Whether your goal is to lose fat, maintain a healthy weight, build muscle, or improve fitness it is vitally important we understand the difference between eating healthily versus eating toward a goal. When looking at maintaining a healthy weight, losing fat, building muscle or improving fitness we can look at those goals very broadly through the total amount of energy we are consuming and burning.
- If your goal is to lose fat you need to consume less calories than you are burning to create a calorie deficit through exercise and/or nutrition.
- When aiming at maintaining a healthy weight we are looking to be eating and burning the same amount of total energy.
- When building muscle we do this through a calorie surplus, eating more than we are burning, along with the corresponding training program.
- Finally when we are looking to improve fitness we are looking to both maintain a healthy weight but also have the available energy to perform the cardio training program.
Eating ‘healthy’ is very important when it comes to creating a healthy lifestyle and especially if we are looking at fat loss. However, this can often lead to weight gain as what is healthy can still sometimes have high total calories.
For example, a Guzman Gomez burrito bowl = 663 calories vs. a Big Mac = 563 calories; or a 600ml Coke = 254 calories vs. a 600ml Boost Juice (mango passion fruit smoothie) = 453 calories. Comparisons like this are a great example of what is “healthy” and what is “unhealthy”, and can hopefully show you the importance of taking into account both the quality of the foods you are looking at, but also the total energy within them. This is why looking at nutritional information and how it effects your macronutrient goal is so important.
Although some of the mentioned foods are not “healthy”, they actually contain lower total calories. When aiming for any of these goals, the ideal is to consume as much ‘Healthy’ food while also taking into account the total energy consumption. Using the MyVision app to track macronutrient goals is a great educational tool to understand how different foods are broken down into Carbohydrates, Protein & Fats, and can help you find that balance between healthy and the right food choices for your goals.
With the help of the BIOSCAN, along with your body type we can calculate a macronutrient requirement specific to you and your goals. Lastly the Shopping Tours are designed to help educate you on what foods are both healthy and great for your goals, and even more importantly what you love to eat!
