If you are a gym-goer, it is important to rest your body. Sometimes this can be hard when we have come to love working out, but giving yourself at least one rest day can help improve performance in the workouts to come.
Resting also give your body a chance to repair the muscles that you have worked.
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Rest Day Dieting: Timing and Macronutrient Intake
Why You NEED to Take Rest Days & How Doing It Improves Your Dieting Goals
Working out too often without rest can lead to overtraining and symptoms like....
- excessive fatigue
- lowered performance levels
- decreased motivation and self-esteem
- becoming ill more often
You should also think about what you eat on your days off from the gym. A healthy diet will not only help with weight loss but will also help maintain muscle mass as much as possible.
Why You Need a Rest Day Diet Plan, and How to Achieve It
The notion of dieting is an overwhelming one, but having a rest day diet plan can make the process less stressful.
If you are looking to enter a bodybuilding competition or are an athlete, your timing of eating becomes fuel for your body to power through your workouts and help you to achieve your goals.
A rest day diet plan is there to help you recover so when you go back to your next workout, you feel better and helps you to push harder.
If you don't take the appropriate time to rest, your body will struggle to recover from the workouts that you have put it through, usually meaning you will not be able to push as hard as the previous workout.
What to Eat on Your Rest Day: Macronutrients and Meal Timing
It is important to eat the right macro-nutrients when it’s your day off.
Now when it comes to a rest day, you are not usually going to be burning quite as many calories as you would if you were working out.
So the best thing to do is ultimately eat slightly less that what you would on a training day if your goals are to lose weight or body fat.
As a good starting place, only eat 100-200 calories less from what you would on training days. This will help to keep you in a caloric deficit if looking to lose weight.
Carbs are the preferred source of fuel for your body, so really you can eat carbs at any point in the day. So, what should you eat on your rest day?
Nothing too different from what you normally would. A good balance of carbs, protein, and healthy fats.
How much Protein should I have on a Rest Day?
Protein is an essential macronutrient that is needed for optimal performance and muscle growth. It helps you feel fuller and more energized.
How much protein should you eat on a rest day? This question has been the topic of many discussions among fitness enthusiasts and experts alike. There is no right answer to this question, as it depends on your goals and the type of exercise routine you follow.
A general guideline would be to consume about 0.7 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound (1g/lb) of body weight for those who want to maintain their weight or those who want to lose weight with exercise.
Carbohydrate Intake on a Rest Day
We don't need to consume much carbohydrates on rest days. Our muscles will use the carbs that we have stored for this day. Rest days are an important part of the training plan, so it is important to not do too much work on them.
You will need an adequate amount to help with energy on your rest days, but not as much as a training days.
It may take some tweaking to see what works best for you, however you can start by reducing your carbohydrate intake by 5-10% on rest days and increase your protein and fats accordingly.
Taking rest days can help to improve your performance an you getting to your goal with more ease..
Rest days give your body time to recover and make the most out of the training sessions. This means that you will not only achieve your goals faster but with better efficiency.
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