SHAPE UP
Eat more to gain energy for exercise

Q. I am a busy woman who loves to exercise, but my workouts make me tired, and by the end of the day, I am totally drained. I thought exercise was supposed to give you energy.

A. The solution to your problem is simple: You need to eat more calories to support your activities. The most common mistake among exercisers is getting stuck in the old belief that if they eat fewer calories and exercise more, they will lose that much more weight and body fat.

This might have some validity with regard to people who are very obese, but for the average person who is trying to get a lean physique, eating less produces poor results. If your activity level is high and your calories too low, you force your body into a near-starvation state where your exercise performance suffers and your energy/stamina levels consistently drop. As a result, you end up slowing your metabolism because of the lack of calories and losing lean muscle tissue, thus stripping your body of all the quality nutrients needed for optimum health and performance.

All of this leads to a situation where your body becomes more efficient at storing body fat rather than losing it. To understand what I mean, just think of how many people you know who eat lightly, exercise a lot and still look relatively the same year after year.

If your goal is to improve your physique, you must slowly increase your calories, raise the quality of your foods and carefully space your meals. I train women who eat 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day who have transformed their bodies by sticking to basic meals made up of the highest-quality foods and supplementation when necessary. These women are not athletes or bodybuilders, but people who gave 100 percent toward increasing the amount and quality of their foods.

In addition, they changed their view of food in that they view it as a means for survival and vitality rather than comfort and celebration. Keeping this simple approach provides focus and discipline that is usually hard when doing traditional diets and fad eating plans.

Each of your meals should be a balance of quality proteins, such as chicken or turkey breast, egg whites and fish; unprocessed carbohydrates, such as sweet potatoes, brown rice and oatmeal, and fibrous carbohydrates, including broccoli, asparagus and leafy greens.

Limit fat intake, and go easy on the fruit because of the body's ability to convert fructose (fruit sugar) into fat. Be sure to eat a low-sugar energy bar before and after each workout to supply energy and aid in recovery.

These balanced meals, eaten every two to three hours five to six times a day, will give you the energy and nutrients needed to truly support an active lifestyle.

Dave Patania, a certified personal trainer, writes for the Cincinnati Enquirer. Send questions to davpatania@aol.com.