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The Ultimate Guide: What To Eat When Working Out
I went back and forth on the image I was going to use for this article.
I had the classic “woman in the Gym drinking a protein shake” and then I went completley to the other side and considered a lovely image of someone eating Pizza.
But the issue with both of these images is they promote one extreme and then the other.
They don’t promote balanace - and I am all about balance!
The reason balance is so critical - is that the fulcrum can always move as you change and grow through your fitness journey - and that is a beautiful thing.
This is a tough article to write because the reasons that someone is working out is always very different:
Mental Health
To Lose Weight
To Build Muscle
To be part of a community
To enjoy yourself
To develop a skill
To train for a challenege
Therefore what I am going to do is stick to principles that will work across the board for you.
There are principles that can fit into the scope of any of these outcomes the only difference is the energy balance equation.
To build muscle you need to be in a caloric surplus of about 110% of your TDEE.
For more information on that head here: How To Gain Weight
To lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit which is a window between your BMR and your Goal Bodyweight in LBS multiplied by 12.
For more information on that head here: What is a Calorie Deficit Diet Plan?
For your mental health having balanced nutrition is also critical. Having a varied colourful healthful diet with balance and flexibility is important. But then again that’s important for life.
As the study Food and Mood [1] in the British Medical Journal states:
“This message supports the idea that creating environments and developing measures that promote healthy, nutritious diets, while decreasing the consumption of highly processed and refined “junk” foods may provide benefits even beyond the well-known effects on physical health, including improved psychological wellbeing.”
In this article, I am going to take you through all three Macronutrients and how much of them you should eat and why. In each section, I will point to you about your workouts and managing nutrition around that, but in truth, the differences aren’t that huge.
In actual fact, “what to eat when working out” isn’t really that different to what you should be doing with your nutrition towards your goals anyway. There are some timing and optimal things you can do around your diet and training, but this is about 10% of the work you actually need to do to achieve your goals. I will take you through supplementation too - but this is really a plan for anyone who is now wanting to engage in and live an active lifestyle.
I love educating and informing people just like you in this way all about fitness. In fact, I love it so much, it would be awesome if you wanted to become my friend. You got this far…so it would be remiss of me to not extend an invitation out.
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Helpful things (Blog Posts, Workout Manuals, Calorie Calculators)
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Educational things (much of the above fits into this category)
and
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Table of Contents: The Ultimate Guide: What To Eat When Working Out
What Protein to eat when working out?
- How much Protein do you need? | Protein and Workouts | High Protein Meals
What Carbohydrates to eat when working out?
- How many Carbohydrates do you need? | Carbs and Workouts | Are Carbs Good? Bad? Or just Misunderstood?
What Fats to eat when working out?
- A Final Word on Fats…
What Supplements to have when working out?
How To Structure Your Diet
What Protein to eat when working out?
Here is the good news - you DO NOT NEED TO BE DOING WHAT THIS MAN IS DOING.
I don’t even know why he would do that himself? Maybe he thinks he is Gaston from Beauty and the Beast?
Who knows?
Protein.
Is it important? Yes.
Why is it important? It is the main building block of your body.
Other key features of Protein are:
It keeps you fuller for longer
It takes longer to digest - hence increasing your Thermic Effect of Food (basically increases metabolism)
It builds muscles, tendons, organs and skin.
How Much Protein do you need?
This is a debate that rages and rages.
And honestly, we could get very technical. But I am going to assume you are at least semi-interested in being active and fitness, like most of my clients, and therefore because of the complexity on this topic, over the years I have had to simplify my view on Protein significantly.
One key feature with protein, which I have noticed working with hundreds of people throughout my career, is that they think they are eating more than they actually are.
And eating “enough” is really bloody hard for most people.
Science states lots of different things on this topic.
I have always maintained you need: 0.8-1.1g of protein a day per KG of total body weight.
When I weighed 82.8kg I had 71kg of Lean Body Mass - which meant I “needed” 91.8g of protein as I was calculating it on my LBM in KGs.
But there is great variance in the best suggestion here. Some sources say 2g/kg of bodyweight. Others say 1g per pound of bodyweight.
This means I either need to eat:
91.8g of protein a day, 165g of protein a day or 182g of protein a day.
Now others will ask you to base it on your Lean Body Mass or Fat-Free Mass.
These figures are given as: 1.1g per LB of Lean Body Mass
This changes the numbers again…meaning I would need to eat:
171g of protein a day.
It is confusing. But don’t worry. I do have a very simple solution to the question of how much protein you need to eat a day.
It’s important to remember that everybody is different and not everyone has the luxury of knowing their Lean Body Mass either - and you don’t need to have that information to get this right.
When I weighed 82.8kgs, I don’t think I ever hit numbers like 170g of protein a day - and I still managed to build muscle, get to my goals and achieve what I wanted to achieve.
Like with most things in fitness - you must always balance what is optimal with what is possible.
I did try to actively increase my protein, but not to the detriment or worry of anything else. Added to that I’m a Vegetarian, so I was already aiming a little lower. I’m under no illusions, I know I’m not the bulkiest, most muscly person - I’m not ever going to be a bodybuilder and nor do I want to be - I work out for many reasons that are not aesthetics - but this photo shows that by trying to increase protein consistently - you can still make really good progress.
This is also the most “Daniel Craig” I think I will ever look…
PHOWAAAARRRRRRRR
So here is my simple solution to protein:
Work towards 100g a day and if you are a Vegetarian 80g a day will suffice
There is little negative effect to having more protein in your diet. If you can get more in then great, but you don’t necessarily have to.
In terms of weight loss, and weight gain. This study [2] found that:
“Thermogenesis at 2.5 hours post-meal averaged about twofold higher on the high protein diet versus the high carbohydrate diet, and differences were significant after the breakfast and the dinner meals (p < 0.05)”
and concluded:
“These data indicate an added energy-cost associated with high-protein, low-fat diets and may help explain the efficacy of such diets for weight loss”
Therefore not only is protein awesome for building your body, it’s also awesome at helping you maintain and work on weight loss too.
100g a day is also the system I implement with most of my clients - and it seems to be a good figure for them to aim for regardless of their composition.
It’s pretty incredible.
And working towards 100g means you don’t have to be there every day - again it’s that word: balance.
Protein and Workouts…
Speak to most “personal trainers” and they will tell you to eat post-workout a combination of “protein and carbs”. This is to maximise something called muscle protein synthesis. This is known as the “Anabolic Window”.
Which to you and I basically means refill your muscles with protein so they grow.
There is a modicum of truth to this.
But…and it is a big but…
Don’t sweat it.
The advantages to maximising muscle protein syntheses in comparison to just hitting your protein target each day is insignificant.
The most important thing you can do is just hit your numbers over a day as this study [3] concludes:
“With respect to hypertrophy, total protein intake was the strongest predictor of Exercise Strength magnitude. These results refute the commonly held belief that the timing of protein intake in and around a training session is critical to muscular adaptations and indicate that consuming adequate protein in combination with resistance exercise is the key factor for maximizing muscle protein accretion.”
I think this is also where I pitch my coaching services which involve “resistance exercise” and is called The Strong and Confident Program
All of this being said…I personally do consume a protein shake after each and every workout - for the simple reason that it's a good moment to get some protein in, quell my hunger and rehydrate me.
My workout is almost a reminder to keep working on this part of my nutrition, and I enjoy having it post-workout - usually when I am swimming.
One thing with nutrition is that habit can be your best friend and your worst enemy. In this instance, I use it to my advantage - and it could be a strategy for you as well to get a nice helping of ~20g protein in throughout your day.
Some High Protein Meals:
Now I am a Vegetarian, so what I am sharing with you here are not necessarily the foods I eat - but they are from the Recipe Books that I give to my clients - because not all my clients are Vegetarian (in fact I think none of them is).
What Carbohydrates to eat when working out?
The more I write these Blogs the more I begin to realise that Schitt’s Creek literally knows everything about life.
Now please repeat these two sentences after me:
Carbohydrates do not make you fat….
No one gained weight from eating too many fruits and vegetables…
In fact, Carbohydrates and protein have the exact same calories per gram in them - 4kcal per gram.
Therefore the very oversimplified premise that carbs make you fat is just a downright lie, and I would be very wary of anyone who says that to you - simply because it so much more complex than that.
How many Carbohydrates Do You Need?
The biggest issue with carbohydrates is that we can eat an awful lot of them in one go. It’s not uncommon to eat three servings of rice at dinner, or have four portions of oven chips without realising.
