We’re talking nutrition again today with the folks at InsideTracker. Read below for some common nutrient imbalances they see, and how you can find out how nourished you really are. 

By Perrin Braun, InsideTracker

If you could look under the hood to what’s going on inside of your body, you might be surprised by what you find. Many people—even elite professional and Olympic athletes—who seem “healthy” may actually have some biochemical issues that affect their performance.

We see this a lot at Inside Tracker.  We use a simple blood test to measure up to 20 blood biomarkers that can serve as a guide to your well being and athletic performance.

We’ve seen lots of blood, and in the process have come across some biomarkers that are out of range among a lot of our clients. We’ve listed them below, and included some information on what they mean for your health and performance, as well as how to restore the imbalances

Common imbalances

Vitamin D  and Calcium – Low levels of each of these can increase the risk of low bone mineral density and stress fractures. Vitamin D is essential for bone health because your body needs it to absorb calcium. It also regulates the development and maintenance of the nervous system and of skeletal muscle. Calcium plays an integral role in the growth, maintenance, and repair of bone tissue, maintenance of blood calcium levels, regulation of muscle contraction, nerve conduction, and normal blood clotting. Dairy products like milk, yogurt, and cheese are famous for being good sources of calcium, but you can also eat more leafy green vegetables (think kelp and spinach), dried beans, and legumes to improve your levels!  To improve your vitamin D levels, eat more fatty fish (such as sardines, mackerel, and salmon), egg yolks, butter, beef liver, cheese, and fish oil. Some foods, such as milk, yogurt, cereal, and orange juice, are now fortified with vitamin D, so be sure to check the label of your favorite foods to see if they contain vitamin D! 

Hemoglobin and Ferritin–Hemoglobin is a protein that is partially composed of iron and found mainly in red blood cells. Ferritin is a protein that stores iron, and therefore it is a good marker for the amount of iron in the body. Hemoglobin transfers oxygen to the muscles, brain and other organs, and helps the body to convert carbohydrates and fat into forms of energy. If you don’t have enough hemoglobin, your muscles will not get optimal amounts of oxygen and your body won’t use energy as efficiently when you run. Why might you be low in iron? During intense workouts, you lose iron through sweat, and runners also lose iron through gastrointestinal bleeding. Pre-menopausal female athletes are at an especially increased risk for low iron and hemoglobin levels because of blood losses during menstruation.  And many people simply don’t eat enough iron-rich foods, such as red meat, rice, wheat, oats, nuts, dark leafy greens, and beans.

Vitamin B12 – A quarter of InsideTracker customers found they had too much vitamin B12 in their blood. The body uses vitamin B12 to create new blood cells and to maintain its nervous system, but too much can cause symptoms like rashes, headache, nausea, and chest discomfort. You can find plenty of vitamin B₁₂ in animal products such as meat, eggs, cheese, shellfish, and also in some fortified breakfast cereals, so if you’re eating these foods, you probably have enough. It’s likely that InsideTracker customers and many athletes had high B12 from taking unnecessary multivitamins and vitamin B12 supplements, or consuming energy drinks that are extremely rich in vitamin B12.

Creatine kinase–Creatine kinase (CK) is an enzyme found primarily in muscle tissue. It is located only inside healthy muscle cells, and any presence in the blood means that muscle cells have been damaged and some or all of the content has leaked into the blood. Athletes who exercise when their levels of CK are very high are at risk of cramping during exercise and even serious injury. To repair muscle damage, your body needs protein, which is made up of amino acids, the building blocks for your muscles. You can find lean sources of protein in soy, chicken, beans, and legumes.

How can you get started with InsideTracker?

Of course, everyone’s blood is different. You may be experiencing some of these oddities yourself, but the best way to know is to get analyzed and tested. InsideTracker  uses what’s called an “optimal zone” in the blood analysis—a number that is specific to each person, taking into account his or her own unique demographic information such as age, gender, ethnicity, activity level, as well as lifestyle and performance goals. We determined the optimal zones for each marker based on the latest peer-reviewed scientific research. 

Once you’ve gotten your exact results, we help recommend a path toward improving them, through diet (we have a database of 7500 food items you can find in your local grocery store), supplements, or tweaks in exercise and training.

