Exercise does not give you a free pass
This Easter, I'm sure I'll get into the discussion with my aunt that I seem to get into every holiday. I'll have a plate of food in front of me, a small portion of the healthiest meal options of the day. She'll then say to me, "Chris, you exercise all the time and you're in shape. Why do you eat like that?" She always laughs and follows up by saying, "I would eat whatever I wanted if I did what you do!" No word of a lie, this same discussion occurs every holiday.
The point I'm making is that you simply can't eat whatever you want just because you exercise. Well, I take that back -- you can, you just can't expect to obtain the best results. A study from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center found that people who started an exercise program for the first time (exercising 3 hours per week) shed 3 pounds in six months. Not bad, but definitely not great. Why did they only lose a half pound per month? Because their diets were far from good. Had they followed a more sensible eating program, their weight loss would have been greater.
Talk about strange, as I was just finishing this post and my aunt called me (yup, the same one I mentioned) to confirm that I was coming over for dinner on Easter. She then asked me if I have any dietary restrictions!!
Maybe this will be the first time that discussion is not had. It only took about ten years for her to finally see where I was coming from.
Summer Slimdown Guide: Instant self-confidence boosters
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Summer Slimdown Guide: Calorie-free foods (or close to it)
