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How
to eat yourself fit
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Eating
well can mean the difference between building
fitness and just plain exercising.
Photo by Pte Shannon Joyce, Army newspaper
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Getting
fit takes more than just exercise, but it isn’t
rocket science.
Josh Dickinson explains how food and fitness work together.
Today’s Defence members need to be both physically
and mentally ready for active service, but many simply
leave themselves vulnerable with an ineffective approach
to personal fitness and wellbeing.
At the gym, I see all types embarking on the fitness
lifestyle, but they can basically be broken down to
two groups – those who are there because they want
to be, and those who are there because they have to
be.
But no matter what your reason for being there, you
can get more out of your effort if you know how.
Nutrition is the key
When it comes to fitness, it doesn’t matter how
hard you work or what you accomplish in a given session,
if you don’t follow up that effort with a sound
nutritional approach. Otherwise you’re short-changing
yourself on meaningful results.
Current lifestyle habits dictate three square meals
a day, plus the occasional snack. But the only thing
this type of eating will achieve is obesity and poor
fitness.
It is now commonly accepted in the sports science and
medical fields that people involved in regular physical
activity need to eat more often to capitalise on increases
in muscle mass, increases in physical fitness and reductions
in body fat.
How important is nutrition?
Think about this – you turn up to PT at 7am, the
PTIs hammer you with a gruelling session and it’s
all over by 8am. Now what? If you wait until mornos
for cakes and sandwiches, you’ve gone two hours
with no nutrition.
Food is what gives us the energy for play and the building
blocks for recovery. If you’re not eating right,
you can almost guarantee that the effort you exert during
PT will be in vain.
How can you expect to get fitter, stronger and to be
healthier if you’re not feeding your body when
it needs food the most?
What food?
There are typically four macronutrients that provide
our bodies with energy. They are protein, carbohydrates,
fats and alcohol. Each is different in its role and
the amount of energy it offers.
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Protein
– four calories per gram
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Carbohydrates
– four calories per gram
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Fat
– nine calories per gram
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Alcohol
– seven calories per gram
Now,
I could bore you with all the details on the different
macronutrients and their roles within the body, but
instead, I’ll just give you the “quick fix”
method to fast-track results from all the effort you
put in during PT.
Sports nutrition
Recent
advancements in sports nutrition have been phenomenal.
You can get high-performance sports food products that
actually taste great, are convenient and work.
Some varieties come in individual serves for added convenience.
Eat a well-balanced meal or drink a high-performance meal
replacement as soon as you have finished that tough PT
session and you have instantly satisfied your body’s
need for nutrients.
You have now provided your body with all the building
blocks for recovery and growth, replenished depleted energy
stores and provided essential nutrients specifically used
for recovery.
You can now kick back, knowing that the most important
meal of the day has just been consumed.
Keep
it up
Your efforts over time, combined with good eating, will
ensure the achievement of your health and fitness goals.
As a fitness professional and former soldier, it disappoints
me to see so many people struggle through PT, not because
they are not trying enough, but simply because they are
failing to follow it up with a good nutritional program.
Just as it is important to have a good fitness training
program, place more emphasis on a good nutritional plan
and you will be fighting fit in no time.
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