If you’re a RunKeeper user who’s living in the U.S., you can purchase an InsideTracker plan that includes a blood test, or you can take advantage of the “do it yourself” (DIY) plan, which allows you to enter your most recent blood tests results from your primary care physician. By improving your biomarkers, you can help to boost your endurance and speed! Who doesn’t want that?

Perrin is a nutrition and public health graduate student at Tufts University. In her spare time, she enjoys running, hot yoga, and thinking about her next meal.

InsideTracker is a Boston-area company provides blood analysis services and software to help you find the best food to fit your nutrition needs. We were excited to pick their brains on nutrition for us athletes and runners. Read on for their list of good recovery snacks, and the science behind them!

By Perrin Braun, InsideTracker

Healthful eating after a tough workout helps your body maximize the benefits that are gained from exercise, which means that you can get even stronger and faster just by eating right. The problem is, it can be hard to know what a good recovery snack looks like! 

Here are some ideas for healthy protein, carbohydrate, and fat, combinations to munch on after a workout: (We’ll get into the science behind all this further down).

• Peanut butter, honey, and banana on whole-grain bread
• Lean chicken with whole-wheat pasta
• Hummus and pita bread
• Dried fruit and nuts
• Tuna and wheat crackers
• Egg and cheese sandwich
• Greek yogurt with mixed berries

What happens to your body during exercise?

When you exercise, the muscle fibers in your body start to break down. Damaged muscle cells release an enzyme called Creatine Kinase (CK) into the blood. The level of CK in your blood shows how much your muscles and skeletal system have been worked during exercise.  If your blood levels of CK are high, pay close attention to what you’re eating after a workout. (The InsideTracker blood analysis can help measure your CK levels, as well as about 20 other important blood biomarkers that can give you better insight into what you should be eating.)

Plenty of carbohydrates after a workout are an absolute must.  Hard exercise causes the glycogen stores in your body to be depleted, so your body won’t have enough energy to begin the recovery/muscle growth process unless you refuel those stores. A post-workout meal or snack that is high in carbohydrates provides this essential fuel and gives your muscles time to build. Without that carbohydrate boost, your body will convert fat and protein from your muscle tissues to usable energy, which means that your recovery will take even longer. The ratio of carbohydrates to protein in your post-workout food should be high: 3:1 or 4:1.

To repair muscle damage, your body also needs protein, which is made up of amino acids, the building blocks for your muscles. An adequate supply of protein will help your muscles recover from all the stress that’s placed on them, especially after doing weight-bearing exercise, such as running.

Some athletes are afraid of fat, but cutting it out of your diet completely can actually hinder athletic performance. Fat helps provide fuel for the body. If your workouts typically last more than an hour, the body uses fats for energy after your glucose supply has been depleted. Pay attention to the type of fat you consume, though! Saturated and trans fats can be detrimental to your overall health, but essential fatty acids (found in fish and certain types of oils) play a critical role in muscle recovery by helping to regulate oxygen, hormone restoration, cardiovascular health, and immune system integrity.

And whole foods are ultimately the best source of this nutrition, giving you the nutrients you need while avoiding the processing and additives commonly found in post-workout supplements, like protein shakes and nutrition bars.  

Finally, you’ll also need to hydrate your body correctly in order to recover from a workout. Exercise causes your body to lose fluids and important vitamins and minerals, especially if you sweat a lot. However, if you’re a long-distance or endurance athlete and your workouts last more than 60 minutes, you may need more than just water to replenish your body’s fluids. Failing to replace sodium lost during extended exercise or on very hot days can have serious health consequences, so endurance athletes should make sure they replenish their bodies with 80 - 100 mg sodium per quart of liquid and 100 - 300 mg sodium per hour from other sources.

Sports drinks are one way to replenish your sodium. After you have been exercising intensely for an hour, drink about 20 ounces of a sports drink for each hour that you exercise. Choose your sports drink carefully; some brands are expensive and can also contain as much sugar as a can of soda! If you’re watching your wallet, but still enjoy the taste of sports drinks, you can make them at home for a small percentage of the cost. For instance, you can mix 100 milliliters of orange juice concentrate with 1 liter of water and a pinch (or 1/8 teaspoon) of salt. Supplementing your fluid intake with a handful of pretzels (which works out to about 10 small pretzels, or one serving) with salt can also work just as well.

Does that help? What’s your go-to workout recovery snack? And what areas of running nutrition do you still feel like you have big questions about? We’d love to answer them in future installments!  

