High energy foods
ReenieHJ
Posts: 9,724 Member
What would be tops on your list of foods to spur energy levels on? I don't quite get all of my 'needed' protein some days so I'm not sure if that's it or not. Plus I've been slacking off in the water department also. 
Other than those 2 things, I eat a variety of veggies, fruits, oatmeal, different proteins every day and normally reach my calorie allotment.
The last few days my energy feels like it's tanked. Could be just the mid-winter schlump, I don't know.
Any thoughts? Thanks!!!
Other than those 2 things, I eat a variety of veggies, fruits, oatmeal, different proteins every day and normally reach my calorie allotment.The last few days my energy feels like it's tanked. Could be just the mid-winter schlump, I don't know.
Any thoughts? Thanks!!!
0
Replies
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If you're looking for quick energy, then you're looking for carbs rather than protein. Carbs, especially simple carbs, are the body's readily available energy source. That's why endurance athletes eat sugary foods during a competition (and we usually save protein until after the event). Outside of endurance sports, you might prefer a high carb snack with a bit of fat and protein; a piece of fruit with a little peanut butter, for example.
However, I would not be quick to say that low energy is necessarily related to diet. It could be all sorts of things: your sleep might not be as high quality as usual; you could be coming down with something; you could be more or less active due to seasonal changes; you could be drinking less caffeine than usual; etc.6 -
It's more overall diet for me than specific foods, I definitely find if I overdo carbs when I am less active, I get the "carb coma" effect.
I also find that in the winter I have to supplement Vit D or I get the Winter Blues and my energy levels dip.4 -
For me personally, coffee and candy. That is my preworkout and pumps me up when I am feeling drained. For many people sugar gives them a crash after, I don't find that to be the case with me.
Are you getting enough sleep?3 -
What is your calorie deficit like?
It sounds like you've been running an aggressive deficit for too long, to me.2 -
Dark chocolate covered coffee beans😋4
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I *think* I'm getting enough sleep, not sure if it's continuous seeing as how my 2 dogs sleep with me.
I don't really have a calorie deficit; I pretty much eat my allowance, around 1500 and that includes what my exercise adds in.
I ran out of Vit.D and never bothered to buy more, but I do use a therapy light every day. And love my coffee.
I'm thinking it might be a seasonal thing and will work on that a bit more, including spending the money for vitamin D.
I'm not severely drained or exhausted but some days it's a very real struggle to exercise at all and instead of adding time, etc. like I was, I seem to be doing less.
I didn't exercise at all yesterday, figured a day off wasn't going to do much harm but it made it twice as hard this a.m. to get back to it.
Thanks all, for your helpful thoughts!2 -
Endorsing: Sugar and caffeine for the best approximation of quick energy. Clearly not an overall lifestyle solution, if dramatic increase is needed.
Long term, good overall nutrition: Protein, fats, plenty of varied, colorful veggies/fruits. Adequate (not crazy high) hydration (poor hydration is underappreciated as a source of fatigue; I think most people who do a strenuous outdoor activity are most likely to realize this). Food timing can also matter, for energy level.
More likely: Too long in a calorie deficit, too big a calorie deficit, over-exercise (not just volume, but potentially things like hitting high intensities too frequently), underexercise (yup, either extreme), poor sleep, increased stress (with less effective stress management), medical conditions (things like coming down with something at one end of the scale, to things like hypothyroidism or worse at the other end of the scale), or a stack-up of small increments of multiple of the preceding items (because they're all stressors, and they reinforce each other, in physical effects).
IIRC, you're around my age. Protein gets even more important as we age, according to some research results, because we tend to metabolize it less efficiently; it may also be helpful for aging folks to spread it through the day vs. concentrate it in one meal (limited evidence, but some). It may not help your energy level, but it would be a good idea to hit your protein goal, especially if you're using the MFP default %, and especially if you're on low calories.
In case of Winter slump, bundle up and get some outdoor exercise, on a sunny day if possible (which it hasn't been here in what seems like months
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I *think* I'm getting enough sleep, not sure if it's continuous seeing as how my 2 dogs sleep with me.
I don't really have a calorie deficit; I pretty much eat my allowance, around 1500 and that includes what my exercise adds in.
I ran out of Vit.D and never bothered to buy more, but I do use a therapy light every day. And love my coffee.
I'm thinking it might be a seasonal thing and will work on that a bit more, including spending the money for vitamin D.
I'm not severely drained or exhausted but some days it's a very real struggle to exercise at all and instead of adding time, etc. like I was, I seem to be doing less. I didn't exercise at all yesterday, figured a day off wasn't going to do much harm but it made it twice as hard this a.m. to get back to it.
Thanks all, for your helpful thoughts!
Just to be clear here, do you have weight-related goals? Are you trying to lose weight or maintain your current weight?
