So one of the the lessons I have learnt the most slowly over the three or so years I have been working on getting 'fit' is the importance of getting your nutrition right. For ages I assumed if I worked hard in the gym and didn't eat too much junk food, stubbornness would mean I put on muscle. I spent probably two years frustrated that I could get my body fat percentage crazy low, but my muscle mass increase was slow. Very slow.
I will preface everything I am about to say by pointing out I by no means a chef. Nor am I a nutritionist who has studied all the science behind food. I am just a guy, who learned things the hard way and who's friends keep asking him for nutrition tips. Particularly, since I would sit there at lunch and eat a whole lunchbox full of pasta, chicken and veggies, yet still looked fit despite the huge meal. I will no doubt post some things in the future on rowing, which will explain how that was possible.
My first tip, carbs are not evil. This one took me the longest to learn and the turning point was a nutritionist telling me she was surprised I had the energy to do what exercise I did without passing out! Carbs are our bodies first choice of energy of the three 'macros.' Our body will burn it before it before it starts on fat or protein. The trick is to get the number right. This will be higher for those who do a lot of cardio exercise or are looking to put on weight. It will be less for those looking to lose weight. But we all still need them. My tip is to get onto an app or a website that helps you track your macros, that is the amount of fat, protein and carbs you eat. Tracking your macros is big right now.
My personal favourite food diary app is myfitnesspal. It lets you get as technical or as basic as you like. Basically you put in your basic details like age, weight, amount of exercise that you do and what your goal is, such as losing or gaining weight and how much of this you want to lose/gain per week. From there, each day you put in what you eat. It will require you to weigh things, but the bonus is the barcode reader. You just scan the barcode, put in the amount you ate and it will fill in all the nutritional info for you as long as someone has scanned it before! It'll tell you what a reasonable calorie intake for you and your goal is, as well as an expected carb, protein and fat intake you should get, giving you a running tally through the day. From here you can work out if you need to eat more or less of something. If you use something else that is awesome, let everyone know in the comments below.
My other tip with carbs is they should be coloured. Stay away from anything white. Sweet potato trumps regular potato for nutritional value. As does brown rice beat white, wholemeal pasta beat the regular kind, rye bread beat white bread etc etc. If you really want colour, go for red kidney beans! They are amazing for you and contain a whole lot of great nutrients.
My second tip, eat regularly. I found this to be particularly useful to manage my cravings, of which I have many and they can be strong! I found by eating 5-6 meals a day I spent less time hanging out for lunch/dinner and therefore didn't overeat out of hunger. I also was less tempted to go the quick and dirty takeaway option due to not being able to wait the time it took to cook dinner. Not all of these meals need to be massively prepared, such as my morning tuna on vitawheats. In fact its probably the easiest snack to have sitting close to hand for when you didn't prepare one/cant be bothered doing so.
Wow. That was a long one! Stay tuned for more, like eating the rainbow, why graphs are amazing and those other two macros that I didn't really touch on. I promise not all my posts will be so long!
As always, if you're thinking of making some big changes to your diet, have a chat with your doctor or a PT to ensure you go about it in the right way!
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