Are you one of those people who say they don’t like physical exercise but are trying to lose weight? Sometimes you just haven’t found the ideal activity. Strength training, Pilates, running, bodyweight exercises that can be done at home, dances like Zumba and even walking. This means that anything goes when it comes to breaking out of a sedentary lifestyle and losing weight.
The practice of physical activity from childhood to old age is essential. On the other hand, it’s hard to find time to exercise. Even more so for practicing more than one physical activity. However, if you are looking for a more effective weight loss strategy, you can combine more than one practice and vary your routine.
Finally, remember that exercise should be an enjoyable activity. Therefore, there is no point in choosing a modality that you hate just because you have seen it lose more weight. After all, the chances of you giving up because of it are much higher.
Also read: How to program your mind to lose weight: It is possible
The purpose of sports nutrition
The dietary planning of a physical activity practitioner is essential to ensure adequate performance and success in sport. First of all, we must remember that the nutritional recommendations are different for each sport, as well as the biochemical and physiological characteristics of each individual.
The goal of Sports Nutrition is to help balance the individual’s energy needs, offer basic and important nutrients for each sport, as well as work with ergogenic sources and supplements to enable faster and more adequate regeneration.
How can we practically calculate nutritional needs from physical activity?
One way to calculate nutritional needs is based on metabolic equivalents (MET). MET is an abbreviation for Metabolic Task Equivalent related to oxygen consumption (3.5 ml/kg/min) applied to each activity.
Based on this, each type of physical exercise is assigned a MET that varies according to the intensity of the exercise. So running at 15 km/h has a higher MET than running at 8 km/h.
MET calculation takes into account the individual’s weight, activity time and activity MET (energy expenditure = MET x weight x activity training time in hours), for example a male athlete weighing 75 kg who proposes to ride a bicycle for 1 hour. The MET for vigorous cycling is 10.0. Using the formula: 10.0 x 75 x 1 = 750 calories burned in this activity.
And how would the calculation of diets in Sports Nutrition turn out?
First, the client must fill in a daily activity log (which includes hours of sleep, exercise and regular hours). You should always first calculate your resting metabolic rate and divide it by 24 hours. Remember that the client’s weight, height, age and gender are taken into account when calculating the resting metabolic rate.
After that, the expenditure is calculated for the days when you perform physical activity and for the days when you do not perform it. Reducing or increasing energy can be done according to the goal, using nutritional ergogenic sources if necessary.
Finally, VCT must be properly distributed among macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) according to the goal(s) and sport(s) played.
