fullcortex.net

Just because you’re in a program and you want to improve your body shape doesn’t mean you have to eat nutrition bars. In fact, adding calories to your diet will do little more than make you a porker. If you’ve just started to become active, try improving your over-all diet.

Concern yourself with hydration and eating well, instead of eating more. Substitute low-fat cheeses in place of the full-fat kind. Drink skim milk instead of whole or two percent milk. Add carbohydrates and some protein by eating vegetables instead of junk food which is usually high in both calories and fat.

“If your main goal is to lose weight, exercise alone won’t be too helpful,” says Christine Rosenbloom, Ph.D., R.D., nutrition professor at Georgia State University. “You also need to cut down on the amount of food you consume.”

Now you have an excuse when your girlfriend calls you a pig-you have to be. To some extent you can pig out on healthy, low-fat foods. “If you want to increase strength and even weight, it’s hard to get all the calories you need to eat in three meals,” says Christine Rosenbloom, Ph.D., R.D., nutrition professor at Georgia State University. “You would have to eat huge meals, and that is usually too much.”

Aim for five, small meals a day. You’re going to want to add more protein to these meals, but don’t make the mistake of adding so much that you start to look more like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man then the Incredible Hulk. In other words, don’t concentrate so much on protein that you neglect your intake of carbohydrates, calories and water.

Good news, with the amount of work you’re doing you can start eating more than the average sedentary Homer Simpson fan. Of course you’ll be adding food to your already healthy, low-fat diet. It’s as simple as snacking on a bagel, graham crackers, cereal or having an extra glass or two of juice. “You don’t have to change your diet drastically, but you should keep a balance so the scale doesn’t swing drastically one way or the other,” says Lesli Bonci, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and nutritionist for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Instead of having two cups of pasta, you may need to have three.

Endurance athletes often concentrate solely on carbohydrates. Without the proper amount of protein, you may start burning lean muscle mass instead of fat which will only deplete your strength. Once you start increasing your intake of calories, you’ll need to increase how much water you drink as well.

If you’re active in both endurance and strength exercises, pay attention to what you eat when your workout is over. “After you have a real hard bout of exercise you deplete the glycogen in your muscles which is the fuel that makes you go,” says Christine Rosenbloom, Ph.D., R.D., nutrition professor at Georgia State University. “It can take up to forty-eight hours to replenish that fuel.”

She suggests you start the process faster by making a conscious effort to eat within thirty minutes after you exercise. You can bring a sports bar, a bagel, a piece of fruit, a can of juice or a sports drink with you to the gym. Any kind of carbohydrates is good. Even a caffeine-free soft-drink is better then nothing, but keep an eye out for the calories

Dairy products are also good for someone in intermittent sports because they have both carbohydrates and protein. One way to help ensure that protein is properly added to your diet is to drink more water. No matter what stage of exercise your in, you should always keep your diet low in fat.