Do you know how many oven chips one serving actually is?
Please sit down for this…the results are that shocking.
And within that portion is 154 calories. Now, quite rightly, I do not know a single human being on the planet that will only eat 7 chips with their dinner.
Chips are yummy. They should be enjoyed properly (with ketchup), and I fully expect a person to not have one portion of them. But you can begin to see, how one portion can become three portions when you serve dinner.
Many people who say to me “I’ve gone low carb and feel great” upon further examination have actually just bought their Carb intake into line with the amounts outlined below.
They aren’t “Low-Carb” they are simply eating an accurate amount for their individual body - as opposed to overeating them.
The amount you need is dependent on your goals - like with all food - it all has to be viewed within the context of calories.
To Lose Weight: 0.5g - 2g per pound of body weight per day
To Gain Weight: 1g - 3g per pound of body weight per day
If we take 82kg me again…this means I should have been eating around: 330g of Carbohydrates a day as I was trying to lose weight at that time. This is 1323kcal/day from Carbohydrates.
There is no one size fits all, because guess what…we are all different.
But a good rule to go by, which the CDC suggest is that you should aim for about 50% of your daily calories to come from Carbohydrates. Other sources say between 45% and 65% of your daily calories should come from Carbohydrates.
So ~50% of your Calories seems like a good place to start to me.
This doesn’t mean if you eat more than 50% you are failing. Like with most things “calories” working in flexible windows is always a good idea.
There is also a study [5] that backs this up. Published in the Lancet in 2018 it was a Meta-Analysis of 420,000 people in 20 countries and found the following:
“a percentage of 50–55% energy from carbohydrate was associated with the lowest risk of mortality.”
And interestingly went on to conclude:
“Our findings suggest a negative long-term association between life expectancy and both low carbohydrate and high carbohydrate diets when food sources are not taken into account. These data also provide further evidence that animal-based low carbohydrate diets should be discouraged. Alternatively, when restricting carbohydrate intake, replacement of carbohydrates with predominantly plant-based fats and proteins could be considered as a long-term approach to promote healthy ageing”
Carbs and Workouts
Carbohydrates are essential for your ability to work out.
Your muscles use the glucose from Carbohydrates to move - and as you move, the tank of energy you have gets depleted.
As this study states:
“During short, heavy exercise it may be the only energy source for the working muscle and may be derived exclusively from the glycogen stores within the muscle fibres themselves”
This is why, very often, when you workout and haven’t fuelled your workout correctly, you can just run out of energy, experience unusual fatigue or feel shaky - it is not because you have done something wrong - its simply because your body is running on empty of Carbohydrate.
This is also why, when looking into what you “should” eat after a workout many people will say a combination of Protein and Carbs.
As the study: International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: nutrient timing [4] states:
“Post-exercise (within 30 minutes) consumption of CHO at high dosages (8 - 10 g CHO/kg/day) have been shown to stimulate muscle glycogen re-synthesis, while adding PRO (0.2 g - 0.5 g PRO/kg/day) to CHO at a ratio of 3 - 4:1 (CHO: PRO) may further enhance glycogen re-synthesis.”
So you need carbohydrates post-exercise - with some protein too. You need to restock your energy in your muscles - otherwise, you will grind to a halt.
Remember what I said about protein muscle synthesis? Well, that’s true of glycogen (Carbohydrate) too.
This is one reason that when you are in a Calorie Deficit and training properly, but not eating enough, your Metabolism can drop so much. You stop moving as much throughout that day because your muscles aren’t filled with the ability to move your body.
This can slow your metabolism down by up to 15% [5].
The frequency of your training will dictate how much attention you need to pay to all of this. The more you train, the more you might need to make sure that you are being sensitive to these needs, the less you train, the less sensitive you need to be.
If you workout most days - then give this a little more attention. If you workout 1-2/week then it is far less important.
This is all in relation to an ideal world - and having worked with many people - an ideal world is far from how you actually live. Now that you know the why’s and wherefore’s how would this look practically?
For example, the only time you have to get to the gym is at around 6 am - your stomach doesn’t do too well eating very early - but you want to get the most out of your workout knowing that you need that glucose in your muscles, because the last thing you ate was at 6 pm the night before…
What on earth do you do?
With most of my clients, I will simply ask them to eat some fruit.
It’s that simple. A banana, an apple, some grapes. Whatever takes their fancy - but some fruit should be more than enough for a 30-60min session - even if you are on an empty stomach.
If they have a little more time and don’t need to worry about driving and eating, then I might suggest some Greek Yoghurt with the fruit.
Are Carbs Good? Bad? Or just Misunderstood?
Carbs…are classy. They are a treasure trove of healthful nutrients - but sadly they have been let down by fad diets and society at large.
All Fruits (with the exception of an Avocado) and all Vegetables are Carbohydrates - and if you are willing to sit there and tell me that these are damaging to your health, then I am afraid that you are on the wrong Blog.
I do think that the demonisation of Carbs in our Society is wildly correlated with how much more sedentary we are as well. Simply put, the more muscle you have on your body, the more carbohydrates you can eat - because you have more room for it to be stored in your muscles to be used up as energy, as opposed to it having to be stored as fat in the body.
READ MY BLOG POST WHICH IS HELPING HUNDREDS OF OFFICE WORKERS GET MORE HEALTHY
As a Vegetarian, I know this to be true. My Diet had to go from a bigger protein base to a bigger Carbohydrate base, but my physique didn’t change that much for two reasons:
I had an awful lot of muscle on my body (72kg of muscle on an 82kg body)
I remained active
No food is good or bad. They can contain more calories or fewer calories. They can affect your body in a different way depending on who you are - but this does not denote their moral value.
And by attaching moral values to food - you are attaching judgement to the foods you eat - that will erode your relationship with food over time. I understand it’s almost common to describe a doughnut as bad, and an apple as good. But neither is true - and the more you learn to frame it as just food, which has an energy value contained within it - the better everything will become for you.
Why do we misunderstand Carbs?
There is no denying it.
If you want to lose just Scale Weight quickly - reduce your Carb intake. This will without a doubt bring the scale down, as every time we eat 1g of Carbs we retain 3g of Water.
As this study [6] from 2015 confirms:
“Our findings agree with the long held notion that each gram of glycogen is stored in human muscle with at least 3 g of water. Higher ratios are possible (e.g., during REHFULL) likely due to water storage not bound to glycogen.”
When you go “low-carb” the scale weight you see drop is just water leaving your muscles - its not body fat dropping. This also goes a long way to explaining why the scale goes up after you have had a night out on Italian Food!
The other great misunderstanding about Carbs is whether you are actually overeating eating them or not. Oftentimes its not the Carbohydrate content in a food that makes it scrummy and delicious - its the combination between Carbs and Fats.
These are the greatest flavoured crisps that have ever come into existence.
And when you look at them - you probably think - its a big old bag of Carbs.
But when you break it down to its nutritional caloric values - its actually predominately a bag of dietary fat.
This bag per serve has:
123kcals, 6.5g of Fat which is 58.5kcal and 14.3g of carbohydrate which is 57.2kcal.
Let’s look at a “more sugary” piece of food = the greatest donut of all time:
The Krispy Kreme Original Glazed.
190kcals, 11g of Fat which is 99kcals, 22g of carbohydrates which is 88kcals.
The reason these foods are so damn tasty isn’t because they have Carbs in them. Instead, it is the potent combination of Carbohydrate AND Dietary Fat.
All of these years you have been slamming yourself for eating Carbs…when the truth is…you have been eating more Dietary Fat than you actually realised - which, if you are considering going “low-carb” to lose weight - think again - you actually need to cut down
Now, why might this be an issue…
What Fats to eat when working out?
Fats have 9kcal per gram within them. This means calorically they are worth more than double Carbohydrates and Protein.
Now, this is a real friend when trying to gain weight or maintain your weight - but when trying to lose weight, this can be a big reason that success eludes you.
Similar to Carbohydrate this is why it is very important to manage your portion sizes well.
Fats are very good for you - despite their Caloric density - we do need them in our diet for a whole multitude of reasons.
The World Health Organization states that total fat intake needs to be around 20-35% of total caloric intake [7] - and other Health Bodies say similar.
Dietary Fat allows our body to absorb the essential ADEK Vitamins into our system - they are Fat-Soluble Vitamins - whereas all other Vitamins are Water Soluble.
Now Fats can get very confusing because there are so many sub-categories of them…but I am going to try and make it as simple as possible for you.
