Dina joins Debbie for another podcast episode on Metabolic Efficiency. Please listen to our past podcast on Metabolic Efficiency with Dina as we explained what it means and how to you get there!
Dina is a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics, Certified Level II Metabolic Efficiency Training Specialist and the eNRG performance Education Coordinator in Colorado.Click here to learn more about Dina and how to find her!
Now that Dina has recovered (almost) from her bike crash- we could finally connect to talk about in-season triathlon training to be a metabolic efficient triathlete!
We have 30-40,000 calories of stored fat calories in lean athletes up to 80,000 calories in taller athletes. It depends on the body composition of the athlete. We have 2000-2400 calories of stored muscle glycogen available for fuel. You can do the math… I think 80,000 calories of fuel is a lot more than 2400 calories!
If we eat right for our metabolic type or periodization plates – and build up the aerobic engine by training by heart rate (get tested to determine your training zones to burn fat for fuel) during our training workouts then we can improve our metabolic efficiency or rather the ability to burn more fat and improve mighty mitochondria. The mitochondria are part of the cell to generate energy or ATP…fat oxidation occurs in the cells so we want more mitochondria to become more efficient fat burners.
Why do we need to burn fat besides the obvious- the more efficient we are at burning fat for fuel in training and racing then the less calories we need to consume, less GI stress and inflammation. Our endurance training puts lots of stress on our body and increases our inflammatory markers (sorry bad sound via Dina here)… adrenal response, sex hormones, hormone levels and blood sugar levels. By becoming less reliant on carbohydrates for fuel, we improve our blood sugar levels and more benefits Dina goes into more on this podcast plus her upcoming webinar with Generation UCAN this week.
If we train hard and consume high carbohydrate diet…we are constantly creating inflammation in our body. Our classic re-fueling foods are processed and lack nutrient density. We want to eat a real food anti-inflammatory plan instead of the high carb, processed factory made foods that cause us to stay on the blood sugar roller coaster and over eat! We don’t need 300-400 calories per hour for long distance training and racing if you are metabolic efficient athlete…less calories are needed if you are burning fat as your main fuel source. The amount of carbs vary person to person as well as your training phase. The goal is to balance your blood sugar levels to burn fat…not necessarily be in ketosis or be extremely low-carb to be a metabolic efficient fat burning machine.
How many carbs do you eat per day?
Here are our past episodes with Dina…lots of great information on ME so start with these episodes first:
Episode 38
Episode 46
Episode 55
Find more of Dina with an upcoming webinar with Generation Ucan and our friend Varen on July 14th. Contact Dina to schedule metabolic efficiency testing and coaching for individualized program.Click here to contact Dina for more information and coaching
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