A colleague of mine once said you cannot "out train" bad nutrition. Truer words were never spoken, although that has not stopped some clients from trying. It has always amazed me when certain clients would hire me to help them transform their bodies, yet not follow the nutritional advice. A hard workout does not give you license to eat whatever you want. Quite the opposite – it should give you the motivation you need to feed your body the quality nutrition it deserves.
I truly wish I could work the crap out of a client in the gym, and then they could eat whatever they wanted. That would be awesome. I wish it were that easy. Sadly, it just does not work that way.
I will say those clients are easy to spot. They are the ones that conveniently "forget" to bring in their food journal, and thus fail to see noticeable results. By default, I have clients regularly bring in a food journal to keep track of what they are eating. The clients that bring in their journals like clockwork are always the ones that see the most progress- always. Actually, writing down what you eat is the best way to see what you have consumed in a day. It keeps you accountable. And a food journal is the best way to avoid bad nutritional habits.
But what exactly is bad nutrition? There are many forms of bad nutrition in my book, and they regularly fall into four basic categories
- Eating Too Much
Duh. This one is easy. If you regularly eat more than you require in a day you will gain fat- plain and simple. This can take the form of eating too much of something good too. I have been guilty of this myself. For example, a chicken breast is a great food choice, but that does not mean you should eat four of them.
- Not Eating Enough
This one is more common in female clients who have had it pounded into their heads that they must restrict calories to a ridiculously low level to achieve any fat loss, which is pure nonsense. I had one client not long ago who was not seeing any progress , yet told us she was eating "well" but of course never brought in her food journal. When we finally made her sit down and write out what she was eating it turns out that she had a low fat yogurt for breakfast, one for lunch and a lettuce only salad for dinner with low fat dressing. My jaw hit the floor. She had received the same nutritional counseling all our clients receive, yet she chose to ignore it. What she was consuming was in no way similar to what we had tried to teach her about fat loss nutrition. She was getting around 500 calories a day, and had in the process completely slammed her metabolism into the ground. From a metabolic standpoint, not eating enough can be even worse than eating too much and can require some serious metabolic repair.
- Eating Infrequently
Each time you eat you increase your metabolism. It takes energy to digest and assimilate the food you consume. So the more frequently you eat the higher your metabolism. That is why most progressive trainers agree that eating smaller meals several times a day will yield greater fat loss than fewer meals even when calories are held consistent. Eating only once or twice a day is just a huge mistake. One example I use to illustrate my point is Sumo wrestlers. These are arguably the fattest people in the world, and they only eat one meal per day. Convinced?
- Eating Crap
Again, duh. You cannot eat pizza, burgers and other fast food junk and have the body you want. If you could, you would and you would not be reading this. Those people exist (and yes we hate them) but you are not one of them.
For fat loss, training smart is definitely key, but it will mean absolutely nothing if your nutrition is not in order. Good food choices made on a consistent basis will yield the results you desire every time. For detailed nutritional advice, give us a call or email.
Joshua Carter
The Body Transformation Expert
Carter Fitness
http://CarterFitness.com
818-337-6175
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