Fats that are to be limited:
Saturated Fat - often found in things like Butter, Cakes, Sausages, Bacon and Cheese - can have a negative outcome on health if eaten to excess. Think Animal Fats, whole Fat Diary and Coconut and Palm Oil.
Trans Fat - this is nearly the only category of food I will allow people to discuss in a negative manner. These are foods with hydrogenated oil in them. Usually your fried foods, fast foods, margarine, pastries and processed snacks.
All other Fats are to be enjoyed moderately within your goals.
Poly Unsaturated Fats: Fish, because they contain two types of Fatty Acid - Omega 3 and Omega 6 which are great for heart and brain health. Tofu also contains these fats as well as, soybeans and pumpkin seeds.
Mono Unsaturated Fats: Nuts, Olive Oil and Avocado.
In terms of strictly speaking for your workouts, I would say prioritise Poly Unsaturated Fats as the Omega 3s and 6s are very good for your joint health.
As these studies [8, 9] show when it looked at the role of Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA) and the effect on Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) prevention it found that:
“Growing evidence demonstrates a role of PUFAs in chronic inflammation of RA and this is well established in many types of animal models of inflammatory arthritis” [8]
“The results suggest that omega-3 PUFAs are an attractive adjunctive treatment for joint pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and dysmenorrhea” [9]
A final word on Fats…
Olive Oil could be regarded as the “Healthiest Fat” on the planet.
It is probably the most powerfully healthy food we have available to us. The supreme benefits of Olive Oil are thus:
Rich in Mono Saturated Fat
Large Amounts of Antioxidants [10]
Reduces Inflammation due to its Oelic Acid content [11]
Helps prevent strokes [12]
Reduces Heart Disease by reducing Cholesterol [13] and Blood Pressure [14]
Helps you Maintain Bodyweight when calories are controlled the same [15]
Helps with Insulin Sensitivity [16]
Can reduce Cancer risk [17]
Now I am not expecting you, nor do I want you, drinking Olive Oil like it is water. Try to make sure you get Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The best way in which to ingest Olive Oil is in its uncooked form, so maybe drizzle it on your salads and vegetables.
Although the benefits are impressive, you need to make sure that you aren’t having more than what meets the recommended intake of between 20-35% of your total caloric intake for the day.
What Supplements To Have When Working Out?
Supplements not to have…
Supplements are a very intriguing world that is highly unregulated. Supplement companies sell you the quick fix and the shortcut to your results…and 95% of them are just rubbish - and are just designed to take your money and exploit your insecurities.
Remember if it is a shortcut to success, it wouldn’t be a shortcut - it would simple be known as the way to do things.
To create a supplement you do not need any approval from a governing body - which is a little terrifying. There was a fantastic documentary on this called “Bigger, Stronger, Faster*” where they looked into the world of steroid use and dietary supplements. This is how easy it is to make a supplement:
Terrifying right?
Supplements you don’t need are:
BCAAs
Pre-Workouts
Ketones
Apple Cider Vinegar
Laxatives
Diuretics
Fat Burning Pills
Detoxes
Cleanses
Slimming Teas
Any MLM Products
And a quick note on Branch Chain Amino Acids or BCAAs as they are getting more and more popular as a supplement.
This systematic review of 12 studies found that:
“BCAA supplementation seems not to improve performance and gain of strength and muscle mass.”
Therefore it would appear that so long as you are getting a well-balanced diet - as outlined in the rest of this article - you are not “losing gains on the Gym floor” by not drinking BCAAs.
What about Multivitamins?
In terms of Multivitamins and Vitamin Supplementation, I am not an expert - and many people enjoy having these in their nutrition. On occasion when I lived in the UK I did take Vitamin D3, and in the Winter here in Australia I do have a multivitamin during winter. But with regards to this - you do you - it’s not my remit and I’m not here to judge what you are supplementing yourself with in terms of vitamins.
Many people need many different things for many different reasons.
And that is going to have little or no effect on your ability to workout.
Supplements that are useful…
Whey or Vegan Protein Powder: Getting in your 100g+ of Protein can be quite hard sometimes and this is where Whey Protein or any other kind of Protein Powder can come in handy. It’s a simple, quick hit of protein that will help you get those numbers up as you need. As I alluded to earlier I have my Protein Shake after each workout or run - because I often need something to eat, and I really enjoy having it at that time. There is no magic effect of having it immediately after - it’s just a good moment to make sure that you are getting your protein in each day.
Creatine Monohydrate: The benefits of Creatine Monohydrate are slowly being more and more realised by science. It is widely considered the best supplement out there to help build muscle and strength and is one of the most researched and studied supplements of all time. It is also naturally found in the body already,
It’s also incredibly affordable and lasts a long time because you only need 3g of it a day.
I just put it in my protein shake - and you don’t even know it is there.
The benefits of Creatine Monohydrate almost can’t be overstated. It helps with muscle development of sedentary people, elderly people [18] and elite athletes. It also helps with brain function and potentially could help slow down the onset of Parkinsons’ Disease [19] and a whole host of other brain conditions.
Creatine is also very useful if you are like me, a vegetarian.
If you are going to buy some Creatine Monohydrate make sure that you read the label, and follow the dosage requirements.
Caffeine: This will boost your performance in the Gym [20] and is equally pretty safe to use. I always enjoy a coffee before I work out. You must be careful though, especially if you are working out in the evenings. Caffeine stays in your system for a long time, and it will inhibit your ability to get deep REM sleep - whether you have worked out or not. Therefore the benefit of what you gained from your workout from having caffeine will be negated the next day due to inadequate sleep.
You can find out more about it right here: Why Does Sleep Affect Your Weight Loss?
What’s Next?
I really hope you found this article useful, and you feel a lot more comfortable about your diet and nutrition when ity comes to your workouts.
I also have some other articles you might find useful to help you navigate your nturitona lot more on your Fitness Journey:
Added to all of that, if you would like a Free Calorie and Macro Calculator then just put your email in here:
You are also more than welcome to join my Free Facebook Group:
Thank you so much for being here - it means an awful lot to me.
Have a great day…
Coach Adam
References:
Food and mood: how do diet and nutrition affect mental wellbeing BMJ2020;369doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2382(Published 29 June 2020)Cite this as:BMJ2020;369:m2382
Johnston CS, Day CS, Swan PD. Postprandial thermogenesis is increased 100% on a high-protein, low-fat diet versus a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet in healthy, young women. J Am Coll Nutr. 2002 Feb;21(1):55-61. doi: 10.1080/07315724.2002.10719194. PMID: 11838888.
Schoenfeld BJ, Aragon AA, Krieger JW. The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2013 Dec 3;10(1):53. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-10-53. PMID: 24299050; PMCID: PMC3879660.
Levine JA. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2002 Dec;16(4):679-702. doi: 10.1053/beem.2002.0227. PMID: 12468415.
Seidelmann SB, Claggett B, Cheng S, Henglin M, Shah A, Steffen LM, Folsom AR, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Solomon SD. Dietary carbohydrate intake and mortality: a prospective cohort study and meta-analysis. Lancet Public Health. 2018 Sep;3(9):e419-e428. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(18)30135-X. Epub 2018 Aug 17. PMID: 30122560; PMCID: PMC6339822.
Fernández-Elías VE, Ortega JF, Nelson RK, Mora-Rodriguez R. Relationship between muscle water and glycogen recovery after prolonged exercise in the heat in humans. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2015 Sep;115(9):1919-26. doi: 10.1007/s00421-015-3175-z. Epub 2015 Apr 25. PMID: 25911631.
Liu AG, Ford NA, Hu FB, Zelman KM, Mozaffarian D, Kris-Etherton PM. A healthy approach to dietary fats: understanding the science and taking action to reduce consumer confusion. Nutr J. 2017 Aug 30;16(1):53. doi: 10.1186/s12937-017-0271-4. PMID: 28854932; PMCID: PMC5577766.
Navarini L, Afeltra A, Gallo Afflitto G, Margiotta DPE. Polyunsaturated fatty acids: any role in rheumatoid arthritis? Lipids Health Dis. 2017 Oct 10;16(1):197. doi: 10.1186/s12944-017-0586-3. PMID: 29017507; PMCID: PMC5634864.
Goldberg RJ, Katz J. A meta-analysis of the analgesic effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation for inflammatory joint pain. Pain. 2007 May;129(1-2):210-23. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2007.01.020. Epub 2007 Mar 1. PMID: 17335973.
Tuck KL, Hayball PJ. Major phenolic compounds in olive oil: metabolism and health effects. J Nutr Biochem. 2002 Nov;13(11):636-644. doi: 10.1016/s0955-2863(02)00229-2. PMID: 12550060.
