Now that the end of year celebrations have started with a lot of good food, many must give up and stop worrying about gaining the holiday weight for they think it is useless….but if you are training hard and eating right all year round is it alright to gain that weight, and forget about what you are eating? Those of you beginners and who have been trying to lose weight, and are succeeding, will it compromise the results you have already achieved?
So far this blog has mentioned little about how you should eat when training, but it will be discussed. To give a short introduction, to build muscle or to lose weight, or even just keep a healthy lifestyle it consists of dedication and discipline. And today more than ever, science is showing that the best way to keep healthy is the translation of the old phrase “you are what you eat”. So even with all those diet fads out there, which prove to give results for a short period of time, the correct way to go about your meals, is to have the right quantity of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats (lipids) included throughout the day. It should give you the correct amount of vitamins and minerals, especially if you decide to make your food from raw ingredients and take in the right amount of water. And the best way to go about it is to eat every 2 or 3 hours. Of course there are ways to manipulate your meals to maximize your results, but this will be looked at another time.
So what should one do for the holiday season? Should you just forget about indulging in the goodies? Should you forget about eating and fast until party time? Well to be honest, every bodybuilder and athlete knows that if you have been training hard all year round, there is a time in the periodization, that should be separated for rest, which is called the off-season. But that doesn’t mean that all activities stop, and the athlete is allowed to eat everything that shouldn’t be eaten during the competition phase. It just means that the time is for restoring energy levels, rehabilitating your body, and giving your body rest from the hard work that is done during the year, and not just letting go. Athletes usually workout in lower intensities, and still eat healthy maintaining the level that they are in, but may ingest more carbs, proteins and fats, to help in restoration.
For people who aren’t athletes, just trying to continue building muscle or losing weight during the holidays could be equal to the off-season. It means that people should maintain the smaller meals every 2 to 3 hours a day, with the increase of the amount of protein so that when finally the time of a party comes, they won’t be indulging in all of the high-fat, high glycemic goodies. Athletes know that sometimes, the body might need some foods that are considered junk, which can be a shock to change the metabolism, in case it has stabilized and stopped producing results. But it doesn’t mean that it should be done in all meals. You can consider taking in more fiber and more water. Continuing to exercise is a must, where cardio can actually be increased, so that you can keep the shape that you’re in, or makes it easier and faster to lose that water retention after the holidays.
So during the holidays it is not useless, and keeping your body with all the indulging, as is during the year, is discipline, continued commitment and hard work. It doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy what it has to offer, it just means that you should watch what and when you eat so you won’t bulge.
No comments:
Post a Comment