Why is the fitness diet not like a diet?

Under the word "fitness" entered the active dictionary of modern Russian not so long ago, we mean a whole universe of activities: from torsion of pedals on an exercise bike to power lifting. Generalize their one starting point: fitness is usually called an ordered physical culture complex, aimed at improving the figure and overall recovery.Fitness and diet
Most often, fitness in the form of group cardio exercises or exercises are called upon to lose weight, if necessary. This is a mass sport in which there are professionals, but the main part of the "population" of gyms are students or working people who lead a normal lifestyle. For the most organized of them, training in its constancy becomes something of a hygienic procedure; Someone for a short time has time to survive a few "novels" and "divorce" with the gym.Fitness and diet
For old-timers of sports centers in the issue of fitness diet there are no dark places: they have learned to understand their body and are oriented, what "fuel" and why it is required for it for work. However, if the need for fitness for weight loss has become apparent due to excess weight or the need to change the proportions of the figure with the help of training, the question of proper nutrition comes to the fore.
And here very many losing weight make a mistake, annoying in its constancy: as a fitness diet, a nutrition plan is chosen, aimed at rapid loss of body weight. Find one of these diets today is not difficult: express diets , fad diets,Fitness and diet various diets with the prefix "without-". Such methods of losing weight are often justified if you need to quickly put yourself in order or change eating habits, for example, get rid of cravings for sweets ,Fitness and diet but in the case of fitness, a meager diet that is obviously devoid of one (or even a few!) Essential nutrients is simply dangerous.

Fitness diet: 6 body functions to take care of

Doing fitness part of your life in order to become more beautiful and healthier, be prepared for the fact that you have a certain adaptation period: the body needs to learn to live in conditions when it expects readiness for the load and subsequent serious changes. In order for physical education to be fun, making up your fitness diet, do not forget about:Fitness and diet

• 1 Cardiovascular health (pressure, blood flow, oxygen transport)
• 2 Respiratory functions
• 3 Support for the production of hormones
• 4 Supporting Immunity
• 5 Muscles and bones
• 6 Metabolism.

The points are not of the same importance - each of them is in a special priority. That is why when practicing any sport, including fitness training, you must equally consider all aspects of the "work" of the body. And the fitness diet is simply obliged to include both proteins, and fats, and carbohydrates, and vitamins with minerals, and a sufficient amount of liquid - otherwise training, instead of health and beauty, will bring depletion, which, alas, will mean not slenderness, but critical State of physiological systems.
A well-designed fitness diet and balanced fitness meals will help you train with a sufficiently high intensity, and at the same time:Fitness and diet

• Avoid fast fatigue
• Support the need to restore
• Make the body stronger and change the fat / muscle ratio
• Improve concentration
• Reduce the likelihood of injury
• Reduce the risk of headache and stomach pain

Fitness diet: what is there?

The fitness diet has two main characters - carbohydrates ( carbohydrates ) and proteins .Fitness and diet Carbohydrates - provide energy to the body and nutrition for the brain and nerves. In the body, carbohydrate stores are stored in the form of glycogen (animal starch) in the muscles and liver, and are actively consumed during exercise. Therefore, a lack of carbohydrate food in the fitness diet will make it impossible, in fact, fitness - it is problematic to perform swings by legs when the body requires lying down.
The most complete sources of carbo for a fitness diet are carbohydrates with a long chain of assimilation. This whole grain and products from it, fruits and vegetables with a low glycemic index - in short, everything is processed slowly, ensuring a uniform supply of energy.Fitness and diet
Proteins in the fitness diet play the role of "bricks" for the muscles: after warming up, having worked and "spent", the muscles require a portion of amino acids for protein synthesis. Depending on the bioavailability and the amount of proteins, the incoming "building material" in the course of muscle synthesis will be spent either on restoration or on tissue growth. As you can understand, if the protein does not go enough with the diet on the fitness diet, the muscles that need to become stronger and sturdier begin to suffer from dystrophy, literally "eating" themselves.Fitness and diet
Fats in a fitness diet are a matter requiring attention and control. Unambiguously, food containing fat should be avoided just before training - clean energy does not produce fats, glycogen stores do not form, and the process of digestion, and with it, respectively, metabolism seriously slows down. However, do not rush completely to refuse: there are useful fats that can help you lose weight! Fatty acids (especially unsaturated) in the fitness menu are indispensable - they are vital for cardiovascular,Fitness and diet central nervous and endocrine systems, maintain the elasticity of tissues, participate in mitosis (cell division), serve as a preserving and transporting medium for fat-soluble vitamins.
And, of course, do not forget about the water. In the fitness diet at the stage of active weight loss, it is needed as air - with the products of the splitting of proteins and fats, toxins, and with the help of tissue tissue are renewed.Fitness and diet But even in that joyful time, when excess weight has been defeated, and it only remains to achieve sculpture of the muscles and sharpness of the figure with the help of training, the water does not lose its value: without sufficient liquid inflows, the formation of healthy protein cells is impossible. Water helps supply oxygen to the muscles, and sufficient intake of it not only makes it easier to bear the burden of the load, but also relieves muscular pain, familiar to the new converts "fitnesistam."
Attention, it is important not to confuse clean water and liquids, the use of which is equated to food intake - juices, thick sour-milk products, protein cocktails. Fitness and diet They (like coffee and tea) are not included in the rate of fluid intake, which, with active fitness training, is about 2,000 liters for a woman weighing about 70 kg (to adapt this figure to your weight, add or subtract 250 ml of water at the rate of Every 10 kg of weight).Fitness and diet

Fitness diet: when you have?

