the shizzle => diet, training and injuries => Topic started by: Ti_pin_man on February 12, 2014, 01:36:26 pm

Title: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Ti_pin_man on February 12, 2014, 01:36:26 pm
Decided two weeks ago to drop a stone but try not too loose strength, was 13 stone 6 foot tall.  most of the weight was in my legs from years of cycling. 

so far, first couple of weeks I've lost a steady couple of pounds a week, nice and safely.  Diet is mainly more protein, tons of veg and salad and cut the crap out.  also reduced bread/pasta intake.  No rocket science, just healthier choices.  The evening meal is just that a normal mostly healthy evening meal.  No booze.

Quite happy with progress, continuing to train, ride and climb BUT last night I went indoor climbing and really just had no oomph, the tanks felt empty for the session so I climbed like a pussy and binned it off.  I had climbed Fri / Sat and done footwork on the weekend, then took Monday off, day of rest. 

I guess logic says I should eat some flapjack a few hours before I climb and get soem energy but I dont want the high calories and really am want to know what to do, protein shake?  doesnt that just add calories I dont want whilst trying to drop weight? 

I'm clearly a luddite when it comes to diet, any experts tell me where I'm going wrong. 

More pasta pastor?
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: a dense loner on February 12, 2014, 01:53:59 pm
What you had one shit climbing session and now you want advice about diet?
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Johnny Brown on February 12, 2014, 01:55:16 pm
Eat some sweets on the way to the wall.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Ti_pin_man on February 12, 2014, 01:58:48 pm
What you had one shit climbing session and now you want advice about diet?

 ;D I've had plenty but this one was worse than usual and I could have fallen asleep between climbs.   ;D

sweets, noooooo that be against my law. :sick:
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Stubbs on February 12, 2014, 02:05:07 pm
I recommend a Boost or Double Decker before climbing washed down with a cup of tea.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Johnny Brown on February 12, 2014, 02:21:03 pm
Quote
sweets, noooooo that be against my law

Well there's your problem then. Did you watch that fat vs sugar thing? It's not rocket science, just eat appropriately for the activity. Sweets at a desk make you fat, during exercise they deliver energy.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: cheque on February 12, 2014, 02:24:13 pm
Jelly Babies are good for eating while you climb as you're less aware of how much chalk you've got on them.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Ti_pin_man on February 12, 2014, 02:30:47 pm
Jelly Babies are good for eating while you climb as you're less aware of how much chalk you've got on them.

Genius!  Pure genius.

But avoiding sweets, any other ideas?  in pre diet days I might drink a over-caffeinated sugary drink company or coke and have a flapjack but waaaay too much sweet for loosing weight.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Paul B on February 12, 2014, 03:00:00 pm
so far, first couple of weeks I've lost a steady couple of pounds a week, nice and safely.  Diet is mainly more protein, tons of veg and salad and cut the crap out.  also reduced bread/pasta intake.  No rocket science, just healthier choices.  The evening meal is just that a normal mostly healthy evening meal.  No booze.

Watch this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03t8r4h/Horizon_20132014_Sugar_v_Fat/ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03t8r4h/Horizon_20132014_Sugar_v_Fat/)

and you'll understand what's going on.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Ti_pin_man on February 12, 2014, 03:08:43 pm
watched that when it was on telly box, didnt help.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Johnny Brown on February 12, 2014, 03:11:54 pm
So you don't eat sugar and you're complaining you lack energy during exercise? But you won't start eating sugar? Try a pat of butter like the guy on the programme.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Paul B on February 12, 2014, 03:16:42 pm
watched that when it was on telly box, didnt help.

Did you have it on mute? ;D It goes through how the body uses various food sources for energy, the effect, and the pro's and con's of each.

So you don't eat sugar and you're complaining you lack energy during exercise? But you won't start eating sugar? Try a pat of butter like the guy on the programme.
:agree:

But avoiding sweets, any other ideas?  in pre diet days I might drink a over-caffeinated sugary drink company or coke and have a flapjack but waaaay too much sweet for loosing weight.

Some kind of simple carbohydrate or roll on the catabolism (if you're only worried about weight then go ahead, your original post doesn't suggest this).
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: SA Chris on February 12, 2014, 03:20:02 pm
Eat a banana or two then some chocolate chip cookies, if you want to be so blinkered about not eating sweets. Or some hobnobs.

