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Nutrition before and after exercise
Teresa de Miguel Miró
Pre-workout nutrition is vital for optimal performance at the gym, on the road, or even on your living room carpet. And now is precisely the time to follow a specific nutrition plan for your training . Why?
Although there are no official statistics, February is the month when people drop out of gyms. The good habits agreed upon on January 7th with the serious intention of exercising or getting their money's worth from the gym membership begin to falter. Planning your meals to ensure you have energy at the gym is essential to avoid slumps and accelerate results.
Designing a customized diet isn't easy. There are foods that increase muscle mass , foods for strength training , foods to increase endurance , and of course, a diet for recovery after training .
If you don't want to become part of that statistic of sports dropouts before even completing a month and end up giving away the sports outfits that got you over-motivated, you must define beforehand what you want to achieve.
Burn fat? Build muscle? Increase endurance? Just let off steam? Depending on your needs, there's a customized diet plan. We'll tell you everything you need to know about nutrition for athletes.
Nutrition for exercise: How to create a diet to lose weight while playing sports
If you're looking to slim down, lose weight, and burn fat… be very careful. It can't be achieved solely through aerobic exercise, nor should you restrict calories. This is an unforgivable rookie mistake when training, and the only result will be exhaustion and giving up. A good diet for losing weight with exercise is one that is perfectly balanced and takes calorie expenditure into account. But beware, when we exercise we tend to be less careful with what we eat, because we think our effort allows us to be less restrained.
There are some basic rules for losing weight with exercise .
You should eat something 30 to 60 minutes after exercising, depending on the time of day. It's important to recover from the exertion; otherwise, your muscle tissue can weaken. Ideally, you should eat 250 calories of healthy food.
You don't have unlimited calories. And even less so if you want to lose weight through exercise. For that, you'd have to be burning calories constantly. To burn 400 calories (the amount in a snack of Serrano ham and cheese), you'd have to spend almost an hour running.
Protein is important, but don't overdo it. It's true that prioritizing protein is beneficial for gaining muscle mass and losing fat, but you also need healthy fats and a good dose of carbohydrates. All of these foods help speed up your metabolism and make weight loss easier.
Learn to mix and match. Those varied dishes that combine fruits with lettuce, dairy, nuts, and white meats are ideal. Try to ensure that each dish includes at least three food groups.
Avoid processed foods. They're a death trap, even if you're slim, because they affect your health. Take advantage of your fitness streak to banish them from your table once and for all.
Drinking two liters of water a day is now more than just a requirement. Think about how much you sweat while you exercise. You're losing essential fluids that your body needs to replenish. To give you an idea, you should drink 500 ml of water in the two hours before training, another 500 ml fifteen minutes before, and 200 ml every 30 minutes during training. It's not that much.
NUTRITION BEFORE AND AFTER EXERCISE: WHAT TO EAT TO IMPROVE PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE.
So far, we've given you the main guidelines, but now we're going to detail what the perfect diet for athletes should be. It's all about getting the most out of your athletic performance.
You should know that muscles are discerning gourmets and have very specific preferences depending on the time of day. There's nothing like a few examples of what to eat to boost your energy at the gym and recover after your workout.
Pre-workout.
It's best to eat fruit, cereals, and other easily digestible carbohydrates before training. For example, a natural juice, a slice of multigrain toast, yogurt, muesli…
Mid-morning.
You need to try to maintain your blood glucose levels to continue providing energy to your brain and muscles until lunchtime, and you'll most likely experience a wave of intense hunger around 11 or 12 in the morning. Calm it by eating fruit.
Lunch .
You should consume 25% of your total daily calories from food. The best options? Vegetables, meat, poultry, eggs, fish, or legumes. However, try to choose poultry over beef. As for fish, you can eat any type, since the fattier varieties contain a large and necessary amount of essential fatty acids.
Snack.
The goal is to keep hunger at bay and maintain stable blood glucose levels. It should make up 10% of your total daily calories, and a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts is the best option.
Dinner.
It should make up 15% of your total daily calories (slightly less than lunch) and it's essential that it consists of easily digestible foods that don't leave you feeling heavy. The best options? Choose vegetables, protein, low-fat dairy, or whole grains.
Important: eat dinner at least two hours before going to bed. The digestion process should not take place lying down.
EVERY LITTLE HELP COUNTS
Supplements to lose weight, improve performance… and avoid some 'side effects' that sometimes come with exercise.
From Beldon Beauty we recommend this selection:
Beldon Beauty Green Tea . Among the main effects of this green tea with ginger and lemon are its antioxidant function (we cannot forget that exercise can cause oxidation), its role in helping and its ability to lighten the digestion process and activate the metabolism.
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