Personal Trainer, James Lakin looks at just SOME of the nutritional myths that circulate in most gyms.
James says,
"You may have been given good and bad advice from other gym freaks on how to build muscle or burn fat. My favourite piece of bad advice that was given to me when I first started out training was from a meat-head I chatted to; unbelievably he said,"
“To get big you should eat KFC!” "I nodded and thanked him for the advice. Thankfully, over the years I have decided to educate myself and not rely on such pearls of wisdom from gym members. Here are just a few myths that must be dismissed!"
1. “My muscle turned to fat” Fat and muscle are two separate tisues. You can increase or decrease muscle or fat but they can not turn into one another.
2. “After training I can eat what I want”After training your breathing and heart rate will remain elevated to return your body to a natural state. To do this you will continue to burn energy and this is what people often refer to as “the golden hour” and mistakenly scoff the things they shouldn’t. After Training your body is crying out for nutrients feed it the energy it needs to replenish your stores to support growth and recovery. Water, protein, minerals and vitamins and not muffins or ice cream.
3. “If I train in the morning without eating breakfast I will lose more weight”Our body needs fuel to perform, without energy your workout will suffer. Research has shown skipping meals can slow down your metabolism eat small meals regularly to avoid this. Allow between an hour and a half and two hours to give your body enough time for digestion.
4. “I eat lots of pasta”
There seems to be a bit of an obsession with pasta. Many athletes load up on the stuff because of its high calorific content but they are burning thousands of calories through training several hours a day. For the average person being in a seated position 8 hours or more a day these excess calories will result in fat being stored if not burnt up! In no way am I saying don’t eat pasta, just be careful it doesn’t cause you to exceed your targeted daily calorie consumption.
5. “Which diet should I go on?”
I hear this a lot, any diet where you are taking in less energy will cause you to lose weight. They may work short term but the dieter can often put it straight back on plus more weight very quickly. A healthier way is to aim to lose no more than 2lbs per week eating a healthy balance of 80% good and 20% a little more relaxed. Two pounds may not sound a lot but in just 7 weeks that’s a whole stone! You will be more likely to sustain healthy eating and lose fat rather than muscle. From experience, clients that have lost weight gradually as opposed to crash or yoyo dieting have been able to keep the weight off. If diets worked, there wouldn't be a diet industr; there would just be a diet that everyone follows?
For more information on James, or to contact him directly regarding nutritional advice and/or personal training, view his website: http://www.uxbridge-fitness.co.uk/
