You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet
You may have heard the quote, “You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet.” It is a common misconception that some have that one can eat whatever they want as long as they exercise; that by doing that, they will simply burn it off.
Think of your body like a machine; one that requires fuel to function. If you put a bunch of bad fuel into an engine, it won’t work properly, and can potentially cause significant damage. This is equivalent to eating junk food. You can try to burn it off with exercise but it would take a considerable amount to do that, and your body needs good fuel (i.e. nutritious food) to be able to function well. The more you try to fuel your body with unhealthy food, the more harm you are doing to your ‘machine.’
Pizza!!! I do like to splurge every now and then but I don’t make it a habit!
Sample diet:
I like to think of my own body as a super-expensive quality machine. Since I want my machine to last a long time, I really do eat pretty darn healthy… most of the time. Yes, I do cheat now and then — I am human after all — but I don’t make it a habit!
This is a sample of what I eat in a day:
Breakfast #1 (pre-workout): Greek yogurt with 2 tbsp peanut butter and 2 tbsp flax meal
Breakfast #2 (post-workout): 1 egg, 2 strips of bacon, a couple slices of cheese or avocado (preferred but I can’t always get them), 1/2 apple or other fruit
Lunch: Buffalo chicken salad
Snack (post-workout): Nuts (almonds are my favorite!)
Dinner: Salisbury steak served with broccoli
Dessert (rarely): 2 small squares of dark chocolate (82%)
Yes,true and well said… I am just figuring this out at age 50, after a comment from Mike and seeing a couple of friends who lost weight on the “keto diet”. Last year I went to the gym religiously and did a little hiking but stuck to my old diet of pizza and beer. Results were not impressive. There were no results actually. The keto diet seems a lot like what you just wrote and I have been able to lose weight this way. It is not an easy change for an Italian guy from Brooklyn – pizza is, or I should say was part of my daily life…but I have other things I want to do and the weight is just holding me back not to mention probably shortening my life. One crazy thing I noticed when I started counting carbs — my favorite ginger beer had 53 g of carbs and 240 calories per bottle!
Yes, when I learned about the keto diet, I decided to try it since I used to experience a lot of bloating and stomach pains. It has been 8 months since I have been eating low carb/high fat and I feel so much better! I look at labels all the time now!
Pizza & Beer will not work Sal..
I love following your post! My husband and I want to cruise one day but I can’t help but think, “what fresh food am I going eat, or how am I going to work out?!” I’m stopping bikini competitions, but I love being muscular and fit, so nutrition is KEY!! Food is fuel.
Thank you. These were concerns of mine as well but I was determined to stay in shape. Finding fresh food has not been too difficult for us. As for the workouts, creativity plays a big role! Best of luck with your cruising plans!