However, over the holiday celebrations I should say that I put on weight again (too much yummy Christmas puddings, chocolates and plenty cooking... lol), but not as much as I have lost, otherwise, all my efforts would have been in vain. Until this morning I was asked by one of our expats here, if I went jogging this morning? I said, NOPE and I think I need to start since I have put on weight over the past two weeks, and he started talking about IF I SMELL SOMETHING STRANGE WHEN I SWEAT OR AFTER RUNNING!!!
I have learned that when you smell ammonia after running, YOU ARE NOT LOSING FATS, YOU ARE LOSING MUSCLE INSTEAD!!
AMMONIA AFTER RUNNING explains, that "young men at their physical peak begin smelling strongly of ammonia after weeks of insufficient caloric intake, lack of sleep, and non-stop exhausting exercise. The smell is assumed to be the indication that the body has stopped burning fat and started burning muscle". Therefore, I was losing fats cause I don't any stinky smell after I run in the mornings. He said, he does... so he is quite worried he might just wasting time of running as well.Yea make sense to me, but what is it suppose to me then that I am a woman?
Typically, the smell is associated with high intensity exercise, especially if completed for an extended period of time (such as a high intensity 60+ minute run). The logical answer would be that the kidneys are dumping nitrogen (ammonia is NH3) in an effort to buffer the increased lactic acid production or because the body is breaking down protein, which also has nitrogen as a base. In my experience it should go away as your body adjusts to training. Eating more carbs may or may not be a solution. Decreasing the intensity of your workout a little may also be a solution. Generally, getting your body to the point where you have an ammonia smell would not be considered healthy no matter what the cause is.
Could this smell be dangerous? Or is it a warning sign of some underlying problem?
First, this ammonia smell is—in fact—ammonia. Our body produces ammonia every time we run hard. Whether we smell it or not is a different story, but our body produces it on every long, hard run. The reason this happens is ammonia is a by-product of protein metabolism. When we run hard and long, our body burns protein and carbohydrates for fuel. When the carbs are burned off (or there isn't adequate carbohydrates), the distinctive ammonia smell presents itself.
The fact that ammonia is produced on every run doesn’t mean the smell is noticeable afterward. Usually the smell is only present when there is the carb deficit. This increase the ammonia levels in your muscles and the ammonia is then picked up by your blood and carried to your respiratory system. When this occurs, you can usually smell it. In addition, some of the ammonia will show up in your sweat which makes the odor even more noticeable.
The smell usually isn’t anything to worry about. But if it persists, you probably aren’t taking in enough carbohydrates. If you emphasize carbohydrates before, during and after running and the ammonia smell is still around, you should get checked out by a physician. This isn’t dangerous at all. But it is a not-so-subtle warning from your body that it needs more carbs (rather than more protein) to burn on long and hard training runs.
The solution is easy: Eat more carbohydrates to fuel your muscles. Especially if we’re running longer than an hour or two your muscles crave carbohydrates which burn easier than protein. We can also do this by taking in in carbohydrates while running. Simply drink a cold sports' drink (which has carbohydrates) every 15-20 minutes while running. If our carbohydrate intake is adequate to fuel our running, the ammonia smell should disappear.
Our body will still be producing ammonia, but we probably won’t be able to smell it.
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Hi, my wife is 62 and still has her good looks as well traffic stopper figure.
ReplyDeleteShe does stretching exercises 10 minutes every morning, eats vegetables like a rabbit, lots of Toh fu, drinks Chinese Green tea 6 cups a day, no red meat...
She can still wear the sarong when we had our first date...every birthday she puts it on...so far so good.
Have fun and a pleasant weekend, best regards, Lee.
HI. YOUR BLOG IS NICE WITH PR3.VERY INFORMATIVE.
ReplyDeleteMINE IS PR3 TOO CAN WE EX -LINK
Wow, Uncle Lee you must be lucky to have a wife as strong as her huh!! hehehe... thanks for dropping by anyway... hope I can visit your blog soon, will try!!
ReplyDelete