Diet & Exercise? Forget it, you need Nutrition and Training

Have you ever dieted, got results and then a few weeks/months later gone right back to how you were before?

Have you ever started an exercise program only to quit because you are not getting results or it is too hard?

If you answered yes to those two questions (I did), then maybe it’s time to look at how you phrase the two key components of health and fitness. Maybe it’s time to think if you really want to achieve results or not or if you want to spend wasted time on the merry-go-round of losing and gaining weight.

This might seem like semantics and just a change in wording, its a lot more than that, it’s an entirely different mindset and let me give you a tip, one of them provides frustration and one of them provides outstanding results.

Let’s break it down into its corresponding words:

Diet or Nutrition?

Here is the dictionary definition of diet:
“a special course of food to which a person restricts themselves, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.”

Here is the dictionary definition of nutrition:
“the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth.”

I don’t know about you when I think about a diet, I think of calorie restriction, cutting back on nice foods, I even think, this is going to be hard and painful. It’s almost a state of loss as I am cutting back on certain foods to lose weight which is a double loss statement.

Now, when I think of nutrition, I think of providing my body with the fuel it requires to maximise my health and to achieve my body outcomes. I am giving my body the correct fuel rather than taking away from my body with a diet. That sounds and feels a whole lot better than having to cut back on foods.

So, if you start to think about what you can do to provide your body with the optimum amount of nutrition to perform and to achieve your outcomes then this will be a far better mindset for you to cultivate on a daily basis. Think in terms of what is going into your body, where it is sourced from and if it’s the most nutritious food you can eat and you won’t go wrong. It’s all about asking better questions about the food you are about to eat.

Now let’s get on to the second part of the health process:

Exercise or Training?

Here is the dictionary definition of exercise:
“Activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness.”

Here is the dictionary definition of training:
“the process of learning the skills you need to do a particular job or activity.”

This one is not as simple a difference, it’s more a case of being more specific about what you are going to achieve and set out a clear plan of how you will achieve it.

If I am exercising then there isn’t really a clearly defined outcome of what I am exercising for. I am out running as its a good exercise for me, I just don’t know how far to run and at what intensity. It’s just boring old exercise and for me, which isn’t very motivating.

When I think of myself as being in training then this is a completely different feeling. I have a reason for why I am training myself and I have a clearly defined outcome. In my case, I am training for an upcoming half marathon so I need to do specific things to achieve the time I have set for myself. This involves hill sprints and longer runs, I am training myself to run the best I can rather than just out exercising.

Remember, diet and exercise are for people who don’t take their health seriously and won’t achieve their long-term goals. If you want to really get yourself in shape and really achieve those outcomes then you must focus on nutrition and training.

What can you do right now to plan your nutrition and training so you achieve and maintain your long-term health goals?