Verified By Apollo General Physician June 11, 2023
3786Starting a rigorous exercise plan is clearly a key part of achieving healthy lifestyle goals, but it’s important to remember that working out can only get you so far. A healthy diet doesn’t just mean cutting out on friday night takeaway binges. You need to keep an eye on what you’re eating at all times. Perhaps the most important change most people need to make when attempting to get leaner is to replace processed foods and refined sugars in their diet. The body simply adores storing these as fat, so instead aim to eat fresh vegetables, protein and healthy fats. Making this change will see you shed that unwanted fat while maintaining your muscle.
Water is important in absolutely all aspects of fitness and nutrition. Water is the medium in which most cellular activities occur, this includes the transport and burning of fat. Try to drink between 2 and 3 litres of water per day, it sounds like a lot but it’s a genuine difference maker.
Consuming a lot of starchy foods, like pasta, bread and rice (especially all at once) provides the body with more than it needs for glycogen stores and energy, anything that is left over will be stored up as fat.
Vegetables are laced with nutrients, packing maximum nutritional value into minimal calories, leaving you more full on less calories. Try to consume five servings a day of vegetables (not including fruit). It might sound like a lot but if you start working them into sandwiches, snacks and even junk food like burgers and pizza you can hit your quota very easily.
While fat burners do help to reduce body fat they will not counteract poor eating habits. If you are taking any fat-burning supplements it doesn’t mean that you can then hit the kebab shop three times a week, you still have to watch what you eat and exercise.
Indeed, taking in simple carbs (sugars) prior to training does replenish liver glycogen stores and muscle, but too much sugar consumed at other times of the day will be stored up as fat. Try to replace sugary drinks with water, coffee or tea (with no added sugar… obviously.)
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