We all know “That Guy” providing weight loss advice?

Ask 10 people for weight/fat loss advice, and you’ll get 10 different answers.  Work out constantly, set long-term goals, set short-term goals, etc…  But unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that nutrition is the catalyst for accelerating optimal fat loss, amongst other significant components.  Most of us have been following certain rules, or lack thereof, for how to shed pounds our entire lives.  But when the opportunity arises, folks just can’t help themselves in asking the local gym goer or Joe Diddy on the street, what is their recommendation to losing the unwanted lbs; as if there’s a magical unicorn they will glide them far away to a  tropical island to avoid any exertion toward the process; hoping and praying for a different answer.  Ultimately, we know what we need to do, we just don’t do what we know.  Is it difficult?  It can be.  Is it possible with small strategic habits that accrue over time?  Absolutely!  Just how much of what we have been told about weight loss is actually accurate?   Have you ever met the “I exercise every day, so I can eat whatever I want” person?  Would be nice, right?  Unfortunately, that may work for a small portion of genetic freaks out there, but that’s not how it works if you’re trying to lose weight, more specifically, lose fat.  Even though you burn calories and minimize fat cells when you exercise, it’s often not as much as you think or what the fancy bright colored cardio equipment display tells you.

Let’s move on to the “All calories are equal, so it doesn’t matter what I eat“ guy.  Is it realistic to say that 150 calories from a can of pop is the same as 150 calories from chicken?  A calorie, by its simplest definition, is a unit of energy.  However, the kind of calories the body gets will affect how efficiently people burn their body’s energy, which is a key factor for losing weight/fat and keeping it off.  It’s not that calories don’t matter, but the quality of the calories going in can drastically affect the number of calories going out.  Not to mention, how your body absorbs and assimilates these nutrients.

Finally the (more…)