Why Nutrition Is Important to Weight Loss and Muscle Gain

Health is something we should all prioritize. Our bodies, as we grow older, get weaker. To make them strong even when we become old enough to have grandkids, we need to establish healthy living practices as early as possible. Doing so offers many benefits for both the mind and body. It is even said to help you cope well with stress.

There are many things you can do to stay healthy. Exercising is one of them. With exercise, you can help your muscles and bones get accustomed to vigorous activities. It helps you achieve the physically fit body you need and desire.

Exercising alone will not be enough to make you physically fit, however. You would still need to maintain a proper diet and nutrition.

Weight is one important factor when it comes to health. If you are overweight, you might experience hardships in terms of mobility. This, in turn, can cause many more illnesses such as heart problems, kidney problems, and more. On the other hand, being underweight is also bad as it can hinder you from doing the things you love like playing basketball or running.

Again, it’s worth mentioning that weight is important and exercise cannot control this alone. As stated previously, you would need proper nutrition. Our bodies are built to handle many types of food: from leaves and berries to meat and bones. To maintain this, they would need all the nutrients they can get.

Here are some reasons why proper nutrition is important to lose weight and gain muscles:

The 80% Nutrition, 20% Fitness Rule

In the world of fitness, there is a rule by which many who succeeded in being fit abide by. This is the 80% nutrition, 20% fitness rule. It is basically about how 80% of your fitness routine and attention should be about proper nutrition and food intake while 20% of that should be exercising. Both of these complement each other because if one is not present, the other one is useless and you will unlikely reach your goal.

According to research and professionals, weight loss is achieved more efficiently by taking in fewer calories than you normally intake. It is much more efficient when compared to burning your existing calories. For example, if you would want to shed off one pound from your weight, you would need to burn 3,500 calories. This amount of calories is equal to one pound of fat.

Burning 3,500 calories cannot be achieved effectively within a day. It would take days or maybe even weeks to shed all that. This is why cutting back on the calories you consume is far easier and more efficient. While you would still need to exercise to burn fat, you would have to do it less with a proper nutritional strategy. All you need is discipline.

Increase Metabolism to Speed up Weight Loss

There are plenty of foods that are considered rich sources of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to keep our body in topnotch conditions. These are called “superfoods” and they aid people in their weight goals superbly.

Some of these superfoods contain compounds that help in increasing metabolism. Metabolism is how our body processes food into energy, and the faster it is, the more you can lose weight.

To lose weight, you would need to burn the fats in your body by turning them into energy. But sometimes, this process can be slow. This is especially true for most people. That is why they need superfoods to help in the process of burning that fat.
These superfoods are those that are rich in protein such as meat, fish, eggs, and dairy. Chilli peppers and certain spices can also aid you in that.

While there are meals that help in your metabolism, it does not mean that you should only eat them and them alone. Rather, it is best to fill your plate with as much as these types of food.

There are also other weight-loss-friendly dishes that you should consider trying out. They are food items that have low amounts of calories in them but have high enough nutrients. Popular examples are leafy greens such as kale and spinach, salmon, tuna, and more.

Muscle Gains Come from Proteins We Consume

If you want to gain muscle, you need to gain nutrients. After all, the muscles in our body do not come from frequent exercise. It does not magically appear in our body after doing rigorous activities.

Believe it or not, working out is also not the key to muscle gains. You are just burning fat and helping existing nutrients in your body to develop it. Muscle tissues are created from the right nutrients, and knowing what these are can help you in your goal.

What you eat and how much of it you eat is important when talking about muscle gains. Protein is very useful as it is considered the dietary building block for muscle growth. According to research, muscle tissues is largely made up of proteins, and so providing your body with proteins gives it more resources to construct your muscles. As such, eating food rich in protein such as eggs, chicken, beans, brown rice, and fish is important.

An egg has approximately six grams of protein, plus healthy fats and B vitamins. Chicken breast is a lean source of protein, as it contains 26 grams per three ounces. There are also a lot of dishes out there with heavy protein concentration. However, be sure to ask your nutritionist what the right amount of protein you should intake is.

Additionally, there are nutritional supplements like protein powders that can be helpful in adding grams to your everyday intake. Carbohydrates are also important factors when it comes to muscle building as it is the fuel that helps you go through the vigorous exercises you need to perform.

