Food

What to eat when doing fitness

The main rule of a healthy approach to eating and eating habits is to maintain a balance between nutrients and consumption and energy consumption (calories). Therefore, if you regularly exercise fitness, the composition and volume of your daily diet should be adjusted. This applies to all types of physical activity – it does not matter if you prefer to concentrate on your body during yoga practice or if you like to do high-intensity interval training. The energy consumption changes and you need to choose the menu to get the most out of your workouts.

 

It is not recommended to follow a strict restrictive diet during fitness classes. Except in extreme cases, for a short time, to lose weight by one or two kilograms, carefully weighing the health risks. Feeling exhausted, weak, fans of diets can not recover from physical activity and often quickly quit fitness. The other extreme is too calorie menu. You can’t think that fitness “allows” you to eat uncontrollably.

The right approach is to eat a varied, personalized meal with a balanced ratio of macro-micronutrients and sufficient, but not excessive calories. Such a diet will give you strength for workouts, your body will be not only fit, but also healthy, and your mood is always elevated.

 

Compliance with protein-coal and drinking balance

It is commonly believed that nutrition for physically demanding classes should be predominantly protein. This is not quite true: it is very important to supplement it with complex carbohydrates, which make up for the loss of energy during exercise. Without them, you will constantly feel tired and weak, which will affect your performance. The diet for athletes should also include fats – if properly dosed, they will help maintain health and even contribute to weight loss.

The most important rule for competent nutrition for fitness activities is drinking balance. A sufficient amount of fluid will help:

 

    To avoid dehydration after training – it is manifested by headaches, irritability, weakness, rapid fatigue;

    improve intestinal and gastrointestinal motor skills, accelerate metabolism and elimination of harmful substances from the body – especially if the correct drinking balance is supplemented by a diet rich in fiber;

    it is more intensive to lose weight.

 

A universal formula is used to calculate the optimal amount of fluid: 30 ml of water for each kilogram of body weight. The resulting volume should be evenly distributed throughout the entire waking time, drinking the first 200-300 ml of liquid on an empty stomach and the last one an hour or two before bed.

 

Proteins

Their importance in nutrition for fitness activities is invaluable. High-protein products help build muscles faster by forming a beautiful relief, stimulating metabolic processes and contributing to weight loss. The amount of protein should be at least 40-45%.

Carbohydrates

Optimal share of complex carbohydrates in the diet (40-45%) will fill the body with energy, protect it from seasonal diseases. The most important nutrients, oxidizing in the body, “help” proteins build muscles. To maintain a balance between fitness and nutrition, it is desirable to eat carbohydrate products in the morning. To reduce weight, avoid simple carbohydrates.

 

Fats

Fitness fans cannot completely eliminate fat from their diet. They are needed by the immune, reproductive system, brain and other organs. It is desirable to increase the amount of vegetable fats, but not to abandon the animals, and reduce their consumption. Give preference to a diet rich in polyunsaturated acids. Fats should not be left for the evening – in the dinner menu, their quantity should be minimal.

 

Power Mode

To balance fitness and nutrition, calculate a calorie intake sufficient to maintain your current weight, taking into account the physical activity of the specific exercise. This figure can be used as a basis for the weight loss program. Correct and healthy calorie deficiency should not exceed 300-400 kcal – it can be achieved by reducing the calorie content of food or only fitness.

When drawing up a diet, remember:

    eat small portions – to maintain balance five times a day (three main meals and two snacks between them), to lose weight six or seven;

    the interval between meals should not exceed three hours;

    breakfast should be hearty, dinner light, and foods high in fat and carbohydrate should be moved to morning and day.

 

It is advisable to eat dishes baked in the oven, steamed, braised or with a minimum of cooking in vegetable oil. The diet should be dominated by lean meat, eggs, poultry, fish and plant products, complex carbohydrates. If you follow the diet, refuse carbonated drinks, dishes that contain a lot of sugar, fast food and other “harmful” – they can be allowed to yourself, but not often.

 

Meals after, before and during fitness training

 

What do you have before a fitness class?

When choosing what to eat before fitness, give preference to protein dishes with low calorie content and eat them at least one or two hours before class. If a full lunch or dinner is not successful, half an hour before the training you can eat a handful of berries, fruit, something sour-milk or drink a protein cocktail. Useful will be 200-250 ml of tea without milk, sugar, mineral water without gas.

What to do during the lessons

Fitness and nutrition do not combine too well – it is better to give preference to drinking. Water during training is necessary to drink, carefully monitoring your condition and paying attention to signs of dehydration: dry mouth, dizziness, severe fatigue. Drink in small sips, every 15-20 minutes. If the duration of the training exceeds an hour, you should add juice or a protein cocktail to the water. It is not worth to drink a lot of fluid during physical activity, in order not to give the heart extra load.

 

What do you have after class

The body must compensate for the energy spent, so athletes are advised to eat protein-carbohydrate food – “carbohydrate window” – in 40-100 minutes. It will help to restore muscles, saturation, metabolism acceleration, and replenishment of glycogen. If you are on a diet for weight loss, make a “carbohydrate window” in an hour and a half or two after training. You should turn on the power:

 

    omelette, steam, boiled meat or fish;

    complex carbohydrates – wholemeal paste or bread, baked potatoes, brown rice;

    acidic natural juice – cranberry, grape, orange (diluted with water).

 

It is desirable to have a minimum amount of fat in the diet after fitness training. The first two hours after the training are better not to use them at all. After 16-00, reduce the caloric value of food, even if a high-intensity workout is planned for the evening. Be sure to drink enough water after it to make up for the loss of intracellular fluid.

Fitness menu examples

To maintain the right balance between fitness and nutrition, you need to choose healthy products that saturate, make up for the loss of vitamins and nutrients, but do not give a sense of gravity. To make it easier to orientate yourself, we will give examples of universal dishes for those who practice fitness.

 

For breakfast, while dieting, we recommend omelets with stewed vegetables, whole toast, nuts or nut paste. You can stop at oatmeal or similar porridge, boiled brown rice with chicken breasts, nonfat steak. For lunch you should choose soups on light broths with cereals, meat, fish with vegetable side dish, sour milk products, including cheese. For dinner will suit complex carbohydrate cereals, skimmed cottage cheese, poultry, seafood, broths of berries, rosehip.

 

The diet should prevail:

    lean meat – chicken, veal, turkey;

    fish, rich in Omega-3 acids and seafood, which is rich in protein and trace elements;

    eggs – to lose weight, eat only protein;

    green vegetables – spinach, cucumbers, cabbage, celery (but be careful with avocados, they are useful, but caloric);

    seasonal fruits and berries with low glycemic index – apples, strawberries, etc.;

    vegetable oils, nuts and seeds (in small quantities);

    nonfat fermented milk products, milk of 2-5% fat content;

    bread with bran, whole pasta, untreated grains;

    greens.

 

In order to get the most out of your fitness activities, you must pay attention to the food, its composition and quality.