Eating Right to Get the Body You Want

Eating Right to Get the Body You Want

There is more to building muscle than lifting weights for hours and hours at the gym. That applies to losing or gaining weight, and also to remaining fit if you're already blessed with a fit physique. Diet plays an important role - sorry a more important role - if your goal is to gain weight, lose weight or remaining fit. For me personally, a good body is made only 50% in the gym, the other 50% is made in the kitchen.

First, what is your goal? Is it gaining weight and muscle? Or is it losing weight and fat? Or are you just looking to maintain your excellent, God given fit body? Whatever your goal is, I'd like you to remember the input-output rule. This is the cardinal rule that you should follow whatever your ultimate goal is.

Your body needs energy to function. That energy is derived from the foods you eat. Energy is measured in calories, and an average human needs around 2500 calories a day to function. And if you are highly active, you'd need more calories to sustain and not burn out. However, if you consume more calories than what you need, you are more likely to store the extra, unspent calories in your body, and this stored energy is what will slowly transform into fat and extra weight gain. Eat fewer calories than what your body needs, then you will lose weight. If there is a balance between what you eat and what you burn, you will remain static. Meaning, you will neither gain weight nor lose it.

If you want to lose weight and fat

By now you'd have guessed what to do if you want to lose weight and fat. Simple. Eat fewer calories than what your body requires or burn more calories than what you consume. By eating fewer calories your body will get its energy from the stored energy in your body. This means you will get leaner and fitter with each passing day. So the rules for losing weight and fat are: consume foods that are low on calories, work out or indulge in physical activities that burn more calories, and consume foods that are high in protein because protein digests slower keeping your metabolism active, and also builds muscle, and muscle helps keep fat away.

If you want to gain weight and muscle

You can eat all you want, but to put on the right kind of weight, which is through muscle and not fat, you have to eat the right kind of foods. Pack your food with complex carbs and lot of protein. Though people who want to gain muscle and weight can indulge once in a while on fatty foods, it is advisable not to go overboard because not only will you put on weight through fat, you'd also end up being unhealthy. So, eat healthy foods rich in protein and carbs, and do not burn it all off, and you will slowly start seeing gains in size, weight and muscle.

If you want to remain healthy and fit

Well, keep going the same way because whatever you are doing right now you're probably doing it right. However, please remember this. What works for you now might not work for you in another 10 years from now; because as we age our metabolism slows down thereby losing our ability to burn fat, and the muscle constituent in our body slowly gets replaced by fat. When that happens, simply remember the input-output rule.

Rajiv Karran co-founded a blog http://healthyandfit.in/, and encourages all fitness lovers to visit it.

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