Nutritional Advice To Help You Eat Right For A Summer Body
With summer right around the corner, gaining an enviable chiselled body can be considered high on the priority list. A proper summer body diet can help you on your way to achieving beach body success.
Nutrient Rich Food
Whether you’re trying to lose weight, increase muscle size or tone, supply your body with nutrient rich foods to support your training by providing the substrates it needs to develop. Adopt a clean eating mentality, by removing highly processed foods such as takeaway foods and highly refined grains such as white bread from your diet. Opt for foods that provide slow releasing carbohydrates, lean protein, and healthy fats such as avocado or olive oil. Aim to achieve the minimum suggested 5 portions of fruit & vegetables per day, providing the body with essential vitamins and minerals needed for our bodies to function normally.
Portion Control
Take portion control into consideration and eat the right amount of food throughout the day based on your body weight, goals and activity levels. If you’re aiming to lose weight gradually, aim for a calorie deficit of no more than 500 kcal per day.
Nutrition For Training
Support your summer body diet goals by eating the right amount of food throughout the day, adjusting for activity levels. For example, your body will need a greater amount of carbohydrates with a high endurance training load, versus a low intensity exercise or rest day. As a quick estimate for meal content, use fist size portions of food as a guide.
Training Day
For meals on a low intensity training day, consume 1 fist size portion of lean protein, 1 fist size of low to medium release carbohydrates (medium glycemic index) and a portion of vegetables or salad, or select one piece of fruit.
High Intensity Training Day
For a high training load day (1 hour or more of intense exercise per day), increase your carbohydrate intake to two fist size portions in your post exercise meal, or a carbohydrate rich snack.
Reduced Calories
If your aim is to reduce your calorie intake, maintain the meal plans advised above, but replace the carbohydrates in your evening meal to an extra portion of vegetables. Keep in mind that if you are exercising in the evening, you still need to replace the carbohydrates used during exercise.
For more information about what is the right amount of food for you, take a look at the Maximuscle 5 Steps To Smarter Eating
Achieve a strong, healthy body in time for summer by eating nutrient rich foods, and adjust your nutrition to support your training requirements.
By Rebecca Williams, Expert Scientist at the Human Performance Lab
