Hi friends, happy Friday!
How was the week that went by? Hope all is good at your end.
The covid cases are soaring again with a new variant, though thankfully, the symptoms are much milder now for everyone. Hope the numbers would start declining soon and this pandemic would disappear, forever!
Today’s post is about a myth so prevalent in the society and more so, in fitness-conscious people (because they at least do some form of regular exercise regularly!) that it would take hundreds of posts like this, to even change the mindset just a bit.
And the fact is – One can’t outrun or out-exercise a bad diet!
Many of us make this mistake and in past, I used to do it too…workout to burn calories. Don’t get me wrong, it is not a bad thing necessarily. It is important to keep a tab on our daily (or weekly) calorie intake as well as creating a calorie deficit to maintain or lose weight. So, burning calories to stay in a negative, is crucial.
The problem starts when:
- We try to create the deficit through unhealthy dietary choices
- We eat unhealthy and then try to take our regular exercise routine ONLY as a mean to burn calories
The thing is, for optimum health and a normal blood report, one needs to eat well. One just can’t NOT eat healthy and think that they will burn all the bad/excess diet through the workouts next day and stay fit or even, healthy. Doesn’t work like that!
Why? 3 reasons why.
- We need to work a lot to burn calories from junk food. The exercise-cost (exercise needed to burn junk-calories) is pretty steep and bluntly put, not many can achieve it easily, on a consistent basis.
Do you know that a burger with fries and cola (even diet cola) would be around 1200 calories and to burn that off, one would require more than 208 minutes of walking?? Can you?
A plate of 8 fried momos with mayo…more than 1000 calories…just run for about 104 minutes, to “burn it off”, would you?
- Exercise should be a consistent, gradual process. One that is enjoyable at least to some degree…to stay healthy and to be able to move. It is not a punishment for eating food.
In the whole weight-management or weight loss game, the contribution of exercise is quite low – about 20%. Rest 80% is your diet.
Exercise should be a non-negotiable part of our daily lifestyle no doubt, but for countless other reasons (strength, functionality, moods, joints, healthy aging, better sleep etc.) and not just burning calories. That 20% can be the game-changer for various reasons!
- This ‘exercise-cost’ mindset destroys our relationship with food and our own body/mind
It is a risky attitude to develop. It can result into eating disorders or excessive exercising which are both huge complications, on their own. It can become a psychological trap for the person.
Food is all about essential nutrients, fuel for our body and even enjoyment. Punishing ourselves for it, is never a great idea!
Also, it would be worth keeping in mind that though fitness is the next ladder to health…it necessarily doesn’t mean one and the same thing. The blood-work and mobility are the ultimate judges!
Now, that we have some hard facts on hand, how about we start trying to keep both the two things separate? Food is food, nourishment for our body and exercise is super-important for mobility, functional strength (strength for carrying day to day activities) and of course, burning that stubborn fat!
Hope the post today resonates with you and helps you understand that finding exercise cost of the junk food that we eat frequently (not once in a week kind) is not going to work at all!
https://www.instagram.com/healthcoach_smita/
Till next Friday
Love, Health & Peace
