Either I’m already getting old and crotchety, or just getting more and more sick of seeing bull crap like this being shoved at people:
I have seen too many people be ruined, lied to, and mistreated by the industry that I could write much more than a blog post about it. SO lets dive in:
1) You DO NOT NEED TO CLEANSE/DETOX AWAY TOXINS
Stop it. Why do these cleanses work then? Because going from eating fast food and processed cardboard (trans fat, grease, HFCS, who knows what else) to more fruits and veggies is going to make anyone feel better, and look better – alas this is still not a magical cleanse of the organs.
Of course it will lead to fast weight loss too.
Cleanses are usually very low calorie, and very low carb, which leads to rapid weight loss – via water weight.
How long do most people truly stick to them? And if they do stick to them for long periods of time, they can actually be dangerous to ones metabolism.
Here’s the thing, anyone (except a 4′, 85 pound woman) will lose weight at 1000 calories from lean proteins and veggies – this is not cleansing you of toxins – your healthy liver and kidneys will do that just fine.
2) The Calorie Burn of the Workout Really Doesn’t Mean Much
“BURN 1000 CALORIES IN AN HOUR”
Sure, this sounds great and sells memberships and classes – but it really doesn’t mean much.
Most of these numbers are based off of reading from heart rate monitors which just factor calorie burn from body weight, heart rate, and gender. So they probably just get the number from the biggest, least conditioned guy, and put it on the ad.
I’ve had male clients who wear heart rate monitors “burn” 1500 calories in a hour workout. But thats not that big of a deal.
I would rather have clients focus more on calorie intake, and sleep.
Why?
Calorie burns of workouts are very, very inaccurate. You should know yourself if you are working hard or slacking of. You know if a weight is challenging you, or feels like a feather in your hands.
Because they are so inaccurate, many people tend to overeat, because they “earned” more calories for the day.
First, you don’t earn food – ever – that is for dogs.
Second, find a daily intake average and start hitting that consistently, no matter how many calories you burn in a day. Need a starting number?
Multiply your bodyweight by 10, hit that consistently, and see what happens over the course of a week.
Sleep is also more important than your calorie burn during a workout.
Most fat is lost during sleep. Yes, while you sleep you recover. Your body is repairing itself from the day, and using stored nutrients to do so since you aren’t eating in your sleep (hopefully).
These processes cause fat to eventually be broken down, and breathed out via CO2.
More sleep = more opportunity for this to happen (doesn’t mean sleep is a magical cure all for a bad diet)
3) The Workout They Sell You On Probably Isn’t As Magical As They Claim
“Do this class 5 days per week, with it’s strategically designed nutrition plan and you will lose 7 pounds in your first week”
The workout probably is nothing special, it’s all about the diet plan or meal replacement shakes they are selling you on.
Many gyms do this all the time. They tout their training programs as the best “fat loss” programs in the industry, and don’t advertise or bother to tell you that the big results are from a strict, low cal, diet (GO FIGURE?!)
If you go from eating crap and sitting on your butt 24/7 to eating 1200 calories a day, no carbs, and lots of veggies and protein you will lose weight while still sitting on your butt.
If you add in a daily 60 minute brisk walk, while sticking to that ridiculous diet plan, you will lose more weight.
BUT if you do their magical, planned out class…the results would probably be pretty negligible, and you might actually feel worse.
Many programs still unfortunately base a “good” workout off of the aforementioned calorie burn, how sweaty you get, how sore you are, or if you vomit all over the gym.
A 300 pound, unconditioned person doesn’t need to be doing burpees, box jumps, and hill sprints.
They need to work with a nutrition professional, and start walking and maybe some light strength training – avoiding injury at all costs.
Don’t fall victim to these snake oil tactics. They will only cause more frustration, sadness, and wrecked relationships with food in the long run.
Let me know how I can help you.
Talk soon,
Mike
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Stay healthy my friends,