Nutrition and Your Workouts
Are you ramping up your strength work and you’re suddenly feeling more and more hungry? Are you a runner and you’re wanting to introduce more strength into your routine? The relationship between nutrition and your workouts is an important one and I wanted to share a bit of my thoughts today. As a disclaimer, I am not a health professional so this is simply what has worked for me.
It has been nine months since I’ve been doing CrossFit consistently and working with heavy weights again. 2020 did a number on my fitness so it was a bit of a struggle at the beginning. My eating wasn’t ever terrible but I knew early on that I would need to make adjustments if I wanted to improve. Since many races were still canceled due to the pandemic, I focused sole on CrossFit. I began to notice changes in my body but I was also hungry ALL THE TIME. I began adjusting my protein intake and soon noticed the changes in my workouts. As the beginning of the year, I would record my workouts and meals in a written notebook. I wouldn’t obsessed or be too concerned with the calorie count. This was solely a method of trial and error to see what is working with me and what wasn’t.
What is your goal?
This is a huge question that you have to answer right off the bat. If you’re a runner, your nutritional needs are going to be different than a body builder. When I was marathon training, I was lean and had abs. Now that I’m months into CrossFit, I still weigh the same but I look way different. Understanding that your performance is more important than numbers on the scale is huge. Yes you may see a change in that number but understanding your goal will keep you from feeling discouraged when that scale messes with your head.
Are You Eating Enough?
Unless you are working with a PROFESSIONAL (not some random person in Instagram) and you’re working towards a deficit in the short term, you need to eat! My friend is a good example of this. He’s in his mid-30s, in relatively good shape, and would eat well. He was eating well but didn’t see changes. Once he worked with a dietitian, he’s been eating MORE, and has seen insane improvements in his performance. His strength has grown and he’s crushing PRs left and right. If you’re doing high amounts of running or strength work, chances are that you need to eat more than a person who doesn’t work out. If you find that you’re always hungry, making a few adjustments to how much you eat can help you out in the long run.
Don’t “Cut Out” Food!
Unless you’re allergic or have food aversions/health reasons, don’t do it. All this does is put you in a loop where you want something. You deny yourself that one thing. You slip up. Then you feel bad. Then you start all over again. Y’all, that’s a miserable way to live. Having moderation in your diet is huge and will pay off in the long run. Our body reacts to what our minds are saying and if you’re stuck in this loop, no matter what you do, you’ll be miserable.
If you’re unhappy with your athletic performance, I’d give your diet a review. Sometimes a small tweak here and there will help. Other times a nutritionist or dietitian can help. I have a past with disoriented eating and had a lot of help to finally get to a place like this. Constantly tracking food is not something that benefits me so I did a way with it. I found what works for me and makes me happy in my body. Learning what works best for you can be a huge game changer!
Do you adjust your nutrition to fit better with your workouts?