If you set MFP to any speed of weight loss, then your calorie goal includes a deficit. Your deficit comes from that, not from exercise.
However, if you set MFP to maintain your weight, then you wouldn’t have a deficit.
Sorry if this seems too basic; people don’t always realize that by “having a deficit” we mean “using literally any MFP weight loss setting.”4 -
What would be tops on your list of foods to spur energy levels on? I don't quite get all of my 'needed' protein some days so I'm not sure if that's it or not. Plus I've been slacking off in the water department also. Other than those 2 things, I eat a variety of veggies, fruits, oatmeal, different proteins every day and normally reach my calorie allotment.
The last few days my energy feels like it's tanked. Could be just the mid-winter schlump, I don't know.
Any thoughts? Thanks!!!
If for more energy right away, I'd likely turn to fruit. (The body will often crave fast carbs, even if combined with fat, in this circumstance, but fruit works as well for me and keeps me feeling good longer.) I'd also likely try to find something with some protein, like greek yogurt.
But the issue isn't likely finding something to eat in the moment, so absent a real need to perk up right away I'd play around with other things -- sleep, overall diet, too much exercise (for training level), not enough time in the sunlight given the time of year, deficit for too long. Getting more water might help too.1 -
I *think* I'm getting enough sleep, not sure if it's continuous seeing as how my 2 dogs sleep with me.
I don't really have a calorie deficit; I pretty much eat my allowance, around 1500 and that includes what my exercise adds in.
I ran out of Vit.D and never bothered to buy more, but I do use a therapy light every day. And love my coffee.
I'm thinking it might be a seasonal thing and will work on that a bit more, including spending the money for vitamin D.
I'm not severely drained or exhausted but some days it's a very real struggle to exercise at all and instead of adding time, etc. like I was, I seem to be doing less. I didn't exercise at all yesterday, figured a day off wasn't going to do much harm but it made it twice as hard this a.m. to get back to it.
Thanks all, for your helpful thoughts!
Just to be clear here, do you have weight-related goals? Are you trying to lose weight or maintain your current weight?
If you set MFP to any speed of weight loss, then your calorie goal includes a deficit. Your deficit comes from that, not from exercise.
However, if you set MFP to maintain your weight, then you wouldn’t have a deficit.
Sorry if this seems too basic; people don’t always realize that by “having a deficit” we mean “using literally any MFP weight loss setting.”
I am still trying to lose a bit more; IIRC I've got it set at less than .5 lb. a week, MFP gives me 1280 calories and I exercise to earn another couple hundred or so and I've been using them all up. Maybe I need to up my calories for awhile and see what happens? I just don't want to start regaining. 1 -
I *think* I'm getting enough sleep, not sure if it's continuous seeing as how my 2 dogs sleep with me.
I don't really have a calorie deficit; I pretty much eat my allowance, around 1500 and that includes what my exercise adds in.
I ran out of Vit.D and never bothered to buy more, but I do use a therapy light every day. And love my coffee.
I'm thinking it might be a seasonal thing and will work on that a bit more, including spending the money for vitamin D.
I'm not severely drained or exhausted but some days it's a very real struggle to exercise at all and instead of adding time, etc. like I was, I seem to be doing less. I didn't exercise at all yesterday, figured a day off wasn't going to do much harm but it made it twice as hard this a.m. to get back to it.
Thanks all, for your helpful thoughts!
Just to be clear here, do you have weight-related goals? Are you trying to lose weight or maintain your current weight?
If you set MFP to any speed of weight loss, then your calorie goal includes a deficit. Your deficit comes from that, not from exercise.
However, if you set MFP to maintain your weight, then you wouldn’t have a deficit.
Sorry if this seems too basic; people don’t always realize that by “having a deficit” we mean “using literally any MFP weight loss setting.”
I am still trying to lose a bit more; IIRC I've got it set at less than .5 lb. a week, MFP gives me 1280 calories and I exercise to earn another couple hundred or so and I've been using them all up. Maybe I need to up my calories for awhile and see what happens? I just don't want to start regaining.
It seems like, from another thread, you may already be toward the bottom end of the normal BMI range for your height. It that's true, another potential here is that your body's telling you that more loss is really not a good plan. For someone of your height, if I'm recalling it correctly, that's a pretty darned low calorie goal, IMO.
If you increase your calories, you might see a small scale jump from added average digestive system contents plus a little extra carbs/sodium (which hold a little more water in the tissues). Neither of those is fat gain, so not worth worrying over.
Maybe consider adding a hundred calories a day now, waiting a week or so, adding another hundred, etc.? That would minimize that meaningless scale jump, if that jump would be stressful for you. If you do something like this until your weight stabilizes, and end up 100 calories above maintenance, it would take over a month to gain a pound of fat at that rate.
