Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Hi All, I am starting to do HIIT workouts 3x a week in hopes to lose body fat, and am wondering what food after my work out will be best for that fat loss? I am experimenting with FODMAPS, so my food choices are kind of limited, but it has helped me so this is what my average day looks like.

Breakfast 7:20am = A cup of Almond Milk with a scoop of all green powder (100 cals)

Around 2:30pm, 20 minutes of "fasted HIIT" maybe a spoon of MCT oil before hand for energy

Dinner = Some sweet potatoes/regular potatoes, some grass fed beef and some Leafy greens/vegetable juice?

I am avoiding fruit, but have heard on intense exercise days to have more carbs and on rest days to have more fat. Can I have potatoes after my work out sessions or should I just have proteins and greens for maximum fat loss?

EDIT*** I really don't like downing a spoon of MCT oil before every workout... but don't want to ruin the benefits of a "fasted" HIIT. Sadly though, I'm not sure if I have a choice b/c sometimes I'm way too tired to workout fasted, and my performance seems to be getting weaker each time... is there something that could be had before the workout that won't destroy my fat loss efforts? Or should I just suck it up and dream about potatoes for afterward haha?

edited Oct 1 at 19:52

asked Sep 30 at 19:17

Amber
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	This is almost certainly not enough Kcal to keep any sort of activity level such as (HIIT) fueled for any realistic amount of time. You will lose weight, but you will lose a relatively large portion of it from lean mass, and you will probably be overworked/tired/groggy/hungry. – cbucker Oct 1 at 14:38
	thank you but I am 5"1 though and I've found 1000-1100 calories is the only time I lose weight, and lets say I had 3 small potatoes at 300 calories, with 2 T of butter (200), plus 2 ground beef patties (480), plus any other misc calories, and the 100 from breakfast and possibly a 120 from the mct oil, I'm right at my maximum. My new wonder right now is if something small BEFORE the HIIT would ruin fat loss results? I want to have enough energy to finish each workout and to be honest don't like swallowing a spoon of MCT oil everyday... – Amber Oct 1 at 18:37
	I did a quick and dirty 'daily caloric needs' calculation on About.com to get a rought idea. A female at 5', 100lbs, 25-45 yrs old, and 'moderate activity' needs on the order of 1800 Kcal. the ideal weight for a 'small frame' female at 5' is 104-115 lbs (Met life, stephen halls MD). since your trying to lose fat I'd say your obviously over that range meaning you would need even more Kcal. Your activity level is decidedly higher than 'moderate'. There is no way you're meeting your vitamin/mineral needs either. I fundamentally disagree with your method, I beleive it to be flawed on many levels. – cbucker Oct 1 at 20:53
	Hmm, well thank you Cbucker, well I know in the past 1000-1100 calories with light exercise (20 Minutes of inclined 3mph walking) was what I needed to lose an average of 1lb-1.5lbs a week, but maybe with HIIT, you're are right, and I need to up my calories. Thank you for your advice. I am 5'1 and 126 lbs. Looking to lose about 15 lbs. Thanks for your concern though I will try to add in some more calories while doing HIIT. – Amber Oct 1 at 22:37
	You may have better/healthier/easier progress if you make your goal about body composition rather than lbs. the advantage of a lbs approach is that scales are pretty damn accurate and very easy to get (I assume you already have one) whereas body composition is a relatively fuzzy measurement that can 'float' depending on how consistent you are (especially with a caliper). You may have thicker muscle and denser bone than some people making it impossible to drop 15 lbs without much more time, aggrovation, and unhealthy practice. ultimately (and obviously) the choice is yours, best of luck Amber! – cbucker Oct 2 at 12:39

miked · Answer 1 · 2012-09-30 19:26:39Z UTC

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Play around with your PWO meal to see what makes you lean out more. I run leaner with a high carb PWO meal, but I know others who don't. However, I do not agree with your "breakfast". I'm totally against drinking your calories. Have real food for breakfast and ditch the shakes and smoothies for the best results.

