Forget the "Rules" You've heard, make up your own.

The diet and fitness industry is hardly at a loss for words. Browsing the interwebs (or is it the world wide net…) will bring up thousands of pages of information, tips, and endless ‘must do’ and ‘never do’ lists.

Within 5 minutes of searching you could easily come up with dozens of ‘rules‘ of fitness and ways to live a ‘healthy’ lifestyle.

Almost all of them revolve around some sort of dietary intervention like changing the timing of a meal, or the composition of that meal.

After that you’ll get extensive lists of good and bad foods, supplements you should be taking, specific ways to workout, and specific times of day to workout etc…

At no point is the practicality of these recommendations considered, the story you hear is preached like a gospel and you may start feeling lousy about yourself if you can’t follow every recommendation you’ve heard.

The stress and guilt you might start feeling for not following these ‘rules’ could easily erase any health benefits you’re getting from doing what you can.

This is hardly a way to approach health and fitness.

Every little bit counts, and whatever you can do and whatever fits with your current lifestyle is just fine.

If you’ve heard that ‘cardio’ in the morning is best, but you can only do it in the evening, that’s just fine. Don’t let some magazine or website steal the positive emotional boost you get from exercising by telling you that you’re doing it at the wrong time of day.

If you lift weights but you don’t have the money or time for a post workout protein shake then don’t worry about it, you’re still going to build muscle and strength no matter what the web-o-sphere of self proclaimed experts say.

Protect what gets into your brain, because it's going to be hard to get it out.

The moral of today’s post is to be careful what you read and what you let get into your brain.

If you’re reading this blog you probably already do lots of healthy and positive things for your body on a daily basis, but if you read too much ‘info’ out there you might just end up forgetting what you’ve done that was good and stress about all the ‘rules’ of fitness you’re still not following.

Instead of following everyone else’s rules try making up a few things for yourself.

Try  to do one exercise ‘thing’ per day for your fitness, and one ‘nutrition/food’ thing per day.

Make it up just for you and it’s gotta fit your life.

I’d like to hear what you’re planning on doing if you don’t mind putting it in the comments section.

John

Forget about 'what if' and starting focusing on 'what is'

If you do any recreational reading of nutrition info and nutrition marketing you’ve likely read a lot of ‘what if’ stories.

‘What if’ stories are things like:

What happens if I eat all my daily calories from carbs

or

What happens if I don’t eat enough protein today

or

What happens if I don’t eat a balanced macronutrient diet and control  my insulin levels

or

What happens to my metabolism if I don’t eat enough meals per day

This is typical of nutrition/diet marketing. But none of it deals with what IS happening right now. If you took an inventory of your current state including what you’re eating and how it is currently affecting your insulin levels, your metabolism, your energy and muscle building you’d likely find that whatever you’re currently doing is already enough and doesn’t need to be changed.

Without establishing a baseline of where you currently are you’ll never know if you need to change anything and in what direction you need to make that change.

Worrying about ‘what if’ scenarios without knowing ‘what is’ happening will just cause you stress and worry that you don’t need.

John

Here is a quote from a national Canadian newspaper article today: “We know that within the past 30 years, the prevalence of obesity doubled among those ages 40 to 69 and tripled among those 20 to 39,”

You're not Broken (as some fitness marketers would have you believe)

Can you see what the obvious implication of this quote is?

It’s that there is nothing wrong with you or your metabolism but rather our lifestyles, society and food supply/access has changed.

We haven’t undergone any evolutionary change in the past 30 years…but our food supply has.

Our daily activity levels have also dropped in this time. And stress levels in general are on the rise. So it’s pretty obvious where the root of our overeating problems come from.

But supplement/diet/fitness marketers will always try to sell you a story of how YOU are broken and their magical cure can fix you. Don’t believe it.

Eat less and you’ll lose weight.

John

If you’re trying to lose some fat you’re probably measuring your progress one of two was: weight loss, or inches lost. Both of these measurement styles are crude and break down when you’re only trying to lose a few pounds of fat.