Yoneyama S, Miura K, Sasaki S, Yoshita K, Morikawa Y, Ishizaki M, Kido T, Naruse Y, Nakagawa H. Dietary intake of fatty acids and serum C-reactive protein in Japanese. J Epidemiol. 2007 May;17(3):86-92. doi: 10.2188/jea.17.86. PMID: 17545695; PMCID: PMC7058455.
Martínez-González MA, Dominguez LJ, Delgado-Rodríguez M. Olive oil consumption and risk of CHD and/or stroke: a meta-analysis of case-control, cohort and intervention studies. Br J Nutr. 2014 Jul 28;112(2):248-59. doi: 10.1017/S0007114514000713. Epub 2014 Apr 28. PMID: 24775425.
Patrick L, Uzick M. Cardiovascular disease: C-reactive protein and the inflammatory disease paradigm: HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, alpha-tocopherol, red yeast rice, and olive oil polyphenols. A review of the literature. Altern Med Rev. 2001 Jun;6(3):248-71. PMID: 11410071.
Psaltopoulou T, Naska A, Orfanos P, Trichopoulos D, Mountokalakis T, Trichopoulou A. Olive oil, the Mediterranean diet, and arterial blood pressure: the Greek European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Oct;80(4):1012-8. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/80.4.1012. Erratum in: Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 May;81(5):1181. PMID: 15447913.
Bes-Rastrollo M, Sánchez-Villegas A, de la Fuente C, de Irala J, Martinez JA, Martínez-González MA. Olive oil consumption and weight change: the SUN prospective cohort study. Lipids. 2006 Mar;41(3):249-56. doi: 10.1007/s11745-006-5094-6. PMID: 16711599
Kastorini CM, Panagiotakos DB. Dietary patterns and prevention of type 2 diabetes: from research to clinical practice; a systematic review. Curr Diabetes Rev. 2009 Nov;5(4):221-7. doi: 10.2174/157339909789804341. PMID: 19531025.
Trichopoulou A, Lagiou P, Kuper H, Trichopoulos D. Cancer and Mediterranean dietary traditions. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2000 Sep;9(9):869-73. PMID: 11008902.
Brose A, Parise G, Tarnopolsky MA. Creatine supplementation enhances isometric strength and body composition improvements following strength exercise training in older adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2003 Jan;58(1):11-9. doi: 10.1093/gerona/58.1.b11. PMID: 12560406.
Matthews RT, Ferrante RJ, Klivenyi P, Yang L, Klein AM, Mueller G, Kaddurah-Daouk R, Beal MF. Creatine and cyclocreatine attenuate MPTP neurotoxicity. Exp Neurol. 1999 May;157(1):142-9. doi: 10.1006/exnr.1999.7049. PMID: 10222117.
Hodgson AB, Randell RK, Jeukendrup AE. The metabolic and performance effects of caffeine compared to coffee during endurance exercise. PLoS One. 2013;8(4):e59561. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059561. Epub 2013 Apr 3. PMID: 23573201; PMCID: PMC3616086.
How To Stay Healthy With Your Office Job
I’m writing this because I was asked by a dear friend of mine, to contribute to a Blog he is working on. This friend was the Workplace Health and Safety Officer for a company I worked for in London.
A Corporate Company. We both had desk jobs. We both had to work long hours.
And we both were keenly aware of the problems this can cause in terms of health and fitness for anyone who works in this manner.
Added to that we worked for a Catering Company - so we had access to all and any food that was available. This is also at a high-class Exhibition Centre in London - the food was EPIC and plentiful, to say the least.
I worked for this company for 10 years - and in that time I learnt an awful lot about how to balance your health whilst working in an office, at a Corporation and/or at a Desk and in this article I am going to share with you exactly what you can do too - based on my knowledge as an award-winning Personal Trainer as well as a guy who sat staring at a spreadsheet all day long. Added to that, many of my clients in London worked in Corporate Jobs, and at least three-quarters of my time training them was trying to help them manage their stress and their health.
And I hate spreadsheets. And no….they never got more interesting to me the more I looked at them.
I’m also likely to share far too many Memes from the TV Show The Office - because it’s awesome - and it would be remiss of me not to.
To look at what being Healthy really means, and to give this article some real context, I want to draw your attention to the actual definition of health, and it is through this perspective I will offer my best advice on How To Stay Healthy With Your Office Job.
““Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.””
Health is so much more than being fit and not having an illness. And there is an awful lot that the corporate world needs to catch up on with understanding this - and in my time in Corporate England, having worked in Banks, in Hospitality and in Retail I am aware it is getting better.
But there is an awful lot you can control yourself to make sure that whilst your company catches up, you also look after your health, in every sense of the word.
I will take you through a number of things you need to put in place, and then I will spend the last part of this article with things you should probably avoid trying to do as they can also not be helpful for you and your health.
I truly appreciate you being here. Anyone who comes to my site, I regard as a true friend - because it means so much to me that you are willing to read my work.
As my friend, I would like to email you things. Sometimes they will be educational, sometimes they will be inappropriate, sometimes I might just want to know how you are; either way…it would be delightful to connect with you.
Just send me a friend request by filling out the form below…
Oh, and I will also send you some free fitness goodies to help start our new friendship off on the best foot possible.
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR: HOW TO STAY HEALTHY WITH YOUR OFFICE JOB:
Let’s Talk About Stress for a Hot Second
Stress Buster 1: Boundaries (respect space and time for others)
Stress Buster 2: Having a purpose
Stress Buster 3: Movement and physical wellbeing in the office
Stress Buster 4: Nutrition - especially Water
Other Ways To Manage Stress
LET’S TALK ABOUT STRESS FOR A HOT SECOND…
This is first on the list for a very good reason.
Stress affects everything we do - and your ability to be healthy in the Office will very much depend on this factor of your life.
In fact everything else in this article will feed into your ability to manage your stress in different ways.
It affects our ability to sleep, our ability to work out, our ability to interact with others, our ability to process emotions, our ability to control our responses and our ability to eat nutritiously.
I am sure they all resonate with you when you think back to times you were stressed.
Stress can be defined [2] as:
“It’s what occurs when the perceived demands of a situation outweigh one’s available resources”
Work in its nature is a stressor. In the same way that working out is a stressor. This does not inherently mean it is a bad thing, without stress we cannot grow. However, too much stress or unmanaged stress can become a problem.
Stress and Anxiety are signs of unmanaged Mental Health and need to be addressed as soon as possible, in a way that strikes a fair and reasonable balance for both your output at work and your own wellbeing.
This is a different range for everyone. We can all manage and process different amounts of stress in different ways. We cannot change the temperament we were born with, and therefore we must respect our own individual limits of this.
The definition of stress quantifies it simply as what you “perceive”. In Fitness, as in life, what you perceive to be true - is true. Your brain doesn’t know the difference between fiction and reality, it just treats everything as reality, and therefore if you believe it to be true that you are stressed, regardless of the opinion of your manager or co-workers - it simply is true.
As I was writing this Blog - two stories stood out to me on the BBC. One of the stories is called “Why millennial managers are burned out” and states the following [9]:
“Middle management can be a tough job, constantly toggling between supervisors above and supervisees below. It can be isolating and taxing; research from Columbia University in 2015 found 18% of middle managers reported symptoms of depression, compared to 12% for blue-collar workers and 11% for owners and executives. Research during the pandemic has shown middle managers are finding it harder than senior leaders to maintain workplaces relationships – and only half feel they can rely on their colleagues.
Middle managers who are millennials are particularly likely to be feeling the squeeze. A MetLife study showed millennial managers are far more likely than managers of any other generation to report burnout. That’s partly due to growing up in a culture that glorifies overwork, plus being a generation saddled with care responsibilities for both parents and children. And with the pandemic nearing the two-year mark, it’s no wonder that millennial middle managers are finding themselves exhausted, demoralised and stressed”
The other story I mention in the section of this article relates to “Boundaries”.
What Denotes Stress In Your Job?
According to the American Psychological Associations 2017 Report, stress has climbed for the first time in a decade, and the key factors that lend to how stressed someone feels are down to “career and money-related issues, both of which tie into work, are two of the leading and most consistent year-to-year causes of stress”. [2]
A 2001 Systematic Review Study which was called “Improving the Health of the NHS Workforce” reviewed the evidence of associations between work factors and ill health and of effective workplace interventions.