 Perrin is a nutrition and public health graduate student at Tufts University. In her spare time, she enjoys running, hot yoga, and thinking about her next meal.

Name: Stephanie Empson
Location: Bellingham, WA
Starting/Current/Goal Weight: 277 pounds/220 pounds/140 pounds
Starting/Current A1C (3-month blood sugar avg): 8.5/5.3
Miles Tracked: 700
Calories Burned: 102,000+
Mission: To gain a healthier, more fit lifestyle.

I have had weight problems most of my life, but my latest journey started in April 8th 2012. It was a Friday and my boyfriend and I had plans to go to the drive-in, about an hour and a half away from our home.  I had not felt all that good for most of the day, but still wanted to go to the movies. So I never said anything to him about not feeling good.  I know I know—not a smart thing to do…

Let me give you a little background on me: I am an ex fire and rescue volunteer, I lost my job in 2009; I went to college for two years (really packed on the weight) and still had not found employment. I am also currently a CPR/First-Aid trainer, so you would think I would have made a better choice that day, but I didn’t.

My symptoms that day felt like they could be a cardiac event, so I monitored my pulse and took it easy most of the day. I had strange sensations in my chest and a feeling that my heart kept stopping and starting.

We watched two of the three movies, ate popcorn, hotdogs and other junk food and decided to head home.  As we got closer, I decided to go to emergency room.  

Upon arrival at the ER I was rushed to a room and was hooked up to various monitors.  Many hours later we were told it was not a cardiac event (much to our relief), but they asked if I knew that I was a diabetic, and I said no. My blood sugar was 360+ and my A1C (a three-month average of my blood sugars) was 8.5. A good reading is under 6.

The entire event scared me straight, so to speak. I started monitoring my foods and I got off my butt and started moving. My starting weight for this journey was 277 pounds.

I found two programs that I use without fail: RunKeeper to monitor my exercise and MyFitnessPal to monitor my eating. I had seen friends post their exercise on Facebook using RunKeeper and had used it some since January 2012, by some I mean VERY little.

I had recorded a whole 9.7 miles in January, 10.3 in February, and March took a total dive to a whopping 2 miles. Then there was the little trip to the ER and I ended April with 15.5 miles of walking.  In May, I got moving and walked 50 miles, and in June I had a total of 57.9 miles, between a little elliptical, cycling, and mostly walking.

At my three-month checkup in July, my A1C was down to 6.5 and I was down 25 pounds. (YES!!! all my hard work is paying off)

I continued to crank up the miles, and in September alone, I logged 124.9 miles. WOW!!!

That month I had my six-month check and my A1C is down to 5.4. (SWEET, this is working!!!) By this point, I had lost a total of 46 pounds.  My doctor took me off the blood pressure meds—success! Another three months and many more miles flew by, and on New Year’s Eve I had my nine-month check. My A1C is down to 5.3, and I am ecstatic that my hard work has totally paid off! I am down 57 pounds and can now ditch my diabetic medication.

So far, I have traveled 700 miles, burned more than 102,000 calories, and lost 57 pounds. I try to keep it to 1400 calories a day and try REALLY hard not to eat back calories I have burned during exercise, which RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal help me keep track of. Between these two programs I have improved my health, gotten in shape, lost weight and dropped five pant sizes. My current weight is 220 pounds. Who would have thought?

It is a new year and I still have a ways to go, and I am taking RunKeeper with me to the end and beyond.

Thank you for reading my journey.

Here’s an eclectic mix of health- and running-related headlines that we came across this week.  

• Work or exercise—which do you choose? This author writes that she picks both, and blocks out a good chunk of her day for walking or hiking meetings. 

• Former Olympian and current sports commentator Summer Sanders is regularly dishing out some running inspiration over on ESPN.com. In her latest post, she breaks down running nutrition into some very simple, common sense principles. Check ‘em out! 

• On the mobile health tracking front, a company called Glooko has brought its diabetes-monitoring app to the U.S. 

• In weird running gear news, this chain-mail footwear is said to feel like barefoot running without the pain, and improves your posture. Thoughts? Will they be replacing your regular shoes any time soon? 

• And if more traditional apparel is your thing, here are some tips on how to bundle up to survive those winter runs. 

