Pre and Post-Work Out Essentials

In one of my recent posts I discussed how healthy eating leads to a healthy lifestyle and what foods are great for anyone starting their journey. Healthy foods will always be one of the number one tools to achieve any fitness goal but another key element to this is your pre and post-workout plans. 

What you eat before and after a workout is just as crucial as your diet (by diet I mean health-conscious choices). It is EXTREMELY important to provide your body with the nutrients, energy, and recovery tools before and after your workout. The most common mistake that is made is that people will either eat nothing before and after or eat the wrong things before/after, which can ultimately decrease your results as well as give you a groggy and tired feeling throughout the rest of your day. Muscles, whether toning or building, need to be replenished to prevent themselves from burning off what you half built up. 

Below I have found a great guide that shows plant of pre and post-workout examples that will help you retain energy, hydrate, and feed your muscles. The most important thing to remember is that you want to replenish and rehydrate, not starve and deprive yourself from nutrients and energy.

• http://www.drinksvelte.com/2014/07/fuel-and-refuel-what-to-eat-prepost-workout/

The Realities of Fitness

A personal fitness goal of mine has changed throughout the years as I went from one sport to the next and then eventually continued to college where I did a 180 in my goals. Currently, my goals are to be lean, toned, and healthy as opposed to muscle gain and bulking in high school. 

The other day I was stumbling upon links about health information and how to work towards my goals. when I found this visual that really showed the essence of fitness. Fitness is more than just having a great workout routine, its about making the right food and lifestyle choices as well. Those choices make all the difference so I wanted to share it with you all to display the differences between attaining certain goals. To achieve specific weights or fitness levels, sacrifices must be made so this visual compares the lifestyles as well as what they do to achieve each level. I hope this is helpful and gives some insight on how much goes into being healthy and fit.

(below the image is the original link if the visual is difficult to read)

• http://www.precisionnutrition.com/cost-of-getting-lean