They found the key factors leading to stress were:
Long hours worked, work overload and pressure
The effects of these on personal lives
Lack of control over your work and lack of participation in decision making
Poor social support
Unclear management and work role and poor management style.
The Time I Punched A Wall At Work
The wall won.
I was at work, it was about 20:30 at night, and I was responsible for closing up our office with no natural light in it. I was the only one left in the office other than one of my managers, and I still had to calculate every one’s working hours, combined with, signing out staff, and then closing up.
I had an hours commute home.
And the next day started at 06:30 am for me, in the Gym with clients.
My Manager came through to say goodbye, and I personally felt like I just needed a bit of quiet time, to crack on with the work I had to get done - but alas, my Manager had other ideas and gave me a lot more other work to be done.
I could feel my anxiety rise. I could feel how victimised I felt and how overwhelmed I was feeling. There was no way I was going to leave on time, manage other parts of my life, and complete all tasks ahead of me.
But instead of communicating that.
I did an Andy (see above GIF).
At this point in my life, I didn’t have the skill or ability or relationship to communicate my feelings properly in that moment, and I just accepted my place as the guy who had everyone else’s work dumped on me.
I was very lucky in the sense that I could select the sort of shifts and hours I worked at this job and upon reflection, realising how stressed I felt, I made a very brave decision the next time I needed to submit what hours I was able to work - I simply stopped stating I was available to close up and moved on from there.
I never punched a wall again.
This brings me to my next point…
Stress Buster 1: Boundaries (respect space and time for others)
Before writing this article, I reached out to everyone on my Email List (subscribe here) to ask for helpful suggestions and strategies to be healthy in the office that they have experienced.
But one response came through which was the following:
“One more editorial suggestion is to be mindful of coworkers taking personal time during the workday. Respect it. For example, If someone is taking personal time to eat lunch (should be away from their desk/office space) don’t interrupt them with work things. Either join them and engage in conversation about things outside of work or leave them alone to have those precious moments"
I love everyone on my email list so much - they are the most rounded and holistic bunch of people I have ever met - you really should join the party here.
And Boundaries in the Office are so very important.
Boundaries for your co-workers are of course important, but not more important than the boundaries you set yourself.
It is when these boundaries break down and are not respected, that your stress will immediately spike. But here’s the rub, people will only respect you if you respect yourself first.
It all comes from you.
Boundaries you should set in the Workplace
Not being smelt is top of the list - obvs!
Home Time and Start Time: In your job, you have a contract. This contract explicitly will state the time you are scheduled to start your work, and the time you are scheduled to finish your work. You should stick to these times for at least 90% of your time when you are at work - as they will be the marker upon which you balance your home life - and if your home life isn’t compromised then your stress levels will automatically be lowered. I understand the desire to climb the ladder, to work within the unexpected rules of the Corporate Work to climb said ladder and look to be doing that little bit more. But if that little bit more, becomes a lot more, you will be far less productive and effective than you think you will be, because you will be more stressed out. There comes a point when doing more equals doing an awful lot less.
Lunch Time: This one drives me crazy. Stop working through your lunch. Just stop it. Stop thinking you are being a superhero by eating and working at the same time. You aren’t. In fact, by not taking adequate rest, you are hindering your ability to actually be productive. And by being less productive, in the long term, you are going to increase your stress levels.
Don’t believe me?
This study from the University of Illinois [4] took 84 participants, who were set memory tasks for an hour, and the study set out to find out why we have trouble focussing on one task for a very long time, and why our focus on that task begins to diminish.
Thye had two groups - one group who were focussed on the task the whole time, and another who were given two brief breaks during the task. The group that were allowed breaks were focused during the entire experiment.
Added to that, with regards to your ability to spend time with your food, you will greatly decrease the chances of your likelihood to overeat either in the moment or later in the day. By spending time with your food, and treating your body with self-love, feeding it properly, and giving yourself the correct amount of time to enjoy your meal, you feel much more satiated than if you ate distracted.
Communication outside of work hours: Stop letting your boss, or your colleague message you 24-7. This also means you have to stop messaging them 24-7 as well. You are only required to answer work calls, during work hours.
This is another example of where I had to put my foot down with my Corporate Job. I would get calls when I was with clients in the Gym, I would get calls on the way to work, on the way home. I would get calls at lunch when I was on the loo.
It drove me mad. Let a man toilet in peace.
In fact, we had an ongoing job in the Office about communication. The Office I worked in was an operations office, and therefore we needed Radio Comms as well. Now whenever one of my Managers needed something, there was no “one way of communicating”. Or rather there was, as in, every single channel would go berserk.
I would get a landline phone call, a radio call, a mobile call and usually a text message as well asking me to respond - all the while I was dealing with an actual human in front of me.
Everything beeped, crackled and rang - to say it created stress would be an understatement.
Every day we were WUPHED - put the sound on for this video:
Boundaries are hard to implement initially in the office. But when you put them in place, and crucially when YOU start respecting them, others will as well. It all starts with you.
As I was writing this Blog Post a new story hit the BBC which I personally find inspiring and depressing all at the same time. Its called “Portugal bans bosses texting staff after-hours” [10]
Portugal has introduced laws titled “right to rest” and is designed to help improve work-life balance. They have passed them to help improve migration to the country for Digital Workers, and there are a whole host of other rules involved as well. One key one is that employees have a right to work from home without prior notice if they have children under the age of 8.
This is one incredible piece of legislation that Covid has helped bring along. When Covid hit the UK I was more keenly aware with my clients that were used to trekking into the City of London each day and living the office life, how much more balanced they felt initially being able to work from home in a much more flexible manner with the understanding of their employees. It was one thing from the Pandemic that I hoped would take root and grow - and that companies would be more open-minded to the needs of their employees.
But time will tell on that one….
Stress Buster 2: Having a purpose at work
I remember the moment this clicked for me in my Corporate Job. For a long time, it just felt like I was showing up, doing mindless paperwork, and going home. It made me feel numb - and then after a very in-depth conversation with one of my managers, I came to realise that by providing staff for exhibitions and functions, and how food is a very crucial part of bringing people together at events like this, my job wasn’t simply filling in shifts on a planner - it was being a conduit of creating friendships and business relationships.
I know this to be true in my work as a Coach as well.
It’s a much more obvious “purpose” to have - to help people change their lives - but it makes working a joy - and not a stressor at all.
Now, I’m not naive enough to say that even if you do adore your job, like I do, working and helping people get stronger, improve their relationships with food and themselves, and help above all build up their confidence in my Strong and Confident Program, that you won’t get stressed out by it. Of course, you will because work is a stressor.
This study [5] by Washington University surveyed 1109 people and found that: “Having a written personal statement of purpose helped people in various ways, including coping with stress and finding happiness”
Therefore if you are reading this, grab a pen and paper and write down what your higher purpose in your professional life is. It is my personal opinion that it shouldn’t revolve around money - if you can’t think of a greater reason to do your job than to make money, then maybe you need to find a new job.
If you aren’t this excited to get a promotion…how connected to your higher purpose are you really?
Human beings need a purpose from everything we do in life to make us feel productive and to help give our lives meaning. Personally, I have rotted away in a couple of jobs, and it is not a fun way to live - even though I may have been better off financially in them, that is simply not enough.
Stress Buster 3: Movement and Physical Wellbeing in the Office
8 hours sitting in an office is not conducive to physical wellbeing. But I know you already know that.
And me simply sitting here telling you how to move in the Office is going to be futile.
I remember once I pulled out a Foam Roller to help my recovery after a tough game refereeing, and it was on my lunch break, but my Manager looked at me in disgust and told me to never do that again.
I then also asked for a stand-up desk…do you know how expensive they are? Added to that, having the energy to stand up for 8 hours every day whilst at work, is more tiring than it sounds.
And come on - Desk Chair Yoga…I can’t believe that anyone who works in an office actually does that in front of their colleagues and in their suits…
There is a dichotomy here. You must balance your ability to be productive with your physical health and your ability to not lose your job.
My best advice for trying to manage your physical health in the office would be this:
Break up your Lunch Breaks - give yourself 20 minutes to sit and be with your food, to focus on eating and looking after yourself there, and 20mins for a brisk walk outside.
Take regular movement breaks from your work - once an hour if possible, just get up and stretch your legs, a brief walk up and down the stairs, make a cup of tea for others in the office, or just stand and stare out of the window.
Have a physical hobby outside of the office - try and have a hobby you do outside of the office - whether that be swimming, going to the Gym, Stand Up Paddle Boarding, Walking, or getting outside with the children.