Doesn't always show you changes that are there

Most people will fluctuate up to 5 pounds per day in body weight due to water content, and food you’ve eaten. It’s not correct to say how much you weigh, it’s correct to suggest a range of weights you might be (given the last time you ate, how much you ate, and how much you’ve had to drink etc)

A 2-3 pound change in fat might not be measurable with daily measurements on the scale because of your daily weight range changes.

It might take a month or longer for that 2-3 pound change to really show through on the scale (when you’re weight range has become lower on both the high and low end)

Also inches lost around your waist will also become less obvious as you become leaner because of water/food moving through your intestines and some water retention due to eating.

Small changes in your waist measurement might not show when you’ve got minimal changes left to make.

It’s kinda like trying to measure a one centimeter change with a ruler that only goes as small as an inch (very difficult to do)

The point is as you get closer to your ideal weight/size it’ll be harder to measure changes because our body shape and weight is dynamic and fluctuates on a moment to moment basis.

The best way to measure is the mirror. Your eyes can pick up subtle changes in your look that a measuring take or the scale could never catch.

John

I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who has recently lost about 20 pounds and looks really good (almost a perfect venus index)

She goes to the gym 4-5 times per week, mostly running and a bit of weights. Her diet is nothing special, she is a great cook and eats whatever foods she likes, no rules about carbs, fats, protein, wheat dairy yadda yadda. She just eats whatever she feels like for the day…BUT she just doesn’t overdo it with the total amount of food.

She often gets invited out for dinner with friends and on such occasions she will throw in a low calorie day or a fast just before the night out so she can afford to ‘eat big’ on the night out without it affecting her weight loss/maintenance goals.

Now here is where it gets messed up and where most people miss the point about the lifestyle of living lean and exercising.

Her friends actually criticize her for eating pizza or burgers or whatever happens to be the food of indulgence on said night out. In their minds she is the ‘fit’ and ‘healthy’ one and therefore they think and actually accuse her of being a hypocrite for eating pizza and burgers! (they can’t comprehend someone who is in good shape that can actually eat a burger and remain in good shape)

To them being fit and healthy means having a restrictive diet and never enjoying food and not partaking in social eating events that involve things like pizza burgers, chicken wings, etc, and being obsessive about exercise.

This of course is completely backwards and missing the entire point of being in shape in the first place.

The goal isn’t to be in shape in spite of your lifestyle, the point is to find a way to be in shape and enjoy the processes as it fits into your lifestyle.

It’s also about enjoying food and social gatherings without worrying about gaining weight or negatively affecting your health. (I think her system does this perfectly)

In total she probably only spends 7-8 hours per week working out (this isn’t much, I’ll bet most people spend more than this watching tv)…she spends zero time obsessing about food and eats freely (just not too much).

If you’re revamping your entire life in order to lose weight and ‘get healthy’ and in the process you end up losing out on social events, or eating foods you enjoy, or spend more time preparing and worrying about food and good foods vs bad foods, and going to the gym than socializing with friends and family…then you’re missing the whole point of being fit and in shape in the first place.

Unfortunately as this example demonstrates many people think that you can’t have both and might just forgo even trying because of what they erroneously think must be a difficult life.

But it’s actually really simple, and they’d find that out if only they would try.

I guess it’ll be our little secret for now.

John

The Claim: Eating late at night causes you to gain fat.

Answer: FACTOID

Gaining weight is simply a matter of eating excess calories. WHEN you eat those calories is irrelevant. But there is a persistent myth that eating late at night somehow causes you to store more fat that eating earlier in the day. There is no scientific evidence to support this idea.

If you just eat the amount of calories you burn off, then it doesn’t matter at all if you eat all of those calories at night, or in the morning or spread throughout the day.

Total calories is all that matters. So if your BMR is 1600 calories, that means you could eat all 1600 of them at midnight and not gain an ounce of fat.

John

On yesterdays post James mentioned that he might want to go to college to study nutrition because he enjoys learning about it.

