The impact of your diet on your fitness results

When it comes to seeing results in the gym, your diet is extremely important.

For example, you might have heard some of the common phrases like “your abs are made in the kitchen” or “you are what you eat”. In terms of your fitness, both of these are pretty true.

The way you eat and the food choices you make play a huge role in determining the results you see.

Not only that, but food plays a tremendous role in just about everything your body does. Probably an even bigger role than you might think.

In this post, I’m going to cover just how big of an impact your diet can have on your fitness results.

In this post you’ll find:

How your food choices impact your exercise results

Many people might think that your workout routine is the most important factor in your fitness results.

Although your routine and training style are both extremely critical to seeing results and reaching your goals, one of the most important elements of your fitness success is actually your diet.

That’s right, your diet can account for up to 80% of your fitness results! This means that we can guarantee that a healthier diet will be sure to lead to better fitness results.

Knowing that your diet has that much of an impact on your results, it would make sense for anyone who’s looking for results to try and improve the way that they eat.

Think about it, why would you want to be putting in so much work in the gym only to sell yourself short with your diet.

To be sure your time and consistency in the gym don’t go to waste, it’s important to make as many improvements to your diet as you can.

Why nutrition is so important for fitness success

Many people aren’t aware of exactly how important the things they put into their bodies are for determining how their body looks and functions.

Because of this, many people might not pay too much attention to their nutrition.

However, notice how it’s so common for people to instantly see benefits once they start eating more whole, nutrient dense foods.

For example, things like improved moods, increased energy, better physical performance, increased strength, healthier skin and hair, and so on are all things that can improve with an improved diet.

The reason for this is because the foods you eat play a humungous role in just about everything your body does.

See, food gives your body the energy and building blocks for every single function that it has. Every single function.

This means the foods you eat are what’s going to be broken down and used as energy and fuel for your body. Then, this food will be used to carry out everyday functions and to build and repair your body.

So think about it, doesn’t it make sense that higher quality food will produce higher quality results in all aspects of your life? And that the more nutrients you give your body, the more nutrients it has to build and repair itself?

What happens when you start eating better…

The better the foods are that you eat, the better available energy and nutrients your body has. This means that it can do everything it’s supposed to do, but better.

As a result, the better foods that you eat, the better your body will be able to reflect your fitness results.

On top of that, you’ll also have more energy in the gym, perform better during your workouts, recover easier, and be able to rebuild more high quality muscle.

Trust me, even just small improvements are a game changer in terms of your fitness.

The roll of your diet in fat storage versus muscle storage

Believe it or not, your diet will determine your fat storage more than your exercises will.

If you’re someone who works out, it’s often hard to tell if you’re gaining fat or muscle when the scale goes up. But the truth is, the real determinant here is your diet.

For example, if you eat more high quality, protein dense meals, your body will support more lean muscle. Meaning you’ll have a more lean, toned appearance.

This would indicate that any increase in your weight is likely an increase in your muscle mass, and potentially a small amount of fat.

Whereas if you eat more sugary, processed foods, your body will most likely hold on to more fat. As well as struggle to build and hold onto lean muscle mass. This makes it extremely difficult for you to be able to achieve a strong, lean looking physique. No matter how hard you’re training.

As a result, if you want to see results in the gym, improving your nutritional choices is extremely important.

Since your body will directly reflect what it is that you’re eating.

Some of the most important nutrients for muscle growth

Of course, all nutrients are extremely important for a healthy body. However, when it comes to muscle growth, there’s one nutrient in particular that’s extremely important.

That nutrient is: protein!

Protein is extremely important for muscle synthesis. This is because protein is made out of amino acids and amino acids are what your body uses to build up the muscles in your body.

When you eat protein and your body begins digesting it, the protein is broken down into the amino acids it’s made out of. Then, your body can begin using these amino acids to build and repair your muscles.

As a result, if you want to make as much progress in the gym as you can, it’s best to focus on eating a high protein diet.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should only be eating protein and neglect all other nutrients. Like I said before, all nutrients are critical for a healthy body.

Meaning in order for your body to be in it’s best conditions, you need to be eating tons of carbs, healthy fats, and plenty of other macro and micronutrients, as well as protein.

The most effective ways to improve your eating habits

Improving you diet doesn’t need to be hard and it certainly doesn’t need to be dreadful. Here are some of my favorite ways to start improving your eating habits!

Make small improvements and create micro habits

A lot of times when people try to eat healthier, they try to make big, extreme changes.

