Nutrition Plans

Nutrition is essential to fitness whether your goal is fat-loss, muscle-toning, or muscle building. To get optimal results, you need to consume proper amounts of protein, fats, and carbohydrates, which are known as macronutrients. You also need a good intake of vitamins and minerals, which are micronutrients. Protein is essential for building and repairing muscle tissue. Carbohydrates (carbs) are the body's primary energy source. Fats are also a source of energy, and are crucial for vitamin absorption, healthy cells, hormone production, and brain function.

Supplements are important because they can help fill the gaps in our diet to ensure that we get the necessary nutrients for optimal health and fitness. There are numerous supplements for numerous purposes, but I am going to expound on just a few baseline supplements that I recommend helping you achieve your fitness goals. 

1. Protein powder - Protein is what your muscle tissue is made of. When you consume protein, you are feeding your muscles. Having a quality protein powder is crucial to hitting your protein goal. I recommend ProJym blended protein powder. It is a premium blend of fast, medium, and slow-digesting proteins and the flavors are delicious. You can get it a GNC, Amazon, and jymsupplementscience.com
2. Vitamin / Mineral Complex - Vitamins and minerals play a vital role in weight management by supporting a healthy metabolism, energy levels, and overall well-being. However, most tablet vitamins pass through your system without being absorbed. That is why I only recommend powdered vitamins that you mix with water. In that form, your body absorbs just about all of the nutrients. I recommend Envie powdered vitamin / mineral / green complex. It contains all vitamins, minerals, green vegetable superfood extracts and digestive enzymes. You can get it at Amazon.
3. Probiotic - Probiotics are good gut bacteria that help maintain a healthy balance of gut bacteria, also known as microbiome. This balance aids digestion so that you can efficiently absorb vital nutrients. Since 70 - 80% of your immune system is housed in your gut, having good bacteria boosts your overall immune system. Probiotics also help with weight management by regulating appetite and metabolism. I recommend Probio from Jym Supplement Science. It contains 10 probiotic strains and a total of 30 billion colony forming units (CFUs). CFUs are the measurement of the number of viable cells in a probiotic. You can get it at Amazon and Jymsupplementscience.com
4. Omega-3 fatty acids from Fish Oil - Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for brain, heart, and eye health along with numerous other benefits. Recent research has proven that they are critical for muscle protein synthesis, which is the repair and building of muscle tissue. I recommend Omega Jym from Jym Supplement Science. It not only contains the Omega-3's found in most formulas (EPA & DHA), but it also contains a newly discovered Omega-3 called DPA that you will not find in most Omega-3 products. DPA plays a vital role in many bodily functions. You can get it at GNC, Amazon, and jymsupplementscience.com.

Drinking proper amounts of water is essential for achieving your fitness goals. It helps to maximize physical performance, which gives you better results. Studies have shown that dehydration has a negative effect on the repairing and rebuilding of muscle after workouts. Water increases satiety which is the full feeling in between meals. It boosts your metabolism rate which is your body's fat-burning process.

How much water should you drink? I recommend a daily goal of 100 oz for females and 120 oz for males. These numbers will vary a bit based on age, weight, and activity level. Not all of your hydration needs to come from water. Other things count as fluid intake such as milk, coffee, tea, juices, sports drinks, fruits, and vegetables. 

Shoot for these goals but make any necessary increases using 20 oz increments. For example, if you are only drinking 60 oz daily, increase that by 20 oz a week until you hit your goal. The key is to be consistent each day.

So how much protein, fats, and carbs do you need to eat? That will depend on your goals. For fat-loss and to lose body weight, you need to be in a caloric deficit, meaning you're burning more calories than you are consuming. To increase body weight, you need to be in a caloric surplus, meaning you're consuming more calories than you are burning.

Using a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator is a good starting point to provide a rough estimate of your total daily calorie burn. It considers multiple factors that affect energy expenditure. While it may not provide a precise estimate, it helps to give you a rough idea of how many calories you need to consume daily to achieve your fitness goals. Simply enter your height, weight, age, and current activity level.

Once you have your TDEE estimate, you can then set your initial calorie goal.  For fat-loss and to lose body weight, I would recommend a caloric deficit of around 500-700 calories. It may take trial and error with subsequent adjustments to get it right. To build muscle, I would recommend a caloric surplus of 250-500 calories to support muscle growth and recovery. 

After you have determined your calorie goal, let's start with a focus on protein and fats first. A good rule of thumb is around 1-1.5 grams per pound of your target body weight. The remaining calories will be from carbs. 1 gram of protein and 1 gram of carbs are each 4 calories. 1 gram of fat is 9 calories.

A calorie-counting app can be used to help you stay on track. I recommend Nutritionix or MyFitnessPal, but there are many options available.

Commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed! Proverbs 16:3