Nutrition For Fitness Success

Nutrition: Your Pillar Of Fitness Success

Staying fit is hard work, but what you do outside the gym is just as important as what you do inside. Without a proper nutrition regimen backing you up, your body could be working double time – and NOT to your advantage. Proper nutrition is essential for recovery of muscle fatigue, re-balancing of hormones, and even adrenal repair.

Think about Olympic champions, and their massive capabilities. If they chose to neglect the adequate nutritional aspects, their full potential could have been severely stifled. Your body needs specific types of nutrients in order to be balanced and healthy. Completing your daily workout stresses the body – which builds strength! However, if the body is not adequately prepared for that stress, it will handle the event poorly, not allowing you to build strength. Instead, your body will use recovery time to gulp nutrients like a parched runner, without drinking enough to actually hydrate you. Once you hit the gym the next day, you are only depleting your health further.

So, how can I implement a great nutritional regimen without trying every textbook diet under the sun?

Step One: Balance

Choosing a healthy meal like chicken and zucchini for dinner is an excellent idea. However, it is not an excellent idea to eat that every. single. day. There are plenty of options out there to eat healthy! Don’t bore your nutrition goals by sticking to same few healthy meals you know how to cook. Give your body a great start to healthy fitness by switching up your calorie choices. Above all, give yourself that occasional treat. If you can’t indulge in small doses, you’ll likely lose that battle of the wills, and binge out on high – calorie low – nutrition choices all at one time. Knowing you can enjoy certain types of food or sweets once in awhile will keep you focused and on track. It’s all about balance, my friends.

Step Two: Realistic

You know yourself better than anyone else; and you know what your body’s limitations are. If you know you can’t stick to a one-dessert-a-month diet plan, then don’t do it! Small success will advance you much further than the failure of trying to stick to something you can’t. As long as you are making a conscious effort to turn your nutrition plan to a healthy end, then success will come. Start small if you must, but stick to the plan. Set achievable goals for yourself, like swapping whole milk for low-fat, instead of cutting milk out completely. Or, choose smaller bowls for your meals instead of resolving to simply eat less. As you progress, you will find it easy to make additional small adjustments towards your larger end goal.

Step Three: Protein Is Your Friend

Protein is essential in muscle-strengthening. As the classic “building block” of muscle, it’s necessary for strength as well as recovery and repair. During your meal plan revising, keep protein at the same level when decreasing fats and carbs. Without proper nutrition – in this case protein intake – your muscles will not be able to continue building strength, and will begin to weaken, even to the point of degeneration in order to gain their necessary protein requirements.

Additionally, protein is quite a bit more satiating than fats and carbs. Just imagine this: 5 donuts vs. a 16oz steak. Which would be harder to finish off? That small amount of caloric intake should have the majority set aside for protein.

Step Four: Establish Your “Why”

If you can’t tell me WHY you are pursuing this fitness goal – then all the nutrition plans in the world aren’t going to help you. Give me the reason behind your goals, and you’ve got wings, baby. Pursuing goals is a very worthwhile cause, until you lose motivation. What is going to keep you motivated to stick to your nutrition choices when the entire box of doughnuts calls your name? (Notice I didn’t just say – when “A” doughnut calls your name. It’s all about balance.) What is going to push you to make wiser decisions when it comes to healthy fitness and nutrition?

When you figure that out – write it down. Post it up where you’ll see it every day, and be inspired to achieve your fitness and nutritional goals.

Need some help determining your “Why”, or even planning out your healthy fitness and nutrition goals? Hitch Fit is here to guide you with personalized plans and encouragement with our online personal training programs. Check them out here and see if they fit with your aspirations!