Between all the New Year’s resolutions buzz, the new gadgets being introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show, and everyone looking to start 2013 off right, this was a busy week in health and fitness news. Here are some things we thought you might enjoy: 

• One group of doctors in California have taken to prescribing patients exercise first before any other treatments, and that often does the trick. Yay for exercise making the world a healthier place!  

• We’ve all heard how low the failure rate is for New Year’s resolutions. This Forbes reporter offers good advice for keeping one of the most popular resolutions of losing weight. We’re jazzed that she mentions RunKeeper as one of the tools to help make sure you don’t overcompensate for calories after exercising. 

• Looking for the energy to get through the work day and work out too? Be sure you’re packing carbs, healthy fats, and lean protein into every meal, says SELF Magazine. They’ve even put together a handy guide of meal examples to nail that formula. 

• There were plenty of health- and fitness-focused gadgets that made their debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, but a few made particularly big waves. One is Samsung’s refrigerator with a built-in LCD screen for pulling up a shopping list or recipe using Evernote. The other was the HAPIfork, which vibrates when you’re eating too fast (pictured above). Whatcha think? Are either for you? 

• Our partner GymPact released this infographic showing the awesome boost in activity among RunKeepers who made a pact to exercise. Money is a powerful motivation, people. 

Stay tuned for next week’s health, fitness, and tech news roundup. And if you read anything particularly interesting on these subjects, feel free to send it our way!

As usual, people rounded the corner heading into the new year by starting out strong!

Only this year things were particularly strong—the number of fitness activities done using RunKeeper was up 75 percent in this past week, versus the week right before the holidays (ending December 23rd). There were more than 700,000 activities tracked, and you collectively racked up more than 2.24 million miles (approx. 3.6 million kilometers) in this past week! Way to go, everyone!

But don’t stop there! We know statistically that, out of all the New Year’s resolutions that are set, only 12% of them will actually be achieved. This is not OK! You can even tell when you go to your local health club; it’s packed for the first two weeks of the new year and then quickly goes back down to normal levels once people slip back into their regular routines. 

Let’s make this the year that those resolutions stick! Here are a few tips to help make them a reality:

• Set an annual mileage goal on RunKeeper, so you can monitor your progress in the app as the year goes on
• Follow a training plan to help you get there, so you know what to do each and every day to push the ball forward 
• As you finish one workout, set a reminder to notify you when it is time for the next one
• If you’re feeling really daring, set up a pact using GymPact, and put some money on the line! In fact, recent data shows that GymPact helped RunKeepers bump up their number of workouts per week by 64%! 
• Or integrate your RunKeeper with Lose it! or ShapeUp Club, so you can keep track of your calorie intake alongside of your calories burned.

For those of you that do set annual goals in RunKeeper, it will be fun to look back at the end of the year and see how we did together towards achieving them! We’re all a big family here at RunKeeper, so let’s work together to turn those success rates on their head.

Any other tips to stay accountable that we missed? Share them in the comments below.

We can do this!

Image via kharied

We know, we know, it’s not even Christmas yet, and we’re already seeing talk of New Year’s resolutions everywhere. If you can’t be them, join them, right? 

We’ve rounded up a list of articles on the subject that we thought were helpful, thought-provoking, or just plain funny. We especially like funny when it comes to this subject, because it seems to be a touchy one for all!  

Resolve to make a resolution you’ll actually enjoy completing. Physician Yoni Freedhoff attributes the high failure rate of New Year’s Resolutions to the fact that most people make ones they don’t actually like. (U.S. News & World Report)

Take a full month to set a realistic plan for acheiving your resolution before daring to start on it, says the personal trainer Michelle Bridges. (Stuff.co.NZ)

Get your phone on board. For those looking for a little help from their phone, The Street rounds up apps from publishers like Jillian Michaels and Evernote. (TheStreet.com)

“Exercise once a year, but talk about it all year.” That’s just one of the hilarious resolutions actress Megan Mullally has committed to. (InStyle)

Last year, this UK gal resolved to run a marathon for a charity close to her heart. ”Every new year I would make resolutions to stop eating chocolate and junk food or lose weight so I decided to change my approach and pledge to try doing something meaningful. It’s turned out to be the only resolution I’ve ever kept.” (This Is Sussex)

And for a good laugh, here’s a fun one comparing celebrating the New Year’s to the Mayan Apocalypse that’s supposedly impending. (ThoughtCatalog.com)

‘Tis the season to be jolly (you know how the song goes). But a calendar chock full of holiday celebrations means a lot less time to stick to healthy routines and lots more temptation to load up on junk food. So what’s one to do to stay in shape? We enlisted registered dietitian Elizabeth Jarrard, part of the expert network at Greatist, to share some of her top tips on how to eat throughout this party-heavy, travel-laden season.

