Sorry to be the messenger with the bad news, guys. But that is the actual truth – there is no exercise or training routine on this planet that is going to compensate for your not-optimal eating habits. And when I say ‘not optimal’ I really mean poor food choices, no-nutrition foods and especially high-palatable low-nutritional calorie-packed fast food.
Have you seen those influencers that tell you stuff like “For you to burn that burger, you have to walk for 90 minutes” or “If you want to eat this donut, do 100 burpees first” or anything alike? You have, you have seen it. And you believed all that pack of lies or let’s be honest, that pile of horse sh*t.
Not that you have to completely exclude such foods from your diet, I also enjoy a pizza or a burger from time to time. I also very much like churros and when I crave something sweet, glazed donuts are one of my choices.
In moderation.
What pisses me off in such ‘claims’ is the idea that you can regulate your energy expenditure with adding more exercises and all will be fine. It will not. Or at least at some point it will stop working. Truth be told, if you are in your 20s and your body is still growing and you have all the energy in the world, it might work for you. And then it will stop. Because you also stopped growing and settled down with an office job and may be there are kids also, in-laws, etc. You changed. Your energy needs changed.
Your habits remained
There is this famous (partial) quote that “Your habits become your destiny” and that is very true. Creating a mind that you just have to go one more time to the gym and the last feast with burgers, fries and coke will vanish … is simply not true.
You also rely too much in the numbers that you see on your smartphone or watch or the display of the treadmill. Sorry, love, they are deliberately made to mislead you. It is impossible to ‘burn’ 800 kcals with 30 minutes of incline walking, no matter what your software says. Here is an example of a tracking software I trust. These are two days with similar activity and 30 minutes of strength training in one of the days. By saying ’30 minutes’ I mean the effective ones, the software is paused during rest. And the difference is only 244 kcals. That is how much energy I used. 244 kcals is half a burger.
Yes, it is a fact that I walk a lot. Being active throughout the day is my lifestyle and it only increases my NEAT part of daily energy expenditure. The Non-Exercise Activity. And that is all it does. And I am experienced enough to know that my gym visit will account for not more than 10% of my energy expenditure.
Thank you for reading this. If you want me to gradually and in a fun way to change your habits, so that you can change your destiny, start your journey today. It is never too late. You got this!
