Fitness diet for weight loss: how to eat right by going to the gym. Sample fitness diet menu

Why is a fitness diet not like a diet?

By the word “fitness”, which entered the active vocabulary of the modern Russian language not so long ago, we mean a whole universe of activities: from pedaling on an exercise bike to power lifting. One starting point summarizes them: it is customary to call fitness an ordered physical training complex aimed at improving the figure and overall health.

Most often, fitness in the form of group cardio exercises or gym workouts is turned to when it is necessary to lose weight. This is a mass sport, which has its own professionals, but the bulk of the “population” of gyms are students or working people who lead a normal life. For the most organized of them, training in its consistency becomes something of a hygienic procedure; someone in a short time has time to go through several “romances” and “divorces” with the gym.

In most cases, one of the main reasons for “breaking the relationship” with training is an improperly selected fitness diet, which does not provide energy for training and resources for recovery.

For the old-timers of sports centers, there are no dark places in the issue of a fitness diet: they have learned to understand their body and are guided by what “fuel” and why it needs to work. However, if the need for fitness for weight loss has become apparent due to excess weight or the need to change the proportions of the figure with the help of training, the question of proper nutrition comes to the fore.

And here very many losing weight make a mistake, annoying in their constancy: as a fitness diet, a nutrition plan is chosen aimed at rapid loss of body weight. Finding one of these diets today is not difficult: express diets, fud diets, all kinds of diets with the prefix “no-“. Such methods of losing weight are often justified if you need to quickly put yourself in order or change your eating habits, for example, get rid of cravings for sweets, but in the case of fitness, a meager diet, obviously devoid of one (or even several!) Basic nutrients, is simply dangerous.

Fitness diet: 6 body functions you need to take care of

Making fitness a part of your life in order to become more beautiful and healthier, be prepared for the fact that you will have a certain adaptation period: the body needs to learn to live in conditions when it is expected to be ready for stress and subsequent serious changes. In order for physical education to be a joy, making up your fitness diet, do not forget about:

1. Cardiovascular health (pressure, blood flow, oxygen transport)

2. Respiratory function

3. Supporting hormone production

4. Immunity support

5. Muscles and bones

6. Metabolism.

Items are not ranked in order of importance – each of them in a special priority. That is why when doing any sport, including fitness training, it is necessary to take into account all aspects of the body’s “work”. And a fitness diet simply must include proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins with minerals, and a sufficient amount of fluid – otherwise, training, instead of health and beauty, will bring exhaustion, which, alas, will mean not harmony, but critical the state of physiological systems.

A well-thought-out fitness diet and balanced fitness nutrition will help you exercise at a high enough intensity, while at the same time:

• avoid the rapid onset of fatigue

• support the need for recovery

• make the body stronger and change the fat / muscle ratio

• improve concentration

• reduce the likelihood of injury

• reduce the risk of headache and stomach pain

Fitness diet: what is there?

The fitness diet has two main characters – carbohydrates (carbohydrates) and proteins. Carbohydrates – Provides energy to the body and nourishment for the brain and nerves. In the body, carbohydrates are stored as glycogen (animal starch) in the muscles and liver, and are actively used up during exercise. Therefore, a lack of carbohydrate food in a fitness diet will make it impossible, in fact, fitness – it is problematic to perform leg swings when the body requires to lie down.

Proteins in a fitness diet play the role of “building blocks” for muscles: after warming up, working and “spending”, muscles require a portion of amino acids for protein synthesis. Depending on the bioavailability and the amount of proteins, the incoming “building material” in the course of muscle synthesis will be spent either for recovery or for tissue growth. As you can understand, if protein is not enough supplied with food on a fitness diet, the muscles, which should become stronger and more enduring, begin to suffer from dystrophy, literally “eating” themselves.

Fat in the fitness diet is an issue that requires attention and control. Definitely, food containing fat should be avoided immediately before training – fats do not provide pure energy, glycogen reserves do not form, and the digestion process, and with it, and with it, the metabolism is seriously slowed down. However, do not rush to give up completely: there are healthy fats that can help you lose weight! Fatty acids (especially unsaturated ones) are indispensable in the fitness menu – they are vital for the cardiovascular, central nervous and endocrine systems, maintain tissue elasticity, participate in mitosis (cell division), serve as a storage and transport medium for fat-soluble vitamins.

And, of course, don’t forget about water. In a fitness diet at the stage of active weight loss, it is needed like air – with water, the products of the breakdown of proteins and fats, toxins are removed, with its help tissue fluids are renewed. But even at that joyful time, when the excess weight is defeated, and it remains only to achieve sculptural muscles and chiseliness of the figure with the help of training, water does not lose its importance: without sufficient fluid intake, the formation of healthy protein cells is impossible. Water helps to supply the muscles with oxygen, and a sufficient supply of it not only makes it easier to endure the severity of exertion, but also relieves the muscle pain that is well known to new fitness professionals.

