You Can't Outrun Your Fork

I wanted to share a conversation I had with a close friend of mine who is also a nutrition/fitness science geek like me.  

He sent me a few studies on how our activity/exercise level really does not effect our fat loss and that to lose fat, it is 99% of HOW (are you relaxed or stressed when you eat) and WHAT (whole, real or processed foods) we ingest for food.  Although the calorie in/calorie out theory for fat loss has been debunked over the past 5 years, it has yet to reach mainstream media.

With that said, some exercise has great benefits in regards to reducing inflammation, building muscle (which increases metabolism and helps you burn more fat), releasing growth hormone (if you're lifting or using calisthenics) and helps us release stress (which also helps our cells release fat).  So for those reasons, exercise is an important tool in health and weight loss.

But the point is that we cannot chronically exercise out of fat (the reason for this has to do with inflammation, cell damage, and hormonal break down... more on this later in another post). What happens is that if your mind set is such that "if I run for 2 miles then I can burn off that cup of ice cream I had", you will get fat. Our bodies do not work this way. Calories in do not always equal calories out (and never equal calories out if we eat a fair amount of sugar.... Which by the way we are ingesting in most anything processed including salsas, ketchups, salad dressings, yogurts, etc.... But I'll save that rant for another post).

Bottom line is this wonderful phrase he left me with:

"YOU CANNOT OUT-RUN YOUR FORK!"

If you can live by that mantra, you will  find some peace in your body composition, your activity level, and your life.