I’m exercising, eating healthy, so what’s next?

You did it…you took the steps…you took ACTION!!! You have started working out consistently and are making healthy food choices! BUT…you’ve started to wonder what’s next? You’ve started to get a little…well let’s be honest…BORED with your exercise routine and meals! And on top of this…you aren’t getting results as fast as well…you thought you would..and it’s so much more work than you imagined. So let’s break these areas down topic by topic and discuss next steps!

First, let’s discuss workouts/exercise

You are putting in the work and have developed consistency, which takes effort. And now with this new behavior change, you’ve established new healthy habits, which again are a huge win! Now, we want to incorporate more variability within your established routine! We want to really mix it up! Let’s switch up exercises, tempo, duration, intensity, order, and keep workouts fun and mentally engaging! When I program out workouts, I incorporate these variables in a progressive manner to drive efficient and sustainable results!

Next, let’s talk about nutrition!

How to really make healthy food a lifestyle change! So you are making nutrient dense food choices, adding more veggies to your meals, getting quality protein, healthy fats, and complex carbs with fiber consistently! Now it’s time to take your nutrition to the next level!

We want to focus on 3 areas:

Matching daily workout intensity to macro intake + Food rotation + Nutrient timing.

In terms of workout intensity/macro spread, basically higher heart rate workouts deplete muscle glycogen and give more flexibility for carbs.

Simply, earn your carbs.

1. Protein will stay pretty consistent most days, with slight increases on heavy strength days. And healthy fats should be at an optimal level to keep the metabolism up, and slightly higher when doing low intensity work.

2. Next is food rotation. So this is key when we talk about long-term sustainability of our eating patterns. We want to stay consistent with healthy choices while rotating these options to include a variety of protein sources, veggies, fruit, nuts/seeds, and starchy carb! Mixing up your meals keeps the body from developing food allergies and also ensures optimal micronutrient intake! Eating seasonally and local are best if you can and if the foods available! Local farmers’ markets have fresh produce and always be on the lookout for local farms with grass fed, pasture raised, and free range protein sources!

3. Lastly, let’s discuss nutrient timing. In my opinion, carbs are the macronutrient to dial in and time optimally. Again, protein will stay pretty consistent on a daily basis, and healthy fats will depend on total calorie budget and carb intake. With carbs, the key is to match daily carb intake with overall movement and specific workout intensity. When you move a lot throughout the day, your body processes carbs so much differently than when we sit for long periods of time. And when you complete a high intensity workout, whether short and high heart rate or long with high volume, you deplete muscle glycogen, which is stored carbs. Then, when you eat carbs, they go to the muscles to boost recovery. When workouts aren’t intense or we skip them and sit for a majority of the day, the body tends to store those carbs as body fat.

So basically, if you will be sitting a lot or it’s an active recovery/low intensity/rest day, stick with mainly protein, healthy fats, and veggies, here are some great recipes for you. If you’ve just crushed a workout, enjoy your healthy carbs because you’ve earned them. This is all part of the body’s work/reward cycle, which promotes metabolic efficiency, optimal body fat and lean muscle, and improved workout performance!

So in conclusion, take your workouts and nutrition to the next level, by incorporating strategic variety to boost motivation, mental stimulus, results, and to prevent boredom! Other hot topics that play key roles in your results are: sleep, stress, hormone levels, and overall daily movement! We will discuss these factors in future posts because they strongly impact your goals and overall behavior change!