Stop Riding the Healthy-Unhealthy Lifestyle Teeter Totter
Learning To Find Your Balance : Getting Some Insight On Exercise & Nutrition
If you are a local to the Buffalo region, chances are you have heard or read about the newest face of indoor cycling, Rebel Ride. A heart pounding and mesmerizing experience that welcomes beat heavy music in a gratifying atmosphere that tantalizes all the senses. Couple this with the savory meal prep services of Balanced Body Foods and you are certain to walk away feeling sweaty, satisfied, and most importantly healthy.
Before giving up too much on this amazing and upcoming mashup, let me ask you this….does on the scale-off the scale-on the scale-off the scale, ring a bell? Do you feel like no matter how hard you exercise, the time you put in doesn’t seem to be outsmarting your crappy diet choices? You know as well as I do how the saying goes…”you can’t out train a bad diet”. Yeah, we have heard it a million times but what does it actually mean and how do we get things under control before our body, mind, and metabolism have had enough? – – the answer, BALANCE.
Before you start strutting around with our salad in one hand and ice cream in the other, its important to recognize that there are a plethora of short term, fad answers to how we find balance. Although these are appealing, they make committing to long term changes very unrealistic and difficult. So let’s get powerful with knowledge. I’m a firm believer that the more we learn and understand, the better we become at making decisions and seeing the value in why we are making them.
I’LL TAKE THE NUMBER 6 COMBO – EXERCISE + DIET
There is no denying that when we exercise a number of strange, bodily things happen that are extremely important to both internal and external change in our overall health…
- The brain produces feel-good endorphins, along with a number of other hormones that trigger feelings of happiness and pleasure. You will also notice a decrease in feelings of stress, anxiety and depression
- Blood flow to the brain increases = feelings of alertness, sharper memory and thinking (overall cognition improves)
- The hormone dopamine is released (the body’s reward chemical)
- The hormone epinephrine is released = feelings of motivation
- Mitochondria (cell energy factories) begin to increase = energy production increases and is more efficient
- The nervous system becomes more efficient in muscular contraction = improvement in strength with noticeable physical changes
- By six months, the heart will increase in size as a result of the change in cardiovascular output and by one year, your bone health will significantly improve with measurable change in the skeleton
Although this briefly touches on what’s going on with our bodies as a result of exercise, it isn’t hard to see why being active is so important to feeling better both mentally and physically. Now, let’s look at how diet comes into play with exercise and why, factually and opinionally – lets call these “fact-pinions”, we can’t outwork poor nutritional habits.
FACT-PINION NO. 1
No amount of exercise can change your body if you eat a consistently unhealthy diet.
A poor diet results in a poor attitude. Poor attitude results in poor motivation. Poor motivation results in poor discipline. Poor discipline results in poor results.
FACT-PINION NO. 2
You can’t fight the inevitable – your metabolism will slow down as you age, meaning less calories burned.
But, good news – – being physically active and taking care of your body will help your metabolism continue to work faster for longer periods of time.
FACT-PINION NO. 3
Eating the wrong food types will make performing at your optimal level very difficult. Exercise requires both the right amount and type of foods.
Consider the source – – the body processes healthy and unhealthy foods very differently. Example 1, high sugar foods spike glucose levels, resulting in the secretion of insulin. This hormone is responsible for moving sugars out of the blood stream and acts as a storage unit – – making it very difficult to lose body fat.
Not convinced? Example 2, eat spinach (instead of sugar) and different hormones will be triggered such as glucagon. This is insulin’s “sister hormone” that releases fat to burn for energy.
What I love most about these two examples is how they show the importance of different nutrients having different roles. Check out how this applies to C-F-Ps:
CARBS fuel the body and provide energy
FATS provide long-term energy, insulation, and protection
PROTEINS builds new tissues, hormones, antibodies
So how does all this come together?
C-F-Ps are where calories come from
1 carb = 4 calories
1 fat = 9 calories
1 protein = 4 calories
To drop weight you have to place your body into a caloric deficit. This happens when we eat less calories than our daily caloric needs plus our daily caloric burn. INPUT vs. OUTPUT. So why can’t we outsmart this equation? MATH BABY! It takes approximately 3,500 calories below your needs to drop a pound OR approximately 3,500 calories above your needs to gain a pound.