Move during your meetings - this one might take a bit of getting used to, but when you have a one-on-one meeting with a colleague, ask if you can do it whilst moving or walking. Or failing that, every time you are on the phone - stand up. This will not only be better for your health but also better for your productivity.
When asking for tips on this Article, one of the email responses I received was:
“You can also get an accountabilabuddy (copyright from SouthPark the tv show) to help you leave the office to get some movement or a workout in at a certain time. Think of it like a human alarm clock coming to find out if you have prioritized your health and/or wellness for that day and gone out and done some moving around, in whatever form you enjoy”
Find some like-minded colleagues, and work together to change the culture in your office. Remember if you want to change you have to initiate it, stick to it, and allow others to respect it by respecting it yourself first.
Personally, I also think an Annual Office Fun Run, Tough Mudder or some other physical activity for the group is always a good idea to bring a collective togetherness and a little more focus to the movement you will be doing.
Stress Buster 4: Nutrition - especially Water
As I mentioned in my introduction - where I worked we had open access to some glorious food. Lunch was laid on for us every day, and although often what I could eat was out of my control in terms of content I was very lucky to not have to think about what to take to work for lunch each day - this naturally lowered my stress.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you how to lose weight in the Office - as that is a very simple answer which I go into detail in another Blog Post which has helped thousands of people lose weight already: What is a Calorie Deficit Diet Plan?
But I am going to outline how looking after your nutrition in all areas of life will help you feel less stressed. Most people have a slight voice in their head that is trying to guide them towards more optimal health or at the very least stay in balance with where they currently are.
Now an Office is an environment in terms of your diet and nutrition that will significantly challenge in your mind what you are working towards. These opposing forces in your life will cause stress. You want to enjoy Jeanette’s Birthday Donuts, but you also want to “keep healthy”.
The best way to manage this is with acceptance and understanding.
You have every right to give yourself permission to enjoy the Birthday Donut, and then get on with the rest of your day. These occurrences in the Office are not stopping you from succeeding - what you do for the majority of your time is stopping you from succeeding.
It’s very easy for us to blame the obvious. In this case, the gooey Krispy Kremes, because we are perpetually told that they are bad or naughty foods. But, they aren’t. They are just food. Food that brings you closely socially to your colleagues, and food that breaks up the monotony of staring at the spreadsheets.
As long as your diet elsewhere in your life is congruent to your Goals, then you should be able to enjoy these moments with your colleagues without it stressing you out, and thinking that one Krispy Kreme has led to weight gain or you feeling unhealthy. I promise you it hasn’t. It’s just the story you tell yourself that will lead to stressing you out the more you respond in that way.
There is an inherent conflict with nutrition that leads to stress and then ultimately failure in line with your Goals. When you constantly “give into temptation” and believe it to be affecting you too much for your goals, you will give up on your goals. The best way to get rid of that conflict is by giving yourself freedom and permission to enjoy these moments in isolation for what they are - rather than feeling like you are in a constant fight with your environment.
The other topic here is that of Water.
This study [6] demonstrates the effect that staying hydrated has on your mental health, cognition and physical health. Far too often in the Office did I forget to drink enough water, because I find that the demands of the work didn’t necessarily make me thirsty - a stark contrast to how much I drink when I used to work on the Gym Floor with clients.
The more dehydrated you are, the more anxious you might feel. You will also feel less fatigued and Water will improve digestion - something that sitting isn’t too helpful for.
I recommend to all of my clients to drink 3 litres a day. If you can make 2 litres of it at least clear water, the other litre you will likely pick up from other drinks and your food intake.
Other Ways To Manage Stress
Stress is a topic that I delve into a lot with clients because of simply how much it interferes with health and fitness. The biggest ingredient with Stress is how it will affect your ability to choose food that will nourish you.
And stress from the Offic e can very much lead to stress at home - and before you know it - you’re constantly stressed over silly things like losing your phone….
And you learn to manage that with your food - as opposed to dealing with why you are choosing those foods in particular.
So here are my other top tips to help you cope with the stressors of the office, whether you are in the office or not.
1. Get Strict on Sleep
I have a whole other Blog Post outlining why sleep is so important for your stress levels right here: Why Does Sleep Affect Your Weight Loss?
Therefore I won’t get into the nitty-gritty of it now, but Sleep is the single most important facet of your ability to cope with stress, and you ignore it at the peril of your health.
If you struggle to switch off at night and/or find yourself waking up in the middle of the night then I would suggest listening to sleep stories to help you get into a deep and wonderful sleep. As children, we used to always settle down with a story, and now we are in the age of technology its iPhones and Netflix before bed - two things that will not help you sleep - just like with your children.
On my YouTube Channel I have some Sleep Stories as well as Sleep Meditations.
My favourite is my Sleep Story about The Ancient Roman Town of Aquae Sulis - give it a go - and remember if you don’t ever finish the Sleep Story I will certainly not be offended…
2. Meditate
I do not meditate anywhere near as much as I should. But then again, I’m not as stressed out now as much as I used to be. In fact, I used to Meditate a lot more when I worked in the Office. I would put my headphones in, be working on a project and away I would go, meditating as I worked. Listening to calming sounds and allowing my focus to fall into free-flow as opposed to working through tension.
And sometimes I would take myself off, and actually do a guided meditation when I really needed to. For some reason, I just can’t make it a habit when I’m in a less stressful situation myself - like now and the job I do.
I have a Free Meditation Course called The Daily Stillness you can enjoy. You get 10-minute meditations, each and every day for 30 days. If you would like to try it out then please click here.
Here is the very first Meditation you get sent if you want to “try before you commit”:
3. Move Frequently
You’ve probably heard that exercise releases positive endorphins. Which it does, because our body is designed to be moved, however, I fully appreciate that these positive endorphins happen once you’ve exercised, and they simply aren’t enough of a reward if you are anxious/worried about exercising, begin with. Added to that, I’ve had many workouts that didn’t make me feel as high as a kite, but just a simple lovely sense of accomplishment. I often feel that the idea of positive endorphins is overhyped and we expect it to feel like snorting a line…which it obviously doesn’t - not that I have ever experienced that feeling either.
Movement helps us process our emotions, especially our negative ones. It gives us a great sense of achievement - provided you enter into a relationship with movement without the goal of losing weight. Always move to feel Strong and Confident.
Added to that, movement helps us sleep better - and anything that helps our superpower against stress we should certainly engage with.
If you need some workouts to get you started then please head here: Free Fitness Goodies
4. Get Into Nature
There are two very important studies that back this point up.
The first was done in the 1980s and they found that giving hospital patients a view of a tree from their hospital bed needed less pain medication and recovered faster than those who only saw brick walls - and this has been backed up by the American Psychological Association [7] in 2016.
The second is a study [8] done in 2001 at the University of Illinois found that people coped better with big life decisions when living in an Inner City Environment if they had nearby trees and grass - compared to those who were just surrounded by concrete.
Personally, I know this to be true as well. I now live on the Gold Coast in Australia, after having lived in South East England my whole life - and the sheer amount of tress, access to Beaches and the ability to walk in the Rainforest here always helps me de-stress, and arguably my living situation is more stressful here, but I don’t feel that stress as much as I did when living in England.
There is something beautifully humbling about nature. It reminds you very simply how big the world is, how magnificent it is and how insignificant as a human you are. It brings you perspective. The human race has a habit of living in its own Soap Opera and nature takes you away from that.
When you see the Pacific Ocean, or a Sea Turtle, or Dolphins Swimming. When you look at Giant Redwoods and see the intricate ecosystem of the forest you understand that if you missed a deadline at work or that little comment that Steve said the other day about your work is insignificant. It's just not important. You learn a different perspective.
We are on this earth, if we are lucky, for 80 years. The earth has existed for 4.53 billion years. The earth spins 1000 miles per hour. So what happened to you yesterday, is now 24,000 miles or 38,624kms away from where you are right now.
It such a spec in time, you wouldn't even be able to see it.
And that’s liberating. It’s humbling. It’s beautiful.
So beautiful, you should be dancing about it!
Did You Find This Useful?
Firstly I want to say a huge thank you for reading my article, and I hope it has given you some food for thought in relation to how better to balance your health and the Office you work in.
Across this website, I have other Articles all about managing your health and movement:
You also have a unique opportunity to grab a Free Month of Coaching from me as a thank you for reading this article. To find out more bout coaching with me, all you need to do is click on the button below - and then apply.
Thank you so much for reading my article - I really hope you found it helpful.
References:
Who.int. 2021. Constitution of the World Health Organization. [online] Available at: <https://www.who.int/about/governance/constitution> [Accessed 3 November 2021].
