When I was young, and training like crazy in swimming, I thought, who cares what I’m eating? I’m training so much that I “burn it all off” anyway.
Double workouts plus dryland training, and long Saturday morning wokouts, pizza & donuts were often my fuel.
In one instance, I had a coach that made us do 160 x 100s (I do NOT recommend attempting this!), and we took a break halfway to eat a couple of donuts.
This idea that “nutrition doesn’t matter” is a WAY outdated concept, but I still see people acting this way all the time.
Many people can get away with fueling on junk prior to age 30. Then, things start catching up- and it gets much harder to train on the foods that “worked” when you were younger.
Then the things we are eating make us fat, slow, and even sick.
What most of us were taught is: Calories in, calories out. You gain weight because you eat more calories than you burn off exercising and moving around.
So we increase our time exercising, and try to cut down on food.
And, this CAN work, but it’s the HARDEST (and least sustainable) way to get your body in shape.
And if you’re still eating junk food while training, it’s like a daily battle being fought that will eventually be lost.
Exercise does help. The discipline of it, the training of your heart, the muscles you use, all play roles into overall health & fitness.
But this is not the key to fitness, or “fast-ness”.
Today is Monday. What ONE THING can you do this week to set yourself up for optimal health in eating?
Whatever that is- could be adding more veggies to your dinner, or cutting out 1 soda or juice, or switching from sugary Clif Bar to actual, real whole foods.
If you were to do this one thing each week with your nutrition, you could end up with an entirely healthy, energy-producing, and fat-burning diet within a few weeks- without the huge struggle that so many people go through to get there.
Give it a shot! If you do this weekly improvement, I think you will see a big difference in your life.
Befriend the water (and food ;))!