Nutrition & Exercise - What’s the split?

We’ve all heard the saying “Abs are made in the kitchen” and other similar clichés.

Well, as a gym owner, I can tell you that that is in fact true. You may think that my bias would sway me the other way, but we can’t hide from the facts. Furthermore, as you’ll learn if you keep reading, it’s difficult to make one work without the other.

Here’s the thing. As you’ll know by now, weight loss/gain is all about calories. Let’s imagine for a second that you decide that you want to lose weight and sensibly determine that a calorie deficit is the way forward.

Now let’s assume that you decide on a fairly aggressive 20% deficit on your current 2000 calorie per day. That’s 400 calories that you need to make vanish.

You’ve got two choices;

1. Calories in

2. Calories out

(Yes, it’s that simple!)

This is where the kitchen becomes preferable. It’s incredibly easy to consume 400 calories, which means that it’s also incredible easy to withhold 400 calories. It’s a snack, essentially, or a little less on each plate throughout the day. So a little bit of will power and you’ve very easily created a 400 calorie deficit, plenty enough to elicit weight loss.

So why not just enjoy the food and burn an extra 400 calories? Well, It takes approximately 1-hour of intensive exercise and up to a couple of hours less intensive exercise to burn those same 400 calories. And for the same effect this would need to be done every single day.

So, eat 3 less biscuits per day or exercise for 1-2 hours per day. Which sounds easier?!

But wait… it’s never that simple! You see, we still need the gym. The gym helps keep us focused. When we exercise regularly we think more clearly, make more sensible decisions and are generally more conscious of making healthy choices. Exercise is a catalyst to a healthy lifestyle.

Finally, it’s rarely advisable to simply ‘lose weight’. As we lose weight we should be working on improving our health with cardiovascular fitness, strength and conditioning, core strength and flexibility. This is how we maintain great all-round health and keep mobile for years to come. Want further advice? Get in touch and our coaches would be happy to advise! :)