1. Don’t skip any meals
“Around a Christmas party, there’s a temptation to skip breakfast and quote-unquote skip calories,” Elizabeth notes.  “That sets you up for failure; you walk into the room starving and want to eat everything in site.”

Instead, be sure to eat healthy meals throughout the day, she suggests. “Each of those meals should be a blend of protein and healthy fats with carbohydrates—small satiating meals throughout the day so you don’t arrive at a party starving,” says Elizabeth.

2. Hydrate
Though you may not be as thirsty as you are during the sweltering summer heat, water is a great aid in healthy eating, Elizabeth says. “Hydrating is super important because it can help to regulate the metabolism,” she explains.

It’s also your best friend when drinking alcohol at those soirees.  “Having a glass of water in between every drink is going to help the hangover. Around the holidays it’s especially hard to remember that,” she says.

3. Let someone else do the work for you
“Now that it’s dark, there’s a lot less motivation to run to the grocery store to get meals you need. It’s a lot easier to order takeout when it’s nasty out and not really prioritize your health,” Elizabeth says. Amen, sister.

Grocery shopping with this in mind is key, she says. “Trader Joes and Whole Foods are great because they already have things cut up. For some people, just the act of cutting a vegetable is too annoying, so if you can have someone else do the work for you, it makes it way easier.”

4. Fill up with those veggies
Speaking of vegetables, “at holiday parties, I encourage people to try to get one-third to one-half of their plate full of vegetables, and let the heavier things take up the other half,” Elizabeth says. “Vegetables will help to fill you up before they fill you out. That’s my favorite quote.”

5. All things in moderation
“I don’t believe in depravation or totally cutting something out,” Elizabeth says. “If you have the urge to do it, that thing becomes a lot easier to eat once you’ve had a couple drinks.”

6. Eggnog=total bomb
If you’re up to the challenge, though, Elizabeth does have some ideas on what’s worth saying no to. “If I had to pick something you should avoid, it’s things like eggnog. That’s a total bomb.”

7. Meals on the road
“I definitely recommend bringing trail mix or bars that you really like. I like Larabar and KIND bars,” Elizabeth suggests. “They’re pretty minimally processed, and have good protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates. It’s about planning ahead and having snacks you can easily eat on the road: carrots and hummus, whole wheat crackers, Laughing Cow cheese or string cheese.”

For those that aren’t quite so prepared, she suggests heading to the Starbucks at the airport or rest stop. “They’re always going to have a Greek yogurt parfait and fruit and nuts for breakfast. If you eat meat, their eggs and English muffin things are pretty reasonable for a fast food item.”

8. Forgive yourself
Let’s say you don’t exactly stick to all, or any of these tips. Don’t punish yourself, Elizabeth advises. “The holiday season is difficult for a lot of people, it’s important that none of us beat ourselves up about it,” she says. “If you feel guilty, skipping meals the next day is not going to help anyone get better. Forgiveness is key in the holiday season, in many ways.”

9. Set realistic expectations for the New Year
“Once you’re done with that big New Year’s Eve celebration, it’s about going back to the fundamentals: smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day, lean proteins, and getting back into fruits and vegetables and complex carbs,” Elizabeth advises.

We’re all about setting healthy, attainable goals for the New Year, so stay tuned for much more to come on this subject! And we’ll be back tomorrow with some fitness tips, as part two of this healthy holiday guide.

Author, entrepreneur, and hacker extraordinaire Tim Ferriss has taken his obsession for optimizing just about everything in life to a new daunting area: the kitchen. Perfect timing for those of us celebrating Thanksgiving, right?  His new book The 4-Hour Chef is about mastering cooking and much of life beyond it. 

Read below for a Q&A with Ferriss himself. 

And not only do we have some great insights from Ferriss, we have 20 books to give away to the RunKeeper community!

Here’s how to win:

RunKeeper: What inspired you to tackle the subject of cooking for your latest book? How does it play off insights you share in your two previous titles?