Verywell Mind. 2021. Do You Have a Stress-Prone Personality?. [online] Available at: <https://www.verywellmind.com/why-do-stressors-affect-people-differently-3145061> [Accessed 4 November 2021].
Atsunori Ariga, Alejandro Lleras, Brief and rare mental “breaks” keep you focused: Deactivation and reactivation of task goals preempt vigilance decrements, Cognition, Volume 118, Issue 3,2011, [online] Available at: <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2010.12.007>
Anon, 2021. Apa.org. Available at: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2017/state-nation.pdf [Accessed 2021].
Liska D, Mah E, Brisbois T, Barrios PL, Baker LB, Spriet LL. Narrative Review of Hydration and Selected Health Outcomes in the General Population. Nutrients. 2019;11(1):70. Published 2019 Jan 1. doi:10.3390/nu11010070
Anon, 16/10/2016 green is good for you. Available at: http://www.unature.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Green-is-good-for-you.pdf [Accessed November 12, 2021].
Anon, Coping with PPoverty impacts environment ... - csu.edu. Available at: https://www.csu.edu/cerc/researchreports/documents/CopingWithPpovertyImpactsEnvironmentAttentionInTheInnerCity2001.pdf [Accessed November 12, 2021].
Anon, Why millennial managers are burned out. BBC Worklife. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20211109-why-millennial-managers-are-burned-out [Accessed November 13, 2021].
Anon, 2021. Portugal bans bosses texting staff after-hours. BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59263300 [Accessed November 13, 2021].
Why “Eat Less, Move More” Is Causing The Problem, Not Curing It
It’s incredibly frustrating.
When I hear the term “Eat Less, Move More” I am reminded of my days as a Football Referee. Days that were hounded with the extreme oversimplification of the “Offside Law” combined with incredibly subjective biased opinion in favor of someone's team compared to the opposition.
The truth is…90% of Football Fans do not know the Laws well enough to comment.
And the second I, a very qualified referee, a man who had studied the topic for years and years and had exercised the Laws of Football with Authority at least 3 times a week in front of crowds of fans and pitches full of players, the second, I tried to re-educate people on the issue at hand, I was in the wrong.
I was the bad guy. Because my opinion didn’t fit their very bias narrative.
Truth and facts are irrelevant in situations like this. If the said person had an opinion on it, no matter how wrong, offensive, and downright out of order that opinion was, the truth just did not matter.
And the same can be said for the term “Eat Less, Move More”.
Because we all have a body…because we all spend a portion of our lives being aware of our “Body Weight” people think that they know how it works.
Without study, or reading the literature. Without actually coaching someone.
It isn’t good enough. And all you are doing is causing the problem, not curing it.
You see, Obesity isn’t the problem of the person who is Obese.
It’s the problem of society.
And terms like “Eat Less, Move More” are causing that problem within society even more. To those who believe this is all weight loss is and that it is the “Final Solution”, you could not be more wrong.
You are overlooking far too many other factors that are interwoven into the fabric of society, things like Depression, Poverty, Lack of Job Security, An Economy that prays on keeping people feeling inadequate.
“Eat Less, Move More” is a form of Weight Stigmatization, make no mistake.
Weight bias is defined as negative attitudes towards, and beliefs about, others because of their weight. These negative attitudes are manifested by stereotypes and/or prejudice towards people with overweight and obesity. [1]
I am not denying the fact that in order to lose weight you must be in a Calorie Deficit and this is the foundation for “Eat Less, Move More”.
But as Martin MacDonald says:
“A Calorie Deficit is as simple as Calories In vs Caloires Out, its juts that Calories In vs Calories Out just isn’t that simple”
And it really really isn’t.
Listen more about Body Positivity on The Fitness Solution where I chat with Amy Snelling all about Body Positivity right here:
Why “Eat Less, Move More” Is Causing The Problem, Not Curing It
Why it is more than simply to just; “Eat Less”
When you Fat Shame. When you tell someone to just stop eating…
Have you considered the following:
1. The person might actually be using their weight as a defense mechanism due to previous sexual abuse.
Justin Faden et al (2012) put together a study that found:
73% of patients undergoing psychiatric hospitalization following gastric bypass have a history of sexual abuse. [2]
and
As these patients undergo weight loss, they may experience significant psychological distress [2]
2. The person due to their Obesity is bored as it’s very difficult for them to be anywhere other than home?
California State University (Edward E. Abramson et al) conducted a study where they took a group of Obese Individuals and people who are rated as “Normal” on the BMI scale. They were fed until satiated, then asked to complete an interesting and boring task…whilst the food was readily available to them. The results were:
That the obese consumed significantly more food than normals, and that boredom markedly increases food consumption for both obese and normals.[3]
3. Where they live is causing their obesity and impacting their food choices?
A study in 2009 looked into the relationship of where people live and the foodservice outlets that were in their neighborhood and concluded:
The lower the ratio of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores to grocery stores and produce vendors near people’s homes, the lower the odds of being obese. Thus the proximity of the obesogenic environment to individuals appears to be an important factor in their risk for obesity. [4]
Furthermore, we live in a very stressful environment.
Now more than ever.
In the UK alone we are predicted to lose 6.5million jobs due to the current pandemic, according to the University of Essex [5].
Whenever the TV or Radio or Paper is turned on, something that someone who is bored is more than likely to do…not only are they exposed to more stress, but they are also re-exposed to more weight stigmatization via these media outlets. Ever heard the term “Obesity Crisis”?
If someone said to me the condition of my body is a “crisis” then I would be in panic mode. It would be full-blown stress…and stress leads to calories.
To then avoid this stress from mainstream media they might turn to Social Media, which might also help curb this boredom. Social Media is another stressful place to be…looking at images of people who have the ideal body which may well trigger someone into a cycle of emotional eating or binge eating which in turn results in an increase of calories. As the person looking at their feed will just feel totally inadequate.
The International Journal of Eating Disorders published a study in 2019 and found that:
A clear pattern of association was found between Social Media usage and Disordered Eating cognitions and behaviors with this exploratory study confirming that these relationships occur at younger‐age than previously investigated.[6]
And I haven’t even mentioned Poverty. It’s extremely easy for someone who has never had to worry about where their next meal is coming from to spout the advantages of eating a nutritious meal. However, someone who is worried about where the next paycheque is coming from, or keeping a roof over their head, or even whether they will have a meal to eat or not, is not going to worry about the quality of that meal.
You have no right to tell someone who is in poverty what food they should be eating. All you should be doing is worrying about whether they have food or not in the first place.
Jesus didn’t feed the 5000 to a Chorus of “What about the Mercury levels” and “Carbs make you fat because of insulin”. He fed them to a chorus of pleases and thank yous, of gratitude and helpfulness.
As opposed to telling people to “Eat Less”. How about we give them something to be thankful for instead so that they can see hope and love in the world.
Listen to this Episode of The Fitness Solution to really comprehend an awful lot more about why Eat Less, Move More is a term that harms more than it helps:
Why “Eat Less, Move More” Is Causing The Problem, Not Curing It
What about “Move More”?
When you Fat Shame. When you tell someone to just get off the couch…
Have you considered the following?
The person might not be able to get off the couch without help.
The person might be embarrassed to get off the couch in front of people, let alone exercise in public.
The fact the person managed to get onto the couch is their huge win for the day, and just getting out of bed was as hard for that person as they could be dealing with poor mental health.
I think it's a little too obvious for me to sit here and tell you that Obese people struggle with exercise.
Because in fact, it’s not even the physical act of exercising alone that is the main struggle.
In the Gym, working as a Personal Trainer I have had at least three clients tell me that they can’t work out in front of the mirrors because they can’t stand to look at themselves.
And this feeling is backed up by a study by Wicklund and Duval in 1971, upon which they found:
Viewing oneself via mirrors has been shown to increase levels of objective SA via self-evaluation, leading to increased awareness of the discrepancy between an individual’s current self and his or her “ideal” self [7]
These clients weren’t overweight, or obese.
I have had clients squeeze my hand so tight it was painful when they first walked into the Gym because of how scared they were, and then ask that we go for a walk instead and “maybe next week I will feel a bit better about that environment”.
Again, these clients were not overweight or obese.
But it’s how they felt in society.
Now imagine how they might feel if they were overweight or obese.
Actually, it's hard to because you can’t imagine actually being in the gym as an overweight or obese person. I know I can’t. I can’t even pretend to comprehend how they feel. It’s literally beyond my comprehension…and I would consider myself very empathetic to other people's feelings.