What had you eaten in the hours before the training session when you felt knackered? If you say nothing you deserve a kick up the butt.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: cowboyhat on February 12, 2014, 03:22:04 pm
What are the timings? Are you eating a low carb lunch at 1pm then going to the wall at 7pm....?

(I do that). I also eat a banana and a Naked bar/ small peanut butter sandwich at 5.30/6pm.


Go Nuts.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Ti_pin_man on February 12, 2014, 03:30:37 pm
Hmmm interesting ... ok, so ... I ate at 12.30 ish.  3 boiled eggs, a ton a chiken breast, beetroots/lettuce/olives and sliced pepper.  I followed this with a banana and an apple and yes I drank a lot of water through the day.  went climbing about 3.30/4pm. 

Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: cowboyhat on February 12, 2014, 03:37:58 pm
If you only started dieting two weeks ago your body is probably still getting used to it.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: SA Chris on February 12, 2014, 03:39:50 pm
Bend over, where's my boot? :)

How long do you normally climb for?

Sugary foods are not a crime, if eaten at the right time. (such poetry!)

Trying to lose weight and have sufficient energy for strenuous exercise is a bit of a balancing act. Provided you are losing weight steadily and eating well on days when you are not doing a lot of exercise I would always err on the side of caution and get a bit of sugar in on the exercise days. Sorry if that sounds like teaching you to eat eggs!

To my untrained eye your lunch has a lot of protein and complex carbs, nothing simple to release energy from quickly, apart from the fruit? I could be wrong though.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: abarro81 on February 12, 2014, 03:40:53 pm
I find it hard to work, diet and train. When attempting to, I try to snack on healthy shit in the morning (veg etc) to try to eat lunch closer to the time I go climbing. Always have a couple of bits of fruit for my climbing session too. Even then, if it's an endurance session I always almost have to resort to flapjack.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Paul B on February 12, 2014, 03:41:41 pm
You always have flapjack, remember it's me that is on the other side of the counter handing it to you.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: abarro81 on February 12, 2014, 03:51:26 pm
Sorry. Corrected.
Even then, if it's an endurance session or a strength session or an active rest day or a day before or after a climbing day, or a day on which I've got out of bed, I always have to resort to flapjack.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Stu Littlefair on February 12, 2014, 04:10:45 pm
No need to modify the original post barrows, it's always an endurance session for you.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Wood FT on February 12, 2014, 04:21:07 pm
No need to modify the original post barrows, it's always an endurance session for with you.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Nibile on February 12, 2014, 04:39:28 pm
I think that two pounds a week could have been too much too fast. 
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: PipeSmoke on February 12, 2014, 05:26:49 pm
How do you know it wasn't just an off day? I haven't been on a diet and still feel weak and tired sometimes. And if you refuse to eat sweets and stuff like that, how about bananas or peanut butter or something?
When you try hard to cut weight it is going to have an effect on energy levels.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Sasquatch on February 12, 2014, 05:42:44 pm
I guess logic says I should eat some flapjack a few hours before I climb and get soem energy but I dont want the high calories
As do everyone else on here. 

A 100-200cal mixed carb snack (simple and complex/or if you prefer low and high glycemic index) about 30min before climbing should do you wonders.  If you start feeling tired during session, add another 50cal snack and give it about 10-15 nminutes and you should feel better.  Won't last long though.

Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: tomtom on February 12, 2014, 08:07:24 pm
I think that two pounds a week could have been too much too fast.

I lose weight at that kind of rate and am normally fine...
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: webbo on February 12, 2014, 10:03:20 pm
Hmmm interesting ... ok, so ... I ate at 12.30 ish.  3 boiled eggs, a ton a chiken breast, beetroots/lettuce/olives and sliced pepper.  I followed this with a banana and an apple and yes I drank a lot of water through the day.  went climbing about 3.30/4pm.
If I ate that any day for lunch I would need to go for a nap.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Stubbs on February 12, 2014, 10:19:46 pm
  3 boiled eggs, a ton a chiken breast, beetroots/lettuce/olives and sliced pepper.  I followed this with a banana and an apple

This seems like a shitload of food to have for lunch, a ton of chicken must be pretty expensive too.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Nibile on February 13, 2014, 08:03:50 am
I think that two pounds a week could have been too much too fast.

