Why Diet Is More Important Than Exercise
While hitting the gym is a great way to maintain a healthy lifestyle, diet plays an even more important role in achieving overall fitness goals. No matter how much time one spends in the gym, a poor diet can undo all that hard work. A diet rich in nutrients and low in processed foods can help maintain a healthy weight, boost energy levels, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. On the other hand, relying on exercise alone to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight can be challenging and unsustainable in the long run. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize a balanced and healthy diet over the time spent in the gym to achieve optimal health and fitness.
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The word diet means the food that you eat. But it’s more known as special foods that one may choose to eat that may be restrictive to achieve weight loss. But it does not need to be considered restrictive, but rather as a way to nourish your body to achieve your fitness goals.
Exercise alone cannot achieve fitness goals
What you eat will affect the results of your fitness goals. It takes more work in the gym to undo a poor diet. Relying on exercise alone can require way more work in the gym to achieve your fitness goals. This method can be highly unsustainable for the long term.
Focusing on eating nutrient-dense whole foods can fuel your body for your workouts and everyday life. A diet rich in nutrients and low in processed foods can help maintain a healthy weight, boost energy levels, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. This can become a part of your overall lifestyle and something you can sustain for a lifetime.
In terms of weight loss
To achieve weight loss, you have to be at a caloric deficit. This means you are consuming fewer calories than you are burning through everyday living and exercise. If you are focusing on exercise alone and not looking at how much you are eating, the exercise you will have to do is excessive. The reality is that most of us do not have the time for excessive exercise. So, being mindful about eating at a deficit will significantly help with weight loss goals.
In terms of muscle gain
To achieve muscle gain, your workouts have to be focused on progressive overload (increasing the difficulty or weights of your workouts) and a high-protein diet. If you only focus on your workouts to gain muscle, it will be excessive exercise and may not provide results. Muscles need a high-protein diet to repair and eventually increase in size.
How to focus on nutrition
The first step is to identify your fitness goals. This will determine how to change your diet to achieve your fitness goals. You want to incorporate whole foods and limit processed foods for weight loss. High-volume foods containing tons of beans, veggies, and greens will help keep you at a caloric deficit since you can eat many veggies for low calories. Additionally, you want to focus on a balanced diet. See this post for how to build a balanced plate for each meal.
Consistency and patience
No matter what your fitness goals are, IT TAKES TIME. Give yourself patience and be consistent with BOTH your diet and exercise.
Results will not happen overnight. If you’re not seeing results, it may be that you’re not at a caloric deficit, and you need to revisit how much you eat. Another thing that may help is adding additional low-impact activities to your day, such as walking.
Give yourself time and keep at it; you will get there.
Combination of diet and exercise
Exercise and diet together can significantly help you achieve your fitness goals, but remember that diet is key to reaching those goals. It has been said that fitness goals are achieved by 80-90% in the kitchen and 10-20% in the gym. No matter your fitness goals, you want to ensure that you eat in a way that will help you achieve them.
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“Do something today that your future self will thank you for”
— unknown
I find that quote so inspiring. Hard work will pay off in the future, but you also have to live in the moment, and I feel like taking care of yourself is doing both. You are doing good for yourself now as well as for your future self.
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