How Nutrition Impacts Fitness Goals
Many of our members walk into our studios without a plan. Members will come in a few times a week, train hard and not see results.
When you're training hard and not seeing results, chances are, your nutrition is holding you back.
Your goals will define what type of nutrition your body needs.
If you're a marathon runner, your nutritional needs will be much different from someone trying to add pounds of muscle to their body.
Understanding Your Goals
What are your goals? Do you want to:
Lose weight
Build muscle
Lose weight and build muscle
Train for a marathon
Weight Loss
If you want to lose weight, you need to focus on calories in and calories out. You can't lose weight if you're eating more calories than you burn. The quality of the calories also matters to some extent.
For example, studies show that protein requires higher energy expenditure to digest and metabolize than carbs or fat. The thermic effect is 20% to 30% versus 5% to 10% for carbs.
What does this mean? Eating more protein will result in more calories going out.
If you're eating the right foods, you'll naturally increase your metabolism to lose weight faster. If you're trying to lose weight, a balanced diet instead of a strict, fad diet can help you reach your goals without gaining weight right back.
Tracking your calories or macros is key to understanding what it will take for you to lose weight.
Building Muscle
If you want to build muscle, you will want to consider adding power foods in your diet. Whether you're a vegetarian or not, you can find great protein sources to add to your diet. Protein is the building block of muscle growth, repair and synthesis.
You'll need to have protein in your diet if you're trying to build muscle. If you're trying to build muscle and lose weight simultaneously, it's going to be difficult. You need to be diligent with your diet when trying to build muscle and shed fat at the same time.
How much protein should you be eating?
It depends. The consensus seems to differ a lot from 0.7g a pound up to 1g+ per pound.
But if you don't care about losing weight and just want to bulk up, you can with a higher-calorie diet that focuses on protein.
Enhancing Endurance
An endurance athlete can burn a massive number of calories even if they have a small frame. For example, Michael Phelps, ex-Olympian and winner of 23 gold medals, ate a staggering 10,000+ calories a day at just 194 pounds.
The average person would be extremely obese following this diet.
But endurance athletes burn massive amounts of calories. As a result, it's difficult to pinpoint what your diet would look like without knowing more information about you. For example, on the morning of a race, it's not uncommon to eat 100 to 150 grams of carbohydrates to maintain energy levels during the run.
Final Thoughts
Diet must be considered for all of your goals for members of our fitness studios. If your diet isn't proper, you'll struggle to lose weight and gain muscle.