But again the Science backs us up here.
A study at Syracuse University in 2008 found a correlation between Weight Stigmatising someone and their motivation to exercise.
These findings suggest that weight stigma (through its impact on avoidance motivation) could potentially decrease physical activity levels. [8]
We all have a sport we dislike participating in. For me it was Rugby…when I was growing up I really didn’t want to get hurt when playing. I felt too small…too weak and far too intimidated to step foot on the Rugby field.
What was your sport? Running?
Imagine if the world told you that the only way to stay alive was to go for a run every day.
Would that inspire you to run...or would it fill you with dread and fear? With worry and again….stress?
We all skipped Gym class at school. And it wasn’t because we were playing truant…it was because that day you were told you were going to get beaten up by your bully, or that you looked fat in your PE Skirt, or that you were so rubbish at Sports the Teacher would just stand next to you blowing his or her whistle whilst screaming at you to do one more burpee.
You skipped that class.
Because the environment wasn’t one that you enjoyed.
What's the difference?
Conclusion
Throughout the article, I have put some words in Italic Bold. The purpose of that was to create this list:
Weight Stigmatization.
Weight as a defense mechanism.
Is bored.
Where they live.
Stressful environment.
Totally inadequate.
Poverty.
Without help.
Might be embarrassed.
Dealing with poor mental health.
Can’t stand to look at themselves.
How scared they were.
How they felt in society.
When you see this list, you can see how complex a web Obesity is. This is without even looking into the Medical side of the condition and how that might affect someone's ability to work on their weight.
The cure to Obesity does not lie in a poorly educated Personal Trainer, Doctor, Government sitting there and telling someone to “Eat Less, Move More”.
To treat Obesity is to treat society. Is to overhaul our economy, our Media, our Health Care messaging around the issues.
When you look up the causes of Obesity on the NHS website it states:
“Obesity is generally caused by eating too much and moving too little” [9]
It’s not good enough.
When you look at the list of causes of Obesity I have outlined in this article do you really think the mantra that the NHS is putting out there is truly good enough?
It's too simplistic. It’s too shameful. And the world needs to do better.
Last week I was lucky enough to have a discussion on my Podcast, The Fitness Solution, about this with someone who was on National Media here in the UK as she said: “I will not work with Fat people”.
The discussion we had was one of great respect and education. We moved the dial forward in her mind and her attitude towards what she said and what she will say in the future.
They are hard discussions. The problems are beyond complex and that can mean that it can almost be too overwhelming to try and tackle and change.
It’s easy to say that a Calorie Deficit is a way forward and that can be summed up simply by “Eat Less, Move More”.
But if it was that simple it would have worked by now. To say Eat Less, Move More is to bury your head in the sand, its to lack empathy, understanding, and the desire to actually create change.
My wish for this article is that whenever you see someone post the words “Eat Less, Move More” you just send this to them.
We need more discussion around these topics, and we need more empathy for those who need it most because that is the only way we will ever get on top of Obesity and truly help those who need it.
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Coach Adam
References:
Euro.who.int. 2020. Weight Bias And Obesity Stigma: Considerations For The WHO European Region (2017). [online] Available at: <https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases/obesity/publications/2017/weight-bias-and-obesity-stigma-considerations-for-the-who-european-region-2017> [Accessed 28 July 2020].
Faden, J., Leonard, D., O’Reardon, J., & Hanson, R. (2013). Obesity as a defense mechanism. International journal of surgery case reports, 4(1), 127–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijscr.2012.10.011
Abramson, Edwaed E., Stinson Shawn G., (1977).
Boredom and eating in obese and non-obese individuals,
Addictive Behaviors, Volume 2, Issue 4, 1977, Pages 181-185 https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-4603(77)90015-6.Spence, J.C., Cutumisu, N., Edwards, J. et al. Relation between local food environments and obesity among adults. BMC Public Health 9, 192 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-9-192
The Independent. 2020. More Than 6.5 Million Jobs ‘To Be Lost In UK Coronavirus Lockdown’. [online] Available at: <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-lockdown-job-losses-unemployment-recession-university-essex-study-a9472966.html> [Accessed 28 July 2020].
Patricia A. Cavazos‐Rehg, Ellen E. Fitzsimmons‐Craft, Melissa J. Krauss, Nnenna Anako, Christine Xu, Erin Kasson, Shaina J. Costello, Denise E. Wilfley, Examining the self‐reported advantages and disadvantages of socially networking about body image and eating disorders, International Journal of Eating Disorders, 10.1002/eat.23282, 53, 6, (852–863), (2020). Wiley Online Library
Wicklund, RA, Duval, S (1971) Opinion change and performance facilitation as a result of objective self-awareness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 7: 319–342. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2055102915598088#bibr54-2055102915598088
Vartanian, L. R., & Shaprow, J. G. (2008). Effects of weight stigma on exercise motivation and behavior: a preliminary investigation among college-aged females. Journal of health psychology, 13(1), 131–138. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105307084318
What is Binge Eating Disorder?
What is Binge Eating Disorder?
Last night I had a wonderful chat with a client about Binge Eating.
And it got me thinking about how do we define what a Binge truly is?
Part of me wants to say that “Binge-Eating” is one of those terms we throw around these days as its becoming a little more of the zeitgeist.
And don’t get me wrong awareness of this is very very important and I would never undermine anyone bringing awareness to it, for others and themselves.
But how do we define it?
Standard rules say this: “The consumption of large quantities of food in a short period of time, typically as part of an eating disorder”
Which doesn’t really help us.
“Large Quantities of food”
Is this any food? Can you binge on Broccoli? Is large quantities relating to the calorie content only, or the grams of food you have eaten?
“Short Period of Time”
What is a short period of time? 1 hour? 1 Evening? One journey? One Month?
and then the part of it “typically being part of an eating disorder” doesn’t help either. As it opens up the fact if you don’t have an eating disorder you are too a Binge Eater.
Well, that’s no help…so what do you do now?
I try to avoid my clients from using the term “binge” due to it allowing them to sink into a world of negative self-talk.
Which is to be avoided at all times.
I would always prefer a client to refer to their food more objectively than subjectively. Calories are calories are calories.
Therefore in terms of a binge…maybe we could define it as eating 70% of their daily calories in a short period of time
Therefore if someone is eating 2000 calories a day.
In a matter of hours or an evening they will have needed to consume 70% of that.
1400 calories.
But this comes with problems in that 1400 calories is the same as just:
Two McDonalds Iced Vanilla Frappe
Two McDonalds Double Quarter Pounders with Cheese
A Big Mac Meal with a Hot Apple Pie
Now if you ate any of that at lunch time….I don’t think you would sit there and class what you just had as a Binge.
It seems almost too reasonable.
Which brings me to my next point.
Is it defined by emotion?
Ah-ha.
Does Binge Eating come down to whether or not you feel guilty about what you just ate?
And if it does….then we can’t define it in any way shape or form because we are all so bloody different in the way we feel about these things.
Sure, in the past I have eaten lots of food….probably beyond 70% of my daily calorie intake.
But I personally have never felt guilty about it.
I’ve never felt the need to purge it from my body in the form of exercise or excessive dieting.
Or worse: facing down the toilet.
I have only once ever felt like this, and that was after trying a cigarette for the first time when I was about 17. (sorry mum!)
It was menthol, and it was wonderful
I had two drags.
But the next day I woke up and knew I had to get rid of the craving that was building up inside me. So I went running and got rid of that craving.
Now, this was easy for me to do…because I don’t NEED cigarettes to live. In fact quite the opposite.
But with food, as it is our source of survival, I would not suggest purging the food from your body in any way shape or form because you are feeling guilty about what you did.
I think its best you just step away from what you have experienced.
Draw a line under it.
Get to bed
Say Fuck IT
And reset again tomorrow.
Again….
A lot easier said than done.
Conclusion….?
I have no idea. I’m, really not overly sure what constitutes a binge.
I think it must come down to “a feeling you have about yourself when you consume something to excess that you feel like you probably shouldn’t have in a shorter period of time than you feel is adequate”
But I really don’t know.
Maybe defining it isn’t something we need to worry about…
As a coach, I just need to listen to you when you say you did, respect your opinion of yourself and try to help you move away from those feelings about yourself, and help you reflect on why it occurred, and how we can manage it for next time.
Which is basically my philosophy to life.
Draw A Line Under It
Say Fuck It
Get to Bed
Start again tomorrow.
What are your thoughts? I would love to hear from you.