Applied Nutrition for the Newcomer

So you've decided to take control of your diet in order to lose weight or put on muscle. Congratulation on taking this first step towards better fitness. Although making this decision is an important part of your fitness journey, your journey had just begun. At this point, you may be left with several questions, such as:* Where do I start?* Do I have to play sports?* Do I have to run in order to lose weight?* Do I have to track my calories?* What are calories anyway?As with any project, beginning your fitness project requires discipline, organization and patience.
When it comes to your health, your physical fitness, your athletic performance, and anything else to do with your body, you need to learn to take your time and understand how your body works, as well as how it acts for and against diets and training routines. Why do I call fitness a « project » ? Because becoming more conscious about good dietary choices (learning what kinds of food to consume in moderation ; which foods will benefit your performance ; which foods will help you build muscle, etc.), educating your family about nutrition, and developing a proper routine is a real project.
Nutrition is a fascinating science, one that is both very complex and very precise. Add in athletic performance and you end up with a huge literature which includes years of research and thousands of studies on athletic and applied nutrition. Where is one to even begin ?