Nutrition is very often an afterthought. I see so many not achieve their goals and feel frustrated in the process, because they feel that they have worked so hard and yet they've not got very far. It is frequently down to the fact that they didn't consider making the adequate changes to their nutritional intake alongside focusing on their fitness.
I'll put my hands up here, I was one of you. I thought I had to exercise almost every day to ensure I burned calories and I would often exercise to then reward myself afterwards with food. It's so common, so don't worry, you are not alone!
Exercise is actually not the main factor in health goals that relate to fat loss. Even with goals such as building muscle or training for a competitive event, people often don't put enough emphasis on their nutrition and trust me when I say that it plays a huge role.
For fat loss, nutrition plays a much bigger role than you might think. You can exercise all day long, every single day and not lose any fat. Why?! It'll most likely be down to you not following a calorie deficit. You are effectively running yourself down to the ground with hours of exercise and not seeing any results. I mean, no one wants that do they! Yes, exercise can be a useful tool in fat loss but it's actually not essential. Ensuring you are getting the right balance of macros and being in a calorie deficit is.
For building muscle, lifting weights is vital! You also need to ensure that you are eating enough food, the right foods and eating at optimum times. Depending on how much muscle you want to build, your age and your gender, your nutritional needs will differ. Getting the right balance of macro and micronutrients will help you so much. It will help you push harder in your sessions, it will help replenish your energy afterwards, it will help repair and grow your muscles. You wouldn't want to only work half as hard as you could, would you?!
For sports specific goals, eating and drinking well is crucial to success. For example, if you want to successfully run a marathon then you will need to fuel your body correctly in order to get you through each mile. It is also key to know how to fuel your body afterwards to replenish your energy. Same as with muscle growth, eating the correct macro and micronutrients will serve you well and stave off things like early fatigue, soreness and help prepare you for the next training session and the big even itself.
The key thing to take away, is that what goes into your body is just as important as the exercise and movements your body does and, in some cases, such as for fat loss, it is more important. By focusing on fitness alone, you will do yourself a disservice and your goals may take a lot longer to achieve.
Are you confused about what to eat and drink and how much of it? No problemo. Get in touch with me for your FREE consultation and I can help steer you in the right direction and support your journey.
