Eat to Meet your Fitness Goals

One of the biggest obstacles I face with clients during their training is food. While putting in 60 - 90 minutes a day at the gym can move you closer towards your fitness goals, proper eating is the key. I ask every one of my clients what they had for breakfast that day, and more often than not the answer is "a cup of coffee" or "nothing." Whether you're trying to loose weight or pack it on, neither of those responses will get you any closer to your goals.

One thing is for certain, your body doesn't work well on an empty tank of gas. When you wake up in the morning, your blood sugar is low and you need to fuel your body. Question: What organ is the largest consumer of carbs in the body? If you guessed the brain, you're right (your mouth is not an organ). So, let me rephrase this: When you wake up in the morning your brain is hungry. It's very demanding and if you're not going to feed it, it's going to feed itself. There's a fascinating process in the body called gluconeogenesis whereby the brain signals the liver to create glucose, food on which the brain operates. This happens in the liver by breaking-down amino acids to create this brainfood, or glucose. And where do you suppose those amino acids come from in your body? Your muscles: precious muscle that you've worked so hard to build, precious muscle that keep your body's metabolism purring along so nicely. Yes, in order to keep your brain going, it will break down your hard-earned muscle to feed itself. After all, the brain has the enormous task of keeping you going.

What's the solution? You need to eat in the morning if you want to lose weight or if you're trying to gain weight. It may be a bowl of oatmeal with fresh fruit and yogurt, a toasted bagel with nut butter, or a baked sweet potato. Eat something! Even better would be to make food plan for yourself - Breakfast, snacks, lunch, and dinner - and get to the grocery store. Like the saying goes, plan the work and work the plan!