Food
Eating rules to control body fat
Controlling your body fat is all down to how much you eat. It sounds so simple, yet when you are weeks into a deficit your body is constantly telling you that you need to eat. That isn’t a nice feeling. You aren’t one to quit though, and you don’t want to reach for that extra bit of food that isn’t on your plan. That’s why you have found yourself here, this article, to find out the best ways to stop yourself doing so. It will all be worth it when you reach that goal weight.
The best post workout smoothies
Post workout smoothies are a great way to start the recovery process after a hard session. They are packed not only with all the macronutrients you need, but many of the micronutrients we often forget about needing to consume in our diet. They also come with a huge range of variety, allowing you to pretty much add in any ingredients you desire, as long as the outcome agrees with your taste buds. As well as this, they are quick to make and they can be put together before or after your workout.
How much protein do you really need?
Do you have to be shovelling down an exact amount of protein each meal and every day in order to make gains, or is the whole debate about how much protein you need to eat a little bit overrated?
I feel like there are 2 camps. You either swear by incredibly high levels of 2-2.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight or you reside down at the more realistic 1-1.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight.
No matter what camp you’re in, it's easy to agree on the benefits of protein (don’t worry, we will get to the ideal daily amount later on). Protein is used by the body to build and repair cells such as the organs, hair, skin and nails. Although you only care about its ability to repair and build muscle tissue, don’t you? So, let’s have a look at that.
Understanding Casein
Casein is a family of related phosphoproteins . These proteins are commonly found in mammalian milk, comprising c. 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 45% of the proteins in human milk. Sheep and buffalo milk have a higher casein content than other types of milk with human milk having a particularly low casein content.
Training and diet around your menstrual cycle
Do you ever notice that some weeks you feel like Wonder Woman, others you feel like a 15-year-old tabby cat? Have you ever thought about tracking when these feelings occur? Have you ever thought that this rollercoaster of feeling may be linked to your monthly cycle? Let’s explain the physiology behind the menstrual cycle, how this may make you feel, and how we can use this to our advantage.
Post diet hunger hormones: The roles of Leptin and Ghrelin
Can we explain that ravenous hunger we experience post diet? You’ve just finished your competition prep. For some that was an intense 12 weeks, for some a gruelling 25 week slog. Regardless, fat levels were dropping because calories were in a deficit and activity was high. You were hungry, yes, but were you this hungry? Post show hunger is something else right!? You’re eating more food now than you were before, yet you never feel full or satisfied. This can be a recipe for disaster when you no longer have the threat of stage over your head. I’m hungry, I’m not on prep anymore, I’ll eat. Eat, still hungry, in fact, eating has made you feel even hungrier! So you eat some more, and so on. Why does this occur?
Reducing hunger on a diet
Most of us have all been on a diet at some point in our life. Most of us have probably all got to a point within that diet where we feel incredibly hungry, it's almost inevitable. A diet after all (one that restricts calories) is essentially starving our body of enough calories to function optimally.
I’m also sure that once most of us feel that insatiable hunger, a good few of us have caved and stuffed our face full of our favourite food at least once or twice. That’s fine by the way, we are human and most of us aren’t in prep for a competition and don’t have to be strict every second of every day. You shouldn’t feel guilty and you shouldn’t quit if this happens, dieting should be sustainable and be done over a long period of time. Think to yourself, what is one or two meals of ‘bad’ food if you are dieting for over 100 days? Very little in the grand scheme of things.
Get fit on a budget
You don’t have to spend a fortune to get fit. In fact, you don’t even have to spend a penny to start getting fitter and seeing an improvement in your physique.
Getting ‘fit’ is quite broad. Getting fit to one individual could be having their abs visible, whilst getting fit to another could be running a 10k. For me, getting fit is being happy with my physique whilst also not putting any strains on daily life. I enjoy my food, a drink and visiting places without having to think what my next meal must consist of or how many calories I’m burning. I think most people are like this.
Master your lean bulk
Everyone loves the idea of staying lean whilst they bulk, and although the principles of doing so are fairly simple, staying relatively lean whilst trying to add as much muscle as possible can become a struggle. A few slip ups here and there will add up quickly and before you know it you are losing visibility of your abs, those veins start to disappear, and you start to look a lot more watery. The result? You panic and immediately cut until you can see the lean gains again. The problem with this, however, is that you aren’t really going to be adding any significant muscle to your frame yoyoing like this.
What actually is flexible dieting?
You have most likely heard of flexible dieting, or as its more commonly known, ‘ If It Fits Your Macros’ ( IIFYM).
It’s a touchy subject for a lot of people, especially in today's society where everyone seems to believe they are qualified to give nutritional advice if they are simply in shape. So please read this article with a pinch of salt and know that I am simply giving my explanation and opinion on IIFYM.