How to Eat for Your Pro Cheer Fitness Goals

As a pro cheerleader, it is vital for your career and well-being to pay attention to your fitness. Make it your goal to commit to a healthy lifestyle that will last throughout your career.

Nutrition plays the heftiest role in your overall fitness. While exercise is a must for your endurance, strength, and stamina, you cannot rely on exercise alone to achieve your fitness goals.

Needless to say, you can’t expect to workout every day at the gym and get moving the entire day and get away with eating whatever you want. You have to be mindful of the foods you consume so you can achieve your fitness goals. Without further ado, here are some tips to boost your fitness by looking into how you eat.

Consider Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting has been gaining momentum more as a lifestyle, rather than as a fad diet. This could be an option for those who do not like to workout in the morning or at night as you know that it is important to fuel your body with the right foods before a workout.

So with intermittent fasting, it’s really just skipping a meal; either breakfast or dinner. You will fast for 16 hours and eat for 8 hours. So if you eat at 11 am, your last meal would be at 7 pm.

Others opt to eat within a 4-hour or a 6-hour timeframe.

The Most Effective Diet

There is a growing number of recommended diets every year. You hear about a new diet or a protein shake and you’re excited about it.

But consider your commitment to any diet before taking on the challenge. If not, you will fall into the trap of yo-yo dieting; losing weight and gaining it all again in a snap.

So whatever diet you’re on or you want to try for your fitness goals, be it the Paleo, Keto, or Plant-based diet, among others, only commit to the diet you know you can follow through for at least a year. Be sure to consult your doctor if you have allergies or other medical conditions before dieting.

Be mindful of your portions

People often underestimate the number of calories they consume, yet overestimate the number of calories they burn.

So the easiest way to stick to your fitness goals is to know your portion sizes. You can do this by checking the nutrition labels of the foods you eat.

If there is none, you need to do your research. Know how much is one serving and how much you need per day.

You will be surprised how much you can overeat if you don’t know your portions right. For instance, a CD-sized pancake is equivalent to one serving. A tennis ball of pasta and two potatoes also count as single servings.

If you find it hard to control your portions, switch to a smaller plate. Seeing a small plate full will tell your brain that you’ve had enough so you don’t overeat.

Cook and pack your own food

Now the only way you can be sure you cut back on salt, oils, sugar, and heavy portions is if you cook the food yourself.

It can be a healthy, not to mention, cost-effective way to stick to your fitness goals if you prepare your own food at home.

Now we know pro cheerleaders keep a busy schedule so the best strategy is to plan your meals ahead of time, make pre-packed batches for the entire week, and keep them in the fridge.

Bring your own water or healthy smoothie to practices as well.

Crunch your way to fitness

You will eat slower and get fuller faster when you eat crunchy food. No, we’re not talking about chips. We mean cucumbers, apples, and celery.

By eating crunchy food, your mouth is kept busy longer to keep you from overeating. Keep in mind that it takes 20 minutes to feel full so be mindful not just of what you eat but how you eat it.

Wrap Up

Remember, it’s not just what you eat but how you eat that matters.

When you find it hard to stick to your diet and a healthy meal plan, it is best to buddy up with one of your pro cheerleader friends. You most likely have the same fitness goals anyway.

It’s best to work by pair so you can really hold each accountable instead of having to be accountable for a team.

The best person to help you out is the one you’re with most of the time. Now the only way this will work is if you are honest and tell your partner what you’ve really been eating and struggling with.

Need a Great Workout Routine for Your Pro Cheer Audition Prep?

Pro cheerleaders stay fit, flexible, and strong so they can give out their best performance in the arena. However, achieving that wow-worthy, toned physique doesn’t happen overnight. You need to arm yourself with the right daily workouts.

Thinking of becoming a pro cheerleader?

We are offering you our fun, FREE (for a LIMITED time) POM FIT™ INTRO CLASS that teaches you beginner-friendly cardio moves.

To take your cheerleading fitness to the next level, we also have POM FIT™: GAMEDAY1™ - a series of challenging full-body cardio classes that include a body stretch class, kick stretch class, abdominal workout class, and more.

Join a POM FIT™ class below:

POM FIT™ INTRO CLASS (Free for a LIMITED time)

POM FIT™: GAMEDAY1™ (USD 27.00)