Grab Best Fitness Blog Feed... Karli Taylor
Maybe it’s bad business for me to make the statement that I’m about to make, but here I go. Regardless of how hard you work in the gym, you will never get the results you desire if you are not mindful about what you are eating. Though we could spend days discussing nutrition, let’s start with a few easily fixed mistakes that may interfere with getting the most out of your training time.
- Drinking a Protein Shake Before a Workout. Protein is digested much more slowly than carbohydrates, so too much pre-workout can give you stomach cramps and prevent the carbs you need for fuel from getting absorbed and becoming available to your working muscles. Instead of a high protein shake, reach for a meal replacement drink with more carbohydrates than protein before you hit the gym.
- Exercising on an Empty Stomach. It's physiologically impossible to burn pure body fat during exercise. No matter what you eat (or don’t eat), you burn a combo of carbs and fat. When carbs aren't readily available, your body is forced to break down its own muscle mass and convert it into blood sugar. That means by skipping a meal, you may end up eating away at your own muscle instead of building it! If you don’t like the feeling of exercising with food in your system, try that meal replacement shake next time.
- Overusing Energy Bars. Too many of these can cause you to consume all of the calories you burned exercising, preventing you from seeing results. Though someone competing at a pro-athlete intensity may be able to grab a bar post workout and eat a meal a few hours later, that may be overload for the average exerciser when you consider that many bars are the equivalent of a turkey sandwich — and most people wouldn't eat a turkey sandwich, then sit down to chicken stir fry a few hours later.
- Not Eating Enough Good Fat. Every cell in the human body is partially made out of fat, including muscle, so "good" fat, or unsaturated fat, is needed to heal and repair post workout. Without it you may not only stay sore and fail to see an improvement in strength and muscle tone, but you will have a hard time losing body fat. Try to include small portions of foods like extra virgin olive oil, avocado and almonds at every meal and you will see a difference very quickly.
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