What's more important, diet or fitness? The answer is that both are equally as important! It is just as important what you're putting into your body as it is what you're doing with it while training.
Your muscles are 25% protein. This means getting enough protein is how you will develop muscle tissue and generate energy that burns fat. Conversely, eating a bunch of processed foods with empty calories is going to lead to binge eating more of the same.
An unhealthy diet will not only take you further and further away from your fitness goals but it may result in you no longer exercising entirely! Not only that but you will open yourself up to obesity-related issues like diabetes, hypertension, and arthritis.
Thankfully, it’s possible to both avoid unwanted health issues and get the body of your dreams when you always consider your diet as part of the equation. Proper nutrition will play a major role in what experts like personal trainers recommend you do on your fitness journey.
The following are just some of the many reasons why diet is as important as fitness:
Diet Helps With Fat Loss
There have been many studies that all came to the same conclusion: training by itself is not going to lead to fat loss. For that, you need to also eat healthily. Excessive snacking, eating poor-quality food, and allowing your cravings to dictate what you eat, all lead to getting farther from your fitness goals.
What you will want to do is keep track of what you are eating, down to logging how many calories you are eating every day. Additionally, note how much sugar and saturated fats you are eating as well. You will soon see a very clear picture of whether your diet needs some changes made to it.
You Will Be Hungrier When Training
When you are training regularly, you are going to be hungrier. That means you may either be getting a lot of poor-quality food or food that helps make you stronger and get you in shape. People, especially those who become very aggressive with their fitness routines, usually end up eating more calories. This can end up making it more challenging to reach your fitness goals as time goes on.
The best way to avoid overeating while training is to place some caloric restrictions on your diet. This means counting your calories and logging them in an app like MyFitnessPal. This will let you know just how much you are eating and keep you within the ideal range. Once you can determine how much you are eating, you can adjust your caloric intake based on how frequently or intensely you are training.
Exercise Alone Won’t Lead to a Great Body
Obesity levels have been rising steadily in the UK for many years now, as has the level of exercise performed. This indicates that exercise alone is not going to be the magic ticket to getting a great body.
It can be quite challenging to come to terms with you exercising but not seeing the results you are after. When you find yourself in this sort of situation, it’s time to take a look at what you are eating. What is the nutritional value of the foods you are eating every day? How much are you snacking? The sugar and alcohol content you consume will be two of the biggest culprits in not seeing results from all of the training you are doing.
You Need the Right Food While Training
You need a healthy and satisfying fuel source when training. Otherwise, you are not going to have the energy to exercise, and won't be giving your body what it needs to build muscle and lose fat. When you are not getting the proper amount of calories, and are lacking in energy and nutrients, you will be unable to get the body of your dreams.
Getting the right fuel for your muscles will ensure you are going to keep getting strong and seeing your energy levels increase. Getting plenty of natural energy sources will ensure you are matching the level of training you are performing with the right foods.
Both Short and Long-Term Weight Loss Depend on Diet
Regardless of whether you have short-term or long-term weight loss goals, your diet is going to play a major role in them. If you’re like most people, you want to see results and see them fast. To get fast results, you need to watch what you eat.
Experts will usually say that to experience weight loss, you need to place 75% of your focus on your diet and just 25% on exercise. This may be the opposite of what you were expecting, yet it's how it is. Over 700 studies conducted on weight loss have cemented this as being a fact of life. Short-term results come from maintaining a healthy diet while training.
Calorie Deficits Lead to Weight Loss
It’s important to understand that weight loss requires an overall calorie deficit of around 500-1,000 calories daily. That doesn’t just mean you eat less but it also means you need to be exercising enough so that your body’s metabolism speeds up and you are burning fat even when you aren’t training. Also, the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns to maintain them.
An app like MyFitnessPal mentioned earlier will help you keep track of how much exercise you are getting and how many calories you are eating. You can then see how many calories you are probably burning from your training and determine whether you are meeting the necessary calorie deficit.
Conclusion
Now you know why diet is as important as fitness. It is simply impossible to lose weight without having the right diet. Snacking all day and eating a lot of foods high in sugar and saturated fats is going to make it next to impossible to get fit, no matter how much you train. A personal trainer at Delta Fitness can help you with developing a meal plan that will support your fitness goals so you don’t have to struggle with figuring out what to do.