Just a thought.4 -
I *think* I'm getting enough sleep, not sure if it's continuous seeing as how my 2 dogs sleep with me.
I don't really have a calorie deficit; I pretty much eat my allowance, around 1500 and that includes what my exercise adds in.
I ran out of Vit.D and never bothered to buy more, but I do use a therapy light every day. And love my coffee.
I'm thinking it might be a seasonal thing and will work on that a bit more, including spending the money for vitamin D.
I'm not severely drained or exhausted but some days it's a very real struggle to exercise at all and instead of adding time, etc. like I was, I seem to be doing less. I didn't exercise at all yesterday, figured a day off wasn't going to do much harm but it made it twice as hard this a.m. to get back to it.
Thanks all, for your helpful thoughts!
What are you doing for exercise? One frequent issue is that people often have a high frequency of strenuous exercise built into the fitness regimen, especially if they're just starting out and there's this go hard or go home mentality. There is a very real benefit of training in a variety of intensities and spreading that out throughout the week.
Also, if you have a lot of moderate to strenuous exercise activity going on, rest/recovery days are going to be important.
If you're doing too much strenuous exercise activity and not taking recovery days, that is likely a substantial part of the problem.1 -
My willpower seems to drop as the week progresses. I usually lean on beans Wed through Friday for breakfast. Kidney beans have the highest ANDI score for nutrient density. One of my favorite breakfasts is 1/2 cup kidney beans, 3 oz of turkey sausage, 1/8 cup parm cheese and 2 egg whites. I do the beans and sausage in a bowl, top with the cheese and put the egg whites on top after they have been cooked in an egg ring.It comes in at 400ish calories and can get me through my first 5 hours easy. Good luck!0
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I *think* I'm getting enough sleep, not sure if it's continuous seeing as how my 2 dogs sleep with me.
I don't really have a calorie deficit; I pretty much eat my allowance, around 1500 and that includes what my exercise adds in.
I ran out of Vit.D and never bothered to buy more, but I do use a therapy light every day. And love my coffee.
I'm thinking it might be a seasonal thing and will work on that a bit more, including spending the money for vitamin D.
I'm not severely drained or exhausted but some days it's a very real struggle to exercise at all and instead of adding time, etc. like I was, I seem to be doing less. I didn't exercise at all yesterday, figured a day off wasn't going to do much harm but it made it twice as hard this a.m. to get back to it.
Thanks all, for your helpful thoughts!
Just to be clear here, do you have weight-related goals? Are you trying to lose weight or maintain your current weight?
If you set MFP to any speed of weight loss, then your calorie goal includes a deficit. Your deficit comes from that, not from exercise.
However, if you set MFP to maintain your weight, then you wouldn’t have a deficit.
Sorry if this seems too basic; people don’t always realize that by “having a deficit” we mean “using literally any MFP weight loss setting.”
I am still trying to lose a bit more; IIRC I've got it set at less than .5 lb. a week, MFP gives me 1280 calories and I exercise to earn another couple hundred or so and I've been using them all up. Maybe I need to up my calories for awhile and see what happens? I just don't want to start regaining.
It seems like, from another thread, you may already be toward the bottom end of the normal BMI range for your height. It that's true, another potential here is that your body's telling you that more loss is really not a good plan. For someone of your height, if I'm recalling it correctly, that's a pretty darned low calorie goal, IMO.
If you increase your calories, you might see a small scale jump from added average digestive system contents plus a little extra carbs/sodium (which hold a little more water in the tissues). Neither of those is fat gain, so not worth worrying over.
Maybe consider adding a hundred calories a day now, waiting a week or so, adding another hundred, etc.? That would minimize that meaningless scale jump, if that jump would be stressful for you. If you do something like this until your weight stabilizes, and end up 100 calories above maintenance, it would take over a month to gain a pound of fat at that rate.
Just a thought.
Yes to all of this.
Almost everyone worries that they’ll regain fat when they start maintaining. It’s an irrational fear that we pretty much all have. I say it’s irrational because you know you’re not going to gain fat if your calories in and calories out balance, and yet we all worry about it anyway.
I agree that a gradual transition into maintenance sounds like a great idea.4 -
Ann, you may be absolutely right. I have felt my body has been telling me it's time to maintain for awhile now but I've been tuning it out. It's certainly something for me to think about. I have got to get over that 'just gotta lose 1 more lb.' mentality and be happy where I am. I could at least work to maintain through the rest of the winter and see how I feel come spring.
As far as my exercise routine, it's not at all strenuous. I'm 66, and mostly use the TM but I was building up my stamina through increasing incline and time, now I have cut my exercise into increments during the day. Plus I use a hula hoop, some days a little some a lot.
Ok, time to make some changes and see if it all comes together to increase my energy. Thanks again!!!1
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