In today’s ‘info-at-your-finger-tip’ society, everyone’s a health and nutrition expert! We’re overwhelmed with information about weight loss and nutrition, and most of the general public really isn’t equipped with the knowledge to know the difference between quality advice and absolute B.S!
Lucky for you, you’re smart enough to do your research (like reading our blog 😉). We want to set the record straight on a few of the big ones. Read on below as we break down 5 things that we wish you would stop doing with your nutrition!
We wish you’d stop………
Skipping Meals
Look, we know people get busy. Life happens, work gets in the way, or you just flat out couldn’t be stuffed. But there are a few issues with this dodgy habit.
When our clients start out at PPT, one thing we get everyone to do is complete a dietary recall. This gives us a little clarity on the client’s nutrition knowledge, habits and areas for improvement. Commonly we’ll see people bringing in recalls with skipped meals and super low calorie days. And many of those times, this is coming from clients who are looking to drop a few kilos and weight to loose.
We know that eating less calories than you burn daily is the #1 determining factor for fat loss, so at first glance, skipping a meal may actually work to create that calorie deficit. Unfortunately, that isn’t usually what happens.
When you skip meals in the real world, you get hungry. You may be able to hold this hunger off for a while, but eventually you’re going to need to eat. If you hold it off long enough, now you’re starving and you’ll eat the quickest, easiest thing you can get your hands on. And don’t fool yourself into thinking this is going to be a chicken breast and veggies! No, no, no! Think chocolate bars, lollies and drive thru!
In short; skipping meals can lead to binging and over-eating things you don’t want to over-eat. Don’t skip meals!
We wish you’d stop………
Not eating Fruit because “it makes you fat”
Really….. How many people have you met, that were overweight from eating too much fruit?
I mean, think about this for a second. Do you really think we have an obesity epidemic due to excessive consumption of bananas??
People will avoid eating fruit due to the fructose content, and they’re kind of right. Excessive fructose has been linked to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease (to name a few). Where they have it wrong is the belief that fruit contains enough fructose for this to be a problem.
The average piece of fruit contains around 5-15g of fructose per serve.
A 600ml Coke contains around 40g. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see which ones REALLY creating a problem.
For the average adult, even one that’s trying to lose weight, eating a couple serves of fruit per day isn’t going to be a problem. If anything it’s actually going to be beneficial! Fruit contains fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, and will keep you feeling fuller for longer!
Eat it!
We wish you’d stop………
Avoiding Carbs
Carbo-phobia is something that’s been around for decades! Whether it’s Keto, Atkins, the Paleo diet, there ‘s MANY diets that encourage the user to limit carb intake in the fear that they’ll get fat.
A lot of this thought has been built off the idea that carbs spike insulin, and insulin in turn will down-regulate our bodies ability to ‘burn fat’ for energy. For the most part, there is some truth to this. The issue with this argument is that HORMONES aren’t the primary driver of weight loss, an ENERGY deficit is!
What is an energy deficit? Put simply its eating less calories than you burn across a given time period (like a day). There have been MANY, high quality scientific studies (read more about this here) that have shown us that when compared to each other, the ratio of macronutrients in your diet don’t really matter, it’s your calorie intake.
Unless you’re suffering from a metabolic disease (like insulin resistance), there’s really no good reason to limit carbohydrates in your diet. If anything, limiting carbs could be HURTING your results, as they’re easily the preferred source of energy for your body, which in turn limits your ability to focus and train hard!
Long-term consistency is key in any weight loss, gain or body composition goal.
Quit looking for magical reasons (like carbs make me fat) for your weight loss woes, and stick with a plan that works for you!
We wish you’d stop………
Taking advice from (INSERT INSTAFAMOUS MODEL HERE)
Just because someone has a six-pack doesn’t make them a credible source for advice. Don’t get me wrong, as a trainer you must practice what you preach, but abs don’t make you an expert. When someone sells you a program through a killer insta shot, what you’re not seeing are things like; their superior genetics, how their lifestyle differs to yours, and the sad fact that MANY of your insta-physique hero’s could likely be receiving a little ‘pharmaceutical assistance’ (and that means drugs people).
There are a ton of great people in this industry, just remember to do your research. Just because they’re in shape themselves, doesn’t mean they can get you in shape! Your training and diet plan should never be a one-size-fits-all approach. Things like injury history, your structure and shape, your lifestyle and training/dieting experience are just a few of the things that could make your program different from the next person.
We wish you’d stop………
Over-Restricting and Avoiding Social Occasions
Any good body composition goal will require a little ‘restriction’. There will come a time that you’ll need to pull up your big boy/girl pants and say NO to that doughnut!
When this becomes an issue is when you get so food focused and obsessed about dieting that you end up worrying about or avoiding social occasions and events just because of your diet. If you’re working with a decent coach or professional, you should be able to manage most of these things. Getting educated on making better choices whilst out, and managing your calories should be a foundation of your diet if you wish to do it long-term.
Completely avoiding foods and important events will eventually lead to a crash and binge. If you start to recognize any of these signs within yourself, it may be time to re-consider your approach before you end up crashing too.
And on top of all this, life’s too short to not eat gelato! You just have to make it count!
We could go on for days here but there are a few of the big ones. If you find yourself in any of the situations above we hope we’ve been able to help!
If you’re thinking you could do with a bit more guidance from our team on how to do things better, or maybe you need a bit more accountability and support to reach your goals, then get in touch. Our team offer a variety of services that might just help you to stop making these same mistakes over and over.