Welcome to fall! It won’t be too long before we’re celebrating the holidays and the new year. Ugh, for sure. While I have been out flying trips, I have had some interesting conversations around fitness. One interesting question that came up is, “Is there a negative or downside to fitness or nutrition”? The question took me a bit by surprise as I usually only focus on the positives of a healthy nutrition plan and fitness regime. In short, I did come up with an answer, and yes, there are a few negatives to starting or adjusting your goals and program.
The Good
Anytime you modify a routine, change your diet, give up some vice (e.g., alcohol or smoking), your body will immediately start to adapt for the better. Stopping sugar intake (a significant reduction versus no intake at all) or reducing the amount of carbs you take in will cause your body to start using its fat stores. Likewise, starting or changing your fitness routine will allow your body to start using muscles in a new way, increase your lung capacity and cause your heart to pump more blood. While you may not notice the effects immediately your body is working to improve its efficiency.
The Bad
When it comes to your body, a change is going to hurt. You’ll feel pain in muscles that are starting to wake up from lack of use. You may experience hunger or thirst as you make changes to your diet. You may feel more tired from new exercises, which may seem backwards. (Shouldn’t I feel more awake?) This may cause you to want to give up, but the good news is the slight muscle aches or hunger will soon pass.
The Ugly
When it comes to either quitting your diet vices cold turkey, or you decide to go all in on a diet regime, at first, be warned it’s going to suck. If you take the drastic measure of quitting caffeine, or stop drinking alcohol, or high-sugar sodas, or even giving up sugar, your body will let you know. You may experience withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, anxiety or even anger and/or frustration because your body is trying to figure out where the bad stuff went. The good news is that after about seven days of consistency, the symptoms subside. Likewise, when it comes to working out, if you go too hard too fast, you could suffer from excess build-up of lactic acid to all out pain because you lifted too much or pushed too hard. Simply, when it comes to hitting the weights or increasing cardio, slowly and over time is the key to success.
This isn’t by any means a message of discouragement, but to let you know that sometimes change hurts. If you stick to a developed plan that increases in intensity over time and you reduce the bad parts of your diet incrementally, you’ll have greater success and be more apt to complete your goals. It’s all about setting achievable goals and managing your expectations!
