Sunday, March 24, 2024

You Can't Exercise Away a Bad Diet


               

When it comes to losing weight, the evidence is pretty clear – “you can’t outrun a bad diet,” according to a recent editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The food in the picture above looks pretty good, right? Lunch meat is full of animal fat and it’s high in cholesterol, processed cheese, fried onion rings,a nd french fries aren’t any better. If you make a meal from the food in that picture and add a soda you will be eating more than 1000 calories. That’s one meal.

Americans consume on average about 3500 calories a day. It’s no wonder 2/3rd of Americans are overweight.

If your goal is weight loss, that gym membership is going to do little to drop the pounds when your diet is out of shape. If you hit the gym five days a week for 30 minutes a day and you’re not losing weight, you now know why. It’s not your metabolism. It’s not your hormones. It’s what and how much you eat.

We’re talking about more than just your expanding belly and butt. A wicked diet causes more disease than physical inactivity, alcohol, and smoking combined, according to the editorial. Even those with a normal body mass index (BMI) often have metabolic abnormalities we usually see with obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease. Why? Their poor diet, despite their weight being seemingly healthy.

You often hear, “You’d have to jog 30 minutes to burn off that double cheeseburger.” But it’s more than that. The editorial cites a study showing an extra 150 calories of sugar causes more diabetes than the same number of calories in fat or protein. This isn’t permission to load up on all the fatty foods you want — too many calories is still going to lead to too much body fat.

In addition, research has shown that cutting carbohydrates in your diet is the most effective thing you can do to reduce problems including high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and manage diabetes, the editorial notes. Those benefits are seen even if you don’t lose weight.

Don’t sit down just yet. Exercise is still critically important for optimal health. Exercise is medicine. If you’re active, your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and some cancers plummets by at least 30%. No drug can do that. Exercise just doesn’t help much with weight loss.

If you’re looking to slim down for bathing suit season, take a good hard look at what’s on your plate. Load up on veggies and lean protein. Skip the starchy carbs and junk food. And when you’ve hit your goal weight, hit the gym to continue on your journey to good health.

Follow me on X, the former Twitter, @ray0369 to get a link to my latest posts.

If you want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my first book at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.



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