Top 10 Training & Nutrition Myths (Part 2)
Myth 6 : ‘Calories in, calories out’ is all that matters when it comes to weight loss.
Though creating a calorie deficit (burning more energy than you take in) is the most important factor when it comes to weight loss, it’s not the only thing that matters.
The idea of this concept sounds really nice - some of us might sacrifice eating for most of the day in order to have a scrumptious pizza and ice cream dinner that still ‘fits our macros’. Woohoo! In comes weight loss, “and I can still eat all of my favourite foods!”
However, what this method fails to take into account is the actual nutrient value of the food you are eating. Whilst it may be all well and good to see the pants sizes coming down month after month, what may be creeping up on you is a cocktail of hormonal imbalances, negative metabolic adaptions, and of course an introduction to disordered eating.
Tracking your calories (when done the right way) can be a fantastic tool to help you visualise what goes into your diet and really hone in on the quality of food you’re eating. It is only when the fantasy world of fast-food and lolly diets creeps in that we should proceed with caution. Everything in moderation, of course.
At the end of the day, a balance of weight management AND overall health is what really matters most.
Myth 7 : No pain, no gain (if I’m not sore, it wasn’t an effective session).
Whilst feeling a little uncomfortable during a workout is normal, feeling unusual amounts of pain during the session or a number of days post-training is not something we should be aiming for. Many athletes live by the "no pain, no gain" motto, but pain is the way your body tells you that something is wrong. If you start to feel pain during a workout, you could end up with a longer-lasting injury.
Also worth noting, is that not every session may require you to push yourself to the limits. There is a time and a place for some lighter cardio, mobility, or other ‘feel-good’ movements. Ideally, in any case, you shouldn’t be leaving the gym worse off than you came in.
Myth 8 : Low fat food is always healthier.
The latest evidence suggests we should consider the quality of fat in our diet as well as the quantity. Saturated fats such as those found in fatty meats, cream, cakes, biscuits, and so on are typically the ones we need to limit as these are often linked to cardiovascular disease.
However, the unsaturated fats that come from things such as extra virgin olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, and oily fish are actually the ones that our bodies need to function optimally. They provide essential fatty acids and can help to maintain healthy cholesterol levels, reduce inflammation, and play a number of roles in controlling our hormone profiles.
With all that being said, next time you see a product advertised as ‘low-fat’, be sure to check out the other nutritional information to ensure they are simply not replacing the fat content with high amounts of salt or sugar to enhance the taste. In that case, it may be hard to say which one is worse, but you are really just blindly picking your poison.
Myth 9 : A Good diet can save you from your poor sleeping habits.
Just like you can’t out-train a bad diet, you can’t out-diet bad sleep.
First, let’s take a step back. What is more important for survival? Food or sleep?
Well, after some thought (and a quick google search), hopefully you’d come to realise that we can actually survive longer without food than sleep. Really, you could fast for up to a week and still be “OK”. You certainly wouldn’t be running marathons or at optimal performance, but you’d be doing alright. Now, think about how we’d feel after a week of no sleep. You’d either be having vivid hallucinations in the corner of a dark room, or you’d be long gone.
So, let’s consider a very common scenario. You’re working a high-stress job, training 3-5 days per week, and your nutrition is on point. All systems are in check when it comes to your food intake and hydration. But you are getting a maximum of 5-6 hours of poor quality sleep each night. And because of this, you are constantly groggy and tired, masked by the 3 coffees per day of course, and your training comes in constant waves of ‘not too bad’, ‘average’, and ‘just survived that one’.
Now, how would be go about progressing closer to our goals? What is the big rock that needs to be addressed here? I’d say by now you know the answer. Just go get some more Z’s…
Myth 10 : If I’m not sweating, I’m not training hard enough.
Sweating is an inaccurate way to measure how hard you’ve trained. There are many factors that go into the amount a person sweats, such as their genetics, hydration levels, or the training environment itself (i.e. temperature, humidity, etc.). To put it simply, each person’s response to training is just so different. We cannot judge a session based on how soaked we are by the end of it.
On top of this, it is also worth considering what type of session you are doing. If it is something like hot yoga in a room that’s cooking at 40 degrees with 60%+ humidity, you best believe you’ll be breaking a sweat. However, if it is a slower paced weightlifting session or perhaps some lighter core training, you might leave the gym with a slightly damp (and smelly) shirt, or you could be fresh as a daisy. It all depends…
…We hope you took something away from our myth-busting!