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Ammonia smell after running


Wayne Geils

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Hi,

I am a distance runner and I am on day 19 of the whole30. I have notice on the last few runs that when I finish I have a strong smell of ammonia to my sweat. As a runner I have always heard that this was bad and indicated that my body was burning protein because it did not have enough carbs available. Is this true?

Also if this is a lack of carbs what should I do? I am already eating a ton of veggies and squashes to add calories to my diet.

Thanks

Wayne

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Try upping your fat intake.....

True that the ammonia is from the breakdown of amino acids into glycogen, but as your body fat adapts you will get boundless energy from fat. Try slowing your runs just a bit until your body makes the adjustment.... If you stay under your anabolic threshold for a few weeks, your body will start to make billions of cellular mitochondria .... The pay off is one molecule of fat converted will yield something like 450 molecules of ATP vs 30 molecules from glycolysis

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Most veggies don't add a lot of calories. We eat them for the nutritional benefit more than the calories. Carb dense veggies offer more than the green ones, so winter squashes and sweet potatoes are a runner's friend. If you are running distance, you may need two sweet potatoes per day (or an equivalent amount of butternut squash, etc.).

But I agree with Fenderbender too.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi, Thanks for the responses to Wayne's original question. I, too, am a distance runner and have noticed the ammonia smell. Pre-whole 30, I only got it on the longest runs during marathon training. Yesterday, after only 7 mi, I could hardly breathe in the shower it was so strong. I thought maybe this was normal with low carb diet, but I'm gathering that it's not. Maybe my body is just not fat-adapted? How will I know that it is? Will continuing to train at the same level/pace keep me from getting fat adapted? I did a whole30 in January, and I've been mostly compliant since that time with the addition of sugar (working on that...). The last 2 weeks I increased my exercise by a lot to start training for a half marathon.

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Try upping your fat intake.....

True that the ammonia is from the breakdown of amino acids into glycogen, but as your body fat adapts you will get boundless energy from fat. Try slowing your runs just a bit until your body makes the adjustment.... If you stay under your anabolic threshold for a few weeks, your body will start to make billions of cellular mitochondria .... The pay off is one molecule of fat converted will yield something like 450 molecules of ATP vs 30 molecules from glycolysis

GREAT point about slowing the runs down for a bit. It's frustrating for sure; however, the payoff is HUGE.

Try a long, slow tempo run; implement striders, and hey--a good fartlek to ease back in never hurt anyone.

Also, the point made by Tom about starchy veg is a great one too. Take a sweet potato, chop into cubes, boil until soft, and mash with some cinnamon for a freakin' awesome PWO snack.

Good luck, keep us posted :)

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