Nutrition and dieting are crucial for seeing results with your fitness training!
Committing to your fitness training routine is a major step toward losing weight and seeing tangible results; however, your workout goals will likely seem impossible without proper nutritional guidance.
Tough exercise routines require the correct type of fuel, and a lot of people don’t realize how their local supermarket products are often heavily refined and processed foods. Only a small percentage of the American population eats “minimally processed” foods, so it’s important to get serious about your diet if you’re getting serious about your fitness journey.
Nothing quite derails a fitness training journey quite like poor dietary habits, and solid fitness nutrition starts with having a thorough understanding of what you should be eating, when you should eat, and how you can maintain your healthy eating habits. Below are some nutrition and dieting tips to help boost your workout routine!
Keep a Food Diary
Food diaries are an easy way to keep track of what and how much you eat on a daily basis, as well as where and when you ate your meals/snacks. The trick with this tip is to be honest with yourself and add up your calorie totals at the end of each day.
The odds are that you might be surprised by just how many calories you eat on a daily basis, and what’s great about today’s dieting world is that you can also use apps to calculate your fat and carb intake—as well as many other crucial metrics.
Calculating Calories
A lot of diet plans focus on daily calorie intake, and the general rule of thumb is that moderately active people should be eating about 1,500 to 2,000 calories each day.
There are many awesome dieting apps that can help you calculate your necessary calories based upon your activity levels, which can go a long way to maintain your current weight and even lose weight!
Myfitnesspal is one app that you should consider downloading into your smartphone, because it’s an easy platform that makes it simple to track your calories while you’re on the go!
Measure & Weigh Your Food
Although measuring your food may seem inconvenient at first, you’ll get used to it pretty quickly. It’ll also help you become more aware of what foods efficiently fill you up, and which food products aren’t worth your time or calorie allotment.
You should also consider purchasing a food scale, which is a small scale that measures food products in grams and ounces. Measuring spoons and cups are also important tools to have for keeping precise track of your food portions.
Eating The Right Food
What exactly are the right foods to coincide with your fitness training? Minimally processed foods are typically the best options for athletes and fitness enthusiasts of all levels. Complex carbs, lean protein and fiber should also be your go-to food products, and this is particularly the case when you’re trying to lose weight.
Nonfat Greek yogurt, turkey, egg whites and fish are all lean protein sources that help people stay full and build muscle at the same time. Green leafy vegetables are a great example of complex carbs, because they help you maintain digestive alignment while also giving you a ton of energy.
The fats you eat should be mono-saturated, healthy fats. This includes things like walnuts, olive oil, nuts and seeds.
Avoid The Wrong Foods
Remember that the vast majority of Americans eat the wrong foods on a daily basis, and you should generally be avoiding food products that come in bags and boxes—while always reading labels for more detailed information.
Processed foods are typically full of preservatives, salt and sugar. Our advice is to ignore package advertising and focus primarily on a food product’s label in order to get the accurate purchasing information that you’ll ultimately need. Many products will feature words like “healthy” or “natural” to hide just how unhealthy the product actually is.
And if you must eat packaged foods for one reason or another, be sure to look out for strange chemical names near the bottom of ingredient lists. But in general, processed foods should be saved as rare treats for those who are embarking on a fitness journey.
Limit Your Alcohol Consumption
Alcohol is known for being very high in calories, and this becomes an even worse issue when liquor is combined within a sugary cocktail.
It’s also widely believed that alcohol can exacerbate fat conversion and make it much more difficult to see workout results. So although it’s still safe to have a drink or two every now and again, it’s important to remember just how risky alcohol can be for your fitness training.
Drink Plenty of Water
Water is the absolute perfect thirst quencher for everyone, no matter how serious you’re taking your fitness journey.
But when you’re working out on a daily basis, it becomes increasingly more important to drink plenty of fresh water throughout the course of each day and during meals. We advise people to drink at least two cups of water around two hours prior to your workout, and you should also be sipping water while exercising as well.
Be sure to drink more water than you might assume that you need, because staying ahead of dehydration can keep you motivated and ensure your most efficient exercise movements!
Avoid Sugar
Sugar is naturally found in many foods like fruits and honey, but there’s also refined sugar that isn’t as healthy for your body. Refined, white sugar is also known for being one of the leading causes of obesity and tooth decay.
Be sure to get your sugar intake from natural treats like fruit, and avoid adding refined sugar products into your routine.
Meal Timing & Frequency
In order to maintain peak conditioning, you should consider eating small meals more frequently throughout each day while you’re training. Eating about every three hours does a great job for ensuring your energy levels and maximizing your nutrients for gym workouts.
You should also make sure that you’re pairing up carbohydrates with a protein to dilute the ensuing insulin surge that you’ll get from high-carb meals. This type of meal pairing is particularly important because carbs can often cause people to crash and make them feel hungrier as compared to before eating.
Reach Out To The Rising Legends Team To Learn More Nutrition And Dieting Advice For Your Fitness Training!
Rising Legends is a leading fitness facility based in Valley Cottage, New York, and our team of industry specialists is here to help you reach your health goals through a whole variety of different strategies.
Nutrition and dieting is undoubtedly a huge piece of the fitness puzzle, and you can always ask us questions and see how we can point you in the right direction toward dietary improvements.
We look forward to seeing you at the gym soon!