Protein vs. Carbs Before Exercise?

Recently I've hit a weight loss plateau even though I increased my exercise to 5 days of walking (30 min/walk), 2 days of aerobics classes, and 2 days of weight training.  I exercise in the morning and eat about 1000 calories a day.   Because of the restriction of my lap-band in the morning, the only thing I can eat for breakfast is weight control oatmeal or liquids. When I discussed the plateau with my nutritionist last week and described my intake and exercise, she said I need protein before I exercise and to do a protein shake instead of oatmeal in the morning.  I promised to try it for a week and so far, it's not helping.  Not only have I not lose weight, but I'm exhausted instead of energized by the exercise. From the little research I've done, fitness experts recommend eating carbs, not protein, as fuel for exercise.  Which do you find works best for you? thanks, Jean

Jean, I think you're going to get a lot of different answers here.  A lot of people have tried different things and something a little different works for each of us. I'm in more of a maintenance mode and rarely eat anything before exercising.  I might eat a banana (carbs) and coffee and most days I feel good exercising.  Others use some form of protein with their carbs to fill them up for a little longer.  By the way, I also exercise in the morning when I can and have never really eaten anything besides a banana, yogurt, or oatmeal before exercising - even the morning of the marathon or any race.  Carbs are what is truly needed for readily available energy during exercise, but you might try some protein with your oatmeal if you feel like it doesn't stick with you long enough or a shake directly after exercise might  help more with the weight loss.   I wish I had more help to give you, but I went through about a 2 month weight loss stall AFTER I started running.  It was frustrating, but I somehow managed another 20 pound loss eventually.  Justy be patient with your body and try some different things.  You'll eventually find what works for you.  Linn

You are going to get a lot of different answers here because we all have slightly different routines.  Me, I eat carbs (banana or apple) before my mid-day workout, then I eat a combination of carbs, fat and protein before my 2nd workout after work (almost always 1 slice whole-grain bread, deli turkey breast, 1 slice low-fat cheese, plus some sprouts or leaf lettuce).  That's just works for me, but it took trial and error to figure that out.   One thing about eating protein before a workout -- it takes our body longer to digest protein than carbs.  So whereas I can eat my banana about 45 minutes before my workout and my body will be able to access that energy, you may need to eat/drink your protein more than 75-90 minutes before you workout to give your body time to break it down into usable energy.   Good luck figuring out what your body needs -  Kellie

I agree with the advice you have been given.  I had success with protein 1-2 hours before a workout but as the intensity and time increased, the fatigue grew.   You body acan convert protein to energy but it requires effort, which also hels the metabolism.  Basic rule of thumb before workouts, espcially races, carb for energy, protein for recovery.                                             Carbs are the most easily burned source of nutrition for energy.  Protein is for repairing and building/rebuilding muscle and as an energy source when carbs and sugar are not readily available.  Your body cannot convert protein to storage, it can with carbs so you want to be sure to not consume more than you need or you will stifle your weight loss and/or even gain weight,...so use wisdom.

I had posted that I was feeling slugish during my workouts. I was just taking in protein mainly before working out. I have since added carbs to that. I have more energy and feel better during if I drink fat free chocolate milk or have a protein bar  when I get home and then I head to the gym 30-40 minutes after.

Both!  I usually have Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal (which has 9 gr. of protein per serving) with blueberries and 1% milk before I workout, and another blend of whole grains and protein later.   Although you need carbohydrates for exercise, the carbohydrates you use are the ones already stored in the cells in the form of glycogen.  But, that's not from carbohydrates that you just ate, which are still in the digestive system.  I got an interesting article from SparkPeople.com that you might want to read: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?i d=627&page=2 But, right now I'm researching another concept that I just came across this morning, called Natural Hormonal Enhancement, which apparently encouages low-carbing except for two "carb-loading" meals per week (which supposedly top-off the glycogen stores).  The purpose is to get our hormones to work *with* us for fat loss, instead of against us.  The info is very technical, and a little over my head, to be honest, but very, very interesting.  http://www.olusa.com/books/diet.htm Tami

Up your calories!   I promise...that is what it is.  And, yes - more protein.   Do two protein shakes with whole or 2% milk if you have to, but that is not enough of a calorie intake to burn fat.  I know it may not make sense, but you need to make sure you are eating a NET of 1500 calories.   Meaning, if you burn 350 calories, you could eat 1850 calories! Try it and see how it goes. Worked for me!

I have a question -- how in the world are you supposed to get in 1500 calories with a stomach our size??  I'm have serious problems losing anything since surgery, even with exercise.  I'm already doing 150 grams of protein a day.  My doctor upped it after I came in in tears so despondent over my lack of progress.  It worked for 7 days.  I lost 7 pounds but here I sit again. The only way I can see eating that many calories is eating food higher in calories.  Since we can't increase our quantity due to our stomach size, to eat that much you've got to eat more calorie dense foods, which means foods rich in either fat and/or sugar -- which is what whole milk is, as you suggested above. Now I'm assuming that the reason we're told to eat low fat is because it could cause dumping syndrome.  But in my case, since the surgery, fat doesn't bother me; sugar does.  I had a (bad, bad me) piece of grilled garlic bread the other day.  No problems. How in the world did you start eating 1500 calories on healthy food??

I didn't get to 1500 calories until I was almost a year out - it takes a while. My nutritionist said you should correspond your total calories with your month, ie six months out, 600 calores: 9 months out, 900 calories, etc. Believe it or not, you can eat more eventually so it's fairly easy to get those calories in. But at 3 months I was eating around 700 a day, that's all I could eat! Now I'm 1 year, 8 months out and I eat 2500 - 3000 calories a day, no problem. but I think I'm the exception in that I can maintain very well with that amount (plus I workout a lot and need lots of food to have any energy at all) . You may or may not be the same, but you will be able to eat more eventually. And I do eat low fat but not the extreme - I average about 30% of my calories from fat. The thing is, most of it is good fat and honestly I don't feel comfortable going any lower than that. I do get sick when I eat anything high in fat (fried stuff mostly) so that's a built in mechanism right there for me.