Hi It's me again My husband is really enjoying the zone but we're having a hard time figuring out when he should eat his snacks. He eats breaksfast at 7:30 am (5-6 blocks) He eats lunch around 11:30 or 12:00 (5-6 blocks) he eats a snack around 4pm (2 blocks) then he works out with heavy weights around 6:30 (doesn't he need to eat a snack 30 minutes before a workout?) then when he gets home he insists on drinking a big glass of OJ and a protein shake because that's what he's been doing for years( which I'm sure takes him right out of the zone).( who knows how many blocks) I think around 5 Then he eats dinner around 9pm ( 5-6 blocks) then he eats a snack around 10 pm. (2 blocks) He's 210 lbs he's 15 % body fat pretty muscular dude I guess my question is....Doesn't he have to eat a snack 30 minutes before his workout and 30 minutes after his workout? If this is true should he still have an afternnon and late night snack? I'm confused :roll: Dawn

Hi Dawn, [quote:e1c17356ad="dawnsky777"]Hi It's me again My husband is really enjoying the zone but we're having a hard time figuring out when he should eat his snacks. He eats breaksfast at 7:30 am (5-6 blocks) He eats lunch around 11:30 or 12:00 (5-6 blocks) he eats a snack around 4pm (2 blocks) then he works out with heavy weights around 6:30 (doesn't he need to eat a snack 30 minutes before a workout?) then when he gets home he insists on drinking a big glass of OJ and a protein shake because that's what he's been doing for years( which I'm sure takes him right out of the zone).( who knows how many blocks) I think around 5 Then he eats dinner around 9pm ( 5-6 blocks) then he eats a snack around 10 pm. (2 blocks) He's 210 lbs he's 15 % body fat pretty muscular dude I guess my question is....Doesn't he have to eat a snack 30 minutes before his workout and 30 minutes after his workout? If this is true should he still have an afternnon and late night snack? I'm confused :roll: Dawn[/quote:e1c17356ad] He is not to bad. Back in 95 he was ideal at 15% now he is a little overweight with ideal at 12% So he needs to drop 6lbs of fat, big deal, he is fine. To answer your questions It is preferable to eat the snacks before and after workout and Bed, BUT he must take out the blocks from his main meals. A beter spread is good but more food would be bad White Light

no it's not "true" that he has to eat a snack 30 minutes before and 30 minutes "immediately" following a workout. as long as he can sustain his energy levels to workout he is doing ok with his late aftnoon snack. However, over-all he might just do better having his snack closer to his workout, perhaps with 60 minutes of working out, that way he will not feel the urge to carb load with the OJ right after he's finished. instead he can sit down to his 5 block dinner. send your husband over to this site: www.crossfit.com, tell him to check the message boards, there is a lot of excellent information posted about making subtle changes to make the Zone more "athletes" favorable. usually just tweaking and increasing the fat intake a bit will go far in helping him drop the bodyfat below 15% if that is his goal.

Please please please don't direct people to CROSSFIT.... they can get all the zone info they need here, without the bogus exercise influence

Thank You for all your help. It's been very helpful! :)

bogus exercise influence?? please explain. over-all I believe crossfit is one of the best websites out there. excellent diet and exercise advise is contained there.

[quote:65d838c76f="FlaDoc"]bogus exercise influence?? please explain. over-all I believe crossfit is one of the best websites out there. excellent diet and exercise advise is contained there.[/quote:65d838c76f] I'm sorry if I come across as confrontational, but CROSSFIT isn't a good exercise program unless your goal is simply to become proficient at CROSSFIT. For the general population, an exercise progam based on olympic lifting and plyometrics might be the single worst idea that could realistically gain a following. The website may contain good dietary advice, but frankly they are just impersonating Sears' ideas (which I find inappropriate since they are not scientists)

[quote:f542fc029d="BrianG"]I'm sorry if I come across as confrontational...[/quote:f542fc029d] :lol: :lol: Brian, is there any [i:f542fc029d]other[/i:f542fc029d] way you come across?

I don't think they are impersonating Dr. Sears, they are recommending him. I also recommend the Zone concepts to my patients--am I guilty of impersonating anyone? I have also been working out since 1972--hold an MA in exercise physiology and was also a strength and condfitioning coach at a major southeastern university in the early 80's and if taught properly, the olympic lifts are excellent. of course I disagree with some of crossfits ballistic recommendations, definately not for the average deconditioned Joe or Jane, but for those who need explosive aneraobic capacity--mixed martial artists, swat teams and military special ops--some good advise is there to be had.

[quote:2e5a999b1b] I don't think they are impersonating Dr. Sears, they are recommending him. I also recommend the Zone concepts to my patients--am I guilty of impersonating anyone? [/quote:2e5a999b1b] No, nothing wrong with a physician reccommending the Zone to his patients. But it's another thing for a non-scientist with an opinion and a keyboard to read a Zone book and declare himself a nutrition expert, write nutrition articles, and re-hash Sears' principles as if he developed them himself rather than having blindly accepted the arguments and conclusions. [quote:2e5a999b1b] I have also been working out since 1972--hold an MA in exercise physiology and was also a strength and condfitioning coach at a major southeastern university in the early 80's and if taught properly, the olympic lifts are excellent. [/quote:2e5a999b1b] I'm not agianst olympic lifting by any means, but IMO the olympic lifts are way overrated for general application because the benefits are too activity-specific to be valueable for general conditioning.. Certainly the O-lifts do have benefits, but I believe there are more direct ways to achieve most fitness goals- including those that are related to athletics. In any case, my problem with CROSSFIT is not that they reccommend olympic lifting, but rather that the program basically revolves around it and similar activities. Most people have no need for ballistic training, and they would be much better advised to spend their training time doing more basic strength, endurance, and flexibility training. If they need specific conditioning for law enforcement or mixed martial arts, then they can do training that is more specific to the relevant tasks than the olympic lifts and plyometrics. CrossFit basically claims that you have to 'train like an athlete' (read: do ballistic exercises) in order to be healthy. That's bad influence. Furthermore, olympic lifting and plyometrics are dangerous if not properly taught, supervised and progressed. That may be possible within their facility, but these people get most of their following by prescribing daily workouts on thier website! If one person gets hurt trying to teach themselves olympic lifts after visiting the crossfit.com , then they are a bad influence on the general populaiton.

If I may interrupt for just a second.... I don't think there is anything wrong with recommending a site. There are millions of sites that people recommend and I wouldn't necessarily take everyone's advice. From my understanding, this site is for people to chat about the Zone diet and have fun. i don't think there is anything wrong with someone recommneding a site. I didn't look on this site to get professional expert advice. If I did I would be looking elsewhere. I did, however, look on that Crossfit site. I decided it wasn't for me. I did appreciate FlaDoc's recommendation. But, I do have my own opinion and decided it wasn't for me.

I'm not criticizing anyone personally for giving their opinion or endorsing a website. However, I am opposed to the "anything goes as long as it seem right for me" attitude with regard for exercise.