Definition of "athlete"? Daily IF?

[karrottop]

1. I've been doing a P90X-Insanity hybrid 5-6 days a week (three P90X strength sessions and two Insanity cardio sessions)...is this intense enough to qualify me as an "athlete"? If yes, what kind of athlete would I be considered? I know I don't race or compete, but I feel like I workout hard enough that the paleo guidelines for weightloss are insufficient for me..so should I eat like an endurance athlete or power athlete?

2. I usually enjoy constantly grazing within a 9 hour eating window everyday..it just naturally happens that I like to eat earlier on in the day and stop getting hungry at about 5 pm. Is this going to affect my ability to burn fat and send my body into starvation mode since I do it every day?

Thanks guys!

[Megan Claydon]

Hey Keren

Are you noticing low energy or any adverse effects from what you are currently doing? What are your goals?

I wouldn't worry so much about classifying yourself as a power athlete or endurance athelte. Also, if you are eating to satiety every day, you will not go into starvation mode. Seems like you have it figured out, a workout program that you enjoy (which means you will stick to it) and you are eating foods that make you more healthy. If it's not broke, don't fix it. So unless something is going wrong, keep doing what you are doing!

[Renee Lee]

Agreed! Also, make sure you're eating starchy veggies after your workout!

[karrottop]

Thanks so much for the input:) I am currently extremely happy with my body composition and performance but recently I have this hugeee appetite (We're talking eating an entire 3 pound rotisserie chicken huge). I am constantly craving meats, so I go pretty low carb to compensate the caloric increase. I was wondering if the hunger for protein and fat is because my body is in starvation mode? :/ I'm not looking to lose any weight at all.. in fact, I'd like to put on 5-10 pounds of muscle. Even then, I'd only weigh 100-105 pounds..is that too much food for a 5ft2 19-year-old?

[Megan Claydon]

Thanks so much for the input:) I am currently extremely happy with my body composition and performance but recently I have this hugeee appetite (We're talking eating an entire 3 pound rotisserie chicken huge). I am constantly craving meats, so I go pretty low carb to compensate the caloric increase. I was wondering if the hunger for protein and fat is because my body is in starvation mode? :/ I'm not looking to lose any weight at all.. in fact, I'd like to put on 5-10 pounds of muscle. Even then, I'd only weigh 100-105 pounds..is that too much food for a 5ft2 19-year-old?

You are active, young, and healthy...don't worry so much about caloric intake. If you are craving the meat and fat...that is your body telling you something..."I NEED this". So eat the extra meat and fat (from good sources, of course) to satiety. Be careful of going too low carb while staying active because that can put an unwanted stress on your body. So have the sweet potato post workout and some servings of fruit throughout the day. Enjoy!

WHOOP! for wanting to put on 5 to 10 lbs of muscle. Thats like the best thing I have ever heard a girl say! And NO 105lb is NOT too much weight for you. Ditch the scale and focus on things such as look, feel, and performance. Don't doubt yourself. It looks like you have a good thing going!

[karrottop]

You are active, young, and healthy...don't worry so much about caloric intake. If you are craving the meat and fat...that is your body telling you something..."I NEED this". So eat the extra meat and fat (from good sources, of course) to satiety. Be careful of going too low carb while staying active because that can put an unwanted stress on your body. So have the sweet potato post workout and some servings of fruit throughout the day. Enjoy!

WHOOP! for wanting to put on 5 to 10 lbs of muscle. Thats like the best thing I have ever heard a girl say! And NO 105lb is NOT too much weight for you. Ditch the scale and focus on things such as look, feel, and performance. Don't doubt yourself. It looks like you have a good thing going!

Wow, your kind words are so encouraging! Thank you so much:) Lord knows that society these days can make young girls like me feel very inadequate about our bodies...and it's especially tough being the only paleo advocate I know. This forum is seriously the perfect support system!

[TheLazyCaveman]

Here's my two cents:

For the amount of activity you're doing, you can definitely up the carb load. Make sure you're getting it from mostly veggies and starchy carbs like sweet potatoes, squashes and the like, with some fruit as desired. If you're trying to gain muscle, you need to eat A TON. Seriously. You might want to check out Dallas' article on Clean Mass Gain that's available in the Performance Menu

Second, you may consider altering the constant grazing pattern to one that's three square meals a day, starting with a protein-rich breakfast. See there's this hormone called leptin that tells your brain how satiated it is in any given day. Imagine that your brain has an empty jar in it at the beginning of the day. When you wake up, any body fat that you have send a signal to fill up that jar a little bit. Every time you eat, a signal is sent to fill that jar up a little bit. By the end of the day, we want that jar to be full, but not overflowing. When we need energy between meals, that food is converted to triglycerides which get used up by the liver. But if we're eating constantly, we have too many triglycerides in the bloodstream, and the leptin signal takes too long to get to the jar, and by the time it does you've filled it up a lot faster than expected. When that jar overflows, we create leptin resistance, a state where your body isn't sure how much body fat it has access to.

