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18. Chasing Calorie Burn & Soreness is Hurting Your Progress
21 Plays3 months ago
Ever felt bummed when you didn't burn hundreds of calories in your workout? Ever felt like you need to feel sore after a workout otherwise you didn't push hard enough and surely "that's" the reason why you're not seeing progress?
We've been sold the idea that soreness means progress and calorie burn means a good workout. But here's the truth: chronic muscle soreness is a sign your body isn't recovering, and if you're not recovering, you're not making progress. And calorie burn from your actual workout? It matters the least when it comes to changing your body composition.
I'm breaking down why we chase these metrics, what they're actually telling you, and what to pay attention to instead.
→ Why soreness is a red flag, not a trophy
→ What soreness actually is and when it becomes a problem
→ Why calorie burn from exercise is the wrong thing to chase
→ What actually indicates your training is working
If you're stuck in the cycle of chasing soreness and calories and still not seeing results — this one's going to shift how you view your workouts and reframe how you think about "effort" to keep you focused on what matters so you stop spinning your wheels and see the progress you're working for.
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#fitnessmyths #workoutrecovery #strengthtraining #soremuscles #strengthtrainingforwomen
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Transcript
Introduction to Fitness Variables
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Basics of Balance. My name is Ariella. We are going to be talking today about two variables in our fitness journey as it relates to our workouts specifically. Here is the thing. There is always a relationship between your workouts and your nutrition, your workouts and your habits, your habits and your nutrition, yada, yada, yada, right? So everything is always kind of connected. but For conversation purposes, we're going to be talking specifically about these two variables that we have been conditioned over the years to believe is the way to make progress and that we have been conditioned to believe is, um you know, what you are chasing when you work out and and whatnot. um
00:00:46
Speaker
And the thing is, is that, you know, again, the whole point of this show is really just to break down a lot of these um topics that we We follow because we are in the information age and there are so many different variables as it relates to getting healthier and wellness and fitness and whatnot that we could focus
Misconceptions About Workout Soreness
00:01:08
Speaker
on. And there's so much information out there, especially with social media and everybody is a coach now and everybody's personal experiences are being communicated and marketed as the standard and do this because it works for me and you know Just because it works for you doesn't mean it's science, and that's how people get distracted and get frustrated because it's not science, and it worked for you for a lot of reasons that maybe you don't understand. and Anyways, all that to say, we're going to talk about soreness. um We oftentimes look at soreness as a badge of honor. I still do this, even though I know better, i even though I know Soreness does not mean like, ooh, I got in a really good workout. Let's be honest, it feels good to get some validation when you're like, you know, trying to live your best strong life, right? And also calorie burn, okay? The calories that you burn in your workout, I don't care how many calories you burn in your workout, they matter the least amount as it relates to um seeing any kind of physical changes, whether that's you know losing fat, losing ah weight, building muscle, any of that stuff, specifically as it relates
Role of Calories and Diet in Fitness
00:02:13
Speaker
to building muscle. Just because you're burning a ton of calories does not mean you are building muscle. Fact, okay? But anyways, all that to say,
00:02:21
Speaker
um You know, we have been conditioned over the years that, um you know, no pain, no gain. And I remember when I first got started in my fitness journey, I specifically focused on cardio because um I wanted to burn as many calories as I could because that gave me permission to eat what I just burned in food after the fact. And I know so many of you listening have done or are currently still doing that. And that's just not how it works. um That's why I was on a hamster wheel for so long. Well, I should say that's one of the reasons why. Yeah. I was on a hamster wheel for so long is because, you know, you're burning all of these calories and you're just eating them right back. And arguably speaking, i wasn't as tuned in to understanding how many calories I was eating in the first place. So something that I probably thought was only a few hundred calories was probably a lot more than that,
Strength Training vs Cardio
00:03:14
Speaker
right? We have a ton of studies that show we very much understand
00:03:19
Speaker
underestimate how many calories we are eating, which is why tools like logging our food can be so helpful because it teaches us what we do not know. Okay. So we know better and we can make better decisions moving forward. But anyways, um I used to you know, measure my workouts, if it was a good workout or not, by how many calories I burned. And you know, arguably speaking, when I would burn a lot of calories, the more calories I'd burn, the higher my my bar or my standard would be. And so I remember um i posted this on Facebook years ago and every single year it pops up. I just like chuckle to myself because it's like, man, you you know, tell me you don't know what you're talking about without telling me you don't know what you're talking about. And that was basically this Facebook post. And it was just me saying like,
00:04:04
Speaker
429 was the amount of calories I burned. And I was so proud of that. And don't get me wrong. Again, it feels good to see that validation in terms of i put forth a lot of effort. I burned this many calories and that's that validation of that effort. However, again, um when we are talking about losing weight, when we are talking about losing fat, that's That goal is not driven by how many calories you burn in your workout, okay? That goal is driven by how many calories you are eating.
