If you are a newbie to hitting the gym, the whole world of getting fit and healthy requires a lot of change, which can be a major shock to the system. One of the biggest and arguably most shocking aspects of turning your life around is when it comes to diet. An exercise regime is important, but it is not as important as the diet you have in place. There are common mistakes many people make when it comes to the diet part of an exercise regime. Let’s show you some things that you need to tackle.
Choose Healthy Foods You Will Stick To
The biggest mistake people make when it comes to changing their diet is that they opt for things that are so healthy that they are completely unpalatable. When you are training three times a week, it’s important to get the balance right. Therefore, you may find that you have to eat more calories than you are normally consuming for the sake of building muscle, but this doesn’t mean you can start eating whatever you want.
A lot of people think this gives them the license to eat anything and everything, but it’s important to remember that healthy foods need to make up at least 80% of your diet. A lot of people panic that they can’t have a cheat meal here and there. But you need to have a cheat meal that is truly worth your while. This easy graham cracker crust pumpkin pie is something that you can easily salivate over, but you’ve got to remember that as soon as you’ve had your fill of this, you get back on the good stuff again.
Healthy foods that you can realistically eat, not just for the next few months but for potentially years, will ensure that you can have a far better attitude to food. We’re all going to enjoy ice cream sundaes and pies on occasion, but they need to be in the minority. Thinking you need to completely overhaul your diet and eat salads when you don’t like salads is completely impossible to maintain.
Expert Nutrition Guidance
Figuring out the right diet for your fitness journey can feel overwhelming, especially with so much conflicting advice out there. This is where a nutrition professional comes in—offering evidence-based, personalized advice tailored to your unique needs. Whether your goal is weight loss, muscle gain, or improving digestion, having a professional guide you ensures you’re making the right choices.
With customized meal plans, ongoing support, and expert insights, you can develop a sustainable way of eating that fuels your workouts and overall well-being. And the best part? Virtual consultations make it easier than ever to get the help you need right from the comfort of your home.
Understand Your Macros
Macros are short for macronutrients. These include your proteins, fats, carbohydrates, etc. When you have an understanding of the macros you need to hit based on your goals, you can then choose foods that will represent what you’re trying to achieve. This is why tools like MyFitnessPal are really useful. You can put all the foods you eat into MyFitnessPal and you can see how many calories, grams of protein, carbohydrates, and fats you are consuming. Therefore, making certain swaps or lowering your intake of specific foods can help you to hit your goals better.
This is why we’ve got to have a close eye on the amount of sugar we consume. Sugar is going to drive up insulin levels, which means that it gets stored as fat. And this means that, rather than looking at the calorie component, you’ve got to break it down into the macronutrients. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that it’s about “calories-in calories-out,” which would say to most people that you’ve just got to consume fewer calories in order to start losing weight. But a calorie is not a calorie regardless of the food it’s in.
For example, a calorie in spinach will not get stored as fat because it will trigger hormones like glucagon, which will release fat to burn energy, but ice cream will trigger that insulin spike because of the sugar. That is why you cannot outrun a bad diet!
Do Not Confine Yourself to Guilt if You Misstep
Many people become obsessed with how many calories they consume or the foods they eat. The reality is that you need to live a life outside of the gym and the kitchen. A bad diet is only a bad diet if it is all the time. But we also need to remember that the word “diet” implies that it is temporary. A diet is a way of eating and therefore a diet should be a lifestyle choice. If you can get 80% goodness into your body in the form of good unprocessed foods, you are doing great.
But you should not feel guilty if you fall off the wagon. At the outset, you will find peaks and troughs and you will fall off the wagon. Even people who have been doing it for years also find themselves gorging on occasions. As long as you get it 80% right most of the time, that’s good enough.