There has been no shortage of conversation about the importance of diet and exercise to achieving and maintaining a healthy body. However, these conversations usually lack information about how exactly the combination of diet and exercise can help you to achieve the results you desire.
Depending on what your goal is, you need to combine diet and exercise in a specific way for obtaining the body you want. Are you striving for weight loss or are you keen on building muscle? Here are some tips for balancing diet and exercise to achieve both.
Combining Diet and Exercise to Achieve Weight Loss
If your primary goal is to lose weight, follow these strategies:
1. Eat less carbs and sugars. Excess carbs can diminish any attempts at weight loss. Carbohydrates are converted into sugar, which causes your body to produce more insulin. Excessive insulin inhibits the breakdown of fat. Fat that is not broken down is stored – usually in places you don’t want it!
2. Do more cardio. Cardiovascular exercise is one of the most effective ways to burn calories! Try to include cardio in your fitness routine as often as possible for the best results. If you only have time for either a cardio workout or weight training, choose cardio if you want to lose weight.
3. Eat smaller meals more frequently. When you feed your body in heavy portions, it takes that much longer to digest the food. Hence, your body ends up storing more than you want it to. Stored food automatically results in weight gain, so keep those meals small and more frequent if you want your body to burn them well.
4. Exercise in the morning. Performing your exercise routines before you do anything tells your body to go into efficient mode. Therefore, your metabolism is higher all day.
Tips for Mixing Exercise and Diet if Your Goal is Muscle Gain
Not everybody who works out wants to lose weight! In fact, some actually want to pack on the pounds in the form of muscle. If you’re in that category, you’ll definitely get the results you’re looking for if you combine diet and exercise as recommended below:
1. Do more weight training. As muscles meet resistance, they begin to get stronger and more defined. Keep this point in mind if you’re on a “more muscle mass” mission!
2. Eat more carbs and protein. In order to develop more muscle mass, you’ll need to make two basic, yet effective, adjustments at the dinner table:
Consume more carbs, which will give you the energy and endurance needed to keep up with that weight training!
Increase your protein intake so you can provide your muscles with the nutrients they need to develop healthily.
3. Do fewer reps with heavier weights. You can’t build muscle by lifting just any weights! Lift heavier weights if your mission is to improve muscle mass. Lighter weights in longer sets burn calories, but heavier weights in shorter sets will really pile on those symbols of strength!
Once you follow these guidelines, you’ll undoubtedly see the results you’re seeking sooner than you think! All it takes is a little discipline and a lot of motivation to transform your body, but once you achieve your fitness target, it’ll be worth the effort.
