Why You Always Need Fuel To Work Out
Embarking on a fitness journey is a promise you make to yourself to become a better you. Most people who start a fitness journey have more than one goal in mind. They want to get stronger and fitter. But, more importantly, their wakeup call is the weight. They want to become lean and slim. Fitness, along with a healthy lifestyle, can help you control your weight and build a strong body you can love.
Unfortunately, when weight is part of the fitness equation, many hope they can use workouts to create a calorie deficit. If you want to stay healthy while getting fit, you need to fuel your body. Introducing a huge calorie deficit by burning a lot more calories than you consume is the epitome of anti-fitness. It does work, and here’s why you always need to keep your body nourished when you exercise:
Your body needs the energy
There’s no secret about it: When you train, your body needs to produce energy. Where does the energy come from? Your diet.
So far, so good. However, if you want to be smart about what you eat, you need to focus on restorative energy, such as clean protein shakes. When you work out, you create micro-tears inside the muscle tissues. It’s the reason why your muscles are sore afterward! The tears are healing, and as they do, they help create a stronger muscle base. Protein is an essential ingredient to encourage muscle recovery and reduce post-workout soreness. If you choose to let your body starve, you could slow down the recovery process, causing increased pain and leading to muscle weakness if the tears can’t heal properly.
Eating doesn’t mean you put on weight
It’s important to understand that fueling your body doesn’t mean all consumed calories will lead to weight gain. On the contrary, a healthy diet could even help you achieve your body goals. Did you know you could go vegan for weight loss, for instance? A nutritious diet provides the energy you need to stay active without causing damage. More importantly, fueling your body encourages your metabolism. Extreme calorie restriction can hurt your fitness efforts. It will make it more difficult for your muscle to recover, which can lead to workout injuries. On the other hand, a diet that helps to fuel your energy and provide protein for recovery – plant-based proteins are easily absorbed by the body – hits the sweet spot!
There’s no other way to get essential vitamins
Nourishing your muscles is one thing. But fueling your body has another, more important, purpose. Your body needs vitamins to perform essential functions. Calcium is crucial to bone and dental health. Vitamin C supports your immune system. Potassium keeps your body hydrated and controls your blood pressure. A balanced diet ensures your body doesn’t experience harmful deficiencies in vitamins and minerals. Deficiencies are linked with a poor diet and can lead to fatigue, failing organs, weakened immune systems, and even energy production. If you don’t look after your body, you can’t work out safely.
Too many newcomers to the fitness world hope for immediate and rapid body changes. If you’re going to get the best body you can, you have to put work into it to build strength, endurance, and a lean muscle mass. Without adequate fuel – aka food! – your fitness journey is compromised. Fuel, work out, repeat, even if you’ve got your mindset on losing weight.
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