Look at caloric totals over the course of seven days at a time…you go strong all week in the gym and in the kitchen, then the weekend hits and you throw your progress out the window because you have convinced yourself the slow decimal drops on the scale have amounted to Saturday’s bingey cheats! WRONG…and here’s why:
ONE WEEK OF CONSISTENT CALORIC INTAKE (WITH DEFICIT)
| Eric needs 2,800 calories per day to maintain his weight Maintenance calories x 7 days | = | 19,600 calories/week |
| Eric eats a total of 2,500 calories x 7 days | = | 17,500 calories consumed |
| Eric burns 500 calories at the gym x 5 days | = | -2,500 calories burned |
| Difference in input v. output | = | 15,500 calories |
ONE WEEK OF INCONSISTENT CALORIC INTAKE
| Eric eats a total of 2,500 calories x 5 days | = | 12,500 calories consumed |
| Eric’s weekly calories for weight loss | = | 17,500 calories consumed |
| Remaining calories for the weekend | = | 5,000 calories to be eaten |
Here comes my favorite mind blowing moment – – in order for Eric to return back to his weight and routine caloric input/output from the following week, he would need to workout and burn an additional 2,300 calories on top of his current 2,500 per week (yes, this means a total burn of 4,800 calories during the five days he is in the gym). This is where out training a poor diet becomes an impossible task.
If Eric performed his usual gym routine 5 days a week, he would need to add in an hour of running at a speed of 10 mph or higher to burn the additional 900+
calories per day. What’s worse? If Eric hates to run or can’t, he would need to add in four hours of walking at a moderate speed to burn the additional 900+ calories per day!
At that rate, Eric might as well kiss all of his energy, livelihood, muscular gains, and nutritional efforts goodbye because he is doing a lot more harm than good to his body as a result of his weekend cheats. You can’t outwork bad eating, and you can’t outsmart bad choices. Science is science!
And this is exactly why being conscious of what we are consuming and how much we are consuming holds as much relevance to our overall progress as exercise. Results happen inside and outside the gym, that means creating a balance between the weights and time spent paying attention to our diet.
INTRODUCING BALANCED BODY FOODS
Four miles south of Rebel Ride, on Transit Road, you will find one of Western New York’s best kept secrets, and that is Balanced Body Foods. As a locally owned, small business, Balanced Body takes a tremendous amount of pride in providing their customers with chef-crafted, fresh-not-frozen meals that have been carefully measured and portioned by the gram for complete nutritional accuracy. Each meal is carefully created using ingredients that are wholesome, nutritionally dense, and flavorful.
Customers rave about the rotating menu options that include both traditional and vegan dietary choices, breakfast-lunch-and dinner themed dishes, and even desserts. With so much variety, this team has easily mastered their ability to cater to nearly every customer.
What’s even more impressive is their easy to read labels that include the full nutritional breakdown of the meal. Both calories and macronutrients are displayed for the customer, as well as all ingredients, so they can stay accountable and on track for their daily nutrition goals. This is a system that simply works. Whether you eat for performance, weight loss, general health, or are seeking long term-sustainable lifestyle change, these meals will help you be your best possible self for all the things that really matter in your life.
MAY 5th, 2018 IS YOUR TIME TO GET HOT & HUNGRY WITH BALANCED BODY FOODS & REBEL RIDE
Join Rebel Ride and Balanced Body Foods on May 5th at Rebel Ride for a Cinco De Mayo celebration. Experience pure liberation during Rebel Ride’s classes followed by a fully catered post-workout meal from Balanced Body.
A special In-Trinity class will be offered for only Jada Members at 11:30 am – there are only 9 spots available so reserve your spot now – www.rebelride.com.
Everyone is ready to sweat and smile together. Treat your body and hard work the way it truly deserves by providing it with longer satiety and a satisfied palate without breaking the bank and slaving over the stove. Spend less time worrying about cooking and prepping, and more time living! It’s time to find your balance!
