Maybe you’ve seen pictures of The Rock’s legendary cheat days. Now, that dude is jacked; he must know what he’s doing! So does that mean that you should follow in his footsteps? For one thing, they’re probably more like craters than footsteps. But also, consider his activity level. The guy probably goes to the gym only to lift the entire gym up.
“What about Michael Phelps?! He’s not that buff, and he eats 12,000 calories a day! How can he even do that?!” He eats 12,000 calories because he can swim in a way that wins him 28 olympic medals. Similarly, he can swim that way because he eats 12,000 calories; that’s 12,000 calories of energy well spent.
My point is that it’s important to compensate for lifestyle and physical activity when figuring out your diet. Even within the broad category of “exercise”, consider what type of exercise! Remember that food is fuel and you need to adjust accordingly! When you are walking around the house doing laundry, your needs are very different than if you are training for a marathon, both in terms of amount of food and nutritional content. Slashing calories does not equal healthy! Cutting out carbs does not equal a better body.
I’d like to address the danger (yes, the actual danger) of trying to go about losing weight on your own. Now, absolutely, there are people than can and do go about this successfully without a support system. I am not one of these people. In fact, after I lost the weight I had a very hard time figuring out what to do next!
Sadly, I know I’m not the only one who’s thought “okay, eat less means weigh less. Easy enough, let’s do this.” But that didn’t work to lose the weight and it certainly didn’t work after I lost the weight either. I’m so glad that NutriMD was there to guide me. I was given a weight loss eating plan and I followed it, eating more than I was used to, matching my caloric needs!
Easy enough! Pounds came off as I worked out and I was feelin’ great; so great, in fact, that I just worked out more and more.
I could lift weights now! I could go up stairs without getting winded! I could run 2 miles, 4 miles, 6 miles. But I was still eating to lose weight. My body was crying for more nutrients, for more energy. I shut down my impulses for more food with a sort of twisted thought; “I’ve been eating this much and been fine. Why should I eat more now?”
I wasn’t building muscle because I couldn’t build muscle, in fact I was losing it! I was cold all the time, my hair was dull, I lost my period. My body was struggling to survive, how dare I ask it to build muscle!
Luckily, I came home from college to see Nurse Dayna and some of the first words out of her mouth when I sat down in her office were “you HAVE to eat more”. Actually, they were probably more like “hey, welcome home!” because she abides by the rules of polite social conduct. Between the two of us, someone’s gotta.
But the bottom line is that I was so busy chasing one particular goal that I didn’t realize I had taken a wrong turn. I needed to readjust, and keep readjusting because I am (hopefully) going to keep changing. I want to get stronger, I want to get faster, I want to get healthier. I have to eat more! Of course of the right foods 😉 besides my occasional, very well earned, chocolate chip pancakes.
I still fit into my jeans, but I weigh 10lbs more. That’s okay. It is 10bs of MUSCLE! I feel strong, and I eat like a king. Lower numbers on the scale might not be what’s best for you, and eating less or exercising more might not be the way to get where you need or want to be.
When I promote NutriMD, it’s because I really do believe that their insight, service, and programs are valuable. Changing your lifestyle is hard enough already, don’t make yourself do it alone!