Tim Ferriss: I was a culinary idiot my whole life, which was part of the reason I wanted to tackle cooking—it was something I was terrible at. Both my previous books came from shared problems with uncommon solutions. Too much email, too much fat, not enough time to do anything about it. With cooking, everyone has the desire to be good at it but their enthusiasm seems to hit a brick wall, myself included. I set out to figure out how to get over it.

RK: How do you go from not even liking cooking to mastering it? How can this be applied to other things, like fitness?

TF: As they say in one of my favorite books, “bird by bird.” First I went through and studied all I could about the subject, not just from books but from the masters. What I realized was that there were all sorts of artificial barriers. Cooking was made to be hard, instead of creative. Then I realized that cooking wasn’t made to be done in a vacuum. It’s not about ingredients, it’s a way of living. That’s what inspired me to pursue some of the more enjoyable chapters to write in the WILD section—which are about getting in touch with the world around you.

RK: You’ve made a name for yourself in lifestyle hacking—what are some cooking hacks we can expect to see in this book?

How to cook Michelin 2 star sea bass in your bathroom sink. How to go from burning scrambled eggs to cooking Osso Buco. Everything from how to taste to how to cut to how to enjoy the time you spend in the kitchen.

RK: Using technology in a hyper-efficient and breakthrough way played a big role in The 4-Hour Work Week. What part does tech play in your exploration of cooking and eating?

TF: If you’re not using the right tools, you’re going to be expending unnecessary effort. I spent a lot of time testing and comparing and trying all the tools out there. I’m not a fan of tech for tech’s sake so often times I find that the low tech tools are the best (for instance, how to have a clam back using a garbage can) but what I look for are the tools that give you a competitive advantage. In the book I don’t just say what you need to do but also what gear makes it the easiest to do.

RK: Your books have been all about pushing the envelope and intense experimentation. Let’s say someone isn’t interested in, say, cooking a sea bass in the bathroom sink. What are the key things they can take away from your book?

TF: How to learn, period. This is the book for people who don’t buy cookbooks…and that includes people who don’t plan to cook. To me, cooking is a metaphor. If you can take this thing that is supposed to be difficult, that you’ve never been able to do, and by focusing on a few simple leverage points, get to world class in a matter of weeks, then you can do anything. So I apply that mindset in the book to all sorts of subjects from languages to swimming to hunting. I hope people take away a passion for learning and a reminder to enjoy life.

RK: What happens if you spend five (not four) hours a week on something?

TF: By all means! The point of my philosophy is to eliminate needless time spent on things you don’t enjoy, so you can spend more time on the things you do enjoy. If cooking or fitness happen to be things you’re deeply passionate about, spend every waking hour on them. It just happens that most people don’t like spending every waking hour at the office or answering email.

What do you think RunKeepers? What are you looking to master? What tools do you need to get there? 

What should you do you do when you burn lots of Calories?

You eat as many Calories as you can to make up for the one’s you burned, right?

Well, not exactly…On this episode of RunKeeper TV, Jenna Bell RD, PhD. explains some guidelines for managing weight as a runner, and how compensation can lead to weight gain, if you don’t pay close attention to what you eat.

This is a must-watch for anyone’s who’s struggled with weight issues during training. Don’t miss this one!

Part 1

0:00-1:00 Welcome - Jenna Bell, PhD, RD1:00-1:30 Comments and questions from the community; perfect place to start1:30-2:30 How do you manage weight or lose weight if you’re running?2:30-4:00 Compensation; if you’re exercising frequently, you may also be increasing energy intake.4:00-5:00 Females are really good at compensating, can make weight loss more difficult.

Part 20:00-1:30 Differentiation between starvation, hunger and fatigue1:30-2:30 Derailing your diet with too many Calories2:00-3:00 Fueling your workouts with carbohydrates3:00-4:00 Recover realistically (Peter Reid mention)4:00-5:00 Over-eating as a recovery

Part 30:00-1:00 Practical planning by having foods you like to eat available1:00-1:30 Save liquid Calories for your run, avoid sugar sweetened beverages1:30-2:30 Portion control2:30-3:00 Cut out the junk to lose weight; don’t sabotage3:00-4:00 Yeah, but I run! I can eat whatever I want.

FOLLOW JENNA ON TWITTER @JennaBellPhDRD

Do you have ideas for the next episode of RunKeeper TV with Jenna? We’d love to hear your feedback in the comments section below!