Hi, I’ve decided to try out the new three stage gatorade hydration system advertised so much on tv. Just had a few questions.
Decided to drink all three stages during my 3 mile walk. Then I noticed that I’m consuming a little over 400 calories in gatorade. Is this making my walk useless now as far as weightloss goes? Or will the calories be processed differently being a liquid.
Also, living in a high heat and humidity climate I realize the need for hydration. However, have there been any studies confirming any benefits from this product? Specifically the three stage thing, not gatorade in general.
It is making your walk more than useless for weight loss except for building up some muscle. You will gain weight from it if you do it over a long period of time and don’t make other serious eating adjustments. The human body is remarkably efficient and hardly anyone can exert enough energy consistently to just casually take on extra calories in that manner. Run the numbers yourself through an online calorie calculator to see how the energy in/energy out calculation balances out for 400 extra calories. The amount of exertion you need to burn that off is astounding and most people do not understand that.
Gatorade is fundamentally flavored sugar water and, despite the current trends, you don’t need to stock up on glucose and various electrolytes to make it safely to the end of your neighborhood and back unless you consider your neighborhood to be the entire Mohave desert.
Gatorade is very good at marketing. What they don’t tell you is that you probably don’t need more then water unless you’re doing hours of hard physical exertion. As said, you’re probably drinking more calories during your walk then your burning.
Yeah, Gatorade might be called for if you’re playing professional rugby for hours in the heat. It’s almost certainly unnecessary if you are going for a walk, no matter how hot it is. Drink water.
I’m a long distance runner and I agree that you don’t need any kind of sports drink during a 3 mile walk. 3 miles takes about 300 calories so drinking 400 calories of whatever is a net gain.
IIRC most people don’t really start depleting their sugars and salts until after about an hour of vigorous activity.
Some people tend to stay hydrated better using sports drink because they prefer the taste and if that keeps them taking in fluids during prolonged exertion, OK - drinking a little too much Gatorade beats dehydrating, but that’s just not an issue on a short walk.
There are also a number of extremely low or zero-calorie electrolyte solutions on the market. I tried NUUN tablets and don’t care for them but some folks love that stuff - on my long runs I bring plain old Gatorade, I need the calories and the sugar and salt works for me. Try them out and see what you like (any running store or REI carries a selection).
I really struggle with hydration - I happily run 6-10 miles training with (generally) no additional hydration (I chew a bit of gum to keep my mouth from drying out). In an actual race I’ll take on a bit of fluid after about 10km, but not before. And I sweat pretty profusely. I will drink slowly and eat following the workout, and my electronic scales tell me I have good hydration, so I could not imagine spending actual money on expensive hydration products. However, I don’t think I could drink enough to recover lost weight - I can drop over a kg during a good workout, and I would struggle (and be up all night) if I drank a litre after an evening workout. It obviously eventually balances out over the day, though.
There was an interesting radio show on the BBC (Case Notes 19/5/2010, only available to Listen Again in the UK, sadly) covering this very topic.
You can also mix your own on the cheap. Most recipes involve some sort of flavored koolaid packet (with or without sugar, your preference), and a bit of various salts (table salt, “low-sodium salt substitute”, and baking soda). Google “sports drink recipe” to find more.
As other posters have mentioned, electrolytes are important if you’re severely dehydrated – but that’s really only a consideration after hours of heavy exertion in hot, dry weather. Sugar water does help performance a bit for athletes, especially after the body is depleted of easily accessible sugars and has to break down fats for energy. There’s a bit of an unconscious effect as well; athletes have slightly increased performance after swishing and spitting out some sugary sport drink. The idea is that your body learns that it’s getting a fresh supply of energy, and will then allow you to perform harder.
Depending on how big you are, a 3-mile walk isn’t going to burn all that many calories - maybe 200 or so, give or take (the larger you are, the more you’ll burn, so that’s a really rough estimate, based on the fact that I’d burn maybe 150-200 in that time, depending on how fast I was going).
As far as the calories being processed differently - you consumed 400 calories, and you’ll likely still be hungry almost as soon as if you’d had just water. If you ate 400 calories worth of actual food, you’ll be full for much longer.
If your goal is weight loss, avoid sugary drinks like gatorade and juices. They don’t do much for you in terms of nutrition - you can get all the vitamins in juices from whole fruits that will actually do something for hunger for fewer calories.
ETA: which isn’t to say that sports drinks don’t have their uses, but their not a good weight loss tool, and they’re generally not necessary unless you’re in a situation where you’ll get very dehydrated (like hours in the heat), or are an athlete.
Unless we’re talking power walking any serious muscle building is highly doubtful. I used to be accustomed to walking up to 10 miles at a stretch but I’d have been hard pressed to break into a jog for a single city block without my lungs heaving for air, and my legs would have never been mistaken for a swimmer’s or a cyclist’s. Not to piss on anyone’s parade or anything, but in this context it’s worth pointing out how low stress walking is on the exercising totem pole, because yes, it probably does take a shitload of walking to burn off 400 calories.
You can get generally fit and trim mainly from walking but that isn’t the way from the way most Americans walk. I have done it off and on for years and it is my main form of exercise but a lap around the mall at a shopper’s pace isn’t going to cut it. I am talking about 4 - 6 miles a day at the fastest pace you can reasonably maintain but you don’t have to make it an official workup either. It isn’t much different than jogging in that regard. It doesn’t take any special technique though. You just have to push yourself over time walking faster and picking routes that have things that have things like hills and stairs. I thought that I was as good and fast a walker as I could be until I did a 26 mile marathon walk around Boston in a time faster than many people run it. I was really sore and beaten down the next day. That is the key to all exercise though. You just just have to make it sustainable and enjoyable and push yourself a little harder each time but not by much.
It used to be that when you were thirsty you drank, or maybe if you knew you were going to be thirsty you might drink beforehand if that was more convenient. That seemed to work pretty good. Now it’s got much harder because you need to comply with complex three stage hydration systems using carefully formulated beverages that I don’t understand or use. How I remain alive I’m sure I don’t know. And get off my lawn.
Contrary to Gatorade’s marketing schpiel (and that of the other “sports drinks”), “what your body’s thirsty for” is WATER!
The “electrolytes” (read “salt”) and sugar MAY be needed to replenish those lost in a long, exhausing workout, but even then, one usually gets plenty in the food you eat.