Eat Your Way to Greater Gains and Losses

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Although you’ll need to do lots of heavy lifting in the gym if you want to be strong and look ripped, it’s fair to say that what you put into your body has the most dramatic compact on how good (or bad) you look.

If you want to lose weight, build muscle and increase your strength, here are the nutrition rules you’ll need to follow:

Eat a Protein Rich Breakfast

If you eat a healthy breakfast, that is rich in protein, you will tend to feel a lot less hungry throughout the day, which means you’ll be less likely to snack on fatty, sugary junk foods which can cause weight gain, ruin your complexion and make you feel too sluggish to hit the gym after work.

Good ideas for healthy breakfasts include omelettes, protein powder shakes, cottage cheese and fruit smoothies. Just make sure you eat enough to feel full until lunchtime.

Eat Every 3 Hours

Eating something every 3 hours will help to keep your metabolism stoked and stop you from feeling hungry and succumbing to unhealthy options, especially when you’re on the go. The best way to do this is by eating breakfast, lunch and dinner as normal, including 2 small snacks, a post workout meal and a small amount of protein before bed into the mix.

Eat Protein with Every Meal

If you want to build serious muscle, then you need to eat serious amounts of protein. A diet that is deficient in healthy proteins will prevent your body from maintaining the muscle it has, and it certainly won’t enable you to build any more. Not only does protein provide your body with everything it needs to feed muscle, but it also has a high thermic effect, which can help with fat loss.

Ideally, you should aim to eat a minimum of 1g of protein per pound of your bodyweight each day. So, if you weight 200, you should be eating a minimum of 200g per day. Ideally, the bulk of this should come from lean meats like chicken and turkey, fresh fish, eggs and dairy products like milk and cottage cheese, as well as whey protein.

Eat Carbs After Your Workout

Whether you’re looking to lose weight or make serious gains in the muscle department, it’s a good idea to seriously limit the amount of carbs you eat. The best time to eat carbs is after your workout only because they will provide you with the energy you need to recover.

When I say you should only eat carbs after your workouts, I am not including fruits and vegetables, which should be taken with every meal. I’m referring more specifically to white carbs like potatoes, pasta, bread and white rice.

Eat Plenty of Healthy Fats

Healthy fats are great for promoting weight loss because they help you to feel more satiated, due to being slow release. They also provide your body with essential omega-3s which are good for the skin, help to prevent inflammation and support a healthier body. Good sources of healthy fats include avocados, fatty fish, eggs, real butter and red meats.

Polyunsaturated fats found in foods like flax oil, nuts and fish are also good because they boost testosterone levels, which can help you to more easily lose fat and make gains.

Stay Hydrated

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When you lift, you tend to lose a lot of water in sweat, and this can make it more difficult for your muscles to recover. That’s why it’s so important that you drink plenty of water, especially on training days. Buying a good sports water bottle, like the ones at Sports Direct, will help with that. Just remember to take it along!
If you need to lose fat, it will help you with this too because, when you’re dehydrated, it can make you feel hungry, causing you to overeat. Two litres a day should be enough on average, but basically, just drink when you’re thirsty, and always after exercising vigorously, and you should be ok.

Eat Whole Foods Most of the Time

Even if you’re trying to build some serious muscle mass, there is nothing wrong with indulging in the odd KFC, can of cola, or bag of Doritos, but you should do this very sparingly.In fact, you should aim to eat healthy whole foods at least 90 percent of the time. Think beans, lentils, fresh meat, eggs, brown rice and, of course, fruits and vegetables. These will give you all the vitamins and minerals you need for an optimally functioning body, which will make it a lot easier for you to achieve your goals.

Ideally, you should also limit your alcohol consumption because, not only can it have a dehydrating effect on the body, but it can be full of sugar and carbs, which will only serve to slow your progress down. You don’t need to live like a monk but look on things like beer and candy as a reward for your hard work, rather than a regular part of your diet.

Whey Protein

I know I’ve already mentioned the importance of eating protein if you want to make gains, but I think whey protein deserves an entry of its own because products like the ones at Australian Sports Nutrition are one of the quickest and most convenient ways to get protein into your body. Having a scoop with breakfast, at lunch and after your workouts can really help to increase your gains, especially when used in conjunction with some of the other proteins mentioned in this post.

If you’re serious about improving your body and building more muscle, then there are no two ways about it – you also need to get serious about what you eat. It might be a drastic change for you to eat as outlined above, at first, but once you get into the swing of things, it should be pretty easy to follow, and most importantly, you will see results, not only in the form of a more ripped physique but also in the way you feel. You’ll suffer less fatigue, feel clearer in the head and your whole body will start to work better.