Most people are looking for the golden mean for quick and effective weight loss. Unfortunately, getting rid of excess weight requires sacrifice and commitment. Regular physical activity and healthy eating are key to achieving optimal body weight and reducing excess body fat. How to combine diet with training? What to eat to make training effective? What is more important when losing weight – diet or exercise?
Weight loss – how much is diet and how much is exercise?
People starting to lose weight, especially those without previous contact with physical activity and a healthy diet, very often wonder about the real impact of these two factors on the fight against extra kilograms. A properly balanced and properly adapted diet, which will not be tailored to individual needs, is responsible for nearly 70% of success. Physical activity, on the other hand, is the remaining 30%. You can also often come across the following schedules:
60% per diem,
30% training,
10% supplementation.
What is more important when losing weight? There is no point in concentrating on the hierarchy of values. Especially since the combination of diet and training gives results in the context of weight reduction, and when used separately, they are not able to provide such good results.
Training-dependent calorie needs
How to combine diet with training? This question is often asked primarily by people who have no experience in losing weight. It is important to know that the need for calories depending on training is the key to success. Why? Based on the level of physical activity and the number of calories burned during exercise, you can determine a deficit that will allow you to effectively lose kilograms and reduce body fat. It’s also an essential way to ensure that your body gets the optimal amount of energy from food. You can’t forget that a diet for weight loss has nothing to do with starvation! Meals must be filling and guarantee the right portion of fuel for daily functioning and effective performance of planned training units.
Proper diet and training plan
Daily energy balance and determination of the caloric deficit are not everything. It is also important to adjust the number of meals and their volume. As it was said earlier, a diet for weight loss must not cause a feeling of strong hunger. Meals must be composed in this way and eaten at such times so that after eating them do not lead to discomfort in the form of sucking in the stomach. The number of meals and the hours of eating them should be adjusted to the daily schedule and possibilities. For some, four main meals will be sufficient, others may require as many as six meals including small snacks.
Diet and training – the important role of functional foods
Nowadays, protein bars or healthy protein snacks are a real facilitation for a weight loss diet. Not only are they a great source option for complete protein, but they can also be used as an alternative to high-calorie sweets. And the role of sweets is extremely important when fighting excess kilograms. Thanks to such snacks, it is much easier to stick to your dietary resolutions.
What to eat to make training effective?
A pre-workout meal should be fully balanced. Of course, for some people, a higher carbohydrate content will be a much better solution, while others may opt for a protein-fat option at the expense of carbohydrate intake. However, it is important that the meal is eaten early enough before the planned exercise, which will reduce the feeling of heaviness during training. It is usually recommended that the meal be eaten about 60-120 minutes before exercise.
Examples of pre-workout meals:
tortilla with hummus, spinach and avocado,
graham bread sandwich with cold meat or tofu, pesto and tomato,
oatmeal with zero-calorie sauce, almonds, natural yoghurt and dried fruit,
a shake based on protein powder, nut cream and fresh fruit (e.g. banana).