00:04:38
Speaker
So how much is coming in versus how much is going out, okay? And when we focus on how much is going out without also appropriately focusing on how much is coming in we also fail to realize Our workout, our designated activity, any kind of exercise, whether it's strength training or cardio or anything in between, is only ever going to make about 7% of your total daily caloric expenditure. That's it.
00:05:07
Speaker
And so what I mean by that is how many calories your body burns in a 24-hour period, okay? 7%.
00:05:15
Speaker
ah For reference, 70% of how many calories you burn in a 24-hour period is your resting metabolic rate that is largely ah affected by your muscle mass. The more muscle you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate, meaning the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism, right? And so we focus, we shift our focus away from how many calories you're burning in your workout to basically be the marker and the measurement of a good workout to, hey, we need to prioritize strength training. And yes, cardio has its place in any healthy lifestyle, especially if your goal is to you know, lose weight or to lose fat. um
00:05:59
Speaker
But it's a tool. It's not the end-all be-all. And so we don't focus on how many calories we are burning. We prioritize strength training because strength training has actually been proven to be more beneficial, to to bring more progress, to help you see more changes as it relates to losing weight and losing fat, because you are building and preserving the very thing that is helping keep your metabolism super high That is accounting for 70% of your total daily caloric expenditure. See where I'm going with this? So like cardio has a place, right?
00:06:35
Speaker
In any healthy routine. um And cardio is a tool. So sometimes like with my clients who are trying to lose fat and lose weight, number one, we are starting with our calories. We are starting with our energy coming in. Okay. Because again, that's what it's driven by. um However, we can't ignore that cardio can help increase that deficit, right? Burning a few extra hundred calories, um you know, a week, a day, whatever the case is, whatever that cadence is, is definitely going to help them see those changes. But we don't put all of our eggs in that basket, I was talking to a girl um at the gym a few weeks ago and she was telling me, um i know I need to do more cardio. I know I need to do more cardio. And that's such a common thought. It's such a common frame of mind. And you know I was talking to her about, you know what do you mean by that? like Let's talk about that.
00:07:24
Speaker
And she you know she wants to lose weight. She wants to tone up. She wants you know to make some changes and things like that. And I basically had the same exact conversation with her. like Don't get me wrong. It's great if you can burn all those calories if it makes you feel good. And if burning those calories is basically going to be the difference of you working out or not working out, then sure, it has value. But if we're talking about what we are focusing on, in terms of what's going to be the biggest return on investment for our effort and our energy and our mental mental capacity and whatnot, it is going to be get control of your nutrition, right?
00:07:59
Speaker
Pay attention to how much is coming in. Make sure you're eating enough of the right things like your protein, like your fiber,
Prioritizing Strength and Nutrition Over Cardio
00:08:05
Speaker
things like that. um and also prioritize your strength training. We need to make sure that you are following a structured strength training program to ah build and preserve your muscle, to keep that metabolism high. And then we use the tool of cardio intermittently, not only to assist in those physical goals, but also, again, as part of a healthy lifestyle. Your heart is going to greatly appreciate that um you know over the years. um And we also can't forget cardio...
00:08:34
Speaker
is like the the better level of cardio fitness you have, the more that is 100% going to translate into your your lifts, okay? So when we are doing things such as lunges or step-ups or, you know, things like that, I'm sure you've felt it before if you're lifting heavy enough, your heart rate is rising, okay? Okay. And the thing is, is that if we are not in good cardio shape, then our threshold, our endurance threshold is going to be lower and we are not going to be able to handle as much as we should be able to handle or could handle
00:09:12
Speaker
if our cardio fitness was in shape, okay, or was taken care of, was being more considered, if you will, welcoming into the party. So the better cardiovascular ah fitness level you have, the more your body is going to be able to handle as in terms of your lifts, okay? You're going to be able to handle more volume before you get fatigued. Your heart rate's not going to pound out of your chest when you're doing lunges, as fast and therefore you can handle more, right? You're adding more volume and therefore making more progress, so on and so forth, okay? And so for a lot of reasons, we need cardio, but we put too much stock in that cardio. we We're putting all of our eggs in that basket when it relates to cardio and burning calories, all right?
