You don’t need to spend much time reading through fitness blogs, literature or captions on the ‘gram before you’re bombarded with 1000 different opinions (framed as fact) on nutrition, training, fat loss and health. It’s easy to see why so many people end up absolutely confused about how to achieve the results they’re seeking.
The problem with a lot of the opinions put out by some “fitness professionals” is that they use “it worked for me” as a basis for the information they’re putting forward. This is problematic because if you have any grasp of causation vs. correlation you’ll know that just because X happened and then Y was the result, it doesn’t necessarily mean that X caused Y. There are way too many variables for this to be true.
Take for instance, gluten guy. We’ll call him GG. Old GG cut out all products containing gluten one day because he read a holistic health blog that told him that gluten was linked to poor gut health and further diseases and issues. After cutting it out, he found that he lost weight and felt more vital. He then went on to write many posts and articles about the miracle of removing gluten in the diet for weight loss. GG did neglect to say that after removing gluten he also reduced his daily caloric intake.
Then there’s No Heavy Lifting Babe. NHLB believes that the secret to a long, lean physique is light weights, plyos and cardio. It worked for her and now she’s looking to sell it to you for $99. The thing is, NHLB is a pretty standard ectomorph. She’s always been slight in structure, she finds it difficult to gain a lot of muscle and she has naturally eaten between 1200-1400 calories a day for seven years. She puts her success down to clean eating, lots of fruit and vegan treats. It worked for her because it’s the only thing she’s tried and she also probably fears weight gain – she’s not telling you that part though. This plan will also work for you to lose weight, provided you eat in a calorie deficit while you do it.
You can see where I am going with this.
I used to find fitness literature really convoluted too. There were so many messages and I had many fitness professionals give me their two cents about insulin tolerance, the dangers of fructose, the dangers of lifting heavy and squatting below 90 degrees, the list goes on.
For this reason, I would love to share a few blogs and otherwise with you that are full of evidence-based knowledge and advice:
https://bretcontreras.com/articles/
https://alanaragon.com/researchreview/ (the best $10 per month you’ll ever spend!)
http://3dmusclejourney.com/blog/
https://www.jpshealthandfitness.com.au/author/client/
https://www.youtube.com/user/icecream4PRs
And if you ever need some clarity you can always email me – rlchambers@live.com.au