If you’re all geared up to start making some healthy changes with your lifestyle, including getting on a good workout program and making some smart changes to your diet, there’s no question that you’ve taken into account how many calories you’re eating and how much protein, fats, and carbs your diet is providing you daily.

If you want to see body composition changes in a favourable direction, these are two things that must be considered.

But, how often have you thought about all the micronutrients that you’re taking in? That is, all the vitamins and minerals that your diet is providing you?

Most people pay far less attention to this fact than they do the micronutrients they’re consuming and this can really come back to hurt them in the long term. While micronutrients may not play a huge role in whether you build muscle or lose fat directly, they will influence your energy levels, your metabolic rate, as well as your body’s ability to utilize all the foods you’re giving it.

Basically, they cannot be left out of the picture.

That’s why taking a vitamin is so critical. Let’s look at a few of the important reasons why a vitamin is a must.

Fatigue fighting power

The very first reason why you’ll want to be taking vitamins is because doing so can really help you ward off fatigue. One key mineral that often gets overlooked in the diet, especially by females, is iron. Even if you’re a male who isn’t eating a high amount of red meat you too can fall quite low in your overall iron stores.

If you want to keep up with your hard workouts though, iron is going to be a must. This is the mineral that is going to carry oxygen to the muscle tissues and therefore prevent fatigue from developing.

By getting in a good multi-vitamin, you can rest assured your iron intake is covered.

Maintenance of strong bones

Second, the next thing that you’ll get from taking vitamins is strong bone protection. Calcium is another nutrient that many people fall short in unless they are making an active effort to include plenty of dairy products on their diet.

If you want to keep up with your workouts and prevent stress fractures down the road, taking some calcium will be important.

Increased energy levels

Finally, the last reason to use vitamins is for improved overall energy. This will especially be the case if you happen to be using a lower carb diet, which is notoriously low in overall B-vitamins. Since the B-vitamins do play a key role in energy development, when levels get low it’s not abnormal to see your energy take a nosedive.

By using a supplement though you can help to combat this and start feeling more like your usual self again.

So as you can see taking vitamins are a quick way to ensure proper nutrient support regardless of what your diet happens to be. Even if you have the best dietary intentions it’s still very difficult to be getting 100% of all your requirements on a daily basis and that’s where having the vitamin there can help.

Cabel McElderry is the director of One-to-1 Fitness in Red Deer. He can be reached at 403-341-4041. Also check out www.personaltrainingreddeer.com for more information.