Well, it's time for "Part Deux"...or "Part Two"...or "II"...or whatever...
I'm sure by this point in your life (unless you've been living under a rock), that you've heard the old adage, "Everything in Moderation". Some people really need to learn this.
Just because something is "good", doesn't mean you can run wild with it. You've read a thousand times that when doing your workouts, "more" isn't always "better", right? Well, just because something is "good", doesn't mean too much of it can't be "bad."I see this all the time with people's diet, eating habits, and especially their training workout plans.
I guess the fitness world is no different than any other culture, but there seems to be this odd disconnect between knowledge, research, helpful hints and tips, and plain old common sense.
Too many times I see people who read or hear about how "XYZ" food is good for you, or that eating at "XYZ" time has great benefits to your training, or that "XYZ" type of training can be so much more beneficial, etc.
(I kinda touched on that last one lately - remember my articles and video on not screwing up your interval training? That's a perfect example - just because interval training is such a great method to use, doesn't mean you can half-ass it and still expect to see results.)
Diet is another biggie I see this happen all the time in.
The other day, I was talking with a buddy. We hadn't seen each other in a while and were more or less just catching up.
Now, this guy is a great guy and all, but he's honestly probably 150 lbs. overweight. I mean, he needs to lose A LOT of weight, and he needs to get on his horse about doing it. If not, he's really putting himself in a position for health risks or worse yet, a premature heart attack (he's only in his early 30s).
Anyway, as we kept on BSing, he told me that he was going on a diet, and was cutting out all the excess crap out of his diet - sugar, starches, chips, etc.
He went on to tell me that he was gonna start eating nuts instead of chips and the like. They had protein, good fats, and seemed to be a part of all these good "paleo" type diets that were just meat, leaves, berries, and such (i.e. - no processed foods).He was really excited, but he had never really eaten nuts that much before, and didn't realize how much he liked them. In fact, he had found that he LOVED almonds. (So do I!!) He liked them so much, that he went out and got a couple cans of them to keep at work, and he just snacks on them throughout the day.
He was so happy that he felt happy and good about eating - he'd found a food that he liked, he enjoyed, that was "good" for him, and most importantly of all, he could eat on his diet, and still lose weight.
I got worried.
I asked you before about the saying "everything in moderation". Well, ever hear of the one that says "if it's too good to be true, it probably is"?
Well, here was case in point.
I asked him just how many almonds he ate in a day. He said he didn't know - that he'd just grab a few here and there throughout the day.
I told him to cup his hands together...as if he were making a snowball. I then asked him if all the almonds he ate in a day would fill up the space in his hands. He said, yeah - maybe 1.5 or even 2.
Uh-oh.I told him I had bad news. He looked worried.
(I really hated to tell him this, as this guy has struggled with his weight for years, and it was great to see him excited about his diet, but I couldn't let him sabotage himself.)
I told him that everything he had said about nuts before was completely true. BUT, they are still very, very high in calories. In fact, if we estimate the amount he could hold in his hands as a cup, then according to this site, he was eating some 1000+ calories per day...in just almonds.
I told him that at that rate, he'd actually be better off having bought one of those snack-sized bags of Doritos (like they make for kids' lunches) and eating that. It wouldn't have been healthy, it it'd have been a fraction of the calories.
Here's the take home point in all of this - you can be eating the most healthy foods in the world, but you still can't ignore the basics of nutrition. And one of the most basic of the basics of nutrition (and in turn, weight loss) is calories in vs. calories out.
You could be eating nothing but grilled chicken breast, fruits, nuts, and veggies all day. But, if you had a desk job, didn't work out, and got little physical activity in, and your diet (even made up of all good stuff) was 6000 calories per day, you know what?
You're still gonna be a fatty. And on the healthiest diet, to boot.
Use your head folks - sometimes, it's the most common sense things that do us the most good.
Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard
Matt "Wiggy" Wiggins
http://www.workingclassfitness.com
PS - If you haven't check out the sale I've got going yet, then hit up http://tinyurl.com/d67noo and Save 40%.
PS #2 - I want to wish all of you a very Happy Easter, and I hope that you can spend some good, quality time with your family, friends, and loved ones.
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