Now that we understand some key factors for making progress with our exercise, let's look at some key factors that go beyond the gym. As I mentioned in Making Progress Part 1, there is more to reaching your goal than just exercising and working hard. We also need to understand the importance of nutrition.
Many people think that diet and nutrition are only important if you are trying to lose weight but this is not the case. In fact, not only does diet play a major role in health and wellness but it also plays a big part in sports performance. We often see many high level athletes and sports teams hire nutritionists and chefs that truly understand how to enhance performance through diet.
Why your diet is so important
If you read one of my first blogs, The Basics, you may remember that I briefly went over some of the basics of nutrition. We must remember that our energy comes from the food that we eat and in order for our bodies to function properly we must consume various foods that provide us with all types of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
In our society today we want everything right away. This can include knowledge, results, and even food. We have become so caught up in convenience that we have neglected the entire PURPOSE of eating. The reason why we eat is to provide our bodies with energy. The problem here is that when food is convenient, that generally means that it has been processed. Many people have heard of processed foods but they really do not understand why this is a bad thing.
The reason why processed foods can hinder progress is because they are usually stripped of their nutritional value. When foods are stripped of their nutritional value, you are likely to have a deficiency of key vitamins and minerals in your diet. If there is a deficiency somewhere in your diet this can throw off the way that your body operates and functions. Along with being stripped of their nutrients, these processed foods also tend to have preservatives and hormones that can truly do some damage to your body. Think about it, some of the foods out there today have preservatives that allow it to last for YEARS. We need to realize that these preservatives and chemicals then sit inside of our bodies! It's a pretty scary thing to think about how toxic our body can become from consuming so much processed food!
The Carb Craze
Another issue with processed foods is that it usually tends to be high in calories, bad fat, and carbs. Before we go any further I wan't to say that carbohydrates are NOT bad for you. There is a huge craze in society today that we need to avoid carbs because they can add excess body fat. If we eat foods in moderation we do not need to freak out over how many carbs something has. Anytime we continue to over-eat we will add excess body fat, so moderation is really key. The total number of calories you take in and what you do with them will ultimately determine if you store or burn excess body fat.
We really need carbohydrates because they are our main source of fuel during exercise. Carbohydrates can be broken down into glucose and the storage form of glucose is glycogen. You may have heard in the past that after exercise we need to replenish our glycogen storage. Without that glycogen we would not be able to produce enough ATP (energy molecules associated with muscular contraction and cellular energy) to exercise and function.
Calories
I will say this again, the total number of calories you take in and what you do with them will ultimately determine if you store or burn excess body fat. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, there must be a caloric deficit of 3500 calories in order to lose 1 lb. This means that if you want to lose 1 lb of fat you must burn 3500 calories. In order to do this safely it is suggested that you do this over the course of a week, so a daily deficit of 500 calories is a safe and effective way to lose weight. We can reach this deficit of 500 calories by a combination of exercise and diet. If you can burn 250 calories for the day in exercise and eat 250 calories less for the day, then you have created a 500 calorie deficit.
Your body needs a certain amount of calories per day in order to carry out it's daily functions, because of this our body also naturally burns a certain amount of calories even if we are resting. These are known as the basal metabolic rate and resting metabolic rate.
If we know our metabolic rates, it allows us to know about how many calories we should eat for the day. Here is a link to a website that will estimate the number of calories that you should be taking in daily. http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
As I mentioned if you want to lose weight you should have a deficit of about 500 calories a day, the number is the same for those who are trying to gain weight except you should take IN an additional 500 calories.
We often do not reach our fitness goals because we do not understand the relationship between the foods we eat and the work that we do. Many of us do not eat enough while others eat too much, and both of these groups often make bad food choices and are not eating the foods that give us the most amount of fuel, energy, and nutrients. For some more help on how to eat better, check out choose my plate!
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/SuperTracker/samplemealplans.aspx
Key Points
- The purpose of eating is to fuel the body and give us enough energy to carry out our daily activities and to give our body what it needs in order to function properly.
- Processed foods contain hormones, preservatives, lack nutrients, and can contain high amounts of bad fat and carbohydrates.
- Our diet should contain about 90% natural food (fruits, vegetables, foods from the earth) and we should limit the amount of processed foods we consume.
- Carbohydrates are not your enemies! When broken down they are our main source of fuel during exercise and so they should take up about 60% of our diet.
- Eating in moderation will help the fight against excess calories and body fat storage.
- Calories in vs Calories out is what ultimately decides if you will store fat and gain weight.
