Hey, all! I hope you are treating life well! I want to address a topic that quite frankly drives me crazy! I often hear clients tell me things, such as “I workout so that I can eat what I want!” Today, I want to debunk this flawed thinking and show you exactly why you will NOT make the gains you want if you follow this line of thinking.
Before I delve into this topic, I do want to clarify something. I am NOT saying that you cannot or should not indulge in a sweet treat every once in a while or have a meal of your choosing that might be on the unhealthy side. In fact, I have reserved every Saturday night from 6:30 to 8:00 to eat whatever I want. I go to a restraint of my choosing, have the dessert that I want, and generally indulge my sweet tooth in any way I want, and I love every minute of it!
That said, my lifestyle is that of healthy choices the other six and ¾ days of the week! My point is that it is essentially impossible to out-train a bad diet. Sure, there is significant genetic variation out there, and some of you might stay “skinnier longer,” but that does not mean that you are indeed healthy, and it certainly does not insure you from the undesirable physical changes that WILL manifest in time.
Let’s say, for example, that you consider yourself to be a “sweet-tooth.” Being the sweet tooth that you are, you decide to indulge in a large glazed cinnamon roll, while you tell yourself, “This isn’t a big deal. I lifted weights for 45 minutes today. I DESERVE this!” Not so fast. Let’s take a closer look at what is really going on.
Your typical large glazed cinnamon contains anywhere between 300 to 350 calories. Furthermore, MOST of us do not stop at one cinnamon roll. In meetings, social gatherings, and family get-togethers, the typical American will regularly consume around 1.5 to 2 cinnamon rolls (or donuts) in a 1-hour period, which brings our calorie count to around 500. Now let’s do a little math and see how much exercise you would have to do to burn that 500 calorie sweet-gem.
To burn those 500 calories, you would have to engage in 85 minutes of moderate intensity dancing, and 50 minutes of running at 5.5 miles per hour if you are 150 lbs. I don’t know about you, but that is a very fast pace for a very long time to burn off a simple cinnamon roll. Now, let’s say that you “are too busy” (code for “I am not prepared because I am too lazy”) to make yourself a healthy breakfast. You swing by McDonalds get the world-famous Egg McMuffin. This little guy packs a powerful punch of 300 calories. It would take you about 33 minutes of running at 5.3 MPH to burn that little sucker!
I always have a client or two that has donuts listed on their foods logs. When asked why, they always retort, “Well I only had 3 small ones.” Well, those 3 small rings of fluff will cost you 230 calories a piece, and each one will require one hour of walking or 25 minutes of running at 5 MPH. Either way you slice it, you best make time for some extra running because those little bad boys will demand it! I would be remiss if I left out French fries. Let’s say you just got done with a three-hour meeting, and, in your famished state, you hit Wendy’s. If you are like the majority of Americans, you go for the “large” size French fries, which contain 540 calories, the vast majority of which are crap carbs and crap fat! This honker will take you 77 minutes of biking at 10-11.9 MPH!
I hope this little insight has been helpful for you. So, the next time you want to satisfy a craving with the “typical American fast foods” of our day, I would invite you reconsider! The math is NOT in your favor, and if your nutritional lifestyle is like that of the typical American, it is mathematically impossible to lose weight, despite your 10,000+ sit-ups ands side-bends in the gym! The dose of reality is that it is not working for you!
All right, my friends, you are armed with new knowledge and with a factual perspective that can and will work for you if you allow it to! Life is good, my friends!
God Bless,
Griff