Feel Full Longer to Keep on Hustling

Whether it be trying to lose weight or trying to gain muscles, having proper exercise is a must to do. After all, according to the 80% nutrition, 20% exercise rule, one of them is useless if the other one is not implemented. You need both nutrition and exercise to become fit, albeit having a proper nutrition is very important compared to exercise. Another reason why this is true is that eating the proper amount of food will make you exercise efficiently.

When you are working out, you are burning fats and converting them into energy. This can make you feel hungry in no time. Or let us assume that you are cutting off on calories to help you lose weight. When you do that without the proper healthy food intake, you can feel hungry fast. This is why knowing what you should eat is important. You can cut off on the nutrients that you do not need while taking in the nutrients you do need.

To work out without being exhausted quickly, you can add more fibre to your diet. You can consume foods that are rich in both protein and fibre to help you gain your muscles much faster.

Another effective way to feel full is to stay hydrated. This means you need to drink plenty of water regularly during a workout as it can help you stay in tune with your body’s fullness. Being hungry is a very tempting sensation so be on the lookout for it and prevent it from happening to you.

There Are Meals to Avoid When Losing Weight!

The food that you eat has a major impact on your weight, logically speaking. The amount of it has a major impact, too, both negatively and positively. However, many countries are facing an issue when it comes to food intake frequency.

According to a study conducted by the World Health Organization, 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016. Approximately 13% of the overall world population were obese in the same year. The prevalence of obesity nearly tripled between 1975 and 2016.

This has become an issue that must be addressed. Eating the right food and the right amount of it is a discipline that many people need to learn. There are many temptations that surround us every day. Billboards advertising the newest creation of potato chips and carbonated drinks are also out there. It is best to know that if you are trying to lose weight, there are food out there that you need to keep your hands off.

One of them is French fries and potato chips. They are very high in calories and it is very easy to take in many of them in a single sitting.

Another one is sugary drinks, which is very common in carbonated drinks like soda. Again, they contain high amounts of calories and can be easily taken in.

Candy bars are a big no-no as they are packed with sugar, added oils, and refined flour. They are high in calories but extremely low in nutrients. Many more of these meals include pastries such as cakes and doughnuts, ice cream, and even pizza.

Meals to Avoid When Gaining Muscles Exists

While taking in the right amount of protein and carbohydrates is recommended to gain muscles, there are meals and foods out there that you should also avoid. This is especially helpful for people who are working out to increase their muscle mass.

These types of food negatively affect your diet and can mess up your workout, possibly rendering it useless. Although you can still take them in your body, it is best to limit yourself from them.

One that you should avoid or at least limit yourself to is alcohol. According to research, alcohol ingestion impairs maximal post-exercise rates of protein synthesis. All this scientific stuff generally means that alcohol can negatively impact your body’s ability to build muscle and store fat, especially if the alcohol is ingested excessively. Foods that are high in added sugars such as doughnuts, cookies, candies, ice cream, and cake are also not helpful as they contain plentiful calories but so little in terms of other nutrients.

Deep-fried meals can promote many diseases and inflammation, especially when consumed excessively. These include fried fish, French fries, onion rings, chicken strips, and more.

Before going to the gym, some meals are better not consumed since they can slow down digestion and make your stomach upset. This includes meals that involve high-fat foods such as buttery delicacies, as well as carbonated drinks like diet soda and sparkling water.

Even though there are many of these meals that are too delicious not to intake, remember that discipline is very important when gaining muscles. It is best to practice it.

Bottomline

Planning on completing your weight goals but have not started yet? Being healthy should be everybody’s priority, and we can help you with that.

Here at True Personal Training, we cater to our client’s needs in both exercise and nutrition. We believe that staying fit should be made for everyone, and we can do just that. We make sure that our personal training memberships are a fun, effective, and affordable experience to have.

Choose to Live Healthy at True Personal Training

To get started, all it takes is a free consultation from us to understand what you need to do and how you need to do them. Once that is achieved, our team of experts and professionals can create a program that is catered for you and effective for you to achieve your personal goals. Next, you can book in for an unlimited number of sessions at a time of your choice. A personal trainer who is an expert in the field will assist and guide you throughout your workout. After that, you can see the results.

We make our clients happy and satisfied with the results, and we help them achieve their fitness goals. If you want to gain muscles or lose weight effectively and you have inquiries about our services, contact us at 01937 338 098 or reach us out through our email via hello@truepersonaltraining.co.uk. Our office is located in Wetherby, West Yorkshire.