Healthy lifestyle mistakes

In a world where we’re glued to our devices, it’s easy to get drawn into all of the misinformation online. From celebrities pushing workout apps and slimming supplements that deliver “instant results”, to perma-tanned gym bunnies telling you if you follow their plans you’ll look exactly like them, with solid muscles and shredded abs.

The problem is there is now a “fitness industry”, which means massive companies stand to make a tonne of cash if they can convince even a small chunk of the population to buy in. And the sad part is they often do.

I’ve heard from so many people who’ve spent trucks of money on slimming clubs, fitness apps, or miracle shakes, only to find the only “spot reduction” was in their bank accounts.

Here are the common fitness mistakes I’ve seen as a personal trainer

1. Muscle makes you bulky

Ok, so this one never goes away and is particularly prevalent amongst the female population.

What confuses a lot of people, is that when you start resistance training it’s very likely that if you are following a diet plan your weight might actually increase. At this point, you may very well have ‘scale addiction’ (basing your fitness and physique on how much you weigh). This is almost everybody that has not done body recomposition.

Muscle actually takes up about half the space as the same weight in fat. So you may find that the top of your legs or bum change shape as your genetics will dictate where you build muscle most. This can also make people feel like they are gaining fat. However, what happens with body recomposition as your body starts to build and maintain more lean muscle tissue, is that it increases metabolism and uses more calories to maintain that muscle - meaning slowly but surely you will see a reduction in body fat as your body uses up those energy stores. This is what is called ‘body recomposition’, and is how you end up with an overall tighter leaner physique.

2. Carbs are fattening

Another doozy the food companies love to manipulate you with. Ok, so the truth is that we actually do require carbohydrates in our diet because they provide the brain’s preferred source of energy, they also fuel your kidneys, heart, and muscles.

A low-carb diet over a period of time can lead to headaches, fatigue, constipation, and vitamin and mineral deficiency. The confusion comes because carbs come in three groups, starches, fibers, and sugars. Carb sources are grains, legumes, and starch vegetables for example potatoes and corn (these are the best kind). Sugars, which split into two groups: natural sugars in vegetables, fruit, milk, or honey (again, these are the best type); and added sugars, found in processed foods (packaged low-cost ready meals or snack foods), and in syrups, sugary drinks, or sweets (these ones are bad for you in larger quantities and should be minimised).

Starchy carbs and vegetables provide a vast amount of your essential vitamins and minerals and also your dietary fibre (fibre is essential for healthy digestion and indeed a healthy gut). The amount of carbohydrates in your diet will depend on your size and activity levels. The only reason carbs would cause you to gain weight would be to consume excessive amounts (however you would gain weight by consuming excess amounts of all macronutrients regardless of them being carbohydrates, fat, or protein).

3. Fat makes you fat

Oh wow! Another cracker how many times have you seen “low fat” on a label in the supermarket? Loads of times I imagine. Take a closer look at the ingredients and I’ll bet they have just replaced the fat with sugar (excess sugar consumption will lead to increased body fat from unused energy being stored in the body).

Did you know that all fat is not the same? Fats are split into two groups:

Saturated fat (known as bad fat) - found in animal products such as beef, pork, and high-fat dairy products including butter, cream, margarine and cheese - these saturated fats are common in highly processed foods such as pizza, burgers, desserts/puddings, biscuits, and pastry. Saturated fats are usually more stodgy and firm.

Unsaturated fat (healthy fats) - look for the words monounsaturated and polyunsaturated to spot them on labels. Mono fats are in avocados, peanut butter, nuts and seeds etc. You can also find them in plant-based oils such as olive, peanut, sunflower, sesame and canola. Poly fats include the famous omega 3 and 6 fatty acids which are essential (3 and 6 can improve heart healthy by reducing triglycerides - a topic for another day) and can be found in oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, tuna etc. They can also be found in walnuts, flaxseeds, and sunflower seeds. Unsaturated fats increase HDL (Good cholesterol) which is fab for arteries and heart health. Saturated fats raise LDL (Bad cholesterol) which can block the arteries and damage the heart. Good fats also keep your brain healthy and lower the risk of Alzheimer’s.

As a rule, eat good fats and eliminate bad fats from your diet. And, as with carbs, your size and activity levels will dictate how many grams of fat you require. Fat is actually a fantastic source of energy as well and can be used for endurance athletes in adequate quantities - a topic for another time!

4. Cardio is the best for weight loss

This one gets interesting. On one hand, I would have to say yes, cardio can induce weight loss, however, you have to do a lot of cardio to lose weight. Cardio does not make you particularly strong, so if you’re looking for a strong, lean physique, it’s going to just deliver a skinnier version of you with not much shape.

The other issue with cardio is that you keep having to work harder to deliver ongoing results because your body will quickly acclimate to the effort and demand you work longer and harder. The problem here is that most people will hit a threshold and plateau pretty quickly. If you take marathon runners as your example of cardio to lose weight, these guys run for hours and hours every week and most people just don’t have the capacity to do this. Also, you will find most competition-level marathon runners will also be hitting the gym to build a base of muscular strength.

The harsh reality is that a calorie deficit is the single and ONLY route to weight loss. Your body is like a see-saw, put too much energy on the other end and your body weight goes up, regardless of how many miles you run, or HIIT classes you attend. In my experience weight loss is more consistent and achievable by standing up and walking more, fidgeting more in your daily schedule. You can possibly do thirty minutes of high-intensity training and burn a couple of hundred active calories, but the average person burns 100 active calories walking a mile at a gentle pace. It’s a lot easier to stay on the move for a few hours each day than bang out endless cardio. Cardio should be viewed as a tool to improve your heart and lung function which just happens to burn a few calories as well.

