1. Eating enough
It might sound obvious to us, but not everyone is aware that you can’t get into fitness without eating enough food. Diet and fitness have become synonymous with eating as little as possible, which is the wrong way to look at it. Eating is an essential part of being alive, without it you can’t feel energised to do anything, much less doing something like a workout.Reducing calorie intake is something you have to do to lose weight, but there’s no reason to overdo it. You’re going to have to compensate for it eventually. Starving yourself and skipping meals will only lead to a binge meal later on. If you want to have enough energy, you should aim for a healthy mix of fruits and vegetables that will leave you feeling satisfied but not too full to move. As always, moderation is the key to health.
2. Eating before a workout
The importance of eating before a workout can’t be stressed enough. The body will burn the same amount of fat whether you eat beforehand or not. The critical difference is that without enough protein in your system, your body won’t be able to build muscle during the workout, and it might even start losing muscle. This is because you have to have a source of protein during your exercise to function. In the absence of enough free protein, your body will use protein from existing muscles. This will reduce muscle size and make you feel weak. This survival mode compensation won’t be the only thing inhibiting your workout. Not having enough energy to do your training exercises will leave you feeling exhausted before you even hit the treadmill. You need carbohydrates to get through the most demanding parts of your workout. A good meal before going to the gym would include things like brown rice, a banana with almond butter, oatmeal, or even some crackers.
3. Eating after a workout
As much as eating before a workout is essential, what happens after one is what matters most. Exercising does a lot of things to your body, some more noticeable than others. You can feel your strength dropping after those last reps, and you might feel weak in the knees after a long run or bike ride. This happens because your muscles are depleted of glycogen, the bound form that sugar takes in our muscles. Glycogen reserves serve as a fuel source when you have to exert yourself. Without it, you'll feel sluggish and weak, which is why you need to refuel after a workout,
Picking the right kind of food after an exercise is important if you want to get those glycogen reserves back. One way to make sure you’ll be full of energy later is to combine a healthy dose of protein with your carbohydrates. There are lots of nutritious carbs mixes you can choose from, like those offered by True Protein or similar sources of healthy additions to your diet. Any cause of carbs you want will give you a boost of glycogen after thirty minutes, which will let you function correctly, and maybe even go for another workout session!
4. Planning ahead is important
Having a proper diet is more than just what you eat, what’s just as important is how you eat. Most people who plan on starting a fitness regime forget that the way you spread out your meals can make or break your workouts. You can taste the perfect number of calories in one day, but if it’s in one meal, you’re going to have problems.If you don’t think about your meals ahead of time, you could under or overeat before a run, leading to a subpar workout. It's always a good idea to plan a couple of hours ahead of an exercise. Perhaps you want a light carb-rich meal thirty minutes before you go for a run. If you're going to have enough energy throughout the day, you should start your day off with some complex carbs that take a while to break down.
