You are what you eat. You’ve heard the saying before, but when you exercise regularly, you don’t need to worry as much because you’ll eventually burn everything off right?

Wrong!

What you eat still matters at the end of the day, especially when it comes to hitting your fitness goals. This post will give you some insight as to why it matters to keep sticking to your meal plan even when you’ve been hitting the gym everyday.

Your body breaks down everything into three big macronutrients: fats, carbs, and protein. These macronutrients are needed in very large amounts in your body and will only get them from the food that we eat. If you are not eating what your body needs, how can you expect it to perform at optimal levels? It won’t. This is where proper nutrition comes in. When you keep a balanced diet, you are allowing your body to effectively use the foods that you eat to replace protein, fuel you muscles, increase your metabolism, and even promote functions on a cellular level.

When you eat whatever you want, you most likely are not eating a balanced diet. For example, a can of soda is filled with simple carbs that your body breaks down and uses immediately. Your body further breaks down these carbs into another sugar called glucose – the body’s main source of fuel. Since soda is filled to the brim with excess sugars your body does not need, your body stores that sugar as fat. You heard right! Excess sugar is always stored as fat. When you are mindlessly eating, it’s usually with junk foods that have very little, if any, nutritional value. You won’t get full off of these foods and will overindulge, which will definitely not help you reach your fitness goals.

In the long run, it’s always important to stick to nutritionally dense meals as your main source of food and gain an understanding as to how they will break down into your body overall. This doesn’t mean you need to eat salads everyday, but you do need to practice mindful eating. Practice being aware of the food you put into your body and maximize your fitness results.

Written by Jorge Montano