00:09:55
Speaker
And so when we think about what's going to make changes, ah you know, fat loss, weight loss, and we understand, okay, even the best workout, you know, that burns all of the calories is only going to make up about 7%. Okay, well, then I need to shift my effort into really what's going to move the needle a little bit more, such as your ah diet, such as your strength training, right? Um, another fallacy as it relates to burning calories, because I think we are so conditioned to, you know, sweat production and we're out of breath and our heart rate is racing and we're burning all these calories and we feel like we are really putting forth a lot of effort. Awesome. I love it. But just because you're burning calories does not mean that you are building muscle. Okay. So kind of shifting gears a little bit to the demographic who is really trying to build muscle or maybe, hey, you're trying to lose fat and build muscle at the same time. ah But all that to say, you know, when the goal is to to build muscle, your calorie, the amount of calories you burn in your workout matters even less. Oh, my goodness, matters even less. OK, um I will give you two examples.
00:11:09
Speaker
When you are doing a very um very basic training split, an upper and a lower, so you might do like an upper body lift, lower body lift, rest, do it again, upper body lift, different exercises, lower body lift, different exercises, rest, so on and so forth, rinse, repeat, right? When you are following a pretty straightforward split like that,
00:11:31
Speaker
you will probably realize you're going to burn a lot more calories in your lower body lifts or your lower body days compared to your upper body days, okay? Because your lower body muscles are larger than your upper body muscles, okay? And so it's going to put more of a demand on your body, on your heart, on your cardiovascular system. It's recruiting more ah muscle, it's taking more energy to make contractions because those muscles are quite literally larger um than your upper body. Okay. And so if we were going just simply based on how many calories you're burning to be the measure and the marker of a good workout,
00:12:10
Speaker
As it relates to specifically strength training, well, then every single time you did an upper body workout, you would be severely disappointed in your effort because you're not going to burn as many calories in your upper body workout compared to your lower body ah lifts because those are two very different sizes of muscle groups. And so, you know, that's a great example of one of the reasons why your calorie burns in your workout, especially as it relates to your, ah you know, strength training doesn't matter. What matters is that we are lifting heavy enough. What matters is that we are lifting with enough intensity that we are falling a couple of reps shy of failure.
00:12:47
Speaker
We are lifting in enough volume per week to foster that muscle growth. um And in a couple of ways that we can make sure that we're doing that is, number one your first few reps should be significantly a faster tempo,
Measuring Workout Effectiveness
00:13:01
Speaker
naturally speaking, than your last few reps. When you are truly fatiguing your muscle, we're not looking for the burn that you feel as much as you physically cannot complete one more rep unless you're going to sacrifice your form, right? And so that is following a couple of reps shy of failure. And when you're when you're lifting heavy enough, and you are taking that set a couple of reps shy of failure, you're naturally gonna slow those reps down because you're you're having to really push and fight for those last couple of reps, right?
00:13:33
Speaker
um Another way that we can you know try to make sure that you are lifting heavy enough is using rep ranges. um I'm a huge fan of rep ranges. I do this all the time in my programming. Let's say you know you have a rep range of six to 10, okay? Let's just use squats as an example.
00:13:51
Speaker
The goal is to fall at the bottom to the mid rep of that rep range. So you're trying to fall six, seven, eight reps, okay? If you're falling at nine to 10 reps, that's actually a really good indicator that you can handle more weight. That means that the set that you just completed isn't taxing enough, it's not intense enough to force you to stay at that bottom to that mid rep range, okay? you start with, let's say, 50 pounds and you're squatting that and you're able to do 10 reps. Awesome.