answered Sep 30 at 19:26

miked
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Okay thank you!! I'm going to have potatoes on my HIIT days and see how it goes. The only reason I have a drink is for some reason all other foods for breakfast make me hungrier throughout the day (even all fat), and actual food at 7am just doesn't sounds appetizing to me anyway. The Unsweetened almond milk with some nutrients in there (the green scoop is literally just spirulina/broccoli etc and some caffine) doesn't make me hungry throughout the day, and is just light enough for me early morning. – Amber Sep 30 at 19:36

sage_ · Answer 2 · 2012-10-01 13:24:32Z UTC

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i got to my leanest doing a 3:30pm 1.5mile treadmill run daily with no post workout meal, even on the days i lifted. i just ate dinner at 6pm.
what are you doing for HIIT?

answered Oct 1 at 13:24

sage_
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	Hmm interseting! That would be around the time I would be doing my run too, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to wait three hours to eat since I don't eat much before the run throughout the day... but maybe I will if it promotes more fat loss. I am running on my treadmill, 5 minute warm up, 5-6-7 mph 30 second sprints, and then 90 second recoveries at 2-3mph and I do this for 6-8 reps. – Amber Oct 1 at 18:25
	i was doing a full on run the entire 1.5 miles. my fastest time was 10 minutes 26 seconds with the treadmill on 9. – sage_ Oct 1 at 19:38
	full on run at 9mph? WOW unless I misunderstood that, wouldn't that not be HIIT? Or was that how fast you were going during your sprints and you were still running just not at 9pmh for the breaks? Btw congrats on being able to do that... that's awesome. – Amber Oct 1 at 19:51
	that was not HIIT, but it was the only time i ever leaned out my entire life at age 48....when i started i could do 7 and after 4 weeks i was at 9, but never got faster. i moved on to the next "i gotta try that" after a month or so. – sage_ Oct 2 at 0:00

CD · Answer 3 · 2012-09-30 19:35:22Z UTC

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my stomach is usually off immediately after hard workouts, especially HIITs. so I always bring a protein shake. Proteing immediately post workout is important, none of the other macros are critical.

answered Sep 30 at 19:35

CD
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	thank you! I'm not sure HIIT three times a week is enough to down protein shakes (i've heard they can make you chubby unless you are really working hard to deserve it) so my only option would be just straight meat and veggies (which was my other alternative to carbs), but I think the potato carbs might be okay for me because my stomach never feels "off" after a work out, typically I am super low energy and ready for a meal. But that's just me. I will try just protein if the carb thing doesn't work. Thank you!! – Amber Sep 30 at 20:26
	Potato won't give you enough protein. If you are drinking muscle milk or something like that there are a lot of excess calories. MIT you are drinking pure whey with water you will be fine – CD Sep 30 at 20:47
	how bout potato with grassfed beef? I haven't been having much dairy besides some grassfed butter and would be afraid to start drinking whey when starting this b/c if I would have negative effects from the whey, knowing me I would blame the HIIT and stop all together haha. Maybe I'll try whey after a few weeks of hitt? – Amber Oct 1 at 18:27
	Amber, certainly beef will give you enough protein. Good luck! The most important thing is that you have something you can stick to! – CD Oct 2 at 19:55

james barlow · Answer 4 · 2012-10-01 16:45:34Z UTC

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How long have you been following a HIIT protocol and what results have you had?

I would encourage you to not change your diet and see what happens first. See what results you get then start to play with PWO diet stuff. While you may not be doing this too often people will take a shotgun approach and made a bunch of changes then have no idea what effect everything had. You will wind up chasing your tail trying to figure out what really worked.

answered Oct 1 at 16:45

james barlow
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Thank you! Well I did it for three weeks a while back and was having postive results, but I stopped because I was so weak. I wanted to give it another go this time but I want to feed my body the right way in hopes to avoid what happened last time. back then I was afraid carbs/potatoes would stop fat loss though, so I am hoping having potatoes will stop the fatigue and will still provide positive fat loss results. – Amber Oct 1 at 18:31

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Awesome then. The most important thing is to just track what you are doing and see what happens. For my I know that whatever benefit I got from carbs after a workout were not worth the cravings they would bring. Again just make one change, like adding the potatoes for a few weeks, and see what happens. Track your result then make a change and see what happens. – james barlow Oct 1 at 19:27

HIIT and Losing Fat

4 Answers