CRON and Exercise

[Guest jojo]

Hi,

 

I'm new to this Forum, but am considering a gradual shift to a CRON lifestyle and I have a few concerns. If anyone would be kind enough to address these points, I'd certainly appreciate the input.

 

1) I'm a lifelong runner. I don't want to give that up. Any insights on how this fits into the CRON lifestyle? PS When I say "runner" ii mean like in training for a márathon, not run 2-3 miles on the weekend if the weather is good. When I'm trsinig for a race, my Wright actually increases by about 10 lbs to 135. I eat more of course, but on s calories analysis basis, this doesn't make a lot of senseto me, considering what I burn in mileage. I have off periods of up to 3 months when I'm not training and I'll usually weigh in at about 125 with under 20% body fat. (I'm a 44 year old woman for reference.)

 

2) I HATE "dieting". Actually, I cannot do it. I do eat primarily whole foods, though and work herd to keep a balance. I Aldo love beer and have 3 skinny kids who eat extremely well compared to the population at large but realistically chocolate, birthday cake, goldfish etc. are omnipresent. (If you don't have kids, don't judge me on this one! LOL!) So reducing my caloric I.take by 20% would be easy least without a major lifestyle change - just cut out the beer and kid food.

 

So many of the blots I read have descriptions of highly detailed, highly regimented diets, though. Meticulousness is advocated to avoid deficiencies. I don't think I can possibly do that. But my thinking is that by cutting the empty calories that we know aren't adding anything, I cant possibly be subjecting myself to malnutrition.

 

I already do supplements - calcium,vitamin D, antioxidants, multivitamins. Any others you'd recommend?

 

3) connections with fasting? Esp. Juice fasting? I don't know if that's so much about restricting calories because juice is pretty calories dense, but giving your digestive tract a break and detoxing. Insight from juice casters would be appreciated!

 

4) Metabolic rate - I don't count calories and I eat healthy food, but I still think my daily calories consumption isFAR above what your organization recommends - probably around 3000 calories or more a day. Ill start keeping a food journal just to track, but that's gotta be close. So I'm assuming I should base my caloric requirements on what I'm eating now to maintain a good weight, not the average? And that this will decrease as my metabolism adjusts with a lower setpoint weight and also a lower daily caloric requirement?

 

5) What's the ideal bodyfat range, BMI for a female practitioner of CRON? If there is one? Ive read that women should not go below 18% BF. Thoughts? I also know many runners who go below that and seem perfectly fine and super healthy. Aside from bone density and fertility concerns are there any other reasons to keep above this mark?

 

Thanks so much, guys and girls! I eagerly await your feedback!

[Robert Cavanaugh]

Dr Walford recommends that women not drop below 10% body fat and men not below 5%. As I recall it related to metabolizing fat soluble vitamins. There is likely some calculator available on the net to determine how many calories you burn running per your body size/BMI. Determine that and subtract from total calories and you get a ballpark idea of calorie needs for the remaining portion of your day. Email Andrea as she is a long term marathon runner as well and she can likely give many good suggestions "Andrea Feucht" <andrea(at)TENACITY(dot)NET>

[Taurus Londono]

At 5'5", my lowest CR weight was 107 lbs, and my body fat bottomed out at ~7%. While on a diet of around 1850-1900 calories per day, I was able to do 2x fifteen-minute strength training sessions (ie; pushups, curls, sit-ups), AND ~25 mins of jogging (around 5k or so). I can tell you that never in my entire life was exercise easier or more enjoyable. In the summer, I run in a couple of 5k races, and my times improved significantly over pre-CR (I've been running for about 10 years). Like you said, a brief 5k is not even close to a marathon, so I can't speak to the level of endurance and stamina necessary. I think that more calories are a must for such events.

 

I would *assume* that a healthy CR'ed person might be OK for a marathon so long as you heavily upped your calorie intake before the race and maintain an adequate strength-training regimen while CR'ed. I'm just guessing, though. I think it's very important to ensure that your have healthy muscles (ie; cardiac muscle). Obviously, I think you should be very cautious here if we're talking about real CR.

 

I very, very strongly believe that true CR (or at least whatever humans can realistically achieve) *MUST* be done with meticulousness. If someone were really making the switch from ad-lib to real CR, and *not* monitoring intake with a scale and software, then I would think that vitamin, mineral, and perhaps macronutrient deficiencies are a given. It's worth remebering that plenty of regular old, obesogenic ad-lib diets (more calories than you consume right now) are already deficient. Calories are ubiquitous (ie; sugary drinks, baked goods, junk food, etc); essential nutrients are a bit trickier. If you can't diet, then I'm not sure that CR would be a good choice for you. Then again, you mentioned a food journal, so you're already monitoring your intake.

 

Cutting out the cake and beer would do you good, I'm sure (as it would for anyone). ....though I'd hate to think that those things make up 20% of your daily calories! :P

 

Since your current weight sounds extremely healthy (ie; 20% body fat for a 44-year-old woman), then yes, I would think that it would be your setpoint going forward. Given your 3,000/day calorie intake, it seems obvious that your high activity level is responsible and has to be taken into account...which means that I don't think you'd be consuming near the much lower ranges of many members here (though metabolism is idiosyncratic to a degree, and it would be interesting to know how much a CR'ed female marathoner consumes).

 

As far as supplements; I think most here would agree, a multivitamin doesn't make up for a deficient diet, especially on CR. I think it's important to get as much from food as possible and supplement only where you're short (software like Cron-O-Meter will help you find those shortfalls). I don't know whether or not your diet is deficient (or would be on CR), but there's only one way to find out:

http://www.cronometer.com

You might also want to take a look at the USDA's dietary guidelines, and tailor your diet and supplement regimen accordingly.

http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&tax_level=3&tax_subject=256&topic_id=1342&level3_id=5140

 

Because I come up in short in B12, Calcium, and Zinc, I supplement these. I also make a special point of consuming an omega3 source (ie; flax seed oil, walnuts). All else is from diet.

[Guest Rahul]

where can i donate I love Cron-o-Meter!! Have you thguoht about Andriod development at all? I have personally used the PC version for almost 5 years now and can not live without it!

[ProGhrelin]

where can i donate I love Cron-o-Meter!! Have you thguoht about Andriod development at all? I have personally used the PC version for almost 5 years now and can not live without it!

 

Become a gold member for 50 bucks. You'll get some very nice added features to boot.