00:14:21
Speaker
Next set, let's try 55. Hey, maybe you can get to nine. We're getting closer, we didn't max out, but let's try 60. Hey, when we did 60 pounds for our third set, we were maxing out at seven reps. Okay, great. That's a good indicator for us. The next set, we're going to start at seven, right? And every time that we're getting closer to that top rep range, that's a cue to us, hey, go up and wait, okay? Or maybe sometimes we, in the training world, we add different tempo prescriptions to increase the challenge and intensity without adding weight. So adding a pause in the contraction, the bottom of the rep, things like that. Anyways, all that to say, ah you know, there are different ways to make sure that we are lifting heavy enough and we want to make sure we're lifting heavy enough. That is the marker if we are getting in a good workout or not, okay? If we are falling a few reps shy of failure, If we are really prioritizing our form, our range of motion, really making sure that we are getting deep enough in our squat and we are not lifting too heavy where we can't get deep enough, things like that, right? And so calorie burn is not going to factor into that in any way, shape or form, right? um
00:15:34
Speaker
And so all of that to say, hopefully that gives you a little bit more, i would say, just like brain gains as it relates to like your calorie burn is not something that I would ever care about as your trainer, as it relates to if you got in a good workout or not, period. Okay. Kind of switching gears a little bit into the soreness. All right. So let's say you are specifically, ah you know, trying to build muscle.
00:16:00
Speaker
hey, you're likely going to be strength training. That is likely going to be your number one way of working out, right? And when you are strength training, you are recruiting your muscles. You are putting a lot of demand on your muscles, and therefore you're probably going to be more sore compared to somebody who is maybe prioritizing cardio, right? Who is maybe prioritizing The calorie burn that we just got done talking about. So you're probably going to experience a lot more soreness in your fitness journey. But I want to be really clear here for the demographic that is listening, who is whose number one goal is to build and preserve muscle.
00:16:37
Speaker
Soreness is not a badge of honor, generally speaking, okay? When we are feeling sore, that's actually not like a way for, that's not something to chase, right? And I am guilty of this. I love feeling sore after my workouts, but it's definitely something where over the years, it's not necessarily...
00:16:57
Speaker
Something that catches me off guard if I don't feel it, if that makes sense, right? So like if i if I feel really sore, it's usually going to be, and I know I'm saying me, but I'm just using my examples. This is, you know, general information for everybody. If you are feeling sore after every single workout, that's actually not great. We actually need to like take a step back and identify why you were feeling sore all of the time, okay? um Because that is a red flag in terms of biofeedback. We've taught talked about how to measure progress a few
Understanding Soreness and Recovery
00:17:33
Speaker
episodes ago. Feel free to go back and listen to that episode. um i think it's measuring progress part two where we talk about biofeedback, right? And so if you are feeling super sore and your goal is to build muscle, we need to look at a few things. um Soreness, generally speaking, is going to be your body's way of telling us that it is under you challenged it in a different way. okay And so when I say challenged it in a different way, I don't mean you're confusing your muscles because your muscles don't need to be confused. When the goal is to build muscle, you need to be following a structured strength training program. that practices the same muscle, or I'm sorry, the same movement pattern, so the same exercises for week after week after week after week. Your muscles do not need to be confused, okay? We can do the exact same exercise, a squat, and change the variation by adding different tempo, a pause, by adding a heel elevation, by adding step-up instead of a reverse lunge, you know, different things like that. Your muscles don't need to be confused.
00:18:33
Speaker
However, when your muscles are introduced to a new program, right, or doing something new, that's typically when we're going to feel more sore. And that's not necessarily a negative biofeedback sign. That's not necessarily as much of a red flag as other variables, which we're about to get into. So when you are, let's say, following a program for about six weeks, right? Week one, you're probably going to feel like decimated if you lifted heavy enough, right? I get texts all the time um from clients who just start brand new programs after their first week or even into their second week. And they're like, I hate you. I hate you so much. And it's the the kindest compliment you can give me as your coach. Don't get me wrong. But, you know, you're going to be more sore at the beginning of a program compared to week two when it's no longer new, week three when it's definitely not new. Week six and beyond, you're not new anymore. You're probably going to experience intermittent soreness when you you know PR on something, right? That's a new demand you're putting on your body, more weight. You might experience more soreness if maybe you like increased your range of motion on an exercise. So again, going back to that squat or that leg press example, Maybe you got deeper into that squat or leg press. Hey, that's new. You know what mean? So new stimuli is what we're talking about.
00:19:53
Speaker
Totally fine. That is not necessarily a red biofeedback marker, okay? We expect that at the beginning. We also expect it to dissipate over time, okay? What would be a red biofeedback marker is if you are sore every single day in the middle or towards the end of a program, okay?
