So you wanna loose weight and build muscle? Often the idea of using supplements comes to mind. There are so many nutritional supplements on the market these days but it’s healthy to exercise a bit of skepticism.
Many of the pills around these days are simply packed with stimulants and caffeine. Try not to take these because they can damage your metabolism more than it’s worth in the long run. They do speed up your metabolism, but they’ll also give you the jitters and often make you a bit edgy. There are much better ways to speed up your metabolism and it’s not even all that hard.
The most important thing to remember when you’re trying to loose weight and build muscle is to “eat clean”. This is a term used by bodybuilders and fitness professionals that means to eat healthy and nutrient rich foods.
Fill your stomach with the nutrients and minerals your body needs to repair the muscles and clean out the toxins exercising produces. You know just as well as anyone that eating KFC and McDonald’s is not going to get you the vitamins you need to build muscle and loose weight quickly. Eat clean, and you’ll achieve your goals quickly and effectively. So what do we have to eat to keep a clean diet?
So what’s the most important part of a clean diet? Water!
Water is not a food, I know. But it does make up about 80% of your body’s mass. It’s important, real important. Water will help you loose weight and build muscle. Water cleans out the toxins, and gives your body the freedom to put back the nutrition that the toxin’s have taken out. Water will also help eliminate the fat from your body by cleaning out your digestive tract and liver. Drink water often. About 8 glasses a day. And remember, if you’re thirsty, you’re already de hydrated.
Eat your vegetables! Yep, your mother was right. Fresh fruits and vegetables help your body speed up by providing easily accessable nutrients so your muscles will grow faster and stronger. Your body will burn fat faster too because of the increased muscle mass. When your metabolism is burning fat faster, you’ll feel more energetic and the vitamins will make all the difference in your goal to loose weight and build muscle.
Protein is essential for your body to synthesize new muscle cells. Protein supplements are probably one of the only worthwhile supplements I’d consider buying when you’re looking to loose weight and build muscle. It’s important to provide a quickly digestible high quality protein to give your muscles what they need to repair and grow quickly, when they need it most, right after training. So get yourself some good quality whey (or soy if you’re vegetarian) protein supplement and have a milk shake after you train. You deserve it!
You should eat roughly 5-7 times a day, small meals with a bit of protein in each meal so you don’t have cravings. Protein has the ability to stave off sugar cravings so if you get a bit of a sweet tooth, grab another shake (with water), or a protein nutrition bar. Also, a handful of raw nuts is a great substitute.