10 rules of a sports diet for those who decide to get in shape

Only professional athletes need a real sports diet. But its basic principles will be useful to everyone who trains regularly and wants to see results.

1. Diversify your diet

With regular physical activity, a balanced and varied diet is important. Make sure that there are six main groups of natural products on the menu:

• vegetables (including legumes);
• fruits;
• nuts, seeds and natural oils;
• raw meat, fish and seafood;
• whole grains;
• natural dairy products.

It is better to switch to proper nutrition gradually. This way you will avoid the stress of refusing not the most useful, but familiar food.

2. Don't go on hunger strikes

Sports nutrition does not provide for severe fasting. The body should not suffer from a lack of nutrients before, during and after exercise. Calculate the number of calories you need per day and stick to the 25-50-25 rule. That is, 25% of the calories consumed per day should come from breakfast and dinner, and 50% of the calories from lunch.

Iya Zorina

Lifehacker's fitness expert

The most accurate for calculating calories is the Mifflin-Geor formula.

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For men: 5 + (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) - (5 × age);
for women: (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) - (5 × age) - 161.

With its help, you will calculate your base exchange. Next, you need to multiply it by the coefficient of physical activity: 1.2 - passive lifestyle, 1.375 - light activity 1–3 times a week, 1.55 - 3 lessons–5 times a week, 1,725 ​​- hard training 6–7 times a week, 1.9 - professional sports or hard physical labor.

If you want to lose weight or gain muscle mass, at first count not only calories, but also the amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates. This will give you a rough idea of ​​how much you need to eat in order to maintain, gain, or lose weight.

In addition, you will learn how to choose the right foods. For example, you will realize that you can eat a large bowl of vegetables, get enough, and still consume the same number of calories as a small serving of fries.

Keeping track of your diet and counting calories is much easier today than it has ever been. There are many mobile apps that can help you with this. You don't even have to google the nutritional value of the product - just enter its name, and the program gives out the calorie content and the amount of BJU (proteins, fats and carbohydrates).

3. Calculate meal times

Make a rough meal plan based on your daily routine. Complement the standard breakfast-lunch-dinner trio with a second breakfast and / or afternoon tea, depending on which half of the day you have a workout. But only if you really want to eat at this time, you do not need to force yourself.

Iya Zorina

Lifehacker's fitness expert

Food timing is an ambiguous thing. It so happens that people who are used to having breakfast stop eating in the morning and lose weight. There are also known cases of weight loss on intermittent fasting - this is one or two meals per day. You can get rid of extra pounds with fractional nutrition (6–8 times a day) or on diets without carbohydrates and fats. There is no exact answer to what is right for you. You need to try, experiment and find your regime.

However, intense training on an empty stomach is unlikely to benefit the body. Fainting or fainting has not made anyone healthier or more beautiful. To feel good, try for about 2–Eat a high protein meal 3 hours before going to the gym. Or arrange a light snack for 30–40 minutes before class.

And in the first 20 minutes after training, the body has a so-called post-workout (anabolic) window for the consumption of proteins and carbohydrates (but not fat). Anything eaten during this period will go towards muscle recovery and muscle gain, but not body fat.

4. Don't eliminate fats from your diet

According to WHO recommendations, 30% of the total energy consumed per day should come from fat. Of these, no more than 10% - for saturated and no more than 2% - for trans fats. The remaining 18% should be unsaturated fat. They are found in fish, avocados and nuts, as well as sunflower, soy, canola and olive oils.

Iya Zorina

Lifehacker's fitness expert

If your daily allowance is 2,500 calories, 750 should be consumed from fat. This is about 83 grams of fat, with no more than 27 grams - saturated, which are found in animal products. For example, in butter, lard or fatty meats.

For those who want to lose weight, the expert advises to reduce the amount of fat or carbohydrates (depending on the chosen diet). There is no consensus on which diet works best: both low-fat and low-carb options work well.

However, you should not completely eliminate fats from the diet. Especially if athletic performance and muscle gain are important to you. Fats are essential for the production of testosterone, a male sex hormone that promotes muscle growth, decreases in body fat, and increases strength and endurance.

5. Eat protein and carbohydrate foods before and after exercise

It is best to include foods rich in complex carbohydrates in your pre-workout diet. For example, legumes, sprouts, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, whole grains, bread, brown rice. As well as foods high in protein - lean red and white meat, fish and seafood, legumes, nuts, eggs, cheese, milk and cottage cheese. It is best to eat a couple of hours before going to the gym so that the food has time to digest.

After classes, it is also allowed to eat carbohydrate foods that do not contain fat: bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables. You can also supplement your meal with protein.

Iya Zorina

Lifehacker's fitness expert

An adult needs about 1.6-1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, strength athletes and those who want to gain muscle mass - 2-2.2 grams per kilogram.

6. Remember to drink while exercising

Our muscles are 75% water. During exercise, fluid is removed through breathing, sweat and tears (just kidding). The loss of even 2% of moisture in the body reduces the effectiveness of the exercise by a quarter. Dehydration can lead to rapid fatigue and loss of coordination. Therefore, do not ignore the feeling of thirst.

To feel good and not harm the body, drink half a liter of water a couple of hours before training. Then take a glass every 15 minutes throughout the session. And after training, weigh yourself, see how many grams you have lost, and drink the same amount of water. For example, they dropped 500 grams - they drank half a liter of water. It's inconvenient to carry a bottle on your run, so drink before and after your workout.

7. Remember the benefits of breakfast

First, anticipating a delicious breakfast will help you wake up and get out of bed easier. Secondly, the morning meal will give energy and strength to carry out the tasks ahead. Of course, the amount of breakfast is individual for everyone and you shouldn't force yourself to eat.

Include oatmeal and buckwheat porridge, scrambled eggs, whole grain bread, vegetable salads, and fruits and berries in your morning diet. Natural dairy products and cottage cheese are great.

8. Plan your menu for the week

Allocate half an hour, think over the dishes, write a list of necessary products and go shopping. With this approach, you don't have to decide what to cook in the morning. Also, you will not need to eat the same food from day to day due to the fact that while awake you could not come up with something other than porridge. Another plus - the shopping list will allow you to plan your expenses, which will have a positive impact on your budget.

9. Prepare meals yourself

You've probably noticed that people who are keen on sports take to work lunch boxes with homemade food. If you don't have this habit, consider developing it. So you will be sure of the freshness of the products, the quality of preparation and the calorie content of the dish.

10. Allow yourself light snacks

Snacks, like meals for a full meal, must comply with the principles of good nutrition. For this purpose, apples, bananas, vegetable juice, kefir, yogurt or cottage cheese are suitable.