00:20:12
Speaker
ah And you are also potentially not even able to like get stronger. You are at a plateau in your training progress. You can't get stronger. You're super sore. Whoa, do not pass go. Do not collect $200. We need to listen to what your body is saying. It's trying to get our attention, okay? Okay.
00:20:28
Speaker
Feeling sore is likely due to number one, your body is not able to recover. okay Arguably speaking, recovery in your workouts, especially as it relates to strength or i'm sorry to building muscle and strength training,
00:20:44
Speaker
arguably, is more important than your lift, okay? Think about it like this. Your lift is actually making you weaker. Your lift is not making you stronger. The only way that you are getting stronger from that workout is if you are taking your recovery and your rest just as serious as your lift, if you're investing that time, okay? Making sure you're getting in enough sleep, quality sleep, making sure that you are staying hydrated, keeping your muscles hydrated, drinking enough water, things like that, making sure you're eating enough food relative to you, your goals, so on and so forth. And of that food, making sure they're balanced choices. Where's your protein? Where's your fiber? Where's your carbs? where you know Where are all of these things that your body needs? It's the basics.
00:21:26
Speaker
And so if you are constantly sore um and you're not at the beginning of a program, then we need to look at those variables, okay? We need to adjust something. Your body is telling us it's struggling to keep up. It's sore. That's not a badge of honor. That's not something to ignore and to chase. um And so, for example, if you ah were super sore and I you know asked you in your check and how you've been sleeping and you said you've been sleeping for five hours a night and you're super stressed out when you can't fall asleep.
00:21:57
Speaker
Hey, that's what we need to address. So that is now the focus of the week. OK. We are going to take things down a notch in terms of exercise is concerned. We are going to remove some of the stress that we are intentionally putting on your body because it's clearly telling us it's having a hard time recovering from this stress, right? So lowering that stress barometer, doing what we can by reducing your activity, your energy output, and depending on the person, maybe increasing your calorie intake, okay? Giving your body a little bit more fuel to help give it something to use to recover, okay?
00:22:32
Speaker
So sleep, yes, absolutely. And depending on the person, you know that might be creating a bedtime routine. Definitely stopping scrolling and stopping watching TV you know ah at least an hour before you fall asleep. um Maybe even playing around with supplementing with you know some magnesium glycinate. um Everyone is different. My point is is that there are many different ways in which we can prioritize your recovery if you are not um if you are super sore, okay? Because the thing is, is that you are not going to be able to build muscle. You are not going to be able to get stronger if you're not sleeping, if you are not eating enough, okay?
Nutrition's Role in Recovery and Growth
00:23:12
Speaker
When you are not getting enough sleep, one of the reasons why it's the number one habit that I focus on with every single one of my clients, regardless of what their goal is, when you are not getting enough sleep, a few things are happening, all right?
00:23:23
Speaker
Number one, your body is further promoting, or let me back up. Number one, we are further promoting ah more muscle breakdown, which means your body is breaking more muscle down. um And that's not something that we need. We are losing muscle as we age. So that is basically putting us on a treadmill and rapidly speeding it up. All right. um It's not that serious, but you know, for lack of analogy, all right.
00:23:51
Speaker
So we are not only going to... break more muscle down when we don't get enough sleep, your body is also not going to be able to build new muscle, okay? So the workout that you just did, your body is not going to be able to to gain the benefit of that workout as it relates to getting stronger and building muscle simply because you didn't sleep, okay? So it's extremely important to make sure that that sleep component is happening. And if that sleep component is not happening and you're super sore, we focus on that. We don't just like no pain, no gain,
00:24:25
Speaker
wake up at 5 a.m. m after three hours of sleep and go work out, we actually give ourselves permission to take a rest day. We give ourselves permission to sleep a little bit more. That is the better choice. That is how you make better balanced choices. That is how you make a lifestyle is by not necessarily saying, I have to work out every single day. It's learning to identify what your body is telling you to be able to understand what choices you need to make that day based on that information. That is how you live a healthy and balanced lifestyle, right? um
00:24:56
Speaker
You know, going along with your your diet, how much you're eating. If you are not eating enough food, so um chronic dieters out there, ahem, those who are constantly chasing fat loss and who are always in a deficit. If you are not eating enough food, your muscle cannot grow, period. If we're not giving your body the basic fundamentals of what it needs to grow, we can't be surprised when it does not grow. We can't be surprised when we are in a plateau in our strength training and we can't lift heavier weights, right?
