It's important to stay hydrated by consuming at least 3/4 gallon to 1 full gallon of water per day (1 gallon = 3.78L). Starting your day with water and gradually increasing your intake can make it easier to meet this goal. I recommend consuming at least 500ml – 1L of water as soon as you wake up in the morning as these best increases satiety levels and wakes you up. If you find plain water boring, you can use zero calorie water enhancers or BCAA's for added flavour.
To keep your body fuelled, aim for 3-6 meals per day, with 4-5 meals being the sweet spot. The timing of your meals depends on your daily schedule, but ideally, spacing them about 2-3 hours apart can help maintain steady energy levels. If that's not feasible, aim for at least 3 meals. A convenient option is to replace a meal with a protein shake or something easily digestible with a good nutrition profile.
When it comes to cooking oils, opt for healthier choices such as coconut or avocado oil spray. Avoid vegetable or canola oil, as they are less healthy. Olive oil is a good option for low-heat cooking, as it has a lower smoke point.
Absolutely, however real sourced whole foods will always be a better option for overall health reasons. Protein shakes can be consumed as a meal replacement at any time of the day. If you find that you always on the go and needing to get some food in, this can be a great alternative especially through a bulking/maintenance phase.
If you prefer milk in your diet, consider switching to healthier options such as almond milk or low-fat lactose-free milk. These alternatives tend to have fewer calories compared to regular milk, while still providing essential nutrients.
Rest assured, eating before bed won't make you gain weight, if you're consuming fewer calories than you burn in a day. However, it's generally advised to avoid heavy meals before bedtime, as it can potentially disrupt sleep for some individuals.
This is highly dependent on you overall health goal, e.g., are you looking to cut, gain or maintain you weight? To help best find your calorie goal is to use a TDEE calculator found on google or hire a good coach to help best find a suitable range.
Well yes and no, depending on how experienced you are, your availability, recoverability, and the extremeness of the goal. If you’re a beginner or just getting back to the gym you need to slowly ease yourself into working out, your body is not used to the new stimulus and will need to take time to adjust. If you cannot recover from session prior and you can see it has a direct impact on your performance you must take rest if you are to improve. Remember consistency is key just as much as rest, they go hand in hand.
If you have an extreme goal like getting down to sub 10% (man) or sub 20% (woman); weight training, diet and cardio will be monitored around the clock. So, whether you are attending the gym 7 days a week or not, every single day is like workout regardless of if you attend the gym.
No, carbohydrates are not inherently "bad" for you. In fact, they are an important source of energy for your body. However, consuming excessive amounts of carbs and exceeding your calorie needs can result in weight gain. It's important to maintain a balanced diet and consume carbohydrates in moderation to avoid weight gain.
No, lifting weights alone will not necessarily make you look bulky. The idea of "toning" is a misconception, as you are either building muscle (bulking) or losing fat (cutting). It takes years of consistent weightlifting and good dieting approaches to build significant muscle mass. For most women, lifting weights will not result in a bulky appearance, but rather help to shape and define their muscles while burning fat. Combining weightlifting with cardiovascular exercise can be an effective approach to achieving your fitness goals.
Bloating is the feeling of your tummy being full stretched due to the organs in the digestive system expanding from food. Changing to a new diet can sometimes cause digestive discomfort, particularly if it lacks sufficient fibre. To improve gut health and regularity, you can incorporate probiotics, apple cider vinegar, prebiotics, digestive enzymes, insoluble fibre products, or Metamucil if needed. Starting with a probiotic and consuming 1/2 to 1 ounce of apple cider vinegar before breakfast daily has been shown to yield positive results for many people.
Weightlifting belts are not used to burn fat. They have a means to provide and support the stability of compound movements. They can improve posture and core support as it teaches your body to engage better, however this does not mean it is the case for everyone. However weightlifting belts should be used judiciously and not be solely relied upon, as they can weaken you core and lower back by reducing the strain of those muscles during movements. Just as a weightlifting belt, improving posture and core support is relevant to this. For some individuals it can improve the shape of your waist overtime if worn correctly, however results vary per person.
Like many things if fitness I cannot just give you a straight yes or no answer, many things are very individual based such as this topic. Only reason you should start using wrist wraps or knee sleeves is from mild discomfort whenever performing a movement, other than that there is no reason to. As you start to improve, and weight starts to get heavier you may need to include the assistance of wraps and sleeves due to the heavier load. As when we exercise, we want to be able to best strengthen our joints and not have them reliant upon external factors assisting us all the time. So if you have perfectly healthy joins there is no need to use wraps and sleeves.