For example, they’ll try something like cutting out all sugar and processed foods.

Although this might seem good, it’s not really the best option. In fact, it’s probably a bad option. Especially if you’re someone who’s used to eating these foods regularly.

The main problem with this is that the changes are instant. Trying to make too much of a change, too soon doesn’t give your body any time to adapt to the change.

As a result, making this the best formula for you to have hard time staying consistent once you lose momentum. And eventually end up quitting shortly after.

Instead, what you really should be doing is focusing on making small improvements.

Why slowly improving food choices can lead to better fitness success

What I mean by this is focus on making small, gradual changes to your diet. Remember, we’re trying to make lifestyle changes to our eating habits. Not constantly be trying some new, trending diet hoping it’ll work only for it to be too extreme and leave us worse off than before.

One way to start making gradual improvements to your diet is by making small swaps everyday. Swap something you enjoy eating for something else you enjoy eating but that’s a tiny bit healthier.

For example, try swapping out one more processed meal for a meal with more whole foods. Do this only once, for one day.

Then, once you can do it once a day for one day, try doing it again the next day.

Or maybe, instead of swapping out a whole meal, try something like choosing a healthier snack.

Overtime, these small changes will turn into habits. As time goes on you’ll build new habits for yourself, you’ll find it much easier to make more changes more often.

Before you know it, you’re whole diet and mindset surrounding food will have changed. Without you having to had go on any extreme, unsustainable diet.

Choose foods because you want to, not because you have to

In order for any “diet” you do to be successful, you need to be making changes that you want to make. Not ones you feel you need to make.

Meaning you should be making food choices that are best for you, because you care about your health, not because you’re forcing yourself to make them.

To do this, you need to focus on shifting your mindset surrounding food. Instead of focusing on all the foods you “shouldn’t” be eating, focus on the foods you should be eating. For example, foods that will make you the healthiest and allow your body to become the best version of itself.

For example, it’s much better to choose a healthier option because you know it will provide more nutrients for your body, rather than choosing a healthier option because you don’t allow yourself to have the less healthy option.

Add foods in to your diet (rather than cut foods out)

If you focus more on the foods in your diet that you can’t have, you’ll be more prone to giving in to eating these foods.

This is because what we tell ourselves we can’t have is usually what we end up wanting more of.

Every time we tell ourselves we can’t eat something, it creates a scarcity mindset in our brain. In tern making our bodies feel like this food is scarce, causing us to crave it even more, and in bigger quantities.

Instead of focusing on the foods you shouldn’t be eating, focus on the foods you should be eating more of.

For example, things like lean protein, fruits, veggies, and grains are all great foods for your body. Make these foods available to yourself, and focus on incorporating them into each of your meals.

Then, you’ll most likely end up filling your plate with all the foods you should be eating to keep yourself healthy, and end up having little room for foods that don’t provide as much health benefit.

By doing this, you’re never telling yourself there’s any foods you can’t have and all foods are always available to yourself.

However, you end up making much better food choices because you focus on the foods your body needs to function at its best.

Try meal planning to make healthy choices easier

A lot of times when our lives are busy or we’re in a rush, the last thing we want to do is take the time to cook a nutritious meal. It’s so much easier to just grab whatever’s available.

Because of this, the easiest way to create better eating habits is to make more nutritious foods available for yourself. Think about it, if you want to grab something quick, easy, and available, then make pre-prep some healthy meals to store in your fridge.

This is what’s known as meal prepping and it allows you to prepare all your meals for the whole week in advance. Or just a few days, whatever you prefer.

This allows you to have nutritious meals prepped and ready. So when it’s time to grab a quick, on the go dinner, it’s ready for you.

By doing this, you save yourself the time of cooking a healthy meal everyday. Instead, you only prepare your meals a few times a week.

Of course, this will require you to invest more time cooking at the beginning of the week. However, the main idea here is to spend time cooking your meals once, then have meals ready and prepared for the rest of the week.

Takeaways

Your diet plays one of the biggest roles in your fitness success. As a result, it’s important to improve your diet if you want to increase the results you see from your workouts.

By making small, gradual improvements to your diet and having the desire to better your health, you can make improving your diet so much easier.

Then, before you know it, you’ll have gradually turned old habits into healthier habits.

You’ll be healthier than ever and will be seeing more results than you’ve ever seen before!

More posts on women’s weightlifting:

How to take a deload week in the gym

How to start weightlifting AT HOME

8 Exercises you NEED to grow bigger legs