00:25:25
Speaker
And so if we are, you know, chronically underfed, if you are in a diet, for example, and you are super sore, hey, that's a red flag. We want to address and make sure that we are fueling enough, right? And so, for example, you know, some clients who I've worked with who are dieting, who they're, you know, in a deficit, we expect a certain level of soreness because, again, if you are not eating enough food, that's what happens. Your body can't recover, right?
00:25:55
Speaker
To a limit, though. You know what i mean? Like, we are not trying to feel sore after every single workout. And of that soreness, it's not supposed to, like, decimate your body. You know what i mean? um And so all of that to say, if you are somebody who is dieting, if you are constantly sore, we need to seriously look at, you might be moving too much. You might be doing too much activity. Maybe it's something...
00:26:19
Speaker
that you needed to hear as it relates to that calorie ah burn conversation we just finished having, you need to maybe give yourself an extra rest day or two and also likely eat a little bit more food. And that might just be like a diet break for over the weekend. And when I say diet break, that doesn't just mean like, awesome, it's like a refeed day and I can just eat whatever I want. you're still calculated somewhat. You're still being cognizant. You're still trying to make, you know, intentional choices, practice restraint where you can, you know, give yourself a little bit more wiggle room with a little bit more food. But the goal with eating a little bit more food in a diet break or the goal of giving yourself a little bit more um rest days is to basically help your body get over the the hurdle and help your body recover. Soreness is your body's way of telling you it's not recovering. And if we're not recovering, you're
00:27:07
Speaker
We're going to have a really hard time seeing progress. Right. And so all of that to say, um you know, soreness, I get it. You know, i get it when it's like, oh, you got me real good. And it's like, awesome. Like, but also at the end of the day, that's not something to chase. And so if you're not feeling sore after your workouts, you're It's not necessarily a red flag. We obviously want to make sure, like I said, you're lifting heavy enough. We want to make sure that you are lifting with enough intensity. um But soreness is not necessarily the metric of a good workout. And lack of soreness doesn't mean that you didn't push hard enough. you know
00:27:41
Speaker
When the goal is to build muscle, strength training should be your priority. When the goal is to lose weight and to lose Fat strength training should be your priority with a little cardio sprinkled in, right? And so strength training in either of those goals is not going to burn a ton of calories. It's just simply not. But when we remember calorie burn of that designated activity matters the least amount. then it's kind of okay if we give ourselves permission to stop chasing it. And if we don't burn a ton of calories in our strength training workout, hey, we're not doing as bad as we think. You see what I'm saying? So it's like all of these little tiny variables that we, again, have been conditioned to chase is not necessarily the biggest bang for our our time and our effort and A lot of times that's what kind of keeps people stuck. You know, I can't tell you how many times I've had a conversation with somebody who they spend hours in the gym um per week. I actually don't know anybody who spends hours in a gym per day. um And if you were listening, I would love to help you try to get some time back in your life because we don't need to be doing that. You have You have other parts of your life that we need to be focusing on as well. But anyways, um I can't tell you how many times I talk to somebody who they're spending hours a week in the gym and they're like, man, I just can't seem to see any changes. And, you know, it's a lot of times it's because you're putting too much emphasis on going to the gym and burning all these calories and doing cardio and HIIT classes and boot camp and, you know, all of these things that we're not spending at enough time.
00:29:12
Speaker
focusing on what's actually going to move the needle forward, right? The strength training component, the you know sleep component, the diet component, all of these things are very much related.
Fallacies in Calorie Tracking
00:29:24
Speaker
They are all connected, okay? So when you hear the term, you can't out-train a bad diet, um that's kind of true. There's no amount of you know calories you're going to burn in 24-hour period that's going to offset your your nutritional choices that you make, right? and kind of I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, ah I used to do it all the time, but it's genuinely a statistic. We have research that proves this. We largely underestimate how many calories we eat, okay? And we greatly overestimate how many calories we burn. A lot of our activity watches, a lot of the um data that we get on you know treadmills and ellipticals and things like that, they're largely inaccurate. um
00:30:09
Speaker
And if you are somebody who, you know someone who I used to do this as well, like i said at the beginning who eats basically what they just burned or you burn so that you can eat. That's likely why we're on a treadmill because that's not how it works. You know what I mean? We need to understand how much we ah should be eating, not only for overall health, but also to reach our goals. Um, but also at the same time within that focus, we need to make sure that the exercise that we're doing is going to not only help us see more changes than just burning calories, such as strength training, right? Um, but also that strength training component is going to help, um, our overall health.
Building Muscle Over Counting Calories
00:30:51
Speaker
Okay. It's going to help us invest in our future. Uh, it's going to help us get off the toilet when we're older. It's going to help us
00:30:57
Speaker
travel the world and not have to be dependent on people. It's going to help us with you know specific topics right now, such as insulin sensitivity. Your muscle is one big sponge that helps regulate that whole system. And so you know for a lot of reasons, Focusing on your strongest self is always going to have the greatest return on investment. It doesn't matter if we are talking about you know physical aesthetic goals. It doesn't matter if we're talking about longevity and just overall health goals. um Your muscle is one of the greatest pursuits that you can chase, that you can prioritize and make decisions in order to preserve and build. And in that process, find freedom, right? In that process, man, you can give yourself a lot more rest days than you might feel like you can give yourself right now, right? Because when you understand strength training requires you to take rest, so you know you have to let your upper body muscles rest before you can use them again, you give yourself permission to take more rest days, right?
00:31:57
Speaker
um When you're prioritizing that that strongest self mentality, you give yourself more permission to, hey If I ate a little bit more over the weekend, I'm going to use that extra fuel to, ah you know, put an extra five pounds in the bar and really try to see what I'm capable of and build a little bit more muscle, you know, instead of feeling guilty, right? Instead of working out to earn back what you ate or to make room for what you're about to eat, right? You can give yourself more permission to eat more than 1200 calories because if you understand building muscle requires food and you can't build muscle without enough food, you give yourself permission to eat as much as you can within the targets that should be hopefully calculated for you. And when I say calculated, I don't just mean you have to log your food. I just mean having a general understanding and awareness as much as how many calories you should be eating just for yourself.
00:32:49
Speaker
whether you log every bite, lick, or taste, or you know measure it in any ah other way, shape, or form, having that cognizant, intentional choice, um but you have to understand where those targets are. You have to have some kind of an idea of how much you should be eating. And when you are building muscle, giving yourself permission to eat more than... um you know, your smallest self wants you to eat is extremely free. And you start having fun with your food choices and you start seeing, ah you know, how much you can get away with, you know, within your targets and things like that. So anyways, all that to say, i hope this is helpful for you as always. ah You know, calorie burning, while it might feel really you know good and accomplishing to see how many calories you're burning, um the number you're seeing is probably inaccurate, first
Balancing Workouts and Body Awareness
00:33:33
Speaker
of all. And second of all, it doesn't mean as much as you think it means. um And then also, you know, if the goal is to build muscle, it definitely doesn't mean as much as you think it means because calorie burn doesn't mean you're building muscle. We look at how much weight you're lifting. We look at, you know, are you lifting heavy enough and kind of using some of those examples to make sure you are lifting heavy enough. um And then the soreness element, you know, expect it to a certain degree, especially if your goal is to strength train, prioritize building muscle, but understand where that balance lies and when it tips the scales from something normal that we, you know, expect to a red flag that we need to kind of shift our focus to other variables um in our fitness journey, right? To make sure that we are...
00:34:13
Speaker
listening to our body, but also, you know, in doing things that are in alignment with living a healthier lifestyle. Our body doesn't care about our goals. So in some way, shape or form, we're going to have to understand like we need to follow its lead. It doesn't follow our lead. We follow its lead. And so the faster that we can kind of get in line with that thought process, um the more i would say in tandem your body is going to work in relation to, you know, what you're working towards.
00:34:43
Speaker
And so I hope that that was helpful for you. As always, I always want to hear from you. I've had some really great conversations with some of you guys over the last few weeks. if you um if there's any If there's ever anything that I said in this episode or any other episode that you want me to kind of cover a little bit more or you have questions on, ah there's a form in the caption.
00:35:03
Speaker
um Fill it out. You can feel free to email me too. But let's keep this conversation going. i hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your day. Thanks for spending the last you know half an hour with me. And until next time, chase your strongest self.