I lose weight at that kind of rate and am normally fine...
At that rate all that is lost is basically just muscle tissue. That's why it's so fast. Muscles weigh, fat weighs a lot less, for the same mass. Maybe it's this the reason for the lack of power during the session. This and not enough carbs at the right moment. A completely carb deprived lunch isn't a good idea, you lack the energy to keep moving and fuel muscles, and all that proteins, leaving aside the fact that we can only metabolize a certain amount per meal, are going to need carbs to be better metabolized.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: webbo on February 13, 2014, 08:55:50 am
I disagree with this as your liver holds up to 2,500 cals in glycogen i.e. carbs. I very much doubt that you are going to burn this off in a couple of hours bouldering.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Nibile on February 13, 2014, 09:42:02 am
Relying on liver based glycogen for a session doesn't sound as a good idea to me. Our body needs to adapt to resort to that kind of thing, as Dave MacLeod wrote on his blog. First of all, it's muscular glycogen that is used.
It could be good for a short term weight loss, but in the long term i wouldn't use it. 
But my point is another, that is the muscle mass consumption.
On very low calories regimenes, the first thing that our body does, is lowering the metabolism to reduce calories need. It's done by burning muscle tissue, not fat.
So, one loses weight, but becomes proportionally fatter and weaker. Maybe one could feel short term gains on the fingers, but overall power will drop.
My 2 cents (of Euro).
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Ti_pin_man on February 13, 2014, 10:02:03 am
I just knew this was a  :worms: hence posting. 

The reason for the diet is I'm trying to loose a bit of weight, probably temporarily to see if it helps my grade in the next couple of months.  kind of an experiment.  So the aim is to keep protein intake high and not cut out sugar/fat completely, only during breakfast and lunch then have a pretty normal dinner in the evening.  I felt empty on Tuesday night climbing and was curious if it related to my diet.  I was flat.  So was toying with the idea of eating something additional on the lunches before climbing in the evening.  the general concenus seems to be to consume some energy and stop moaning.  So going forward I will probably have something extra those days BUT try and make it pretty healthy, I'm thinking banana's and wholegrain bread... not chocolate and over-caffeinated sugary drink company!
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: webbo on February 13, 2014, 11:16:13 am
My normal eating regime when not trying to lose weight is cereal granola or musieli at 06.45 am chickpea salad with humous, banana and an apple at 12/1.0 clock climb or other training at 5 or 6 then eat after. I rarely feel I'm lacking in energy.
At the moment trying to lose weight using 5 and 2 I'm training at the same time but only having had the fruit for lunch.I find it easier to do aerobic stuff on the fasting days, an hour on the turbo trainer as it requires less brain power than climbing although I have had some good climbing sessions on fasting days but usually my head feels full of cotton wool by 5 on these days.
 My energy levels feel ok.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: tim palmer on February 13, 2014, 11:45:38 am

On very low calories regimenes, the first thing that our body does, is lowering the metabolism to reduce calories need. It's done by burning muscle tissue, not fat.
So, one loses weight, but becomes proportionally fatter and weaker. Maybe one could feel short term gains on the fingers, but overall power will drop.
My 2 cents (of Euro).

I think it is extremely unlikely that this is the case in this instance, it would need to be a pretty savage and unbalanced diet to tip someone into such a catabolic state. 

Is it not just simply a lack of carbohydrate which our muscles like to function on? 
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: krymson on February 13, 2014, 12:38:18 pm
wasn't there a show on the BBC recently about 2 twins, one who cut out carbs and one who cut out fat (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2546975/One-twin-gave-sugar-gave-fat-Their-experiment-change-YOUR-life.html)? Both diets sucked balls but the one who cut out carbs felt lethargic all the time.

Sugar calories are not gonna make you fatter than calories from any other source. eat flapjack before the wall or some small sweets while climbing. the calories will be used immediatly and you'll do a lot better than starving yourself of carbs.
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: Paul B on February 13, 2014, 01:51:50 pm
that'll be the one embedded in page 1  ;D
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: krymson on February 14, 2014, 01:48:21 am
indeed it is!  :beer2:
Title: Re: diet: lacking energy ooomph in my bouldering sessions
Post by: bagger on February 14, 2014, 01:26:23 pm
I'm not keen on eating before a session, for similar weight control reasons. I find that some tri-carb juice mix, mixed quite weak, usually gives me that wee bit extra to get through. I sip it regularly through the session, and if I dont need it I dont drink it. Worth a try?
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