Why You Can’t Out Train A Bad Diet
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
People think that because I’m a personal trainer I must possess some type of magical powers or that I was blessed with good genetics. This crackes me up every time! I used to believe that I could eat what ever I wanted as long as I was working out. But time has a way of catching up, and no I can’t eat what ever I want.
You exercise regularly, but still can’t shed your body fat?
There a many things to consider as to why. First, you just may be eating too much. Portion size is a key factor. In addition, you may be consuming the wrong foods, i.e., foods that are not supportive to boosting your metabolism. Another thing to consider is that you might be over training, and as a result your body is not metabolizing fat because it’s shifting into survival mode. When this happens the body stores fat because it’s trying to keep you alive. And last but certainly not least, is your metabolism broken?
Everyone over eats, especially with the way meals are prepared today. It’s incredibly easy to dine out or prepare delicious meals at home. Perhaps you have a problem with large portions? Some people might need to seek professional help for this, but, typically it is a matter of simply measuring portions for a week or two so you can attempt to recalibrate your brain (and your stomach) in regard to portion size.
By eating foods that your body disagrees with can trigger inflammation in the intestines and can also impact various other areas causing muscle aches and pains, low energy, mood swings, skin rashes, and a long list of other ailments. Being aware of what foods disagree with you certainly something to pay attention to. For example, a lot of people have problems with dairy. It makes them bloated and gassy (whew!), but they love cheese and so the cycle continues.
A great way to get a leg up on this is with an “elimination diet”. This is a practice where you strip your diet down to simple bland foods and slowly re-introduce foods one at a time until you find the culprit. Check out The Whole 30 and The 30 Day Transformation Diet.
Did you know that over training can make it difficult to burn belly fat?
When you are not well nourished, well rested, your body can experience exercise as just more stress. Exercise needs to be in the right proportion with nutrition, rest, and hydration to make fat burning part of a healthy process. If stress is a factor there are specialized lab tests (Chronic Stress Assessment Test ) that you can take to determine if stress is having an impact on adrenals (Adrenal Stress Test) and to what degree chronic stress is affecting you. See your doctor for more info.
Some people merely have what I call a crippled metabolism. This can be the result of years of yo-yo dieting. It can be brought on by psychological stress such as a separation, a death in the family, a new relationship, and a new born baby. In these challenging situations our digestive tract can get exposed to lots of pathogens because immunity is compromised. The body can get infections and susceptibility to viruses.
Feeling exhausted and gaining weight are often symptoms of an unhealthy gut. If you are not getting the results you are looking for it just might be due to the fact that you are doing the opposite of what your body needs.
Over eating, eating the wrong foods, over training, too much stress, and developing inflammation can leave you incapable of shedding body fat. It is essential to educate yourself with the appropriate and accurate information as well as the right program that will help you make progress and manage your own health better.