5.  I’ve earned an extra plate of this / a bottle of wine, as I’ve done some exercise

This is one of the biggest cock ups I’ve seen. It’s a bit of a kid’s way of thinking to lie to ourselves and give an excuse to binge. The reality is that when you are serious about maintaining a healthy balance and changing your body composition, you should track your diet and have a clear set of calorie and macro targets. The ratio of protein to fats and cardio has a big effect on how your body will react to exercise stimuli. You won’t perform well if you aren’t getting decent carbs for fuel, you won’t retain or gain muscle without the protein building blocks required. There are a few calculations that take into account your age, weight, height, sex and also current levels of physical activity to calculate your dietary targets. Once you have these, you must be as consistent as you possibly can to see progress.

If you eat really well Monday to Friday and binge rubbish on the weekend you can actually end up gaining weight. If you track properly you can adjust your calories over a week to allow for treats by reducing the amount of things you consume on other days. The issue is maintaining consistency over each week as a whole without going beyond your total allowance. So a couple of bottles of wine will cause weight gain, a big bag of sweets etc will do likewise (unless you have planned them into your diet).

6. Endless core work will reduce my tummy fat (the spot reduction myth)

You can do crunches until sundown daily and never get a visible six-pack. We all have a genetic base and it will determine where our bodies lose fat or gain muscle. We can train those areas as much as we like, but if that is where our bodies like to store fat, they will be the last to reduce. There is no way to change this and you have to accept it. That girl with shredded abs on TikTok is genetically blessed so when she works out her muscles pop because she is genetically predisposed to have low body fat (I’m not saying you can’t get shredded abs, lots of people can with calorie deficit and a rigorous exercise plan over a long period of time). Of course, if you train your core well whilst losing weight, you could have fantastic abs on show when the fat drops away.

7. Drinking alcohol in excess

This one goes without saying. Anybody looking to see a real lifestyle change and improve strength and reduce body fat should minimise or remove alcohol entirely. Regular alcohol consumption reduces muscle protein synthesis, thereby harming the potential to gain muscle (lower muscle means lower metabolism). Alcohol also modifies your hormone levels and decreases metabolism which directly impacts your ability to reduce body fat (long-term alcohol use is also likely to trigger chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, liver disease, and digestive issues).

8. Poor hydration

The average physically sporty active adult needs 4.5 litres of water per day merely to replace lost fluids. A sedentary male requires 3.7 litres and a sedentary female requires 2.7 litres. Water does so many things in our bodies from digesting food, moving nutrients and hormones throughout the body, maintaining our very cell structure, and enabling proteins to act as enzymes, these enzymes are the catalysts for all of our bodies’ chemical reactions to enable our biological processes.

Did you know we are 75% water? Most people have no idea how much to drink and don’t understand how dehydration affects us. Lethargy, poor digestion, headaches and migraines, dry skin, brittle hair, muscle cramps and joint swelling are common symptoms of dehydration. The cartilage in our bodies is mostly composed of water and if it wears away you can develop serious joint problems. Another often-understood effect of dehydration is weight gain. If we are dehydrated, our body slows down all metabolic processes and tries to cling to whatever fluids are in the system (this can often take the form of bloating), obviously if our metabolism slows down, we burn fewer calories from food which then stores as adipose tissue (fat). So drink up

9. Poor sleep

You work hard, train hard, and eat reasonably well, but don’t get consistently good quality sleep for 7-8 hours a night? Sleep is a key part of a healthy lifestyle as this is when your body does all the repair work after exercise, helping to repair and grow muscle. Lack of sleep will seriously impact your progress. A lack of sleep can cause increased hunger, potentially increased calorie intake and ultimately weight gain. It can also trigger increased blood sugar and insulin resistance which can be a precursor to diabetes. So switch off your gadgets and train your body to get a good night's sleep. 

10.  Cheat meals (demonising foods)

A phrase I have come to hate is “cheat meal”, no food is inherently bad. Yes, some foods have higher sugar content, higher fat content, are carb heavy etc. This does not mean they can’t be enjoyed as part of a balanced diet to prevent boredom or binges. The key is education to understand the different nutritional values of what we consume.

Obviously, a diet that prioritises non-processed foods is the best way to obtain all the essential nutrients that our bodies require, however, over time it should be simple to understand that for example, a chocolate bar contains 250 calories so we can shave that amount out of our week to allow a guilt-free sweet treat. The same for so-called cheat meals. If you know a big meal is coming up at the weekend and will be for example a thousand calories too high, we can adjust our calories across the other 6 days to allow for it. And in all honesty, if you are going to a big occasion and you know it’s going to be off-plan, you could just accept that is the case but ensure to be straight back in control the next morning.

One meal is unlikely to derail you. Cheat meals only become a problem when they are weekly occurrences and slowly become cheat days and cheat weekends. At that point you will just gain weight and become unhealthy because you have lost control of your diet, putting you back to square one. So be mindful of your treats and plan them into your week (this is doubly important if your cheat happens to be alcohol).

So, now you know the biggest misinformation causes that put up roadblocks for 99% of people, and can do something about them.

Good luck! And don’t forget that I happen to know a fab coach if you need help…