No need to go back to school to learn how to lose weight

The important thing James said was that he “enjoys learning about it”. This is probably the only reason to ever study nutrition.

As of 2010 north american (and most industrialized countries) are experiencing the highest rates of overweight and obesity in recorded history…and yet we’ve never ‘known’ more about nutrition and metabolism than we currently do. In other words researching and learning more about nutrition isn’t doing us any good at all with our ability to lose weight. If anything an overall increase in knowledge about nutrition can only be correlated to weight GAIN.

On the other hand studying nutrition isn’t going to help you lose weight if that is your goal. I’ve had many professors in nutrition who were overweight. Knowing about biology and food doesn’t make it any easier to apply even the most basic concept of calories in vs out. In fact a degree in nutrition might actually confuse you more than anything.

Weight loss is just a matter of calories and some degree of self discipline, planning and personal responsibility…none of this is taught in a nutrition degree.

Just to be  clear, here is a list of all the things you DON’T need to know about to successfully lose weight:

You don’t need to know:

what insulin is or what it does

anything about blood glucose

what the glycemic index is or the “gi’ of any food

what a carbohydrate is

what a protein is

what fat is

what paleolithic people ate

what your blood type is

the difference between vegetarian and vegan

where the egg whites are in the grocery store

the ratio of fat/carbs/protein in any food

anything at all about your ‘metabolism’

any superfoods you’ve might have heard of

what anyone else eats

…and I’m sure there are dozens of other useless pieces of information that just get in the way of your weight loss success…

As of 2010 north american (and most industrialized countries) are experiencing the highest rates of overweight and obesity in recorded history…and yet we’ve never ‘known’ more about nutrition and metabolism than we currently do. In other words researching and learning more about nutrition isn’t doing us any good at all with our desire to lose weight. If anything an overall increase in knowledge about nutrition can only be correlated to weight GAIN.

All you need to know is how many calories you’re eating and how it makes you look. If you’re not losing weight then you need to eat less total calories…that’s it.

If your stalled in your weight loss progress I suggest you unsubscribe from any email newsletter lists that preach about the importance anything in the above list.

Get a handle on your total calories and you’ll be on your way.

John

Food is one thing all people have in common…let me re-phrase that…EATING food is one thing we all have in common…and the similarities seem to end right there.

What Are You Eating Over There?

It’s very hard to find two people who eat exactly the same diet. These are all the factors that make up your diet:

1. # of Meal per day (meals, snacks…feedings whatever)

2. Beverages

3. Alcohol or not

4. Cooking style and habits

5. Food selection (limitless combinations of food)

6. Time of each feeding

7. Location (country, city, region)

8. Social events

9. The company you choose to eat with

10. How Much Food You Eat

As you can see there are many factors that go into your daily eating pattern and it’s impossible for a nutrition ‘expert’ to tell you how to structure all of this.

One of the major shortcomings in most popular diets is a set of unrealistic rules that usually ask you to control all of these variables (and probably more that I haven’t listed)

It is simply impossible for most people to change all of these things, and you shouldn’t have to. It is entirely possible for you to lose weight and reach your body shaping goals without radically changing this entire list, except for item #10.

In fact, #10 is the only one you’ll ever have to pay attention to for weight loss. And for muscle building you don’t have to pay attention to any of them.

This is why I find it odd that people are so curious as to what other people are eating. I’ve had many people ask me what I eat. And the answer is pretty boring. There just isn’t any magic to food…it’s just food. It tastes great, it’s great to share with friends and family at social events…but after that, there isn’t much it can ‘do’ for you.

Just remember it’s not what everyone else is eating that matters, it only matters what you are eating and if you’re happy with it.

In the spirit of the title of this post I will throw it out there….”What are you eating?” Please answer in the comment section, and be honest.

