This week, instead of talking about workouts I wanted to switch it up and talk about nutrition. I had a meeting with a specialist this week where we talked about what my specific nutrition needs are in order to be able to gain lean muscle mass, build strength, and play optimally and efficiently. This includes what food I eat, how much I eat, and how much water I drink each day.

At the beginning of our session, Krystal had me do a bioscan on the Evolt 360 machine. This machine uses electrical currents to measure the difference between muscle mass, fat mass, water, and minerals in your body. It also takes into account height, weight, age, and other factors as well. The science and research behind the Evolt 360 machine is extensive and well respected. I have linked the website here in case you are interested at looking into it more. After a quick scan, you are provided with over 40 measurement that include, but are not limited to, lean body mass, body fat mass, visceral fat mass, skeletal muscle mass, total body water, and BMR which stands for basil metabolic rate. BMR is one of the most important factors on this list. It tells us the number of calories you body needs to function when you are not doing any activity at all. With this number you can then go on to calculate how many calories you need with your particular activity level in mind.

Once I had my scan done, Krystal calculated my numbers to figure out how many calories I need to eat in a day and what my macros are. Macros refer to specific nutrients that your body requires to function and perform – proteins, carbs, and fats. After calculating my number we determined that I need to eat 2,700 calories. Of these calories 40% need to be proteins, and 30% for both carbs and fats. After finding these numbers, we talked in depth about each of the macronutrients and what I could eat to accomplish these goals. I could go into very specific details about this but instead I am just going to list a few of the suggested foods. These food include, eggs (specifically egg whites), meat such as chicken, beef, and fish, oats and/or oatmeal, greek yogurt, nuts, vegetables and fruits, and protein powder.

This session was critical to my inquiry as nutrition plays major role in muscle recovery, injury prevention, reduced tiredness, increased focus and alertness, building muscle, and ultimately, reaching peak performance. I look forward to taking this knowledge and implementing it into my everyday life!

Photo Credits: Header photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash