The truth? If your mentality about health sucks, so will your progress.
“I exercise to burn calories” or “I exercise so I can eat” has consequences.
This mentality is seriously dangerous. When you obsess over calorie burn, you lose sight of what matters: overall sustainable health and wellness. You become obsessed with chasing numbers that are more than likely not accurate and just leave you: hungry, fatigued, disappointed.
The best and most revitalizing workouts tend to be less calorie focused and more quality focused. Think: intense strength sessions and high quality cardio sessions (for runners). Those strength sessions leave you in a higher metabolic state, burning more calories throughout the ENTIRE day; and, those quality cardio sessions don’t leave you drained or overly hungry.
During those quality-focused workouts, you might not see “insane” calorie burn, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t effective. Weight training and quality cardio training leads to more calorie burn and progress over time as opposed to long, exhausting cardio sessions that may burn more calories in one session, but just leave you wiped out, starving and at the same metabolic state.
Strength sessions are key because more muscle = more fat burn, a higher metabolism, stronger bones and joints, a better body composition. And more muscle is acquired through QUALITY strength sessions. Strength sessions shouldn’t be centered around caloric burn and if they are, the quality probably isn’t there or you’re spending way too much time in the gym.
Quality cardio training, such as following your running plan accurately, should leave you excited and feeling energized. While some run or cardio workouts will inevitably be harder and more fatiguing (especially during race season) you still shouldn’t be constantly wiped out. And, if you are, you’re likely doing too much.
Focusing on calories isn’t the road to success. We need to be centered around vitality so that exercise can bring us JOY, not fatigue and hangriness. Follow a plan. Be consistent. Give yourself rest. Don’t go overboard. Stick to the cardio and strength plan as designed, giving yourself optimal time to recover.
Then, take care of what you put into your mouth! That’s the recipe for success.
