How Important is Nutrition in a Weight Loss Program?
Nutrition, protein, high carb, low carb, no fat, keto- the options are endless if you’re trying to lose weight and change your body composition. But before I go further into which diet is best, I want to first break down body composition. If you think about the word ‘composition,’ it should give away the meaning- what your body is composed of. That means muscle, fat, bone, water, organs, etc. But what people who are looking to lose weight worry about are usually muscle and fat as a percentage of overall body composition.
Now let’s get into nutrition and why it's so important to reconfigure one’s body composition to more favorable percentages- more muscle, less fat. When you exercise, whether it be running, lifting, yoga, pilates, you are challenging the body and getting into the training principle of progressive overload (covered on a recent instagram post @KHSFITNESS) which in turn causes muscle, fascia, bone, and other connective tissues to break down on a microscopic level and need repair. In order to repair and come back, the nutrients (both macro and micro) are needed. This means vitamins and minerals (micro) and carbs, proteins, fats (macro). The combination of both macro and micro allow the body to repair itself, get stronger, and be ready for the next time a progressive overload workout comes around (i.e. adding 5lbs to that squat or a quarter mile to a run). And thankfully in that process of repair and recovery, fat is removed to allow room for more muscle and used to get large amounts of energy (fat is 2x more calorie dense than sugars and proteins).
So how do you choose a nutrition method to facilitate this method of adding muscle and losing fat? First, I would choose a diet routine that allows you to enjoy the foods you like. There’s no way in the world you’re going to stick to eating rice pudding, chicken, and broccoli for the rest of your life if you don’t like to eat rice pudding, chicken, and broccoli. Second, I would make sure that the diet I choose allows me to get the protein requirements that I need in order to recover (between 1.0-1.5g/kg of bodyweight is usually what I tell people who exercise- there’s an Instagram post for that one too @KHSFITNESS). The last factor I always tell people is make sure it allows room for having fun and enjoying yourself every once and awhile. There’s nothing worse than going out on a weekend and having to stick to your diet because you’ve been told there’s no room for deviation because it’ll throw all your hard work out the window. That’s BS and you are allowed to eat that slice of pizza and drink that beer once a week.
Once you have all 3 of those bases covered, stick to that diet and let it fuel your workouts and your recoveries. However, if you try one and don’t like it, don’t feel bad about switching it up and trying another. Trial and error is the best way to go because one person’s success on a specific diet doesn’t mean it will work for everyone.
On the other hand, if you have no idea where to go to start your diet and weight loss journey, KHS Fitness is more than happy to help you begin!
