You Can’t Out-Exercise A Bad Diet

When I was growing up, I knew some pretty crazy people. I had one female friend that would eat a donut running in place. She said the calories didn’t count if you were moving, since they didn’t stick because you burned them up. Of course, that logic is hooey, but it seemed pretty convincing when I was in my early teens. Now I can firmly state that you can’t out-exercise a bad diet. Not only is it nearly impossible to work off all the excess calories, there’s also the problem with getting the nutrition you need for a healthy body.

Seriously, unless you’re a professional athlete, you simply won’t burn that many calories.

Even professional athletes eat wholesome foods, but probably a lot more than you do. Olympic swimmers like Michael Phelps and Ryan Murphey who are constantly training, still stick to whole foods for their calories. In an interview with Ryan Murphey he said that before his morning training, he ate a Power Bar and banana, after practice he ate eggs, spinach, fruit and some oatmeal or Greek yogurt with granola and fruit. You didn’t notice any donuts in the mix because they provide no nutrition and actually impede his performance. Ryan even noted that with all the exercise he gets, if he ate chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast he’d gain weight.

Your training will suffer if you don’t eat right.

That’s right! The wrong foods can take away from your workout, rather than help it. If you eat the right snacks before a workout, you’ll boost your energy levels and enjoy all the benefits of working hard. You can’t maintain a high intensity workout. You’ll lack the energy to move. A good workout requires you to work your hardest.

You won’t get the results you want for weight loss if you don’t have a healthy diet.

Sure, exercising will burn off calories, but when you combine it with a healthy diet, you also get super results that not only take off pounds, it leaves you feeling energized. You’d be at a stand still for weight loss if you ate a burger and fries and exercised enough to work off the calories. Rather than trying to offset your poor eating habits with exercise, strive for a healthy lifestyle. You’ll look and feel better while shedding pounds more rapidly.

• Eating the wrong foods can lead you to be cranky and overweight. Even if you’re working out, if you have too much fat in your diet, you’ll be sluggish in the gym. Too little carbs, you’ll burn out and burn muscle tissue.
• If you eat poorly, you won’t have the nutrition to build the muscle tissue you need to burn extra calories. You need the building blocks to boost muscle tissue growth.
• If you eat the wrong foods high in sugar, your blood sugar levels will fluctuate and create an even more ravenous appetite, while lowering your energy level.
• Eating the right food about a half hour to an hour before working out, can and does help boost your performance. Something as simple as a banana or an apple with nut butter can help you workout your best.