drtbear1967
Musclechemistry Board Certified Member
by Chris Shugart •
Pick any good workout program. Doesn't matter if it's a bodybuilding program for mass, a strength program, or a plan designed to get you ripped. Here's the thing: you can get fat or lose fat on any of those plans. Your results will depend almost entirely on the foods you're eating.
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Think about it like this: Training is the car. Diet is the steering wheel. A muscle-building workout isn't going to take you anywhere unless you steer growth with supportive foods. A fat loss workout is going to stall out and leave you stranded if paired with an incompatible eating plan... unless you were a total couch potato before you started training, and even then you'll hit a wall if you're not steering. What if you have no general principles to follow when it comes to food? Well, then no one is at the wheel of your car.
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"Duh, that's obvious!” Is it? Diet is the hard part. Training is at least fun and satisfying. Not eating something you really want to eat doesn't exactly get your endorphins pumping. So we ignore the diet part. Or at least we try everything else first. We'd rather train harder than eat smarter, and that often backfires.
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But diet is magical. A few better foods eaten consistently, a couple hundred fewer calories, a couple hundred MORE calories in some cases... abracadabra, results! And all without changing your training – assuming "training" means more to you than walking on the treadmill.
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Now, you can and should change your workouts if you have a specific goal. But if you're training hard and being consistent and you still have a problem – too fat, too skinny, no muscle gain, strength stalled etc. – then it's very likely a diet issue. Most people would rather not hear that because eating is emotional, habitual, social, and psychological as well as physiological. It's tough to get your nutrition right. You'll have to crack a book, read plenty of articles, and – most importantly – experiment. But the work is worth it. In fact, it's probably the most important aspect of fitness. Take the wheel and floor it.
Pick any good workout program. Doesn't matter if it's a bodybuilding program for mass, a strength program, or a plan designed to get you ripped. Here's the thing: you can get fat or lose fat on any of those plans. Your results will depend almost entirely on the foods you're eating.
•
Think about it like this: Training is the car. Diet is the steering wheel. A muscle-building workout isn't going to take you anywhere unless you steer growth with supportive foods. A fat loss workout is going to stall out and leave you stranded if paired with an incompatible eating plan... unless you were a total couch potato before you started training, and even then you'll hit a wall if you're not steering. What if you have no general principles to follow when it comes to food? Well, then no one is at the wheel of your car.
•
"Duh, that's obvious!” Is it? Diet is the hard part. Training is at least fun and satisfying. Not eating something you really want to eat doesn't exactly get your endorphins pumping. So we ignore the diet part. Or at least we try everything else first. We'd rather train harder than eat smarter, and that often backfires.
•
But diet is magical. A few better foods eaten consistently, a couple hundred fewer calories, a couple hundred MORE calories in some cases... abracadabra, results! And all without changing your training – assuming "training" means more to you than walking on the treadmill.
•
Now, you can and should change your workouts if you have a specific goal. But if you're training hard and being consistent and you still have a problem – too fat, too skinny, no muscle gain, strength stalled etc. – then it's very likely a diet issue. Most people would rather not hear that because eating is emotional, habitual, social, and psychological as well as physiological. It's tough to get your nutrition right. You'll have to crack a book, read plenty of articles, and – most importantly – experiment. But the work is worth it. In fact, it's probably the most important aspect of fitness. Take the wheel and floor it.
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