More calories on practice days?

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Hi all,
I was wondering if people alter their calorie intake on heavy skate days? If you know you're going to be skating a full 2 hours, do you eat a little more? Or do you eat the same and just reap the benefits of the extra tough workout? Most of our practices are at night so I'm also worried about not having enough energy to last the whole practice.

(I am a ref-in-training so when the practice is all scrimmage, I'm skating almost non-stop.)
Thanks for any feedback.

Replies

  • redhotredneck
    redhotredneck Posts: 118 Member
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    I tend to make sure that I have enough protein during the day before heavy practice/scrimmage days/game days. I don't necessarily add a set amount of calories before hand. I usually adjust what I do based on what I felt the last time. As a ref, i completely understand what you're saying! On game days (especially double headers) I'll make sure I'm having lots of protein rich food, where as on normal days I may not be so protein heavy. :)
  • IsisCrisis
    IsisCrisis Posts: 13 Member
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    Thanks for the info.

    Do you try to get extra carbs too?
  • redhotredneck
    redhotredneck Posts: 118 Member
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    Not really, its waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to easy for me to overdo it on carbs, so I don't try to do any extra of those. :) That's probably why I never really lost much weight when I started derby - it gave me a great excuse to get those extra carby goodies! :):)

    The BIGGEST thing, is that I start to focus extra on my hydration the few days leading up to the game day. As well as make sure that I am getting enough sleep in the days before as well. Also, our league has a guideline that most follow of NO alcohol the 3 days before a game, which is always hard when hangover bouts are scheduled the morning after a game. LOL it means that the skaters don't drink at the afterparty.
  • apocalypsepwnie
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    I eat normally beforehand however I will do a bit of a switch of the time I eat things.
    My day usually goes
    Breakfast - yogurt or oatmeal
    morning - fruit salad
    *walk before lunch at 11am*
    lunch - anything that fits with my 50c/30p/30f
    afternoon - 15gm raw almonds, 10gm dried fruit and 100gm cherry tomatoes
    dinner - same as lunch

    On training days I am not walking so I switch the fruit out to just before I train and put the nuts in it's place. If it's a weekend I tend to sleep in so I'll combine lunch and breakfast about 2 hours before training so I have the energy all digested and ready to go!
    I don't generally eat back my exercise cals but I will use a couple for after training if I'm hungry, I'll have some nuts or a piece of dark wholegrain bread with peanut butter. Sometimes if I have meat out, I'll have some chicken with the bread.
    Before MFP I was always starving after training and crapping out pretty quickly, it was because I wasn't eating to fuel myself beforehand. Now I'm eating this way, I've got heaps of energy during and only get a little tiny hungry after.
  • TheDotz
    TheDotz Posts: 12
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    Generally, when you're working out, you need to eat those calories to ensure you get at least 1200-1500 for your net calories. For example:

    Daily intake: 1600 calories
    Calories burned during practice: 800

    Therefore, in order to meet your minimum caloric intake for the day, you would need to eat 800 extra calories. And make sure they're healthy calories. On days I practice, I usually eat some fruit and nuts as snacks between meals, and then have some protein before practice, such as a tuna salad sandwich.

    Hope this helps!
  • DerbyZebra
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    It's kind of nuts. I started wearing a heart rate monitor last practice. Two hours of endurance showed 1175 calories burned. That left me with a daily net of -300 something. Yikes! So yes, I'm going to be eating a bit more on practice days.
  • davyrockhit214
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    Generally, when you're working out, you need to eat those calories to ensure you get at least 1200-1500 for your net calories. For example:

    Daily intake: 1600 calories
    Calories burned during practice: 800

    Therefore, in order to meet your minimum caloric intake for the day, you would need to eat 800 extra calories. And make sure they're healthy calories. On days I practice, I usually eat some fruit and nuts as snacks between meals, and then have some protein before practice, such as a tuna salad sandwich.

    Hope this helps!


    100% agree with this. I eat back 60-75% of my exercise calories (sometimes all) it really works for me, I just try to stick with healthier choices
  • sarahfrancis
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    I just started using a heart rate monitor to work out how many calories are burned during the session as a few of our players were worried they weren't eating enough. In the last session i wore the monitor i burned over 900 calories in 1.5hrs (im 5f2 and weight in a 58kg) i taken to using a good recovery skate high in protein mixed with water as it fills the hunger hole and my muscles really don't hurt or ache the next day (even after doing off skates cardiovascular!). But then i do need to slim up a little, and i tend to never keep under my calorie target on here.

    Some people also claim a chocolate milk is a cheaper and good recovery drink, although im not keen on the amount of sugar and its not really that high in protein. Im more of a high protein low sugar gal.
  • violet_sphinx
    violet_sphinx Posts: 26 Member
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    I eat more on practice days but I'm not great at being scientific about it, so I just try to eat based on how hungry I usually feel. I eat light meals before practice and then a protein-y snack after (I admit I just eat lunch meat out of the packet sometimes!). Game days are a bit trickier because I have nervous tummy, but I try to snack throughout the morning on nuts and fruit really frequently but small quantities at a time. The times I've not eaten my exercise calories back I've felt AWFUL the next day, really hungry and kind of shakey. But I think you should just listen to your body and it will tell you what it needs!