The Importance Of Proper Nutrition For Fitness

If fitness is this year’s goal, expect to include nutrition as part of the method to reach that goal. Nutrition plays a dominant role in all fitness programs. If you don’t have the raw materials to build a healthy body, you won’t get the results you want. You can’t out-exercise an unhealthy diet. While exercise may burn 300 to 1000 calories, if you follow your workout with a Big Mac Super-Sized meal, you won’t lose weight and may even gain it.

Good nutrition doesn’t mean dieting.

Eating healthy is all about making smarter choices, not starving yourself. It means filling up on healthy low-calorie foods, like greens and other vegetables, and reducing or eliminating highly processed foods or food with added sugar. Instead of putting sour cream on a baked potato, using Greek yogurt tastes the same but has fewer calories. Eating whole-grain rice instead of processed rice provides more nutrients, just as eating fresh fruit for a snack instead of candy does. Eating healthy is about getting the most boost per calorie.

If you want to build muscle, you need protein.

The body requires all essential amino acids to build muscle tissue and function properly. If you’re working out for hours and doing everything right in the gym, but not consuming any protein, you won’t see progress. To get the most from any workout, have a pre and post-workout snack containing carbohydrates and protein. The pre-workout snack keeps you going so you don’t hit the wall mid-workout. The post-workout snack provides the nutrients necessary to build muscle tissue and jump-starts the recovery process.

Being fit is more than just building muscles.

It’s about overall health. If you don’t have adequate healthy fat in your diet, you won’t be able to build vital hormones, absorb fat-soluble vitamins, or burn fat. If your body has a nutritional deficit, it affects the organs, skin, hair, muscles, and bones. In other words, you need it to replace all tissue, create hormones, and for all processes to function correctly.

• If you eat healthy, you’ll have more energy for a more productive workout. You may grab a sugary treat to boost your energy but find that boost doesn’t last long. Choosing foods that don’t spike blood glucose can keep you running at full throttle longer.
• Don’t eliminate any macronutrients from your diet. You need all three, carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Just choose the healthiest option in each category to be your fittest.
• Healthy fat and the fiber in whole food carbohydrates fill you up quicker and help keep you feeling fuller longer. Including both is part of a healthy diet and can make weight loss easier.
• We can help you learn how to eat healthier and teach you exercising techniques that provide functional fitness to keep you fit and limit mobility issues.

For more information, contact us today at Thrive Fitness!