Even if your goal is to get rid of as many hated extra pounds as possible in a short time, a hunger strike before training is contraindicated.Fitness and diet The composition of the dish and its size are individual and depend on the nature of fitness, the current state of your body, age and the expected final result. A specific menu will help to make up and adjust your coach, but the general recommendations on a fitness diet are:
- "loading" food intake for one and a half to two hours before training: "long" carbohydrates and low-fat protein for energy and a feeling of satiety without overeating;
- if you do not have time to "eat" properly and feel that the forces are not enough, you can drink a glass of milk (a product containing both protein and carbohydrates) half an hour before a workout;
- during training - water in small portions every 15-20 minutes (watch for sweating - if it is strong, drink is more to compensate for the consumption of moisture);
- immediately after training for 20-30 minutes, "close the carbohydrate window" and eat about 100 g of a product containing fast carbohydrates (ideal - a glass of fruit juice, a small banana, a carbohydrate cocktail with glucose and honey);
- Supper "normal" solid food can be a couple of hours after training. It is advisable in this period not to eat products containing caffeine - this substance blocks the action of insulin (see below).
What kind of "windows" can the fitness diet look like? The question of "metabolic windows" remains controversial, but most sports nutrition experts agree that carbohydrates with a short chain, or fast ones, are necessary right after the session due to their ability to cause an almost instantaneous release of insulin.
In the course of training, stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol are produced. Fitness and dietWhile there is a load on the muscles and fat reserves are spent, they "wait in ambush": if you leave the matter without attention, the increased level of these hormones will give the body the command to store fat, and as a result, no weight loss on the fitness diet will not work. Insulin - a natural antagonist of adrenaline and cortisol, its appearance stopping their arbitrariness. Fitness and dietTherefore, the use of fast carbohydrates immediately after training will only benefit the harmony: everything will be assimilated without rest, the body will return from the stressful metabolic regime to the ordinary without having to block the energy expenditure, and you will keep cheerfulness and good mood thanks to the timely increase in blood sugar.
"Protein window", according to the assurances of a number of practicing coaches, opens a little later than carbohydrate, but remains "open" longer, up to an hour. Its appearance means that all the protein foods received shortly after exercise go into action, restoring the depleted protein reserves of muscles and serving the formation of a new strong elastic musculature.Fitness and diet
You should know that the physiological protein window opens one more time, regardless of training - this happens at night. Fitness and diet While we are asleep, the body distributes the protein that has entered into it, so a fitness diet for weight loss suggests that you have a simple and easy-to-digest protein product for dinner - for example, a pair of egg whites or a portion of cottage cheese with kefir.

Fitness diet: how much is there?

In order to train in the gym and lose weight, it is important that the energy expenditure would cover her intake of food - then the "hard-earned" fat reserves will go into action. Therefore, the standard fitness diet for weight loss focuses on an indicator of not less than 1500 daily calories (this is the minimum value, for individual consultation, contact your trainer or use a calculator ). Calculate the energy value of food will help our calorie table of products .
Making up the menu, adapted for sports, do not forget about its diversity and balance. Of all the products should be chosen those that are minimally processed industrially: give up fast food, semi-finished products, refined food. Fitness diet involves simple meals that can be easily prepared at home and take with them to have a snack at work. When preparing food, give preference to a double boiler, grill, baking in an oven without oil.
Take food on a fitness diet is recommended 5-6 times a day in small portions. It is not recommended to take long breaks, so as not to push the body to include a regime of energy saving and conservation of fat stores.
The effect of a fitness diet, along with training, becomes noticeable not instantly, but in half a year you will have a good reason to be proud of yourself in any foreshortening: this time will be enough to "reshape" the body in accordance with the efforts you have spent!

Sample menu of a fitness diet for a day

Breakfast : a glass of water, an omelet of two proteins and one yolk, a small portion of oatmeal with berries, coffee without sugar
Second breakfast : fruit, low-fat cottage cheese or yogurt without additives
Lunch : Grilled chicken breast, portion of wild rice, green salad
Training
"Window" : Carbohydrate or protein-carbohydrate cocktail (for example, low-fat milk + ½ banana + 1 teaspoon of honey)
Afternoon snack : baked potato with greens and yogurt
Dinner : 200 g of boiled seafood, broccoli, a glass of kefir.
It's not difficult to make a fitness menu for yourself: it's enough to understand that you can eat everything, but in a useful way, proportions and consistency.