If I work out I can eat whatever I want? True or False?

May 6

updated with new information - May 2021

You work out every day— so that means you can eat whatever you want? Is this a true or false statement?

The Truth: You can easily out-eat your exercising. It’s essential to both work out and eat right for successful weight loss and to maintain good health.

A lot of people seem to think putting in the hours at the gym entitles them to eat whatever they want: After all, they're working out — so they must be healthy, right?

To put it the best way possible, NO … this is by far not the truth— here are some reasons why.

REASON 1:

Weight loss is about calories in versus calories out. If your goal is to lose weight, you should be counting and logging the calories you’re consuming and the calories you’re burning on a daily basis — aiming for a calorie deficit by the end of the day. So, if you work out on the treadmill for an hour and burn 500 calories and then chow down on more than one slice of pizza (at least 500 calories) — You ate just as many calories as you burned. Plus, you’re refueling your body with refined carbohydrates and will probably be hungry again in the next hour or two.

REASON 2:

You can’t fuel your body with junk and expect it to perform. Just like you wouldn’t expect your car to run without proper fuel, you can’t expect your body to perform with junky fuel. Processed carbohydrates, sugar, or soda only give you a sugar high. They do not give your body the building blocks that it needs to perform in the gym or life.

REASON 3:

You won’t have the motivation to train if you aren’t eating right. Diet and exercise are a feedback loop. When you eat well, you are more motivated to move, and when you move you are more motivated to eat well.

To sum all of this up, the key to a healthy lifestyle is eating whole, real foods and exercising on a regular basis (three to four times a week)! Make them both a healthy relationship and not something that is miserable.

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