Moving to three meals a day gives your liver time to clear the triglycerides out of your bloodstream and make sure that your leptin signaling is working properly. You can read more about it here: http://whole9life.com/2011/10/theres-more-to-the-story-a-leptin-primer/

[karrottop]

Here's my two cents:

For the amount of activity you're doing, you can definitely up the carb load. Make sure you're getting it from mostly veggies and starchy carbs like sweet potatoes, squashes and the like, with some fruit as desired. If you're trying to gain muscle, you need to eat A TON. Seriously. You might want to check out Dallas' article on Clean Mass Gain that's available in the Performance Menu

Second, you may consider altering the constant grazing pattern to one that's three square meals a day, starting with a protein-rich breakfast. See there's this hormone called leptin that tells your brain how satiated it is in any given day. Imagine that your brain has an empty jar in it at the beginning of the day. When you wake up, any body fat that you have send a signal to fill up that jar a little bit. Every time you eat, a signal is sent to fill that jar up a little bit. By the end of the day, we want that jar to be full, but not overflowing. When we need energy between meals, that food is converted to triglycerides which get used up by the liver. But if we're eating constantly, we have too many triglycerides in the bloodstream, and the leptin signal takes too long to get to the jar, and by the time it does you've filled it up a lot faster than expected. When that jar overflows, we create leptin resistance, a state where your body isn't sure how much body fat it has access to.

Moving to three meals a day gives your liver time to clear the triglycerides out of your bloodstream and make sure that your leptin signaling is working properly. You can read more about it here: http://whole9life.co...-leptin-primer/

Wow, thanks for all the links and info:) I will definitely experiment with three square meals a day this week to see how I feel. As for eating a "TON", it's always hard for me to accurately measure if I am eating enough or too much...I guess following my hunger cues, which is what I tend to do right now, is the best indicator? As much as I try, I can't seem to count the macronutrients or calories that I am consuming to decide if I am eating the right amount of each..I guess I just want to make sure I don't lose the muscles that I have gained so far

[Mel Corbett]

Hi Keren, It looks like you've gotten a lot of answers, but I'd like to reinforce that that's not too little for you to weigh. I'm 5'3" and I weighed about 110 when I was your age and I was pretty muscular (go swim tweam!).

[Gonzosan]

I wouldn't worry about going into "starvation mode", that won't happen unless you decide to skip eating for quite a while (weeks). Intermitten fasting helps you utilize energy better and also makes your body really make use of all the nutrients and minerals in your food. I suggest reading "eat stop eat" if you're really interested in this. I do IF, although currently while doing the whole30 decided to stick to three meals a day. I prefer IF and naturally gravitate towards that way of eating naturally. Although I will second what others have said, you need to eat plenty in order to fuel yourself and your muscles. IF can be very beneficial, just look at "lean gains". Good luck.

[InkblotJo]

Thanks so much for the input:) I am currently extremely happy with my body composition and performance but recently I have this hugeee appetite (We're talking eating an entire 3 pound rotisserie chicken huge). I am constantly craving meats, so I go pretty low carb to compensate the caloric increase. I was wondering if the hunger for protein and fat is because my body is in starvation mode? :/ I'm not looking to lose any weight at all.. in fact, I'd like to put on 5-10 pounds of muscle. Even then, I'd only weigh 100-105 pounds..is that too much food for a 5ft2 19-year-old?

Karen,

I might dare to contradict a bit of the feedback you've gotten. Your post implies that you currently weigh 95lbs. At 5'2", you're my height and you weigh 8-10lbs less than I do (and I'm still working on putting on weight). About two years ago, I was where you are at 95 lbs. I felt like I was in decent shape and didn't feel underfed, but I was frequently cold and often uncomfortable (sitting in chairs sucked with nothing on top of my bones). You and I might be different, but personally I felt so much better after I gained a bit of weight (muscle and fat-- hard to do one without the other ). Better energy, no more coldness, more strength-- even relative to my bodyweight. At any rate, if you do want to gain muscle, take it from a former P90x/Insanity enthusiast-- the beachbody programs are fun, but they're not really "goal oriented." They're great introductory programs for working out, for getting your heart rate up, but they're definitely not (especially Insanity) conducive towards building muscle. In fact, Insanity entails so much prolonged conditioning that you'd likely diminish any strength gains you made from serious strength work. If you're actually interested in gaining muscle, I'd suggest you look into more concentrated, linear strength-gaining programs. Of course, don't do anything you wouldn't enjoy. If you love P90x and Insanity and what to do that continuously, that's your choice. But, if you have other athletic goals, I suggest branching out. Try new things!

Regards,

Jo