One of the hardest parts of getting fit is eating healthily. This is why we have put together a guide on how to enjoy your meals at home when focusing on your fitness…

When getting into fitness, it’s all well and good doing daily exercise and working out, but if you’re burning calories just to come home everyday and eat lots of food, then it could be very counterproductive.

Likewise, a balanced and healthy diet, in conjunction with exercise, will help you burn off more calories than you consume. Fortunately, there are many ways to enjoy food these days as part of a fitness program, whilst still allowing you to enjoy the odd treat from time to time.

Portion Control Your Unhealthy Foods

One of the most important things when it comes to trying to get fit with dietary habits, is to watch your portion sizes, especially when it comes to unhealthy food.

Studies have shown that the more we load up on our plates, the more we want to eat. This is all phycological, as we don’t need as much as we think. Food takes time to digest, so eating too much too soon means we won’t know how full we are straight away.

After half an hour, you may feel very full and unable to move. This is a sign that you’ve been eating too much.

Consider using smaller plates, this will remove the temptation to eat as much, as you can’t fill the plate fully. Know the limits of your body, if your body starts to feel full, then stop.

You can always save any excess food for another meal by storing it in the fridge. Obviously with some food this won’t be possible, but for the majority, there are options.

Consider the type of food you’re eating, different groups, such as dairy, starch and vegetables, will all be packed with different nutrients, proteins and vitamins. As such, they will have different fillings for your stomach to digest, some will digest quicker than others, and some will require less portions or more.

Consider Using Healthy Ready Meals

Ready meals, back in the day, were considered similar to fast food. In that, since they were able to be cooked quickly, they must have preservatives in them that were unhealthy. Indeed, some thought the actual food itself must be bad for you.

That narrative has now changed. You can now purchase ready meals that are designed with weight loss and fitness in mind. There are many ways to purchase ready meals, you can stop by a supermarket and browse, but more often than not, they aren’t strictly healthy.

Consider using a service such as Shake That Weight, they offer a range of products such as soups, noodles, cereals, pastas and rice dishes that are all designed for weight loss. They also do weight loss ready meals with different meat options, such as chicken and beef, and vegetarian meals including curries.

A big bonus of using these ready meals, is that it saves you time. If you can’t be bothered to cook, for whatever reason, then it can be incredibly tempting to just go onto your phone and order a pizza.

That’s why it’s handy to have these meals around, either in your fridge or not, depending on the meal. As it removes the temptation from you, and they are actually very nice these days.

Experiment With Different Food

If you’re trying to cook healthier, it can be easy to fall into the trap of making the same meals, or running out of inspiration.

The great thing about eating healthy is that there are hundreds of ingredients to try that you just haven’t thought about yet.

It could be something as simple as swapping out fatty ingredients for healthier, or cutting out harmful ingredients such as salt.

When it comes to experimenting with different foods, try one new thing at a time. It can be overwhelming when changing diets to try a whole new set of healthy ingredients and dishes.

The goal is good, and it shows your motivated, but it’s wise to slow down at the start. With so many potentially new flavours being added, it may be hard to know what you liked or didn’t like in a meal.

Instead of going too ambitious too soon, consider starting slower. As otherwise, you run the risk of meals putting you off and discouraging you from trying new things in the future. Plus, trying a range of new foods and ingredients at once can be costly.

Try starting with something you already like, and find something similar. If it’s an ingredient or seasoning you like, consider utilising it into a new healthy meal to give you the same tastes you enjoy but on a healthier scale.

The same can be said for entire meals, adding new twists on favourite meals is a great way of introducing a new healthier option one at a time.

International Cuisine

If you’re going to try and experiment with new foods whilst gaining fitness, then you might as well try something a little out of your comfort zone.

A fun way to do this is to mix it up a bit with international food. As mentioned previously, it’s not about doing too much too soon, consider having one day a week dedicated to international cuisine.

Perhaps every Friday is a different country to try? This gives you time to prep and something to look forward to each week. If you feel like you know nothing about other cultures foods, then don’t worry, there are so many food dedicated blogs and YouTube videos that’s sure to give you inspiration.

If you live with a partner, then there’s even more reason to get involved. It makes for a great date night.

Get The Whole Family Involved

When it comes to trying new meals, it can be difficult to take it serious in a household that’s not on the same page.

For example, if you have a partner and two kids, all with different dietary requirements and tastes, if you then decide you want to eat healthier, then that could mean up to four different meals being made each night.

If you put that into meals, with breakfast, lunch and dinner, then you’ve got 12 different meals each day.

So, if you’re going to try and go down the healthy route, consider asking the family to get involved too. This way, you’ll all feel like you’re doing it together, and it becomes less taxing as a result.

It will save you time, and just maybe the whole family will thank you for it. The NHS has plenty of guidance when it comes to eating well.

Energy Packed Treats

There is a myth that when trying to get more fit, you can’t enjoy treats or goodies from time to time. This is incorrect. Not only should you be allowed treats as part of a healthy and balanced diet, but also these days there are a range of tasty treats that are healthy for you. These energy packed bars are usually filled with nuts and protein, but with plenty of natural flavours such as chocolate, caramel or strawberry.

They are a great pick me up when you’re feeling unmotivated and lazy. They can be used before a workout but are usually great to munch on after an intense workout, coupled with water.