Balancing Exercise and Nutrition

This is not a "what came first - the chicken or the egg?" situation.

Before you can exercise, you need fuel. The more nutrients in that fuel, the better it is for the performance during the workout and for the post-workout recovery, which is where all the physical capacity progress happens.

So why do I say there needs to be a balance between the two?

Because what you do with your body has a big influence over what exactly it is you need from your food. Bodybuilders use more protein (for the extraordinary muscle growth demands) than most people, including many other athletes. Endurance athletes who have 2+ hour training sessions and events burn more calories and carbohydrates than most other people.

But everybody needs the vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber in a healthy diet, right? Sure, but obese people who are trying to lose body fat need as nutrient-rich a diet as they can get in order to get adequate amounts of those nutrients within a calorie supply that is a few to several hundred less than they need in a given day. It's even more important to eat "clean" if exercise is part of your fat loss plan (it should be.)

Then how do you strike that balance so that the two pieces, exercise and nutrition compliment each other?

Some people measure foods and count calories, grams of fat, protein and/or carbs. I don't do any of that. I stick to mostly a variety of nutrient-dense (NU~DE) food, eating just enough to satisfy my hunger for an hour or two, and then work out hard 3-4 days a week. If I'm hungrier, I eat more, almost always starting with veggies (which I usually eat with a protein/fat source like nuts or cheese), and then working my way down the chalice shown above.

Through trial and error, listening closely to your body, and then watching how your waistline responds, you'll eventually be able to play your body like a fine instrument.

Won't that be fun?