I work out at 4AM - is it really important to eat before - no appetite then!

[mandelovich]

I work out everyday from 4-6AM, before my daughter gets up and before we leave for work at 7.

 

I don't eat breakfast until 8 or 9, depending on the day. I've never eaten before or after the workout and I don't really foresee being able to eat at 3AM when I wake up - it's just really not possible. I drink a cup of hot water with lemon upon waking and then later eat a proper breakfast.

 

I'd love to hear thoughts on this for very early exercisers.

 

Also, I feel completely bloated and larger since starting the Whole 30. Is this normal?

 

I'm eating:

 

breakfast: frittata with 2 eggs and sweet potato, olive oil, 1/2 avocado, tomatoes and greens as my breakfast

lunch: salad with 3 oz shrimp, one egg, 1/4 avocado, apple cider vinegar and lots of veggies as my lunch

dinner: some kind of protein: turkey, tuna, clams, salmon, chicken - about 4 oz, 1/4 avocado, 3-4 cups kabocha squash, and tons of green veggies as my dinner.

 

Every night I'm bloated and I feel as if I'm gainin.

[Physibeth]

Well it looks to me like you are completely stressing out your body. You workout for 2 hours a day and are not eating anywhere near to close the minimum of the template and no pre/post workout fuel. 

 

How much sleep are you getting? How different is how you are eating now from how you were eating before? What day of Whole30 are you on?

 

You need to eat within an hour of waking up for proper hormone balance. What kind of exercise are you doing for 2 hours every morning? I would advice eating at the very least a hard boiled egg 15-45 minutes before your workout. And then immediately after that you should have starchy vegetable and lean protein and then you can still have your first meal at 8 or 9. You need to up your proteins. A palm sized serving of eggs is as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand. Other proteins you are going by the 3 dimensions of your palm. Unless you are tiny 3-4 oz is probably not enough.

 

Are all your greens raw? What about your lunch vegetables? Raw vegetables can cause bloating for some people.

[mandelovich]

Thank you so much for your response. I do yoga and the elliptical machine very lightly, or I do weights and the elliptical machine, each morning. I get about 7 hours of sleep, from 8PM-3AM. I am eating the same amount calorically as I was before I started the Whole 30 but have just eliminated nuts/grains. That is the only change because before this I was wheat/dairy and sugar free.

 

I eat mainly cooked veggies, no broccoli or cruciferous veggies.

 

Can you say more about the pre and post workout meals. It confuses me as I've never done that. Thank you so much!

[leahcarn]

I feel a lot better working out if I have a small amount of protein and fat before my workout, and then some lean protein and starchy veges after. It felt weird at first, but now I crave the post workout meal particularly. A boiled egg is a great way to start off for pre- workout, and maybe some chicken soup with pumpkin or sweet potato might make an easy-to-heat post workout meal easy to eat while you do other things?

[Physibeth]

Leahcarn broke it down nicely. You want to keep starchy vegetables out of the pre workout meal and fat out of the post workout meal so that you are not using readily available sugar to fuel your workout and so you don't slow the digestion of protein to the muscles post workout.

 

We don't really focus on calories around here and recommend you don't count them. The meal planning template is based on getting optimum nutrition and uses your size (palm/thumb) as the basis for portion recommendations. 

 

Any change to your dietary makeup can cause temporary digestion disruption. How long have you been at this? It might just take a while for things to readjust, but I would still make those adjustments in meal planning to see if it helps.

[ultrarunnergirl]

Homemade soup is really a wonderful way to get a little food in early in the morning. Make your own bone broth (no, really! It's a snap to do) and then toss in whatever cooked veggies and protein works for you. I love sweet potato, roasted then puréed into the broth and seasoned. Or Cooked zucchini (see Well Fed 2 or the clothesmakethegirl.com for the recipe). Or maybe you like chunks of veggies - toss in anything you like. It's a warm and nourishing and delicious way to wake up.

[missmary]

Bethany hinted at this before, but I'm going to put it fully out in the open: Please consider the possibility that waking up at 4am to do 2 hours of "light elliptical" work is NOT actually making you more healthy. 

 

I work out every morning, and I get it: both the physical and psychological benefits are real, BUT, I have a strong feeling you could do better for your body cutting back to 30 minutes of more intense workout (hill sprints? kettlebells? strength training?) and sleeping an hour and 30 minutes more. That plus a walk outdoors later in the day with the kids could be magical.