Fuelling the lean machine...

We are often told getting the results we want is '80% nutrition and 20% working out,' but I never really understood that until I began weight training. It doesn't just apply to the people that want to lose weight, but also the people that want to gain muscle or just maintain their weight. I will be posting blogs in the future about gaining muscle, losing weight and maintaining your weight in more detail. The main message of this blog is to make good choices and questioning your bad choices before you even make them.

I choose to eat clean 99% of the time because I enjoy good foods, I enjoy the way my gut feels and I enjoy not feeling bloated!!! The other 1% of the time, I indulge in sugary and highly refined foods if I want to, if not, then I won't. People always seem to see it as a challenge to get me to 'cave,' (which I will never understand) they don't understand that it's a lifestyle choice that I enjoy.

When I do fall off the wagon (which does happen, I'm only human!) and I end up eating crap for a few days, my gut most definitely feels it!! I have a sensitive gut that will make me pay!! Which makes getting back on track all that easier, once you begin to truly understand and listen to your body, making good choices becomes easy, a part of everyday life. I also like to experiment with my diet, I alternate between a high fat and high carb diet, also using carb cycling when on a high fat diet. The important thing with nutrition and your diet is to experiment and find what fits your body, everyones body reacts differently to different diets. I prefer a high carb diet, because you get to eat more volume of foods but I do like foods that are high in fat, so that's why I like to alternate. When carb cycling, I will work my carb consumption around my workouts, although I do love my proats before bed because it sees me through until the morning.

I track my macro's using MyFitnessPal, to ensure I am reaching my protein requirement to aid my training, it's become a habit now and only takes me 5/10mins to do. As some of you may have noticed, I do like to stick to what I know, the foods I know I like, such as, chicken, turkey, salmon, tuna, eggs, mince, veg, couscous, cottage cheese, greek yoghurt, fruit, porridge, crisp bread, rice cakes, protein goodies and nuts.

I spend 6 out of 7 days in a caloric deficit of 500kcals a day, although still ensuring I hit my BMR(Basal Metabolic Rate), which is the amount of calories the body NEEDS to function. It's worrying how many people don't hit their BMR on a daily basis. Consistently eating less than your BMR causes your body to go into a state of starvation, which will halter weight loss let alone effect the bodies daily functions!!! On the 7th day, I ensure I hit my PAF (physical activity factor), which is the amount of calories you burn on a daily basis, taking into account your activity levels. Also, if I've been carb cycling all week, I will ensure to carb load with plenty of complex and some simple carbs.

I love my body, so I ensure to fuel it with what it needs, your body's job is to look after you, so why wouldn't you look after it in return?!

http://quotesgram.net/food-nutrition-quotes/

Listen to your body and your body will reward you!!!

Here are some of my favourite meals...

Musclefood is where I order most of my meat and protein goodies because it's reliable, the products are of great quality and really tasty. I particularly like their chicken sausages and lean burgers, they always have great offers on thats worth keeping an eye on. If you use the promo code: ME188283 you will have a choice of free gifts with your order. Another company I tend to use now and again, is TheProteinWorks, which uses minimal ingredients in it's protein products, which I like. If you use promo code: ME161763 you will receive a FREE bag of protein with your order.