For athletes and sports enthusiasts, weight can be a bit of an obsession. Those looking forward to a new body composition to improve their strength and speed often attempt to lose weight. Unfortunately, many athletes find slimming methods that can jeopardize their performance and immune function.
Here are a few safe and effective ways to lose weight while maintaining performance.
Set your goals
Be as specific as you can. If you want to lose weight, you will need to define a target. It could be 2kg or 3kg, before a race or a determined month. This way, you will keep yourself motivated.
Drink lots of water
Staying hydrated at all times is extremely vital, even if you are not thinking about losing weight, it’s key for performance. Drinking a glass of water can also lessen hunger in some cases. The best way to measure your intake of wáter is filling up a big bottle of wáter (1L or so) and drinking up its content by the end of the day.
Replace your sugary snacks
Eliminate the added sugar in your diet as much as you can. Start doing so by avoiding canned fruit, sweetened cereal, fruit juice and sugary condiments such as ketchup or maple syrup. These guilty pleasures are not good for weight conscious athletes as their sugar/calories usually result in fat storage. A good replacement can be nuts and fresh fruit.
Focus on lean protein
Consider adding a slightly higher amount of protein to your meals as this will lead to a greater calorie loss by means of digestión. What’s more, when you add protein to healthy fat, fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, you will feel fuller longer.
Keep track on when and why you eat
Emotional eating and improper nutrient timing can make weight loss very difficult to accomplish for athletes. Combined, these habits can cause a drop in blood sugar, poor satiety and gradual decrease of metabolism ver the time. By keeping track on when and why you eat instead of counting calories, you can actually control your eating habits and see a difference.