I’ll start:

Last night I had 12 chicken wings with half bbq/half suicide sauce, after that a friend of mine brought over some home made pizza (awesome) and I had a few slices of that (mini slices)…I had a hot chocolate and italian wedding soup as well (for lunch)…this morning I’ve had a coffee with milk and sugar and 4 sprinkled timebits (so effin’ good)

John

I was standing in line at the grocery store the other day scanning the magazines at the check out counter and I kept seeing headlines with the words ‘nutrition rules’ or ‘rules of nutrition’.

Follow the Rules or Else!

This is disturbing because people tend to believe things that are written in magazines (I have no idea why)…and when something is presented as a ‘rule’ some people will blindly believe it. I guess some people think that if it’s printed it must be true!?

Fitness and lifestyle magazines use the word ‘rule’ in headlines because it’s powerful and people are always curious to see if they know about the rules or if they can follow them. It just goes to show you how well trained we all are at following instructions and not thinking for ourselves.

It seems that most people however will not investigate the validity of the claimed rule and whether or not it’s worth following at all.

If you go to your local newsstand you can find hundreds of ‘rules’ of nutrition. But are any of them valid or worth following?

Here are a few questions you should ask yourself the next time you see a list of nutrition rules:

1. Who is telling you about these rules and are they a credible source?

2. Are the rules backed by science?

3. What is the consequence if you don’t follow the rule?

4. What is the supposed benefit if you do follow the rule?

5. What is the proof that following the rule will actually produce a benefit?

6. Is it possible to get the benefit without following the rule?

Unless you have a graduate degree in nutrition you will not be capable of answering question #2 but the rest of them are pretty easy to follow up on.

A good example would be any, and I mean ANY weight loss ‘rule’ of nutrition that is any more complicated than calories in vs calories out.

The simplest way to test this rule would be the answer to questions #6 from above.

For example: Can you lose weight without following any of these weight loss nutrition rules:

low carb

low fat

glycemic index control

meal timing

nutrient ratio mixing

raw foods

carb cycling

calorie cycling

blood type dieting

…and on and on…(I think you get the picture)

If you can get the desired result ie: weight loss, without following the rules ie: any of the garbage rules I just wrote above…then you know the rule is bogus.

Apply these simple questions to any ‘rule of nutrition’ and you’ll quickly find out if it’s bogus or worth a second look.

John

The fitness and nutrition “industry” sells supplements, workouts, workout equipment, diet programs, functional food items, magazines and just about anything else they can pin a weight loss, health or muscle building claim on. They are trying to sell you complex systems to believe in.

The industry is selling you dozens if not 100′s of rules and systems you need to follow to lose weight.

But if you go to a scientific conference about exercise or nutrition you’ll see a much different story being told. This is because there is a massive divide between the information that you see and hear on the news stands and websites compared to the real scientific information coming out of academic labs.

The scientific answer to weight loss is simply less calories in vs calories out.

No matter what you hear anywhere on the interweb or anywhere else the answer for weight loss has been and always will be the same. LESS calories.

But how often do you hear this as the answer in the mainstream media? Probably not much.

Or at least you’ll hear it in a convoluted way that involves special ingredients, and special metabolic issues, and meal timing, and carb cycling and protein percentages and timing, and elaborate workout systems and devices and on and on.

This is where the disconnect comes in between science and industry. Sometimes science comes up with an answer that is sufficiently complex enough to build an elaborate product around so marketers can sell you an expensive item.

Other times (as with the case of weight loss) science proves a very simple answer (less calories) which leaves marketers with virtually nothing to latch on to for a good sales pitch. <– really how can anyone make money selling you the answer “less calories”?

This is the current state of affairs of the nutrition and fitness industry divide, and I can’t see an end in sight. Some of you will figure it out and accept the answer, and some of you will refuse to believe it’s this simple and constantly search for more complex solutions to your weight loss question. <– and most likely waste a lot of money along the way trying these things out.

Believing in something doesn’t make it real or true (Just as a child’s belief in santa claus doesn’t make him real)

So believe what you want for weight loss, but that belief doesn’t change the truth which is always the same; and that is less calories in than out.

John