Let Us TAlKaBOut Fitness

When it comes to sports nutrition, it’s always been trial and error for me.  Sometimes, I find something that works for me and at times, I pay dearly for it in actual race situations.  Once you start piling in the mileage and start aiming for higher goals, sports nutrition would really be critical to perform at an optimal level.  Since I got invited to TAlKaBOut Fitness, I decided to take time out of my work and training schedules to get more insights on Sports Nutrition from more experienced people.

Takbo.ph, the country’s biggest online Filipino running community, together with Pinay Health Junkie, launched the health and fitness talk series called TAlKaBOut Fitness. The first of the series, Sports Nutrition, was held in 100 Miles Café at the Fort Strip, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig on November 27, 2014.  The Sports Nutrition Talk focused on how runners of all levels — want-to-be-runners, beginners, and seasoned runners — can eat and drink their way to a peak performance.

According to Takbo.ph Founder Jinoe Gavan, “It is important for us to learn about nutrition so we will know what to eat and how much should we take when we are training for race. “

The topics discussed include nutrition guide for runners, how to satisfy those cravings of sweets, proper diet, nutrition and hydration to boost performance, smart substitutes of the food we take and tips on fat loss vs. weight loss.  Participants not only learned but also took home exciting freebies from the event sponsors.

TAlKaBOut Fitness: Sports Nutrition Talk was co-presented by Lightwater and Vitaminboost. Special thanks to 100 Miles Cafe, Bioessence, Onelife Studio, Front Runner Magazine, Yummy Magazine and Runnr.

Coach Miguel Lopez talks about the benefits of Lightwater and Hydration in training and running.

Coach Miguel Lopez, who is a celebrity coach and a Lightwater ambassador, was first in line to discuss on the benefits of water in particular Lightwater.  More importantly on Coach Miguel’s credential is being in the running, mountaineering, triathlon scene since all of theses sports/activities were being introduced to the country.  He has always be a winner and top performer in all of these sports.  Water is the purest and most natural beverage in the world.  Water is the perfect hydration and also a way to cleanse our system.  Lightwater is something better than water since it has calcium,, potassium, magnesium and has no sodium.  So in terms of replenishing your nutrient needs, lightwater can do more for you.  Another important insight I got from Coach Miguel’s talk is determining if you are dehydrated.  One way to know if you’re properly hydrated is that you wake up at least once during the night to pee.  It means there is sufficient water in your system.  If not, it’s possible that you are dehydrated.  It’s really important to take your regular water intake especially if you train often.

Fia Bantua, RND of Fitness First gave a very detailed talk on Nutrition.

Fia Bantua, RND, who is a licensed nutritionist and dietitian and also an advance personal trainer at Fitness First, gave a really detailed talk on nutrition starting with the different food groups on which would have more calories like white meat has less calories than red meat and whole wheat bread has less calories than regular bread.  She also gave a nutrition guide for runners and ideal spacing of meals, which is basically having light meals every three hours depending on when you run.  She also reminded us that there is only one diet that she recommends and it’s proper diet.  A proper diet would be about 50-60% Carbohydrates, 115-20% Protein and 25-30% Good Fat.

She also encourage to go for fat loss rather than weight loss.  Part of this she highlighted that when we lose weight it’s either we lose water, fats or muscles.  The goal is to keep the water and the muscle level and drop the fats.  That’s the problem of some diets since people can lose weight though they are not better internally because they are also losing muscles and water too.

In terms of hydration, she recommends to do a sweat test which is basically measuring your weight before and after a workout and reducing the intakes and the volume you urinate to get your water loss.  That would be the amount you should replenish at hydration stops when you run/workout.  She also gave us a suggested hydration plans on runs/workouts.

• Water – 30 minutes / shorter runs
• Enhanced Water – when plain water seems boring
• Sports Drinks – before, during and after, ideally every 30 minutes
• Enhanced Sports Drink – two hours or more runs/workout
• Recovery Drinks – supplemental fluids, before/after runs and workouts
• Juice / Soft Drinks – After a race / snack time.

For shorter runs, you would make do with water since you don’t lose too much nutrients and electrolytes.  When you go longer, you’ll have to have sports drinks in between for the body to replenish nutrients and electrolytes.  Enhanced sports drinks like energy gels is needed when you go longer.  When it comes to energy gels, she advise to distribute the intake in smaller and more frequent doses during a run or workout to spread out the energy recovery.  Sometimes, if you take a gel in full, you get too much energy in an instant and consume it immediately too.  Recovery drinks, juice and soft drinks should be after a race since it might ruin your tummy in between.

Ms. Fia ends with some reminders as follows: Running keeps you fit. But to lose weight properly and run your best, focus on what you eat. Don’t Take Shortcuts because nothing worth having comes easy. Go for long-term weight control. GO FURTHER.

Freebies after the event

Hats of to the organizers as I did learn a lot from the session and I hope this is a start of having more fitness and nutrition focused runners and athlete.  We all win in that case. Speaking of winning, I did win some Lightwater Drinks and 2 weeks Yoga Pass from OneLife Studio and that goes with a lot more freebies for the event.  For me the talk was more than enough incentive to join this one as you get to adopt new and better habits when it comes to nutrition.  Looking forward to more TAlKaBOut Fitness Talks.