Losing weight by dieting is important just as exercising is to keep the weight off and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Diets are hard because they restrict food and being a vegetarian, I’m pretty limited in my food choices. Making leaves taste good will be a struggle, as it is already but I’ll try to eat more salad, tomatoes, and all those power fruits like berries, apples and grapes.

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Now you must be having problems going up and down stairs, walking fast, whole body is aching and feels really beat up.  Here are some tips to help you with a speedy recovery because I know you want to get back out there running your heart out.  On average it will take 2-3 weeks after the marathon to fully recover.

5 Recovery Tips The Minute You Cross The Finish Line

1. Start walking.  Walk 10-15 minutes to get your legs and breathing back to normal.  It will be painful, but continue to walk throughout the day for 15 minutes.
2. Refuel muscles with meals that include carbs, protein and sodium.  For example, you can eat peanut butter sandwich, banana and gatorade.   If you cannot eat after a race, you can opt for recovery drinks such as Hammer RECOVERITE, CLIF SHOT Recovery, PowerBar Recovery, V8, chocolate milk; most available at your local grocery store.  Check out other Recovery drinks available.
3. Drink lots of water.
4. To reduce the inflammation soak your legs in tub of cold ice water or shower your legs with cold water.  Another option to reduce inflammation in your legs is to go for a soothing salt bath.
5. Sleep and get lots of rest.
   

Recovery Tips for Day After Your Marathon

1. Go for a massage or see the chiropractor.
2. There are products such as The Marathon Stick and Foam Rollers that allow you to do deep tissue massages for hamstrings, calves, thighs and hips yourself.
3. Do light hamstring and calve stretches to loosen your muscles.  Wear comfortable shoes, your feet will be sore.
4. Eat enough for recovery but try not to eat too much to gain unnecessary weight.

Recovery Tips Days After Running Your Marathon

1. The worse thing you can do for marathon recovery is to stop exercising.  A few days after your marathon should be an active resting period, but there should be no running.
2. Consider doing low impact exercises such as yoga, biking, walking or swimming which are great to keep your legs an body moving.
3. After week of active resting, you can start to reverse taper your marathon regime.
4. Start off slow and short and gradually get your legs, lungs and brain ready for another season of running.  If you start to feel pain in your legs or knees, stop and rest.  Keep your running intensity low for at least three weeks.

Giving your body adequate time to heal is best way for recovery and prevent long term injuries in the future.  Remember to always have fun and enjoy your downtime.

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Protein

A female vegetarian runner needs all the above essential vitamins plus 150% more protein than non-runners.  Protein is one of the 21 essential amino acids your body needs to function and is food for your muscles.  This means you and I cannot solely survive on bagels, potatoes and pasta.  You need some protein in your diet to help recover and repair small tears in the muscle fibers caused by endurance running. The protein recommendation for runners is .5 to .7 grams per pound of body weight (so a 110-pound female runner should consume about 55 to 77 grams a day).

Eating greens have a lower energy content and lower protein quality than meat proteins.   Meat and fish have all the essential amino acids and are high quality proteins.   If you restrict those foods from your diet, it is important to eat different plant proteins to get different amino acids to ensure your body has all its requirements.

Some good plant protein to eat are eggs, fish, legumes, peanut butter, milk, nuts, tofu, cheese, and yogurt.

Iron

Iron carries red blood cells to provide oxygen to your body.  Meat and fish products are high in iron and vegetarians don’t get the luxury of these products.  Therefore most vegetarians are iron deficient.  If you don’t get enough iron, there won’t be enough red blood cells carrying oxygen to your body and that’s why after running, vegetarians feel extremely exhausted.

To help female vegetarian runners get more iron, consume vitamin C rich drinks like orange juice with your meals.  Try not to drink tea or coffee with meals as they will interfere with iron absorption.  You can also take  iron supplements, but take as recommended as too much iron can be toxic.  Other iron rich foods are soybeans, lentils, spinach, and beans.

B12 – Dairy products and eggs provide you with sufficient amounts of vitamin B12.

Omega 3 – Lots of products like eggs and milk have omega 3.  Other foods that are high in omega 3 are fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, and lake trout.

I can say that I have lost any weight after become vegetarian because I substitute the foods with others.  But the foods I eat are easier to digest, and have lower fat intake which makes my body feel better, cleaner and healthier.  Studies have shown that vegetarians have reduced risk of heart diseases, any type of cancer and outlive carnivores by 3 years.

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Doctors recommend that we consume at least 1,000 – 1,500 mg of calcium a day, a glass of skim milk contains about 300 mg (See below for other foods contain calcium).  For best absorption of calcium, it is recommended to consume 500 mg of calcium or less at one time.  Most women runners are calcium deficient and consume less than one-half the recommended daily intake putting themselves at risk for serious bone problems such as osteoporosis and muscle cramps.

Although unlikely to get the disease, the risk is slightly higher for female runners than males.  Women runners who are over 35 years old, small boned, of Asian or Caucasian decent, smoke, or are calcium deficient have a higher risk of osteoporosis.    I know for certain that I don’t get that much calcium in my diet through foods.  I take calcium supplements to help me get the recommended intake. There are the calcium chews or calcium pills you can take to supplement your diet.  Just be aware not to take more than the recommended daily intake of calcium because that will also lead to other problems.

Lots of calcium rich foods are fattening like cheese, and icecream but you can find lots of foods which are low in fat but also have high calcium content.  Consider the following foods which will help fortify your bone strength.

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