Attention, it is important not to confuse clean water and liquids, the use of which is equal to food intake – juices, thick fermented milk products, protein shakes. They (like coffee and tea) are not included in the rate of fluid intake, which, during active fitness activities, for a woman weighing about 70 kg, is approximately 2 liters (to adapt this indicator to your weight, add or subtract 250 ml of water based on every 10 kg of weight).

Fitness diet: when to eat?

Even if your goal is to get rid of as many hateful extra pounds as possible in a short time, a pre-workout hunger strike is contraindicated. The composition of the dish and its size are individual and depend on the nature of fitness, the current state of your body, age and the expected end result. A specific menu will help your trainer compose and adjust, but general recommendations on a fitness diet are as follows:

– “loading” meal for one and a half to two hours before training: “long” carbohydrates and lean protein for energy and a feeling of fullness without overeating;

– if you did not have time to have lunch “right” and feel that you are not strong enough, half an hour before training you can drink a glass of milk (a product containing both protein and carbohydrates);

– during training – water in small portions every 15-20 minutes (watch out for sweating – if it is strong, it costs more to drink to compensate for the moisture consumption);

– immediately after training for 20-30 minutes you should “close the carbohydrate window” and eat about 100 grams of a product containing fast carbohydrates (the ideal option is a glass of fruit juice, a small banana, a carbohydrate cocktail with glucose and honey);

– You can have supper with “normal” solid food a couple of hours after training. It is advisable not to consume products containing caffeine during this period – this substance blocks the action of insulin (see below).

What “windows” can the fitness diet “look out”? While metabolic windows remain controversial, most sports nutritionists agree that short-chain, or fast-chain carbohydrates are essential right after exercise due to their ability to induce a near-instantaneous release of insulin.

During training, the “stress” hormones adrenaline and cortisol are produced. While there is a load on the muscles and fat stores are being consumed, they “wait in ambush”: if left unattended, the increased level of these hormones will give the body a command to store fat, and as a result, no weight loss on a fitness diet will work. Insulin is a natural antagonist of adrenaline and cortisol, which by its appearance stops their arbitrariness. Therefore, the use of fast carbohydrates immediately after training will only benefit harmony: everything will be absorbed without a trace, the body will return from a stressful metabolic regime to normal, without having time to block energy expenditure, and you will remain vigorous and in a good mood due to a timely increase in blood sugar levels.

The “protein window”, according to the assurances of a number of practicing trainers, opens a little later than the carbohydrate one, but remains “wide open” longer, up to an hour. Its appearance means that all the protein food obtained shortly after training goes into action, restoring the depleted protein reserves of muscles and serving the formation of new strong elastic muscles.

You should be aware that physiologically, the protein window opens one more time, regardless of training – this happens at night. While we sleep, the body distributes the protein that has entered it, so a fitness diet for weight loss assumes that for dinner you have a simple and easy-to-digest protein product – for example, a couple of boiled egg proteins or a portion of cottage cheese with kefir.

Fitness diet: how much to eat?

In order to train in the gym and lose weight, it is important that the energy expenditure overlaps its intake with food – then the “hard-earned” fat reserves will be used. Therefore, the standard fitness diet for weight loss focuses on an indicator of at least 1500 daily calories (this is the minimum value, for individual advice, consult your trainer or use a calculator). Our table of food calories will help to calculate the energy value of food.

When composing a menu adapted for sports, do not forget about its variety and balance. Of all the products, you should choose those that are minimally processed industrially: give up fast food, semi-finished products, refined food. A fitness diet is all about simple meals that you can easily prepare at home and take with you to grab a bite to eat at work. When preparing food, give preference to a double boiler, grill, baking in the oven without oil.

It is recommended to take food on a fitness diet 5-6 times a day in small portions. It is not recommended to take long breaks, so as not to push the body to engage in energy saving and preservation of fat reserves.

Do not forget that fitness nutrition implies not only a specific menu, but also drinking plenty of clean water throughout the day. And nutrition for weight loss fitness will oblige you to drink an additional 1 – 1,5 liters of water.

The effect of a fitness diet, coupled with training, is not immediately noticeable, but after six months you will have a good reason to be proud of yourself from any angle: this time will be enough to “reshape” your body in accordance with your efforts!

Sample menu of a fitness diet for the day

Breakfast: a glass of water, an omelet of two proteins and one yolk, a small portion of oatmeal with berries, coffee without sugar

Lunch: fruit, low-fat cottage cheese, or plain yogurt

Dinner: Grilled chicken breast, portion of wild rice, green salad

Training

“Window”: Carbohydrate or protein-carbohydrate cocktail (for example, low-fat milk + ½ banana + 1 tsp Honey)

Afternoon snack: baked potato with herbs and yogurt

Dinner: 200 gr of boiled seafood, steamed broccoli, a glass of kefir.

It is not difficult to compose a fitness diet menu for yourself on your own: it is enough to understand that you can eat everything, but in a useful form, proportion and consistency.