Fit Villains: Selfish, Shameless, Sassy, Fitness.

Fit Tip: Smelling ammonia after/during your workout? Feedback from your body: you don’t have enough carbohydrates in the bank to fuel your workout. The smell is the result of muscle cannibalization: you breathe out the fumes (other people can’t smell it usually: no worries).

If it happens every now and then, try to think about what you had before your workout and make adjustments. If it happens ALL the time, your diet may be too high protein, and too little carb in general: you need more carbs to support the level of training you’re doing, or on days you workout. Sweet potatoes, fruit, yogurt etc.

Workouts over 60 minutes should have a wee re-fuel break: I HATE to say ‘sports’ drink, but I’ll list it as an option (read the labels for chemical yuckness). Smoothies, juices, quick nibbles are also good if you plan on hitting it longer than an hour, and are usually easy on the way ‘down’. Around 60 minutes, the body starts to release hormones to store fat, and if you’ve run out of ‘juice’, it’ll turn to your muscles for energy. Yup. It eats them up.

While low carb diets work for weight loss, if you’re training INTENSELY, you need to make sure you’re eating enough to support it. The body runs on glucose & fat for workout energy, but when it runs out all it has is precious muscle to feed it. No good, right? :)