6 Pack Science

Nutrition

Nutrition plays a far greater role in accomplishing fitness goals than most realize. A solid training program is still integral and important for mood, energy, progress and overall wellbeing but according to research, nutrition has the largest impact on our fitness<study>.  It not only provides your brain and body with the raw materials it needs for energy, building muscle and stabilizing hormones but also allows you to make a significant contribution to your success several times a day. Consider this, if you work out 5 times a week, that gives you only 5 opportunities a week to make any progress. In comparison, if you eat 5 times a day and are deliberate about your food choices, you now have 35 opportunities a week to impact your goals. To be exact, 85% more of an impact than exercise.  It is also easier to first incorporate nutrition changes into your life than exercise. Ultra-athlete, Tim Ferriss, recently made a great point on his podcast: “Exercise is an additive habit, whereas diet changes are substitutive.” You are already eating everyday so it’s easier to substitute changes in your diet rather than find time to go to the gym, rearrange your schedule to exercise, and establish new routines and habits a workout program will require. Also, regarding weight loss, exercise is greatly overrated. Most believe they can simply exercise off what they eat. Unfortunately, this is one of the greatest misunderstandings in fitness. To illustrate this, the human body must lose roughly 3500 calories to drop 1 pound of weight. To achieve this through fitness you must walk a marathon and go 9 miles past the finish line. However, a proper nutrition program can provide this same weight lose by simply creating a caloric deficit of 500 cal/day for one week. This is easily accomplished by daily forgoing either 1 bagel w/cream cheese, a big mac, 2 crunchy tacos, 3 handfuls of nuts or a 9oz margarita . Conversely, just one of these food items daily is equivalent to adding an extra 7-mile run/walk to a 5 times a week training schedule.  Nutrition impacts your goals far greater than training ever will.