Monday, March 19, 2012

The Myth of the Burn!

"Wow! That was an EPIC practice! Judging by my sweat soaked shirt, we must have burned like a million calories!! Lets look on Ichange.com and see how many calories we burned! Ok I will enter in 2 hours of aerobic exercise. Wow look at that, it says we burned 2500 calories! We are so awesome! We TOTALLY deserve some pizza and beer now because clearly we burned at least that much during our practice!"

We all do this, either weekly or at least every once in a while. We assume that 1) the internet knows everything 2) a sweaty shirt = massive calorie burn. As a result, we decide to reward our awesome athletic workout with a bunch of trash that does nothing good for an athlete's body. Two things to watch out for as you work on building your endurance, getting lean, and increasing strength:

1. You do not burn as many calories as you think you do.
2. Crap food as a reward for a job well done.


Ok, lets talk calories out vs calories in. We do not BURN a cheese burger on the track. Our body burns carbs, fats, and proteins at different rates and I promise you, you did NOT burn enough fat during your workout to make that cheese burger and fries at the bar justifiable. Be conscious of using online calorie burning trackers. While we at Derbalife do recommend you track your calorie/food intake as part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and nutrition program (get me as your FREE online coach and log your food by using this link www.ichange.com/user/krissykrash to track food and progress, mobile site is available to!), we want to caution you that online calorie burning programs are NOT accurate. Calories burned varies based on height, weight, exertion, rest times, # of jams skated, BMI, body fat percentage, and amount of lean body mass you carry.

According to Runners Magazine this month, running a 12 minute mile pace for an HOUR burns 470 calories if you are 130 lbs, 582 calories if you are 160 lbs, and 690 calories if you are 190 lbs.  So you can imagine that if you are stop-go-stop-go-stop-go on the track or doing drills with rest in between that you are not going to burn quite as much as you anticipated. Plus if you are actually trying to lose fat/get lean, you would want to consider that these calories are like an extra credit burn! Why eat back the calories you just worked so hard to burn off?


Did you REALLY earn THAT?!?!? We all do it. Practice is over, you head home or to the bar and you convince yourself that you totally earned that burrito, pitcher of beer, pint of ice cream, ____insert crap food here___.

But here is the deal. You are an athlete. Your body is getting beat to crap and dumping junk in after practice doesn't help your recovery time, nor does it make those lift and separates look any better in that next bout photo. So that being said, food is awesome and yummy and yes we do deserve a treat for a job well done but keep it in check. Life and health are about balance. Find things you love but that wont do too much damage if you have them from time to time. Skinny Cow is my go to treat if I want to indulge. Most times though, after practice I will mix up a Formula 1 shake with added protein, or I will have a Rebuild Strength shake because it satisfies my sweet tooth and helps my body to recover faster or if I want salty I will roll up spinach inside of Turkey Deli slices for a perfect recovery treat. YUM!

If I do end up out with my team, I order a salad with chicken if they have it or if all else fails a few protein packed chicken wings and celery are waaaay better than high fat high carb pizza or nachos.


What is all boils down to is that you are an athlete. You practice hard, you focus, and you want to stay strong and injury free. A key piece of that is keeping your self nourished. Making sure you hit your Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins and minerals to keep your body healthy on a cellular level, getting the right balance of carbs/protein/fat, watching those calories. If you take care of your body and treat it well, you will have an amazing successful, ass kicking life in roller derby for many years to come! 




Want me as your FREE online coach with a great food log/progress tracker program? www.ichange.com/user/krissykrash to track food and progress - mobile site is available to!

Its like facebook meets food log! Great for anyone who wants to track their food, lose/gain/maintain weight, or to stay accountable.

Register for free, connect with me for a free nutrition profile, and join the All Derby Drills group on ichange to connect with other skaters around the world!



This is Krissy Krash, signing off! You can always hit me up with questions, for advice, to give feed back, or for a free nutrition and performance profile at krissykrash.derbalife@gmail.com


Ready to get your ass in gear? Get 10% off www.goherbalife.com/krissykrash by using the coupon code  AllDerbyDrills 


3 comments:

  1. I wore my heart rate monitor at a few practices- I burned on average 1200 over two hours. At open skate I burned 1500 in three hours. Just thought I put my two cents in! Also, I'm 5'7" and when I did it, I was around 195lbs.

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  2. Calories burned are not the same as calories consumed. You didnt burn an #11 at McDonalds just becuase your heart rate monitor said 1500 calories.

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  3. If you wear you heart rate monitor how do you really know how much you burned. I do not wear it to know how much I can indulge but I want to know that I am burning enough to get lean. I eat extremely healthy and just want to get build muscle mass and maintain my body type. I weigh around 138, 5'6''. I have a athletes body of muscle so I weigh more than I look.

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